Welcome to our “Science Tank” section. In this area of the website, we deal with relevant discoveries from the world of science (physics, mathematics, computer science, medicine and many more) in an interdisciplinary manner. We publish important achievements from around the world with a special focus on the scientific environment in Göttingen. Have fun and stay curious.
An astrophysicist from the University of Bologna and a neurosurgeon from the University of Verona compared the network of nerve cells in the human brain with the cosmic network of galaxies. These analyzes show that the structures of the observable universe are surprisingly similar to the neural networks in the human brain. Research suggests that the laws governing the development of the brain and the cosmos could be the same. One of the fascinating peculiarities of the world around us is that different shapes and patterns appear in very different contexts. For example, the golden spiral (the Fibonacci spiral) is found in a snail shell and in the shape of a spiral galaxy, and the vein pattern echoes in a branch of lightning.
Today again out of line: Star Trek sends its regards. Some of you will remember Star Trek episodes in which the term "weather control station" was used. Australian physicists have developed technology that might be able to control lightning to some extent. Scientists have used the laser beam to change the lightning path in the laboratory, but believe their work can be successfully applied in natural conditions. This could allow them to change the point of impact on the ground, reducing the risk of catastrophic bushfires. While weather control technology seems torn straight out of science fiction books and films, scientists are looking for similar solutions. Research has already produced tangible results in the form of a laser beam that can prevent lightning, which can lead to catastrophic fires and destruction.
Image source: Pixabay
Flash control
Lightning strikes are the number one natural cause of bush fires in Australia and an increasing number of fires in the United States. For example, a laser that can influence the lightning path has the potential to save lives, protect wild animals and large areas of the natural ecosystem.
In space you can find rich deposits of rare minerals, such as the helium isotope Hel-3, which occurs in trace amounts on our planet and which is an efficient fuel for future space missions, but also one can be an efficient source of energy. But there are also other raw materials in space rocks: platinum and tungsten, iridium, osmium, palladium, rhenium, rhodium and ruthenium. Ice in space can also be an important element for possible colonization missions.
It will not be easy to extract minerals from rocks flying in space. It won't be cheap either, but the wealth there should allow companies that choose to invest in space mining to refinance the expenses they made. More than 500 asteroids, each worth over $ 100 trillion, circulate in the space of the solar system. It should be noted that these are only those that have been examined by humans, at least for a short time, because there can be many more.
Star Trek sends its regards again. Who doesn't know the scenes from the series when Dr. Crusher with a medical device from which light comes out, carries out healing processes. Most people have probably heard that light cures seasonal mood disorders. However, it turns out that photons have a lot more power. According to new research, light can aid the treatment of other mental disorders as well as the brain after injuries or the skin. Many of the light therapies are likely to be used at home.
So far, however, in many cases there have only been preliminary studies on the use of different light waves to treat various health problems. The results are promising, but the groups of participants in these experiments are too small to draw categorical conclusions. Still, they are encouraging because the results suggest new methods to aid in treating various health problems.
For example, researchers from the University of Arizona recently reported that they had been successful in helping people with migraines ("cephalgia") using the green light. It is a disease that affects a billion people worldwide, including children. The study included 29 volunteers with migraines who are resistant to typical treatments. Unfortunately, despite advances in medicine, she still has problems coping with the disease. The researchers used a 10-week treatment in which the patients were exposed to the green light. After treatment, the number of headache attacks per month decreased by a total of 60%. 83% of the patients with episodic migraines and 63% with chronic migraines decreased by half.
Australian scientists recently described a chemical molecule that has long fascinated them. It is believed that the outcome of the research will have an impact on new designs of solar cells, organic light emitting diodes, and other next generation technologies in which, it turns out, benzene can be used.
Benzene is an organic chemical compound. It is the simplest carbocyclic, neutral aromatic hydrocarbon. It's a part of DNA, proteins, wood, and oil. The problem of the construction of benzene has been of interest to chemists since this compound was severed. In 1865 the German chemist Friedrich August Kekulé hypothesized that benzene is a cyclohexatriene with a hexagonal ring in which single and double bonds alternate between the carbon atoms.
Scientists have developed a white color that reflects so much of the sun's rays that it can cool the walls of buildings below the ambient temperature in full sunshine. The new invention is cheap and can be produced with common technologies. Researchers are already finding dozens of uses for this remarkable color, though it will take some time to get to market. The new super white color reflects 95,5 percent of the sunlight. The technologies used so far made it possible to obtain a color that reflects about 80-90 percent of sunlight. So far, however, no paint has been able to bring the temperature of a building below the ambient temperature.
Japanese scientists have constructed facilities called Rube Goldberg's machines in which the effect of complete invisibility can only be achieved through skillful treatments related to the composition of the oily liquid in which the objects are immersed, so that the refractive index the liquid corresponds to that of the glass object that is immersed in it.
Water on the lunar surface cannot only be found in cold, shady craters near the poles. At a recent NASA conference, scientists confirmed that water is more abundant on the Silver Globe than previously thought and can even be found on the sunlit surface of our natural satellite.
Until the end of the last decade, scientists thought the moon was a rather dry place. Everything changed when India's Chandrayaan probe discovered water in the form of water ice in constantly shaded craters near the poles in 2009. Since then, numerous studies have shown the presence of water ice in places with consistently low temperatures. Now, in two new studies, the scientists have not only confirmed the presence of water on the moon, but also discovered that there could be many "cold traps" on the surface of the Silver Globe that contain water, including in areas that sunlight gets in.
A prototype of the device for determining the degree of spiciness of chili peppers was built by a research group led by Professor Warakorn Limbut from Prince Songkel University in Thailand. A research discussion about a new type of sensor that can be attached to a smartphone and display the measurement result appeared in the magazine "ACS Applied Nano Materials".
In November 2018, the Probe Voyager 2 left the outer edge of the heliosphere after a 41-year journey and entered interstellar space. The latest data sent by the probe revealed interesting information about space outside the solar system. The data collected by the spaceship indicate that the further Voyager 2 moves from the sun, the density of space increases. This is not the first time that an increase in the density of matter has been observed in space. The Travel 1, which entered interstellar space in 2012, found a similar density gradient, but elsewhere in space. New data from Voyager 2 shows that the measurements from Voyager 1 were not only correct, but that the recorded increase in density may be a feature of interstellar space.
For the first time ever, scientists tested the control of a tiny robot that moved in the large intestine - the longest part of the large intestine. Such an innovation could be in the future Diagnostics and Drug delivery be widespread. The scientists have chosen a completely new approach. The little robot is equipped with a magnet so that it can be controlled with the help of an electromagnetic field that is outside the patient's body. Although it is only the initial stage of testing, the results are very promising. The research was in the journal Micromachinery published. https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11090861
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Today again out of line: Star Trek sends its regards. Some of you will remember Star Trek episodes in which the term "weather control station" was used. Australian physicists have developed technology that might be able to control lightning to some extent. Scientists have used the laser beam to change the lightning path in the laboratory, but believe their work can be successfully applied in natural conditions. This could allow them to change the point of impact on the ground, reducing the risk of catastrophic bushfires. While weather control technology seems torn straight out of science fiction books and films, scientists are looking for similar solutions. Research has already produced tangible results in the form of a laser beam that can prevent lightning, which can lead to catastrophic fires and destruction.
can be an efficient source of energy. But there are also other raw materials in space rocks: platinum and tungsten, iridium, osmium, palladium, rhenium, rhodium and ruthenium. Ice in space can also be an important element for possible colonization missions.
So far, however, in many cases there have only been preliminary studies on the use of different light waves to treat various health problems. The results are promising, but the groups of participants in these experiments are too small to draw categorical conclusions. Still, they are encouraging because the results suggest new methods to aid in treating various health problems. 
Australian scientists recently described a chemical molecule that has long fascinated them. It is believed that the outcome of the research will have an impact on new designs of solar cells, organic light emitting diodes, and other next generation technologies in which, it turns out, benzene can be used. 
and can be produced with common technologies. Researchers are already finding dozens of uses for this remarkable color, though it will take some time to get to market.
A prototype of the device for determining the degree of spiciness of chili peppers was built by a research group led by Professor Warakorn Limbut from Prince Songkel University in Thailand. A research discussion about a new type of sensor that can be attached to a smartphone and display the measurement result appeared in the magazine "ACS Applied Nano Materials".