news 2017

Diamonds with minute flaws could play a crucial role in the future of quantum technology. For some time now, researchers at TU Wien have been studying the quantum properties of such diamonds, but only now have they succeeded in coupling the specific defects in two such diamonds with one another. This is an important prerequisite for the development of new applications, such as highly sensitive sensors and switches for quantum computers.

Nowadays we communicate via radio signals and send electrical pulses through long cables. This could change soon, however: Scientists have been working intensely on developing methods for quantum information transfer. This would enable tap-proof data transfer or, one day, even the linking of quantum computers.

In order for a fuel cell to work, it needs an oxidising agent. TU Wien has now found a way to explain why oxygen does not always enter fuel cells effectively, rendering them unusable. Fuel cells use a simple chemical reaction, such as the combination of oxygen and hydrogen to form water, to generate electricity.

Our understanding of the world is mostly built on basic perceptions, such as that events follow each other in a well-defined order. Such definite orders are required in the macroscopic world, for which the laws of classical physics apply. However, in the quantum world orders can be 'scrambled'. It is possible for different orders of quantum operations to coexist in a superposition.

Ravens have impressive cognitive skills when interacting with conspecifics - comparable to many primates, whose social intelligence has been related to their life in groups. An international collaboration of researchers led by Thomas Bugnyar, Professor at the Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, could uncover for the first time the group dynamics of non-breeding ravens.

Scientists at the University of Graz and TU Graz have developed an active ingredient that reduces obesity and can prevent type II diabetes as well as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), around 1.9 billion people are overweight worldwide. 75 per cent suffer from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and 400 million have type II diabetes.

Since a couple of decades, metal-containing drugs have been successfully used to fight against certain types of cancer. The lack of knowledge about the underlying molecular mechanisms slows down the search for new and more efficient chemotherapeutic agents. An international team of scientists, led by Leticia González from the University of Vienna and Jacinto Sá from the Uppsala University, have developed a protocol that is able to detect how metal-based drugs interact with DNA.

Due to increasing globalization, the linguistic landscape of our world is changing; many people give up use of one language in favour of another, a phenomenon called language shift. Katharina Prochazka and Gero Vogl from the University of Vienna have studied why language shift happens using the example of southern Carinthia, Austria.

The analysis of the minutest quantities of pharmaceutical samples is of crucial importance for the research and synthesis of new medications. At the moment it represents a technical challenge, but a new infrared method of measurement developed by TU Wien in collaboration with two research groups from Copenhagen may remedy this.

When measuring time, we normally assume that clocks do not affect space and time, and that time can be measured with infinite accuracy at nearby points in space. However, combining quantum mechanics and Einstein's theory of general relativity theoretical physicists from the University of Vienna and the Austrian Academy of Sciences have demonstrated a fundamental limitation for our ability to measure time.

For the first time ever, researchers at TU Graz and the Medical University of Graz have managed to functionally characterise the three-dimensional interaction between red-light receptors and enzymatic effectors. The results, with implications for optogenetics, have been published in Science Advances.

Using new computer algorithms, it is possible to adjust specific properties of three-dimensional objects, such as the sounds they produce or how stable they are. The thickness of a piece of metal made into different animal shapes - including a giraffe and a fish - is adjusted by using a computer algorithm in such a way that a specific sound spectrum is exhibited when the objects are struck.

TUGSAT-1 and UniBRITE have been in space since 2013. During this time 350 stars have been observed, new variable stars discovered, and 12 scientific papers published in international journals. The nanosats of the BRITE mission focus on the brightest, hottest and most massive stars in the immediate neighbourhood of the universe.

A group of scientists from TU Wien and ETH Zurich have succeeded in their attempts to generate ultrashort terahertz light pulses.

Dye synthesis in nothing but water instead of toxic solvents - researchers at TU Wien develop a highly efficient and environmentally friendly synthesis for organic pigments. Fabian Zechmeister (left) and Maximilian Raab (right) demonstrate the fluorescence of a perylene bisimide solution Inside front cover of the current issue of Chemical Communications.

Dye synthesis in nothing but water instead of toxic solvents - researchers at TU Wien develop a highly efficient and environmentally friendly synthesis for organic pigments. Fabian Zechmeister (left) and Maximilian Raab (right) demonstrate the fluorescence of a perylene bisimide solution Inside front cover of the current issue of Chemical Communications.

Surprising direction-dependent effects emerge when light is guided in microscopic structures. This discovery shows promise for both classical and quantum information processing Recently, surprising physical effects were observed using special microscopic waveguides for light. Such "photonic structures" currently are revolutionizing the fields of optics and photonics, and have opened up the new research area of "Chiral Quantum Optics".

Air flow at the touch of a button. In the wind tunnels of TU Graz, aerodynamic tests are carried out on top athletes, automobiles and even building models. Austrian handcyclists Thomas Frühwirth and Walter Ablinger won silver medals at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro. Earlier, they were guests of the Institute of Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer at TU Graz for aerodynamic tests of their bikes and themselves.

Neurotransmitter transporters are some of the most popular transport proteins in research as they play a major role in the processing of signals in the brain. A joint study by TU Wien and the Medical University of Vienna has now successfully demonstrated for the first time the structural impact of membrane lipids on medically relevant serotonin transporters.

Nuclear spin tomography is an application in (human) medicine known from medical institutions. The patient absorbs and re-emits electromagnetic radiation in all directions in space. They are detected and 3D images or 2D slice images are reconstructed from that data. Set in the framework of a fundamental science laboratory, the patient is replaced by a quantum object and the electromagnetic radiation by quantum measurement.