news 2018

Why is water densest at around 4 degrees Celsius' Why does ice float? Why does heavy water have a different melting point compared to normal water? Why do snowflakes have a six-fold symmetry? A collaborative study of researchers from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, the University of Göttingen and the University of Vienna and just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, provides physical insights into these questions by marrying data-driven machine learning techniques and quantum mechanics.

In speech and music, words and notes depend on each other. Humans are highly sensitive to such dependencies, but the evolutionary origins of this capacity are poorly understood. Cognitive biologists at the University of Vienna conducted playback experiments with common marmoset monkeys and found that sensitivity to dependencies might have been present in the shared ancestor of marmosets and humans.

[ Florian Aigner "Topological materials" are very interesting for technology, but difficult to study. TU Wien (Vienna) and the University of Science and Technology in China are presenting new approaches. Electrons are not just little spheres, bouncing through a material like a rubber ball. The laws of quantum physics tell us that electrons behave like waves.

By Hermann Schranzhofer, Andreas Heinz The working group "Energy efficient buildings" at the Institute of Thermal Engineering has been working in this area for about 20 years. The scope ranges from the development of individual building technology components to the design and optimization of complex overall energy systems for the heating and cooling of buildings and entire residential areas.

[ Florian Aigner At the TU Wien (Vienna), neural networks have been developed which make it much easier to create photorealistic pictures of a wide variety of materials. If computer-generated images are to look realistic, different materials have to be presented differently: The metallic sheen of a coin looks quite different from the dull gloss of a wooden plate or the slightly transparent skin of a grape.

Conventional lithium ion batteries, such as those widely used in smartphones and notebooks, have reached performance limits. Materials chemist Freddy Kleitz from the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Vienna and international scientists have developed a new nanostructured anode material for lithium ion batteries, which extends the capacity and cycle life of the batteries.

Under the leadership of TU Graz, an international research team has developed a contrast medium concept for MRI, promising unprecedented features in medical imaging. Molecular imaging techniques are playing an increasingly important role in medical diagnostics and developing new treatment methods. An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the fields of chemistry, material sciences, biomedicine, quantum physics and toxicology has managed to develop the foundations for a novel contrast medium for in the framework of the FET Open EU excellence programme.

By Birgit Baustädter TU Graz operates two beamlines at the 'Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste' research facility in which structures and properties of materials can be investigated at the tiniest scale. The circular route around the storage ring at the centre of the Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste research facility high in the mountains above the Italian harbour city of Trieste is 280 metres long.

[ Florian Aigner "Frequency combs" are optimally suited for chemical sensors. A revolutionary technology developed at TU Wien (Vienna) now produces these laser frequencies in a much easier and more robust way. Most lasers have only one color. All the photons it emits have exactly the same wavelength.

By Peter Gangl In order to design machines which - depending on the concrete application - perform as well as possible, mathematical methods for the optimization of the geometry of the machines can be used. Nowadays, electrical machines are ubiquitous in our lives. In order to design machines which - depending on the concrete application - perform as well as possible, mathematical methods for the optimization of the geometry of the machines can be used.

Joint successes in the past increase the chances of winning. This has now been statistically proven in a variety of different team sports. What makes a team successful? This is not only a crucial question for football coaches, it plays a role in almost all areas of life, from corporate management to politics.

The human brain has computing elements similar to the biggest supercomputers, but needs only a fraction of their energy. And it is constantly learning. Brain-inspired computing is for this reason an important topic of the future. 'Colleagues in neuroscience think that we basically know less today about how the human brain works than we did ten years ago,' says Wolfgang Maass.

Innsbruck quantum physicists have constructed a diode for magnetic fields and then tested it in the laboratory. The device, developed by the research groups led by the theorist Oriol Romero-Isart and the experimental physicist Gerhard Kirchmair, could open up a number of new applications. Electric diodes are essential electronic components that conduct electricity in one direction but prevent conduction in the opposite one.

Advances in cellular microscopy: at TU Wien (Vienna), flies were made transparent, so that individual nerve cells, marked with fluorescent molecules, can be examined directly in the animal. The nervous system of an animal can be studied by cutting it up into thin layers - however this inevitably leads to the destruction of the cellular structures in the tissue.

Research team at TU Graz discovers atomic-level processes which can provide new approaches to improving material properties. Aluminium alloys have unique material properties and are indispensable materials in aircraft manufacturing and space technology. With the help of high-resolution electron tomography, researchers at TU Graz have for the first time been able to decode mechanisms crucial for understanding these properties.

Biochips have been developed at TU Wien (Vienna), on which tissue can be produced and examined. This allows supplying the tissue with different substances in a very controlled way. Cultivating human cells in the Petri dish is not a big challenge today. Producing artificial tissue, however, permeated by fine blood vessels, is a much more difficult task.

Orangutans spontaneously bend straight wires into hooks to fish for food The bending of a hook into wire to fish for the handle of a basket is surprisingly challenging for young children under eight years of age. Now cognitive biologists and comparative psychologists from the University of Vienna, the University of St Andrews and the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna around Isabelle Laumer and Alice Auersperg studied hook tool making for the first time in a non-human primate species - the orangutan.

When quantum particles swirl about, they still obey universal laws. Different quantum systems can show the same behaviour - this has been demonstrated by two different experiments at TU Wien and Heidelberg University. Some things are so complicated that it is completely impossible to precisely calculate them.

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is, along with DNA and protein, one of the three primary biological macromolecules and was probably the first to arise in early life forms. In the "RNA world" hypothesis, RNA is able to support life on its own because it can both store information and catalyze biochemical reactions.

Telecommunications is becoming ever more important for vehicles. At TU Wien, a new antenna concept has now been developed for cars. Driving without communication technology has now become almost unthinkable. It seems quite normal to us that navigation systems regularly update their maps and shows us the way using satellite data, or that we can make phone calls while driving.