Aktualitäten 2019

The effects of climate change are becoming increasingly noticeable and therefore a transformation of our energy system is becoming more and more urgent. The fight against climate change is a global challenge and the electricity sector plays a key role in this transformation process. The shift from conventional power plants to renewable energies and the increasing electricity consumption are just two of the manifold challenges.

By Christoph Pelzl Newly discovered properties of magnetically doped topological insulators could significantly accelerate the development of quantum computers. The transmission electron microscope ASTEM, located at Graz University of Technology, played a major role in the success of these discoveries.

Over the last two decades researchers have been working on a contrast-agent free magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method called Arterial Spin Labeling (ASL) for detecting blood flow changes within the brain and other organs. Recent improvements in imaging hardware, new strategies for efficient data sampling and sophisticated reconstruction algorithms have now brought the application out of research into clinical practice.

By Udo Bachhiesl, Robert Gaugl, Karthik Subramanya Bhat, Christopher Pansi The effects of climate change are becoming increasingly noticeable and therefore a transformation of our energy system is becoming more and more urgent. The fight against climate change is a global challenge and the electricity sector plays a key role in this transformation process.

By Birgit Baustädter 3D printing is the manufacturing technique of the future. And these are not just empty words: the approach's significance is reflected in numerous examples from a wide variety of disciplines. This article has just been published in our research magazine TU Graz research. You can read or download the latest issue directly as an e-paper.

By Christoph Pelzl Dieter Schmalstieg, a researcher at Graz University of Technology, is working on a method combining the advantages of cloud computing and virtual reality. This method will allow computer games to be displayed on inexpensive VR headsets in unsurpassed quality. Streaming services, such as Netflix or Amazon Prime, are widely used.

Atoms, molecules or even living cells can be manipulated with light beams. At TU Wien a method was developed to revolutionize such "optical tweezers". They are reminiscent of the "tractor beam" in Star Trek: special light beams can be used to manipulate molecules or small biological particles. Even viruses or cells can be captured or moved.

A new type of material generates electrical current very efficiently from temperature differences. This allows sensors and small processors to supply themselves with energy wirelessly. Thermoelectric materials can convert heat into electrical energy. This is due to the so-called Seebeck effect: If there is a temperature difference between the two ends of such a material, electrical voltage can be generated and current can start to flow.

By Christoph Pelzl A team from Graz University of Technology succeeded in using the FEBID method to produce complex 3D-printed nano-components for the first time without additional support structures. Additional at the end of the text In the nanometer range, complex, free-standing 3D architectures are very difficult to produce in a single step due to the required precision.

By Birgit Baustädter At the beginning of 2019, an international research team led by Daniel Gruss, Michael Schwarz and Moritz Lipp from TU Graz discovered the processor loophole ZombieLoad. Since then there has been a software patch and new processors. But with a new variant of the old attack these are no longer safe either.

A team from Graz University of Technology succeeded in using the FEBID method to produce complex 3D-printed nano-components for the first time without additional support structures. Additional pictures for download at the end of the text In the nanometer range, complex, free-standing 3D architectures are very difficult to produce in a single step due to the required precision.

One million species are threatened with extinction, many of them already in the coming decades. This unprecedented loss of biodiversity threatens valuable ecosystems and human well-being. But what is holding us back from putting conservation research into practice? The journal Biological Conservation has published a collection of 14 articles on this topic.

By Christoph Pelzl Med Uni Graz, TU Graz and Uni Graz yesterday honoured those scientists who have pioneered research in the last two years with their inventions and patents. Since 2015, the Medical University of Graz, Graz University of Technology and the University of Graz have been honouring particularly "inventive" researchers in a joint ceremony every two years.

By Birgit Baustädter Materials researcher Florian Lackner "wraps" highly reactive alkali metal atoms in gold and examines them in his laser laboratory. A job he dreamed of when he was a child. "What I'm doing now is exactly what I've always wanted to do." Florian Lackner has achieved what many wish for.

Scholars have been all over Rome for hundreds of years, but it still holds some secrets - for instance, relatively little is known about where the city's denizens actually came from. Now, an international team led by Researchers from the University of Vienna, Stanford University and Sapienza University of Rome, is filling in the gaps with a genetic history that shows just how much the Eternal City's populace mirrored its sometimes tumultuous history.

By Barbara Gigler Research team from Graz develops biological methods to improve the shelf life of fruit and vegetables. Additional at the end of the text The crops have been harvested. Now it is important to store the various crops well and to preserve them as long and as carefully as possible. Post-harvest losses due to spoilage, however, represent a significant problem along the supply chain and lead to profit losses in the millions.

Conotoxins are bioactive peptides found in the venom that marine cone snails produce for prey capture and defense. They are used as pharmacological tools to study pain signalling and have the potential to become a new class of analgesics. To date, more than 10,000 conotoxin sequences have been discovered.

The identification of new chemical bonds is crucial for the design of new material structures. A team led by Jani Kotakoski at the University of Vienna and Jannik Meyer at the University of Tübingen has found unexpected new configurations of oxygen and nitrogen in graphene. Direct images of the actual atoms and the analysis of Life as we know it is based on just a handful of different types of atoms (called elements), among them carbon, nitrogen and oxygen.

With a new process developed at TU Wien (Vienna), living cells can be integrated into fine structures created in a 3D printer - extremely fast and with very high resolution. Tissue growth and the behavior of cells can be controlled and investigated particularly well by embedding the cells in a delicate 3D framework.

Researchers at TU Wien have developed a new type of sensing element for atomic force microscopy, which enables a high measurement speed and can even image sensitive processes in living cells. High-definition images of minute objects are standard these days including the imaging of bacteria and viruses, and even molecules and individual atoms in extremely fine details.