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The nuclear pore basket is a filamentous structure attached to the nucleoplasmic side of the nuclear pore complex (NPC), crucial for regulating transport between the nucleus and cytoplasm. In a paper published in Nature Cell Biology, Edvinas Stankunas and Alwin Köhler revealed the structural basis of the basket filaments and their docking mechanism to the main body of the NPC.

ISTA researchers uncover how 'mortal filaments' self-assemble and maintain order A previously unknown mechanism of active matter self-organization essential for bacterial cell division follows the motto 'dying to align': Misaligned filaments 'die' spontaneously to form a ring structure at the center of the dividing cell.

A research team led by MedUni Vienna has shown in a study that purely optical measurements of the viscosity of blood plasma may provide information about the severity and progression of COVID-19. The employed technique, Brillouin light scattering spectroscopy, can analyse the smallest amounts of plasma in less than a second, making it a promising method for monitoring severely ill patients.

How microplastic particles disperse in the ocean depends on microscopic details. Scientists at TU Wien have now succeeded in precisely characterising the motion of these particles. Microplastics are a global problem: they end up in rivers and oceans, they accumulate in living organisms and disrupt entire ecosystems.

Predator-prey analogy: Novel interaction between particles enabled Using two optically trapped glass nanoparticles, researchers observed a novel collective Non-Hermitian and nonlinear dynamic driven by nonreciprocal interactions. This contribution expands traditional optical levitation with tweezer arrays by incorporating the so called non-conservative interactions.

Together, the University of Innsbruck and the spin-off AQT have integrated a quantum computer into a high-performance computing (HPC) environment for the first time in Austria. This hybrid of supercomputer and quantum computer enables the solution of complex tasks in chemistry, materials science or optimization and is already being tested by users in research and industry .

TU Wien (Vienna) has patented a completely new method of dampening vibrations. This is an important step for precision devices such as high-performance astronomical telescopes. When everything shakes, precision is usually impossible - everybody who has ever tried to take a photo with shaky hands or make handwritten notes on a bumpy bus journey knows that.

Researchers from TU Wien (Vienna, Austria) and Tsinghua University (Beijing, China) have created an extremely exotic state of matter. Its atoms have a diameter a hundred times larger than usual. A crystal is an arrangement of atoms that repeats itself in space, in regular intervals: At every point, the crystal looks exactly the same.

Is nature really as strange as quantum theory says - or are there simpler explanations? Neutron measurements at TU Wien prove: It doesn't work without the strange properties of quantum theory. Can a particle be in two different places at the same time? In quantum physics, it can: Quantum theory allows objects to be in different states at the same time - or more precisely: in a superposition state, combining different observable states.

Looking under the microscope, a group of cells slowly moves forward in a line, like a train on the tracks. The cells navigate through complex environments. A new approach by researchers involving the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) now shows how they do this and how they interact with each other.

A team of researchers led by Philip Walther at the University of Vienna carried out a pioneering experiment where they measured the effect of the rotation of Earth on quantum entangled photons. The work, just published in Science Advances , represents a significant achievement that pushes the boundaries of rotation sensitivity in entanglement-based sensors, potentially setting the stage for further exploration at the intersection between quantum mechanics and general relativity.

Normally, thermal radiation is a product of randomness, described by the laws of statistical physics. TU Wien and the University of Manchester show that it can also be controlled. When a piece of metal is made to glow, its colour depends solely on its temperature. The material, the geometry, the structure of its surface - none of these details matters.

Waves carry information about their surroundings. An exact theory has now been developed at TU Wien - with astonishing results that can be used for technical purposes. No matter whether ultrasound is used to study the body, radar systems to study airspace or seismic waves to study the interior of our planet: You are always dealing with waves that are deflected, scattered or reflected by their surroundings.

Physicists at TU Graz have calculated how suitable molecules can be stimulated by infrared light pulses to form tiny magnetic fields. If this is also successful in experiments, the principle could be used in quantum computer circuits. When molecules are irradiated with infrared light, they begin to vibrate due to the energy supply.

Due to the complex structures of microporous crystals known as MOFs, reliable simulations of their properties have been difficult until now. Machine learning provides the solution. Hydrogen storage, heat conduction, gas storage, CO2 and water sequestration - metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have extraordinary properties due to their unique structure in the form of microporous crystals, which have a very large surface area despite their small size.

A simple concept of decay and fission of "magnetic quivers" helps to clarify complex quantum physics and mathematical structures.

Launched last year, ESA's Euclid space telescope has already been delivering data for almost a year. The first scientific results are being published today. They show that the new instrument is capable of detecting a representative sample of all galaxies in the universe. For example, a study led by the University of Innsbruck was able to identify over 600 previously unknown dwarf galaxies in the Perseus galaxy cluster .

Researchers at the University of Innsbruck have presented a new method for planning computing operations on a quantum computer. A generative machine learning model is used to find a suitable sequence of quantum gates to execute a quantum operation. The study, which has now been published in the journal Nature Machine Intelligence , is an important step towards exploiting the full potential of quantum computers .

To grow their roots, plants feel gravity - ISTA scientists take a close look Using the force of gravity, roots weave their way through the soil to provide a plant with both structural support and essential nutrients. Anastasia Teplova from the Friml group at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) investigates the mechanism behind this process.

New chemical reaction with potential applications in medicinal chemistry A team of chemists from the University of Vienna, led by Nuno Maulide, has achieved a significant breakthrough in the field of chemical synthesis, developing a novel method for manipulating carbon-hydrogen bonds. This groundbreaking discovery provides new insights into the molecular interactions of positively charged carbon atoms.