The surprising organisation of avian brains

Birds and mammals have the largest brains in relation to their body. Apart from that, however, they have little in common, according to scientific opinion since the 19th century: mammalian brains have a neocortex, i.e. a ...

How interstitial ordering affects high-strength steels

The performance of materials is strongly influenced by their alloying elements: Adding elements beyond the basic composition of the alloy can strongly influence the properties and performance of it. In practice, it is not ...

How confined protons migrate

Protons (H+) and hydronium ions (H3O+) in free aqueous solutions seem to migrate faster than other ions due to the the Grotthuss-mechanism. Individual protons do not really migrate at all. Instead, bonds of the hydronium ...

Green light for clever algae

Phytoplankton not only constitutes the foundation of the food chain in the oceans, it also fixes carbon through photosynthesis and generates oxygen with the help of solar energy. A considerable part of phytoplankton is made ...

From climate killer to fuels and polymers

Researchers have discovered a catalyst that performs highly selective conversion of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into ethylene – an important source material for the chemical industry. In the journal Nature Communications, ...

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