The (metabolic) cost of life
Black smoker in 2,980m of water on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Some hypotheses suggest that deep-sea hydrothermal vents may have provided favourable conditions for the emergence of early life. In these environments, chemical and energy gradients could have supported...
A new kind of copper from the research reactor
Copper- and nickel-plated ball bearings. Credit: Hustvedt, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons. Researchers have developed an alternative method for the production of a new kind of copper needed for medical...
SV3: Leading the race
3 February 2016: The first hydrogen plasma in Wendelstein 7-X. It reached a temperature of 80 million degrees Celsius. (Photo: MPI for Plasma Physics/ Wigner RCP). The world’s most powerful stellarator, Wendelstein 7-X, has set the record in a key parameter of fusion...