Researchers at Uppsala University are questioning the gender-equality paradox. They show that it is not possible to draw the conclusions that women and men in gender-equal countries differ more in their preferences than women and men in less equal countries, from the data studied. "The question is based on Western perspectives and conditions and cannot be applied to other countries"(publ in PNAS)
Research at Uppsala University and Karolinska Institutet could pave the way for a prosthetic hand and robot to be able to feel touch like a human hand. Their study has been published in the journal Science. The technology could also be used to help restore lost functionality to patients after a stroke.
Hydrogen for energy use can be extracted in an environmentally friendly way from water and sunlight, using photocatalytic composite polymer nanoparticles developed by researchers at Uppsala University. In laboratory tests, these “polymer dots” showed promising performance and stability alike. The study has been published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
In a new article a research group at Uppsala University show, using computer simulations, that ions do not always behave as expected. In their research on molten salts, they were able to see that, in some cases, the ions in the salt mixture they were studying affect one another so much that they may even move in the “wrong” direction – that is, towards an electrode with the same charge.
Hydrogen gas and methanol for fuel cells or as raw materials for the chemicals industry, for example, could be produced more sustainably using sunlight, a new Uppsala University study shows. In this study, researchers have developed a new coating material for semiconductors that may create new opportunities to produce fuels in processes that combine direct sunlight with electricity.
The European research initiative BATTERY 2030+ is now getting going. The ambition is to make Europe a world-leader in the development and production of the batteries of the future. These batteries need to store more energy, have a longer life, and be safer and more environmentally friendly than today’s batteries in order to facilitate the transition to a more climate-neutral society.
A new mathematical model for predicting variations in solar irradiance has been developed at Uppsala University. It may help to promote more efficient use of electricity from solar energy. In tests of various data models, the model proved capable of making highly reliable forecasts, and emerged as the best for this purpose in some respects.
The problem of access to safe drinking water in most parts of Bangladesh is a persistent challenge. Now, a team of scientists shows that a locally growing and previously unexploited green macroalgae species could be used to extract cellulose nanofibers, which can then be formed into paper sheets with tailored pore size that are utilized for point-of-use water treatment.
A world moving from fossil fuels to renewable energy will rely more and more on energy storage and in particular on batteries. The Battery 2030+ large-scale research initiative will gather leading scientists in Europe, as well as the industry, to achieve a leap forward in battery science and technology.
Nanosized magnetic particles called skyrmions are considered highly promising candidates for new data storage and information technologies. Now, physicists have revealed new behaviour involving the antiparticle equivalent of skyrmions in a ferromagnetic material. The results are published in Nature Electronics.
In a new article, published in Nature Materials, researchers from Beijing, Uppsala and Jülich have made significant progress allowing very high resolution magnetic measurements. With their method it is possible to measure magnetism of individual atomic planes.
An environmentally friendly, efficient and low-cost method for hydrogenation of graphene with visible light has been developed by researchers at Uppsala University and AstraZeneca Gothenburg, Sweden. The research study is presented in an article in Nature Communications.
Being able to determine magnetic properties of materials with sub-nanometer precision would greatly simplify development of magnetic nano-structures for future spintronic devices. In a new study Uppsala physicists make a big step towards this goal - they propose and demonstrate a new measurement method capable to detect magnetism from areas as small as 0.5 nm2.
For the first time, researchers have revealed the nanostructure of the mesoporous magnesium carbonate Upsalite® and pore size control was achieved without organic templates or swelling agents. By controlling the pore structure of the material the amorphous phase stabilisation exerted on poorly soluble drug compounds can be tuned and the drug delivery rate can be tailored.
Harmful organic molecules in the indoor air can cause adverse health effects – a problem known as the “sick building syndrome”. A promising new solution is being developed at Uppsala University – window glass with a nanostructured coating based on titanium dioxide which uses sunlight to remove organic pollutants from the indoor air by passing it between the inner panes of the window.
Having the possibility to measure magnetic properties of materials at atomic precision is one of the important goals of today's experimental physics. In an article published in Physical Review Letters researchers propose a new method, utilizing properties of the quantum world – the phase of the electron beam – to detect magnetism with atom-by-atom precision.
Researchers at the Division of Nanotechnology and Functional Materials, Uppsala University have developed a paper filter, which can remove virus particles with the efficiency matching that of the best industrial virus filters. The paper filter consists of 100 percent high purity cellulose nanofibers, directly derived from nature.
A research group at Uppsala University, Sweden has developed a new responsive coating for implants used in surgery to improve their integration into bone and to prevent rejection. Neutron scattering experiments at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) in Grenoble, France have shown how a protein that promotes bone growth binds to this surface and can be released in a controlled way.
Astronomers at Uppsala University in Sweden will receive a grant of more than SEK 23 million from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation to search and analyse atmospheres surrounding earth-like exoplanets. Ultimately these researchers hope to find traces of life on these planets.