Study shows possible new way to create DNA base pairs

06-Oct-2020

In the search for the chemical origins of life, researchers have found a possible alternative path for the emergence of the characteristic DNA pattern: According to the experiments, the characteristic DNA base pairs can form by dry heating, without water or other solvents. The team led by Ivan ...

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Step to a fuller understanding of how X-ray flashes modify the structure of proteins

03-Jun-2020

X-ray lasers can reveal the spatial structures of biomolecules that are hard to come by with other methods. However, the intense X-ray flashes vaporise the samples almost immediately. An international team of scientists has now followed how this radiation damage spreads in biomolecules to ...

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Innovative path to novel materials with adaptive electrical and optical properties

04-Feb-2020

A team of researchers has used X-rays from DESY's research light source PETRA III to explore the amazingly diverse self-organisation of liquid crystals in nanometre-sized pores. The study, led by Patrick Huber from the Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), shows how liquid crystals arrange ...

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Novel material with high-tech prospects

09-Jul-2019

An international research group led by scientists from the University of Bayreuth has identified a previously unknown material at DESY: Rhenium nitride pernitride. Thanks to a combination of properties that were previously considered incompatible, it looks set to become highly attractive for ...

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X-ray examination shows surprising coexistence of liquid and crystalline form

14-May-2019

Very narrow gaps make liquids crystallise partially. X-ray investigations at DESY show that in gaps just a few molecule diameters wide both, liquid and crystal properties of a material can exist at the same time. The observation of this coexistence is important for all liquids in very small ...

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Milestone on the way to direct imaging of individual biomolecules

01-Nov-2018

A team of scientists at DESY and Universität Hamburg has reached another milestone towards the direct imaging of individual biomolecules: the group led by Jochen Küpper from the Center for Free-Electron Laser Science developed a new experimental technique which enables the separation of different ...

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Modified optical centrifuge has potential to open up new ways for the study of superrotors

16-Oct-2018

Using corkscrew-shaped laser pulses, scientists at DESY have devised a sophisticated optical centrifuge that can make molecules rotate rapidly about a desired molecular axis. The innovative method opens up new ways to control and study super fast spinning molecules, called superrotors. Until now, ...

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DESY-led international collaboration obtains first scientific results from European XFEL

05-Oct-2018

An international collaboration led by DESY and consisting of over 120 researchers has announced the results of the first scientific experiments at Europe's new X-ray laser European XFEL. The pioneering work not only demonstrates that the new research facility can speed up experiments by more than ...

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X-ray experiments reveal exact details of self-catalysed growth for the first time

12-Feb-2018

At DESY's X-ray source PETRA III, scientists have followed the growth of tiny wires of gallium arsenide live. Their observations reveal exact details of the growth process responsible for the evolving shape and crystal structure of the crystalline nanowires. The findings also provide new ...

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“X-ray streaking” allows ultrafast processes to be followed using a single pulse of light

02-Jan-2018

An international team of scientists has developed a new experimental method at the FLASH X-ray laser which allows the sequence of events involved in a process to be observed using a single, ultrashort pulse of light from FLASH. Their method is called “X-ray streaking” and enables researchers to ...

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