Article by William Brown, Biophysicist, Resonance Science Foundation Research Scientist

A team of scientists designed a device that can induce partial hindlimb regeneration in adult aquatic African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis) by “kick-starting” tissue repair at the amputation site. Their findings, appearing November 6 in the journal Cell Reports, introduce a new model for testing “electroceuticals,” or cell-stimulating therapies.

“At best, adult frogs normally grow back only a featureless, thin, cartilaginous spike,” says senior author Michael Levin, developmental biologist at the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University. “Our procedure induced a regenerative response they normally never have, which resulted in bigger, more structured appendages. The bioreactor device triggered very complex downstream outcomes that bioengineers cannot yet micromanage directly.”

The scientists 3-D printed the bioreactor...

^{By Dr. Inés Urdaneta / Physicist at Resonance Science Foundation}

When we think about liquids, we think about one of the four known states of matter: gas, liquid, solid and plasma (charged or ionized gas). Light being mass-less, the words liquid and light put together seems at first like an oxymoron. But not so long ago, in 2013, a theorized similar situation predicted in 2007 and called “photonic molecule” was made artificially. In these experiments, photons – quantum of electromagnetic fields, which have no rest mass and travel at the speed of light in vacuum – bind together so strongly, they behave as molecules, and so acting as if they had mass.

Another case concerning light which reproduces the physics of molecules, consists of photons confined to two or more coupled micro-optical cavities, since it reproduces the behavior of interacting atomic energy levels. For this reason, it has also been termed photonic molecule, which is an alternative...

Article by Dr. Olivier Alirol, Resonance Science Foundation Research Scientist 

Tractor beams are often shown in science fiction film to move heavy weight. Even if our current technology is not advanced enough to lift large load, physicists have managed to move small objects using acoustic or laser tractor beam. As mentioned in a recent article, we saw acoustic tractor beam grabbing objects from behind obstacles. This time researchers manage to build a light beam able to attract and repel particles about 100 times further than has been previously achieved.

Tractor beams have been already used to control tiny particles about 0.2 millimeters in diameter from a distance of 20 centimeters. Despite this incredible distance, the researchers claim it is still on the short end of what is possible for this tractor beam technique. Laser beam has become a useful tool for the manipulation and transport of microscopic objects in biology, physical chemistry and condensed matter...

Article by Dr. Amira Val Baker, Astrophysicist, Resonance Science Foundation Research Scientist

Planet formation is not yet understood and to complicate matters Mercury is an anomaly – now a new ambitious mission hopes to resolve the mysteries and shed light on planet formation.

Planets and stars are theorized to have formed in the collapsing dust of a nebulae, with the star forming in the centre of rotation and the planets forming in the corresponding disk. The planetary characteristics are thus thought to be dependent on their size and distance from the central star. For example, gaseous planets – such as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune – are believed to have first formed as rocky planets and it was their greater size and position that allowed them to accrete and maintain a gaseous envelope.

However, although not completely understood (read more here), this understanding is based on the observed and inferred characteristics of the planets. However,...

Article by William Brown, Biophysicist, Resonance Science Foundation Research Scientist

An acoustic tractor beam that can bend sound around an obstacle to levitate an object on the other side has been created by researchers in the UK. Dubbed SoundBender, the device combines an ultrasound transducer array with an acoustic metamaterial.

In recent years, researchers have used transducer arrays to build sonic tractor beams that can create complex acoustic holograms to manipulate objects in mid-air. Acoustic metamaterials are engineered materials with structural properties that do not usually occur naturally. They have been used to produce acoustic holograms, bend beams of sound and create static acoustic levitation devices. But the team behind the SoundBender, based at the University of Sussex, say that these technologies have key limitations.

Devices based on transducer arrays cannot bypass obstacles that lay between them and the levitating object....

By Johanna Deinert, Resonance Science Foundation Research Scientist

Chairman Dr. Gerald Pollack from University of Washington, Seattle, opened the lectures by presenting Nobel Laureate Prof. Luc Montagnier. Co-founder of the World Foundation for Medical Research and Prevention. He introduced a highly sensitive method for detecting infections like Lyme, when usual Lab tests like serology and classical PCR (Polymerase chain reaction) fail. QuanticPCR uses the unique properties of water to store or even amplify specific pathogen-derived frequencies and is proving experimental evidence for the homeopathic principle of diluting without dilution of the contained information. The mechanism how PCR exactly works is commonly known to be not well understood. Giuseppe Vitiello presented a way to describe the bio-chemical reaction and its basics in physical terms.

We have recently posted news about the vaporization of water droplets and their unique shapes. In these kinds of...

Article by Dr. Amira Val Baker, Astrophysicist, Resonance Science Foundation Research Scientist

The universe as we currently understand it may not be allowed to exist – at least according to the cosmological model of string theorists.

To understand the behavior and evolution of the universe, cosmological models provide a mathematical description capable of making validated predictions. Current models are based on Einstein’s general relativity and assume a ‘flat’ universe – that is a universe that appears flat on large scales. Within this framework the geometry of the universe can then be described as a closed ‘de Sitter’ universe or open ‘anti-de Sitter’ universe.

Observations show that the universe is expanding at an ever so-slightly increasing rate and that as it expands the vacuum energy remains constant. The best cosmological model to describe such a universe is an inflation model which occurs in a quasi-de Sitter universe...

Article by Johanna Deinert, Resonance Science Foundation Research Scientist

In search of a cure against cancer patient voice Bonnie J. Addario called out at Forbes for a new paradigm called Transformational Medicine. It is about the Information flow in academic and pharmaceutical efforts to find cures. Currently, the standard of “translational medicine” has a one way information flow in exchange for individual-data, she states. The Addario Lung Cancer Foundation, launched one of the first patient-driven, advocacy campaigns in lung cancer research. “Patients should be driving the research together with pharmaceutical companies and academia, because the cure lies with the patient” says the board member of the Personalized Medicine Coalition. 

Instead of one-way flow of information, we can institute Transformational Medicine, where all parties collaborate. The patient is involved at the beginning in clinical trial design, and the information...

Article by Dr. Oliver Alirol, Physicist, Resonance Science Foundation Research Scientist

Point particle, electron cloud, if the electron is actually a physical object with a finite size, then how big is it. Surprisingly, there is yet no clear answer to this simple question. However, some theories turn out to be pretty interesting such as the Bohr radius (10^-10m), the classical electron radius (10^-15m), the Compton Wavelength (10^-12m), the Planck length (point particle 10^-35m), or finally the empiricist’s view with the measurement of the electron electric dipole moment (EDM).

Some theories suggest that some subatomic particles outside the electron could create a slight separation between a positive and a charge, giving the electron a pear shape. However, a new measurement from the ACME team at Yale suggests that any extra particles that exist may be permanently beyond the LHC’s reach.

We’re gonna need a bigger tunnel.

Yale University physicist David DeMille, a...

by Dr. Olivier Alirol, Physicist, Resonance Science Foundation Research Scientist

Three scientists on Tuesday won the Nobel Physics Prize, including the first woman to receive the prestigious award in 55 years, for inventing Chirped-pulse amplification, or CPA. The 9-million-Swedish-kronor award (about $1 million) will be doled out to Arthur Ashkin of Bell Laboratories in Holmdel, N.J., Gérard Mourou of École Polytechnique in Palaiseau, France, and Donna Strickland of the University of Waterloo in Canada.

This is a technique for creating ultrashort, yet extremely high-energy laser pulses necessary in a variety of applications. It is remarkable what can be achieved with lasers in research and in applications, and there are many good reasons for it, including their coherence, frequency stability, and controllability, but for some applications, the thing that really matters is raw power.

With this he was able to use the radiation pressure of light to move tiny...