At times, to understand something well, it is useful to rebuild it from scratch. It happens with prions as well: in collaboration with the BESTA Institute in Milan, the Laboratory of Prion Biology at SISSA in Trieste assembled artificial prions, devising a method for synthesizing them in a series. Lab tests showed that synthetic prions act like their biological counterparts. Results will be published on December 31 in one of the most respected journals in the industry, Plos Pathogens.
News
The December issue of the journal Current Opinion in Neurobiology reviews current knowledge about brain plasticity, in its broadest sense, starting from the infinitely small (plasticity at the molecular level, in synapses) up to the macro level (the plasticity observable in human behaviour). Alessandro Treves (SISSA) and Thomas Mrsic-Flogel (University of Basel) have edited this issue involving some of the leading international experts in the field.
Catalysts play a major role in the field of technology applied to renewable energy. A new study, just published in Nature Materials, provides a detailed account of how to control the electron charge of nanoparticles of platinum, an important catalyst in fuel cells, to maximize the efficiency of the process. The study is the result of an intense international collaboration involving SISSA and CNR-IOM of Trieste, the University of Barcelona, ELETTRA Sincrotrone Trieste, Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg in Germany and Univerzita Karlova of Prague.
9 dicembre 2015, 14.00
SISSA, Aula Magna “P. Budinich”
Il 9 dicembre alle 14.00, presso l’Aula Magna della SISSA, avranno luogo le premiazioni della seconda edizione del concorso fotografico “De Rerum Natura” promosso dal Laboratorio Interdisciplinare della SISSA. Nella stessa occasione ci sarà anche un intervento di Massimo Inguscio, direttore dell’Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica (INRIM) di Torino, dal titolo Light, Atoms and Time. La partecipazione all’evento è gratuita e aperta a tutti. L’intervento di Inguscio si terrà in inglese.
SISSA and Sharif University of Technology of Tehran come closer: a Memorandum of Understanding has just been signed that strengthens bonds between the two universities and launches a series of actions aiming at intensifying their scientific collaboration.
Childhood and adolescence are ages of constant change and crucial experiences. At times the emotional weight can be difficult to manage and may lead to psychological issues in adulthood. Neurofeedback is a method that helps individuals to keep their brain activity (for example a response to an emotional event) under control. While routinely used on adults, a new study published in NeuroImage demonstrates that the technique shows promise for young people as well.
December 1, 2015, 9.30 am-12.15 am
SISSA, Main Lecture Hall
Every year, the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste welcomes new students. This year, along with introducing the Director, fellow students, and scientists, there will be several awards given (including the Bassoli Prize for Science Communication) and the lectio magistralis on chaos by Laure Saint-Raymond, a French mathematician.
Nelle prossime settimane si terrà un nuovo ciclo di appuntamenti organizzati dal Laboratorio Interdisciplinare della SISSA, in collaborazione con il Comune di Trieste Attraverso la fotografia, il giornalismo e i romanzi gialli, tre personaggi di spicco della cultura triestina (Ugo Borsatti, Roberto Curci e Veit Heinechen) racconteranno la storia della città dal loro speciale punto di vista. Tutti gli eventi sono gratuiti e aperti al pubblico.
Proteggere i bambini e i loro diritti è responsabilità degli adulti. Per ribadire questo, il 20 novembre in occasione della Giornata internazionale per i diritti dell’infanzia la Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi avanzati (SISSA) di Trieste ha organizzato insieme alla “SISSA dei Piccoli”, il nido aziendale, un girotondo - simbolo di questa protezione - con i bambini che frequentano la struttura, i loro genitori e tutto il personale della Scuola.
18 Novembre 2015, ore 10.30
SISSA, Big Meeting Room (settimo piano)
Being all in one piece is not always a good strategy for resisting external strain. Biological tissues are well aware of it: they tend to crack simultaneously and gradually in several places, rather than catastrophically in one place only. This makes them particularly resistant. A group of SISSA researchers conducted a theoretical study that explains the mechanism underlying this phenomenon, which was experimentally observed in epithelial cell cultures. By doing so, they take their first steps towards creating artificial materials with features inspired by biomaterials.
A method for data analysis used in medical diagnostics has been tested for the first time on resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. The method, which relies on “fuzziness”, proved to be as robust as the well-known and regularly used sample entropy (SampEn) method but with the advantage of offering greater detail than sample entropy The findings have been published in Medical Engineering and Physics.
They turn into bad prions, but no one knew how. Now a group of SISSA scientists has finally identified the mechanism underlying the pathological transformation of prion proteins: it all depends on a metal, copper, and its bond with the protein. The findings have just been published in Scientific Reports.
It was one of the “missing pieces” in the Theoretical Physics of Materials puzzle and today a group of SISSA researchers has finally found it: for the first time, the phenomenon of thermal conduction has been accounted for by the fundamental laws of quantum mechanics. The study, just published in Nature Physics, will allow scientists to simulate this phenomenon numerically in extreme temperature and pressure conditions, such as those existing inside planets, or for materials, such as covalent glasses or liquids, to which currently available methods do not apply.
Collaboration between Institutions in Friuli Venezia Giulia produce results. The joint PhD program between the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) and the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste is the latest example. The first concrete evidence of this is the graduation ceremony to be held on Wednesday, 21 October for the first course which began four years ago.
It is not enough to observe what abilities are altered in autistic subjects, we also need to understand how each function interacts with the others. In fact, whereas in normal subjects joint attention appears to facilitate facial mimicry (both are skills relevant for human social interaction), the opposite holds true for autistic subjects. That is what a new study, just published in Autism Research, suggests.
An international conference on an avant-garde topic: Reduced Order Modelling, which studies how to deploy scientific computing on modern devices such as tablets and smartphones. MoRePas is currently taking place at SISSA, and boasts participation of some of the world's leading experts on the subject.
A face with an emotionally charged expression, especially if the emotion is anger, can influence the course of our actions, according to a study by the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) of Trieste published in Cognitive Neuroscience. The distracting effect is potentially dangerous in come situations (for example, when driving).
Si sono appena aperte le iscrizioni alla seconda edizione del concorso fotografico “De Rerum Natura, la scienza in uno scatto – Luce e visione”, organizzato dal Laboratorio Interdisciplinare della Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (SISSA) di Trieste. Il concorso è dedicato alla natura e alla scienza. La partecipazione è aperta a tutti. I vincitori riceveranno dei premi (520, 320 e 200 euro rispettivamente al I, II e III classificato in ciascuna categoria) e avranno la possibilità di esporre le proprie fotografie alla SISSA.