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Credit: Marta Salvador-Castell Scientists at Institut Laue Langevin (ILL) have helped take a key step towards understanding the development of life on Earth.The team, led by Dr Philippe Oger, a scientist from the University of Lyon – INSA Lyon, used organic molecul…

Neutrons help investigating the impact of alkanes, which could have allowed the first life to emerge around deep-sea hydrothermal vents.

Centuries-old works of art can be damaged when solvents are used to remove varnish on paintings during the restoration process – the 20th century is said to have the largest number of damaged paintings as a result of deliberate restorationNew research uses neutrons to examine how solvents penetrate the varnish of a painting – studying the precise varnishing used for most restoration efforts since…

The wax surface on the leaves of plants, such as barley and wheat crops, acts as a protective barrier against environmental attacks including pests, and water and nutrient loss. The wax surface is also involved in the uptake and transportation of water and nutrients across the plant surface for pl…

Silk may well be the oldest biomaterial humans have exploited. The primary protein comprising silk is fibroin, and in the last century, it has been intensely studied for a variety of advanced applications beyond luxurious fabrics. Some of the most exciting current research is exploring the potential of this protein in a range of applications using neutrons.

Researchers investigate new interactions between gold nanoparticles and cell membranes. Gold nanoparticles have a range of biomedical applications and are an important tool for drug delivery. Factors such as temperature and membrane charge are revealed to play a key role – findings that will help scientists better predict how gold nanoparticles behave within the body.

If you’re looking for a liquid to study with neutron scattering, lemon liqueur probably isn’t your first thought. But, for Dr. Leonardo Chiappisi, a researcher at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL, France) and the Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin), it was an obvious choice. “I’m originally …

“The phase transition from swollen chains to polymer mesoglobules as induced by millisecond pressure jumps, investigated with kinetic small-angle neutron scattering.Reprinted with permission from ACS Macro Lett. 2018, 7, 10, 1155. Copyright 2018 American Chemical Society.” …

Entanglement. A cross‐section view into a web of interpenetrated polymer chains is shown. Above the glass transition temperature, the molecules are able to diffuse. For long star‐shaped polymers, the mean square displacement is proportional to a power law 1/16 of time. This particular number is a…

An EPN-campus successful collaboration