The authors report the expansion of the temperature range of cholesteric blue phases by doping nanoparticles. When spherical gold nanoparticles with a mean diameter of 3.7 nm were doped in a blue phase-exhibiting multi-component liquid crystal mixture, the temperature range of the cholesteric blue phase increased from 0.5 to 5 C, while the clearing temperature decreased by approximately 13 C. We believe that the mechanism stabilizing the cholesteric blue phase is similar to that of polymer-stabilized cholesteric blue phases: the nanoparticles accumulate in the lattice disclinations, stabilizing the overall cholesteric blue structure.

No abstract

The first crystal structure of a large-terpene synthase elucidated two novel Asp rich motifs and a new subclass of terpene synthases.

Using monthly satellite gravimetry data, we studied time-variable gravity field after three M9 class earthquakes, the 2004 Sumatra-Andaman, 2010 Chile (Maule), and 2011 Tohoku-oki earthquakes. The observations showed that the gravity typically (1) decreases coseismically, (2) continues to decrease for a few months, and (3) increases over a longer period. Therefore, postseismic gravity changes have two components with different time constants and polarities. The mechanisms of short-and long-term postseismic gravity changes are not as clear as coseismic changes at the moment, but might be explained to some extent with afterslip and the Maxwell viscoelasticity, respectively. These two components are difficult to discriminate with surface velocity measurements because the forearc area moves trenchward at both stages. They appear in different polarities in gravity, making satellite gravimetry a unique tool to separate them.