Mass-producible miniature quantum memory Researchers at the University of Basel have built a quan- tum memory element based on atoms in a tiny glass cell. In the future, such quantum memories could be mass-produced on a wafer. University of Basel post: https://nanoscience.unibas.ch/de/news/details/massenproduzierbarer-mini-quantenspeicher/ Original publication: https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.260801 Light pulses can be stored and retrieved in the glass cell, which is 昀椀lled with rubidium atoms and is only a few millimeters in size. (Image: Uni- versity of Basel, Department of Physics/Scixel) Using light to produce medication and plastics more efficiently Anyone who wants to produce medication, plastics or fer- tilizer using conventional methods needs heat for chem- ical reactions – but not so with photochemistry, where light provides the energy. The process to achieve the de- sired product also often takes fewer intermediate steps. Researchers from the University of Basel are now going one step further and are demonstrating how the energy e昀케ciency of photochemical reactions can be increased Radicals generated by light can only unfold their reactivity as soon as tenfold. More sustainable and cost-e昀昀ective applications they break out of a kind of “cage” that the solvent forms around them. are now tantalizingly close. Researchers in Basel show how to make this “cage escape” more suc- cessful and how it leads to more ef昀椀cient photochemistry. (Illustration: University of Basel post: University of Basel, Jo Richers) https://www.unibas.ch/en/News-Events/News/Uni-Research/Using-light-to-produce-medi- cation-and-plastics-more-ef昀椀ciently.html Original publication: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41557-024-01482-4 Communication workshop Eight doctoral students from the SNI PhD School took part in a workshop on rhetoric and communication in June. Using numerous illustrative examples, science journalist Atlant Bieri showed what is important in communication and how even complex content can be shared clearly and comprehensibly - in a way that everyone will remember. SNI post including short video https://nanoscience.unibas.ch/en/news/details/rhetorik-workshop-2024/ In a two-day workshop, doctoral students at the SNI PhD School learn what is important when it comes to communication. SNI INSight June 2024 30