Highlights

Every year, a committee of experts sits down with a tough job to do: from among all ICREA publications, they must find a handful that stand out from all the others. This is indeed a challenge. The debates are sometimes heated and always difficult but, in the end, a shortlist of  the most outstanding publications of the year is produced. No prize is awarded, and the only additional acknowledge is the honour of being chosen and highlighted by ICREA. Each piece has something unique about it, whether it be a particularly elegant solution, the huge impact it has in the media or the sheer fascination it generates as a truly new idea. For whatever the reason, these are the best of the best and, as such, we are proud to share them here.

LIST OF SCIENTIFIC HIGHLIGHTS

Format: yyyy

  • Individuals' brain synchronization to speech relates to language learning capacities (2019)

    de Diego Balaguer, Ruth (UB)

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    Individuals' brain synchronization to speech relates to language learning capacities

    Humans are good at synchronizing body movements with sound, for instance, when we move our feet or the head to the rhythm of a song. This happens without trying, without having trained and it has even been proved in babies. Most of the current research on this field has focused on how body movements are encouraged by the rhythm of the music, but there is little known about how this synchronization works when it comes to speech. Aiming to focus on the link between motor rhythms and speech audio signals, we designed an apparently easy task: for a minute, participants had to listen to a rhythmical sequence of syllables and at the same time, they had to repeatedly whisper “tah”.

    The analysis and results showed an unexpected pattern: population is divided into two groups. While some people spontaneously synchronize whispers with that sequence (good synchronizers), others did not experience any effect from the external rhythm (bad synchronizers). This effect is surprisingly strong and stable over time. Given such different patterns, we studied whether these variations had implications in the brain organization and behaviour. Results showed that good synchronizers have more white matter in those pathways connecting speech-perception areas (listening) with speech-production areas (speaking). In addition, the neural frequencies in brain areas related to speech motor planning of good synchronizers were more aligned with the syllable rhythm than poor synchronizers. Importantly, all these characteristics were accompanied by better word learning abilities in good synchronisers that were able to segment and recognise new words embedded in fluent speech. The task used in this study could serve to characterize individual differences and promote language research.

    This methodology can help finding effects that were hidden by grouping populations with different neural and behaviour attributes. Also, we think the use of this test could reinforce the early diagnostic of some pathologies (such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s or Multiple Sclerosis) and help assessing the speech and cognitive development in kids.

  • Brain Songs and Awakening: Towards understanding consciousness, different brain states and disease recovery   (2019)

    Deco, Gustavo (UPF)

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    Brain Songs and Awakening: Towards understanding consciousness, different brain states and disease recovery  

     

    How quickly do we become conscious of signals in the environment? The study of Reference 1 significantly advances our understanding of the timescale activity of whole-brain dynamics.  The new framework, poetically called brain songs, sheds new light on the whole-brain networks involved in broadcasting information at this fast timescale. As such it supports and extends current accounts of when information becomes consciously available in the human brain. More generally, brain songs could be used to understand why the timescale of conscious processing changes in some diseases and as such the new findings could have important implications for understanding changes in neuropsychiatric disease – and perhaps even the nature of consciousness”. 

    How to force the transition from one brain state to another, for example, from sleep to wakefulness? The study of Reference 2 provides a reliable and robust definition that characterizes brain states and which, in combination with the complete computational model of the human brain, allows the systematic study of the effects of brain stimulation in the transition from one brain state to another. The  study results demonstrate the usefulness of the model for discovering where to stimulate in order to force the transition between brain states. Applied to psychiatric diseases, this method may enhance recovery from the disease.

     

  • The Talmud in Latin: First Edition (2019)

    Fidora Riera, Alexander (UAB)

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    The Talmud in Latin: First Edition

    In February 2019, the ERC project LATTAL, directed by A. Fidora, published the first edition ever of the so-called "Extractiones de Talmud", that is, the Latin translation of large parts of the Babylonian Talmud which was produced as part of an inquisitorial process against the Jews in Paris in 1245. The edition, which was prepared by a group of scholars headed by Ulisse Cecini and Óscar de la Cruz at the UAB, represents a major qualitative leap in the study of Christian-Jewish relations during the Middle Ages as well as for the study of the Hebrew/Aramaic Talmud. Moreover, bringing to light the "Extractiones", which were never meant to reach out to the general public, is a paramount example of the effectiveness of the historical humanities to overcome persecution and censorship whenever and wherever they occur.

  • Who is your neighbor?  (2019)

    Gabaldón Estevan, Toni (BSC-CNS)

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    Who is your neighbor? 

    Gene clusters are groups of genes that remain in close neighborhood across large evolutionary distances, and despite pervasive genomic re-arrangements. In prokaryotes (organisms with anucleated cells like bacteria) such clusters may consist in operons, groups of genes that are co-transcribed in a single transcript and translated together to ensure their tight co-regulation. In eukaryotes (organisms with cells with a nucleus like plants, fungi, and animals), despite the abscence of true operons, there are examples of clusters of co-regulated genes mostly involved in secondary metabolism. However, very little is known about how gene clustering patterns vary among taxa or with respect to functional roles. Furthermore, mechanisms of the formation, maintenance and evolution of gene clusters remain unknown.

    We set out to study this in fungi, the eukaryotic group that is best sampled in terms of fully-sequenced genomes. We surveyed 341 fungal genomes to discover gene clusters shared by different species, independently of their functions. We inferred 12,120 cluster families, which comprised roughly one third of the gene space and were enriched in genes associated with diverse cellular functions. Additionally, most clusters did not encode transcription factors, suggesting that they are regulated distally. We used phylogenomics to characterize the evolutionary history of these clusters. We found that most clusters originated once and were transmitted vertically, coupled to differential loss. However, convergent evolution, that is, independent appearance of the same cluster, was more prevalent than anticipated. Finally, horizontal gene transfer of entire clusters was somewhat restricted, with the exception of those associated with secondary metabolism. Altogether, our results provide insights on the evolution of gene clustering as well as a broad catalogue of evolutionarily conserved gene clusters whose function remains to be elucidated.

  • Magnetism: an unexpected push for the hydrogen economy (2019)

    Galán-Mascarós, José Ramón (ICIQ)

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    Magnetism: an unexpected push for the hydrogen economy

    Renewable energy sources are becoming competitive in the energy market (solar, wind…), but their high efficiency is bound to their transformation into electricity. However, electrical power is difficult to store and transport, whereas renewable energy sources are by definition intermittent. One promising solution could be to store electrical energy surplus into energy rich chemicals as green, carbon neutral energy vectors. Just substitution of fossil fuels by these green alternatives could sustain productivity (transportation and most industries depend on fuels), while avoiding environmental impact. The challenge resides in the low efficiency, and high costs of transforming electrical power into high-energy chemicals.

    Electrolytic water splitting – the reaction in which water is broken down into oxygen and hydrogen ­as the most simple green vector – still suffers from significant energy losses, low production rates, and prohibitive costs. Many research teams worldwide are working towards improving all these factors, while keeping the scalability and viability at reasonable costs.

    In a paper published in Nature Energy, scientists from ICIQ’s Galán-Mascarós and López groups describe how a magnet can directly enhance  hydrogen production in alkaline water splitting. The presence of an external magnetic field – induced by a neodymium magnet– can increase hydrogen production over 100% in some conditions, without additional energy consumption. The major hypothesis to explain this phenomenon describes the magnetic field directly boosting the molecular oxygen formation rates. Molecular oxygen (O2) requires the two oxygen radicals making the chemical bond to keep their spins aligned during the reaction pathway. Thus, the overall spin polarization induced by the external magnetic field, improves the efficiency of the process. 

    The simplicity of this new technological milestone has attracted several industrial partners that are already working with ICIQ in its implementation into industrial-size devices.

     

  • Near-infrared plasmons with atomically thin crystalline silver films (2019)

    García de Abajo, Francisco Javier (ICFO)

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    Near-infrared plasmons with atomically thin crystalline silver films

    Plasmons in noble metals, such as silver and gold, have been used to color glass since ancient times. In recent years, plasmonics has made its way through to become a key component in the field of optical devices essential in the miniaturization of optoelectronic devices to the nanoscale.

    It is known that plasmonic interactions between electrons and photons change significantly in materials when one or more of the dimensions of the metallic object are reduced down to the nanometer scale. The advent of graphene and other two-dimensional crystals has helped display appealing properties of plasmons such as a large electrical tunability. However, the plasmons generated in these materials are too broad or exist at too low frequencies, in a range that is well below the expected near-infrared regime needed for most optical devices.

    In a recent study in ACS Nano (cover image in July 2019), ICFO researchers in collaboration with the University of the Basque Country report on the fabrication and the excellent plasmonic and electronic properties of wafer scale atomically thin crystalline silver films composed of only a few atomic layers.

    Through a two-step process of fabrication and under ultrahigh-vacuum conditions, the team of researchers was able grow high-quality flat silver films on silicon wafers, with a thickness as small as seven atomic monolayers. The film quality was high enough to resolve quantum electronic states through angle-resolved photoemission. To excite and probe plasmons in this films, they first carved nanoribbon arrays, and then shined near-infrared light.

    The results of this study prove that atom-thin crystalline silver films are capable of supporting high-quality narrow plasmons in the near infrared. In addition, this study has proven that such material could be the perfect alternative to highly-doped graphene, which, despite its amazing properties, has so far reached the mid-infrared, far from the technologically attractive near-infrared region. The observation of these spectrally sharp and strongly confined plasmons in atomically thin silver holds great potential for electro-optical modulation and optical sensing applications.

     

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