̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Jeremy Sanders

Miniature grinding mill closes in on the details of ‘green’ chemical reactions

cmm201 — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 11:14:29 +0000

̽��ֱ��study, published in Nature Communications and led by Cambridge Earth Sciences’ Dr Giulio Lampronti, observed reactions as materials were pulverised inside a miniaturised grinding mill — providing new detail on the structure and formation of crystals.

Knowledge of the structure of these newly-formed materials, which have been subjected to considerable pressures, helps scientists unravel the kinetics involved in mechanochemistry. But they are rarely able to observe it at the level of detail seen in this new work.

̽��ֱ��study also involved Dr Ana Belenguer and Professor Jeremy Sanders from Cambridge’s Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry.

Mechanochemistry is touted as a ‘green’ tool because it can make new materials without using bulk solvents that are harmful to the environment. Despite decades of research, the process behind these reactions remains poorly understood.

To learn more about mechanochemical reactions, scientists usually observe chemical transformations in real time, as ingredients are churned and ground in a mill — like mixing a cake — to create complex chemical components and materials.

Once milling has stopped, however, the material can keep morphing into something completely different, so scientists need to record the reaction with as little disturbance as possible — using an imaging technique called time-resolved in-situ analysis to essentially capture a movie of the reactions. But, until now, this method has only offered a grainy picture of the unfolding reactions.

By shrinking the mills and taking the sample size down from several hundred milligrams to less than ten milligrams, Lampronti and the team were able to more accurately capture the size and microscopic structure of crystals using a technique called X-ray diffraction.

̽��ֱ��down-scaled analysis could also allow scientists to study smaller, safer, quantities of toxic or expensive materials. “We realised that this miniaturised setup had several other important advantages, aside from better structural analysis,” said Lampronti. “ ̽��ֱ��smaller sample size also means that more challenging analyses of scarce and toxic materials becomes possible, and it’s also exciting because it opens up the study of mechanochemistry to all areas of chemistry and materials science.”

“ ̽��ֱ��combination of new miniature jars designed by Ana, and the experimental and analytical techniques introduced by Giulio, promise to transform our ability to follow and understand solid-state reactions as they happen,” said Sanders.

̽��ֱ��team observed a range of reactions with their new miniaturised setup, covering organic and inorganic materials as well as metal-organic materials — proving their technique could be applied to a wide range of industry problems. One of the materials they studied, ZIF-8, could be used for carbon capture and storage, because of its ability to capture large amounts of CO2. ̽��ֱ��new view on these materials meant they were able to uncover previously undetected structural details, including distortion of the crystal lattice in the ZIF-8 framework.

Lampronti says their new developments could not only become routine practice for the study of mechanochemistry, but also offer up completely new directions for research in this influential field, “Our method allows for much faster kinetics, and will open up doors for previously inaccessible reactions — this could really change the playing field of mechanochemistry as we know it.”

Reference:
Giulio I. Lampronti et al. ‘Changing the game of time resolved X-ray diffraction on the mechanochemistry playground by downsizing.’ Nature Communications (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-26264-1

Scientists at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge have developed a new approach for observing mechanochemical reactions — where simple ingredients are ground up to make new chemical compounds and materials that can be used in anything from the pharmaceutical to the metallurgical, cement and mineral industries.

It's exciting because it opens up the study of mechanochemistry to all areas of chemistry and materials science

Giulio Lampronti

Photo by Chokniti Khongchum from Pexels

Person in laboratory holding a flask

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Harnessing the possibilities of the nanoworld

sc604 — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 23:00:02 +0000

̽��ֱ��laws of thermodynamics govern the behaviour of materials in the macro world, while quantum mechanics describes behaviour of particles at the other extreme, in the world of single atoms and electrons.

But in the middle, on the order of around 10–100,000 molecules, something different is going on. Because it’s such a tiny scale, the particles have a really big surface-area-to-volume ratio. This means the energetics of what goes on at the surface become very important, much as they do on the atomic scale, where quantum mechanics is often applied.

Classical thermodynamics breaks down. But because there are so many particles, and there are many interactions between them, the quantum model doesn’t quite work either.

And because there are so many particles doing different things at the same time, it’s difficult to simulate all their interactions using a computer. It’s also hard to gather much experimental information, because we haven’t yet developed the capacity to measure behaviour on such a tiny scale.

This conundrum becomes particularly acute when we’re trying to understand crystallisation, the process by which particles, randomly distributed in a solution, can form highly ordered crystal structures, given the right conditions.

Chemists don’t really understand how this works. How do around 10¹⁸ molecules, moving around in solution at random, come together to form a micro- to millimetre size ordered crystal? Most remarkable perhaps is the fact that in most cases every crystal is ordered in the same way every time the crystal is formed.

However, it turns out that different conditions can sometimes yield different crystal structures. These are known as polymorphs, and they’re important in many branches of science including medicine – a drug can behave differently in the body depending on which polymorph it’s crystallised in.

What we do know so far about the process, at least according to one widely accepted model, is that particles in solution can come together to form a nucleus, and once a critical mass is reached we see crystal growth. ̽��ֱ��structure of the nucleus determines the structure of the final crystal, that is, which polymorph we get.

What we have not known until now is what determines the structure of the nucleus in the first place, and that happens on the nanoscale.

In this paper, the authors have used mechanochemistry – that is milling and grinding – to obtain nanosized particles, small enough that surface effects become significant. In other words, the chemistry of the nanoworld – which structures are the most stable at this scale, and what conditions affect their stability, has been studied for the first time with carefully controlled experiments.

And by changing the milling conditions, for example by adding a small amount of solvent, the authors have been able to control which polymorph is the most stable. Professor Jeremy Sanders of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge's Department of Chemistry, who led the work, said “It is exciting that these simple experiments, when carried out with great care, can unexpectedly open a new door to understanding the fundamental question of how surface effects can control the stability of nanocrystals.”

Joel Bernstein, Global Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at NYU Abu Dhabi, and an expert in crystal growth and structure, explains: “ ̽��ֱ��authors have elegantly shown how to experimentally measure and simulate situations where you have two possible nuclei, say A and B, and determine that A is more stable. And they can also show what conditions are necessary in order for these stabilities to invert, and for B to become more stable than A.”

“This is really news, because you can’t make those predictions using classical thermodynamics, and nor is this the quantum effect. But by doing these experiments, the authors have started to gain an understanding of how things do behave on this size regime, and how we can predict and thus control it. ̽��ֱ��elegant part of the experiment is that they have been able to nucleate A and B selectively and reversibly.”

One of the key words of chemical synthesis is ‘control’. Chemists are always trying to control the properties of materials, whether that’s to make a better dye or plastic, or a drug that’s more effective in the body. So if we can learn to control how molecules in a solution come together to form solids, we can gain a great deal. This work is a significant first step in gaining that control.

Reference:
A. M. Belenguer et al. 'Solvation and surface effects on polymorph stabilities at the nanoscale.' Chemical Science (2016). DOI: 10.1039/c6sc03457h

Originally published on the Royal Society of Chemistry website.

Scientists have long suspected that the way materials behave on the nanoscale – that is when particles have dimensions of about 1–100 nanometres – is different from how they behave on any other scale. A new paper in the journal Chemical Science provides concrete proof that this is the case.

It is exciting that these simple experiments, when carried out with great care, can unexpectedly open a new door to understanding the fundamental question of how surface effects can control the stability of nanocrystals.

Jeremy Sanders

Peter Gorges

Snow Crystal Landscape

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Galactic ‘vapour trails’ uncovered in giant cluster

fpjl2 — Fri, 20 Sep 2013 09:44:57 +0000

Unusual gas filament ‘arms’ have been found in the central region of the Coma cluster, a large collection of thousands of galaxies located about 300 million light years from Earth - and one of the largest structures in the Universe held together by gravity.

These remarkably long arms – which bear resemblance to vast galactic vapour trails - glow in X-ray light, and tell astronomers about the collisions that took place between Coma and other galaxy clusters over the last billion years.

A team of astronomers from Cambridge and the Max Planck Institute discovered the enormous X-ray vapour trails – spanning at least half a million light years – in Coma by using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory as well as ESA’s XMM-Newton. ̽��ֱ��elongated filaments of hot gas were revealed after enhancing the detail in Chandra X-ray images, shown in purple above.

Researchers think that these arms were most likely formed when smaller galaxy clusters had their hot gas stripped away while merging with the larger Coma cluster. This would have left a trail of superheated gas behind them similar to a jet leaving behind trails of water vapour as it moves across the sky.

Coma is an unusual galaxy cluster because it contains not one, but two giant elliptical galaxies near its centre. These two giant elliptical galaxies are probably the trace remains of each of the two largest galaxies that merged with Coma in the past. There are also other signs of past collisions and mergers that the researchers were able to uncover in the data.

̽��ֱ��newly discovered X-ray arms are thought to be about 300 million years old, and they appear to have a rather smooth shape. This gives researchers some clues about the conditions of the hot gas in Coma. Most theoretical models expect that mergers between clusters like those in Coma will produce strong turbulence, like ocean water that has been churned by passing ships. Instead, the smooth shape of these lengthy arms points to a rather calm setting for the hot gas in the Coma cluster, even after many mergers.

“Coma is like a giant cosmic train wreck where several clusters have collided with each other. We hadn’t expected that these rather delicate straight filaments would survive in that environment,” said lead author Dr Jeremy Sanders, who conducted much of the research whilst at Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy alongside Professor Andrew Fabian.

“ ̽��ֱ��existence of these long straight structures appears to point towards the centre of the Coma cluster being a much calmer environment than we had expected.”

Elongated structures of hot gas found after enhancing the detail in images taken with the Chandra (pink) and on larger scales XMM-Newton (purple) X-ray observatories

Two of the arms appear to be connected to a group of galaxies located about two million light years from the centre of Coma. One or both of the arms connects to a larger structure seen in the XMM-Newton data, and spans a distance of at least 1.5 million light years. A very thin tail also appears behind one of the galaxies in Coma. This is probably evidence of gas being stripped from a single galaxy, in addition to the groups or clusters that have merged there.

Galaxy clusters are the largest objects held together by gravity in the universe. ̽��ֱ��collisions and mergers between galaxy clusters of similar mass are the most energetic events in the nearby universe. These new results are important for understanding the physics of these enormous objects and how they grow.

Large-scale magnetic fields are likely responsible for the small amount of turbulence that is present in Coma. Estimating the amount of turbulence in a galaxy cluster has been a challenging problem for astrophysicists. Researchers have found a range of answers, some of them conflicting, and so observations of other clusters are needed.

These new results on the Coma cluster, which incorporate over six days worth of Chandra observing time, appears in the latest issue of the journal Science.

Text adapted from a NASA Chandra press release

Astronomers have discovered enormous smooth shapes that look like vapour trails in a gigantic galaxy cluster. These ‘arms’ span half a million light years and provide researchers with clues to a billion years of collisions within the “giant cosmic train wreck” of the Coma cluster.

Coma is like a giant cosmic train wreck where several clusters have collided with each other. We hadn’t expected that these rather delicate straight filaments would survive in that environment

Jeremy Sanders

NASA Chandra

Revealed elongated filaments of hot gas found after enhancing the detail in Chandra X-ray images (purple), also showing the optical light galaxies in cluster (taken from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey)

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Cambridge academics recognised by ̽��ֱ��Royal Society

bjb42 — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0000

̽��ֱ��awards are in recognition of the scientists' achievements in a wide variety of fields of research - the uniting factor is the excellence of their work and the profound implications their findings have had for others in their relevant fields.

Two Cambridge scientists have been awarded Royal Medals, Professors Ron Laskey FRS and Christopher Dobson FRS. Professor Laskey holds the Charles Darwin Chair in the Department of Zoology and is the Joint Director of the MRC Cancer Cell Unit. Professor Christopher Dobson is the John Humphrey Plummer Professor of Chemical and Structural Biology in the Department of Chemistry and the Master of St John's College. His research interests are primarily focused on the investigation of the structures and properties of biological molecules, especially proteins, and their relationship to biological evolution and disease.

Professor Ashok Venkitaraman, Joint Director of the MRC Cancer Cell Unit with Professor Laskey, said: “Ron Laskey’s work has over the years has provided a foundation for many topical and important fields in biomedical research, ranging from nuclear transfer and embryo cloning, to mammalian DNA replication. ̽��ֱ��way in which he has translated his fundamental research on DNA replication to the development of important new tools for the early diagnosis of human cancers is a lesson in how biological knowledge can be used to benefit human health. He has mentored and nurtured the careers of many younger colleagues. I am delighted that Ron's outstanding contributions to the biomedical sciences have been recognised by the Royal Society.”

Also among those honoured this year is Professor Jeremy Sanders FRS, Head of the School of Physical Sciences and Fellow of Selwyn College. He receives the Davy Medal for his pioneering contributions to several fields, most recently to the field of dynamic combinatorial chemistry at the forefront of supramolecular chemistry.

This medal is awarded annually for an outstandingly important recent discovery in chemistry. When first awarded in 1877, the medal was jointly awarded to Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff for their research and discoveries in spectrum analysis.

Also included in this year’s recipients is Professor David MacKay FRS, Professor of Natural Philosophy at the Department of Physics, who will give the Clifford Paterson Lecture. Professor MacKay used his expertise in information theory to design a widely-used interface called "dasher" that allows disabled people to write efficiently using a single finger or head-mounted pointer. He is also author of the critically acclaimed book, “Sustainable Energy – without the hot air”, which sets out the various low-carbon energy options open to society.

Dr Jason Chin, Group Leader at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology (MRC-LMB) and a Fellow at Trinity College, will give the Francis Crick Lecture.

Additionally, Sir Martin Evans FRS, formerly of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, has been awarded the Royal Society’s Copley medal, the world’s oldest prize for scientific achievement, for his seminal work on embryonic stem cells in mice, which revolutionised the field of genetics. Sir Martin, Director of the School of Biosciences and Professor of Mammalian Genetics at Cardiff ̽��ֱ��, was one of three winners of the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2007. He received the honour for “a series of ground-breaking discoveries concerning embryonic stem cells and DNA recombination in mammals.”

̽��ֱ��Royal Society, the UK’s independent academy for science, has announced the recipients of its 2009 Awards, Medals, Royal Medals and Lectures today, four of whom are current Cambridge researchers.

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Cambridge graduate wins Nobel Prize for Chemistry

bjb42 — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Professor Roger Tsien, who completed his PhD at the university in 1978, has been awarded a share in the prize for increasing understanding of the bright green fluorescent protein GFP. He also extended the range of colours that scientists can use allowing them to watch numerous cellular processes at the same time.

He shares the prize with two other scientists, Osamu Shimomura and Martin Chalfie, for their work identifying and developing the fluorescent protein GFP. It was first found in the jellyfish Aequorea victoria in 1962.

GFP can be tagged onto proteins providing scientists a window into the cell. They can now watch the actions of thousands of proteins that regulate a diverse range of processes; from how we feel pain to controlling hunger and providing further insights to diseases such as cancer and Huntington's. Before this technology the actions of the thousands of proteins used by humans were invisible to scientists.

Roger Tsien took his Bachelor's degree at Harvard then came to Churchill College, Cambridge to study for a PhD in the Department of Physiology. He spent much of his time working in the Department of Chemistry where he was supervised by Professor Jeremy Sanders:

"Roger decided that it was important to know the concentration of calcium in cells, and he had a entirely novel idea about how to measure it," said Professor Sanders.

"His idea was to design a molecule that could get into cells and change colour when it contacted calcium ions. It was a brilliant conception, combining chemistry and biology. He made the compound in chemistry, then he went back to Physiology and proved his idea worked. Roger's original compound, and its descendants, have transformed our understanding of cell biology. He has continued his work in this area, and is an inspiration to everyone who reads his work or hears him speak."

After completing his PhD he was the Comyns Berkeley Unofficial Fellow at Gonville and Caius from 1977 to 1981, before moving back to the USA. Professor Tsien is now based at the ̽��ֱ�� of California San Diego.

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge has more Nobel Prize winners, 83, than any other institution.

Announcing the prize the Nobel Foundation stated: "With the aid of GFP, researchers have developed ways to watch processes that were previously invisible, such as the development of nerve cells in the brain or how cancer cells spread."

̽��ֱ��Nobel Foundation awards the prizes each year for achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, peace and literature.

A ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge graduate is one of three winners of the 2008 Nobel Prize for Chemistry.

Roger's original compound, and its descendants, have transformed our understanding of cell biology.

Professor Jeremy Sanders

ssoosay from Flickr

Chemistry

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Yes

Professor Emeritus honoured for brilliant contribution to science

bjb42 — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0000

̽��ֱ��Prize is a new biennial award sponsored by publishers Elsevier in collaboration with the international journal, Chemical Physics Letters. It is given to individual scientists who have made significant and creative contributions to the various disciplines associated with molecular sciences.

David Buckingham first studied at the ̽��ֱ�� of Sydney, coming to Cambridge to research for his PhD. After academic posts at Oxford and Bristol, he took up the Chair of Chemistry at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge in 1969.

Nobel Laureate Professor Ahmed Zewail, in whose name the award is made and who was granted an honorary doctorate from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge in June, commented: “I am delighted with this recognition of David for his brilliant contributions in a career rich with scientific and human achievements.”

Professor Buckingham has made many original theoretical and experimental contributions to the molecular sciences. His research has provided a fundamental understanding of how molecules are perturbed by electromagnetic radiation, magnetic and electric fields and other molecules.

“Very few scientists have impacted molecular sciences with the originality, breadth and depth of David Buckingham, who epitomizes the best in clarity of thought, sincerity and magnanimity,” Ahmed Zewail continued.

Professor Jeremy Sanders, Head of Chemistry at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, added: “We are delighted that David’s profound contributions to science have been recognised by the inaugural award of this prestigious international prize.”

̽��ֱ��Prize consists of $20,000, a gold medal and a certificate and will be presented during the 2007 Spring meeting of the American Chemical Society in Chicago, USA.

Professor David Buckingham of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge has been awarded the first Ahmed Zewail Prize in Molecular Sciences.

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Yes

Cambridge Academics elected as new Fellows of the Royal Society

bjb42 — Tue, 23 May 2006 00:00:00 +0000

̽��ֱ��new Fellows, elected for their scientific excellence, are:

Professor Andrew Hopper, a Fellow of Corpus Christi, is Professor of Computer Technology and Head of Department in the Computer Laboratory. Professor Hopper is a world leader in computer network design and mobile computing, distinguished for his use of large industry-based research groups to develop new concepts and their commercial exploitation in tandem. His vision of `Sentient Computing', involving the movement of people and sensors, has widely inspired academic research.

Professor Richard James Jackson is Professor of RNA Biochemistry at the Department of Biochemistry and a Fellow of Pembroke College. Richard is distinguished for his contributions to understanding the mechanism and regulation of initiation of eukaryotic messenger RNA translation. He co-discovered the regulation of translation initiation via phosphorylation of a translation initiation facto.

Professor Michael Richard Edward Proctor is Professor of Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics and is internationally recognised for his fundamental contributions to nonlinear convection theory and to the understanding of fluid dynamos. With WVR Malkus, he was the first to elucidate the so-called Malkus-Proctor-effect and showed that the appropriate scaling for geomagnetic equilibration is independent of viscosity. He is a Fellow and Vice- Master of Trinity College.

Professor Nicholas Ian Shepherd-Barron, a Fellow of Trinity College, is Professor of Algebraic Geometry and is one of the world's leading algebraic geometers and his work has had a major impact on modern work on classification of higher dimensional varieties. He has provided remarkable solutions to many deep and difficult problems across a broad range of topics in algebraic geometry and related areas of number theory.

Lord Browne of Madingley, a Cambridge graduate and chairman of the Judge Business School’s Advisory Board, is Group Chief Executive of BP p.l.c. and is distinguished for his application of science, particularly of earth science, to the transformation of a major UK company, BP, and in this way improving peoples' way of life, and also for his leadership of the climate debate within the oil and gas industry. He was made an Honorary Fellow of St John’s College in 1997.

Professor Austin Gerard Smith is MRC Professor at the Institute for Stem Cell Research at the ̽��ֱ�� of Edinburgh and Chair of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge. He has carried out path breaking work on the mechanisms of self-renewal and lineage commitment in mammalian pluripotent embryonic stem cells.

Professor Ruth Marion Lynden-Bell, Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� Centre for Computational Chemistry is the sole female from Cambridge to be elected this year. She is an Emeritus Professor at Queen's ̽��ֱ�� Belfast and Emerita Fellow of New Hall. During the last twenty years her own research has involved using computers to model liquids, solutions and surfaces. Currently her main interests are trying to understand the properties of room temperature ionic liquids and those of water.

̽��ֱ��Head of the Department of Chemistry, Professor Jeremy Sanders, said, “I have known and admired Ruth for many years. She has always combined her intellectual rigour with a deep humanity. ̽��ֱ��Department is absolutely delighted that her contributions to science have been recognized in this way.”

Professor Lynden-Bell returned to Cambridge in 2003 after 8 years as Professor at Queen's ̽��ֱ�� in Belfast where she went as a joint founder of the interdisciplinary Atomistic Simulation Centre. ̽��ֱ��centre used computational modelling at the atomic and molecular scale to study problems in fields ranging from Chemistry, through Materials Science to Physics.

̽��ֱ��Royal Society is the world's oldest scientific academy in continuous existence, and has been at the forefront of enquiry and discovery since its foundation in 1660. ̽��ֱ��backbone of the Society is its Fellowship of the most eminent scientists of the day, elected by peer review for life and entitled to use FRS after their name.

Seven Cambridge scientists have been recognised for their contributions to science, engineering and medicine with their election to the Fellowship of the Royal Society.

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Yes

Black holes are intergalactic

bjb42 — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Cambridge scientists have found dramatic new evidence that black holes are far more powerful than was previously thought: their impact reaches across enormous distances by heating up the gas spread between galaxies. This heating effect helps keep our galaxies the size they are. Stars form when gases cool, so by keeping the gas warmer, black holes stifle the formation of new stars.

“It is as if a heat source the size of a fingernail heats up a region the size of Earth,” explained Professor Andrew Fabian of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, and lead author of a report on this research which will appear in an upcoming issue of ‘Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society’.

̽��ֱ��scientists made the findings by analysing data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory which is currently orbiting the Earth (launched by Space Shuttle Columbia in 1999). They spotted energetic plumes of particles extending an astonishing 300,000 light years into a massive cluster of galaxies. ̽��ֱ��plumes are believed to emanate from huge vents of particles exploding from the area around a supermassive black hole, a massive reaction to when objects fall into the black hole. This provides clear new evidence that the influence of a black hole can reach over intergalactic distances.

Fabian’s group discovered the plumes by studying data from 280 hours (more than 1 million seconds) of Chandra observations of the Perseus cluster of galaxies. It is the longest X-ray observation ever taken of a galaxy cluster.

" ̽��ֱ��plumes show that the black hole has been venting for at least 100 million years, and probably much longer," said co-author Dr Jeremy Sanders, also of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge. “ ̽��ֱ��venting process has slowed the growth of the central galaxy in the cluster, NGC 1275, which is one of the largest galaxies in the Universe.”

“Until 1970 people thought that stars were the most influential elements in the universe. This study is part of a growing realisation that sometimes black holes dominate far more than stars: in fact they have the power to stifle the formation of stars,” said Professor Fabian.

Longest ever X-ray observation of a galaxy cluster proves that black holes reach over massive intergalactic distances and stop largest galaxies growing

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Yes