A research team has addressed the long-standing challenge of creating artificial olfactory sensors with arrays of diverse high-performance gas sensors. Their newly developed biomimetic olfactory chips (BOC) are able to integrate nanotube...
When you need to measure white blood cell counts, it usually involves trips to clinics and expensive equipment for analysis. Likewise, checking water quality for contaminants can be a lengthy process.
Engineers designed an 'architected' reef that can mimic the wave-buffering effects of natural reefs while providing pockets for marine life. The sustainable and cost-saving structure could dissipate more than 95 percent of incoming wave...
What would you do if you walked up to a robot with a human-like head and it smiled at you first? You'd likely smile back and perhaps feel the two of you were genuinely interacting. But how does a robot know how to do this? Or a better...
Researchers are enhancing immunotherapy effects against malignant tumors by developing and validating patent-ending poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid), or PLGA, nanoparticles modified with adenosine triphosphate, or ATP.
Blood is a remarkable material: it must remain fluid inside blood vessels, yet clot as quickly as possible outside them, to stop bleeding. The chemical cascade that makes this possible is well understood for vertebrate blood. But...
Do you ever wonder how researchers identify bacterial infections? Traditionally, they collect samples from the infected site, grow the bacteria in a lab, and analyze them using a method called MALDI-ToF-MS. Although accurate, this method...
Entropy, the amount of molecular disorder, is produced in several systems but cannot be measured directly. A new equation sheds new light on how entropy is produced on a very short time scale in laser excited materials.
An international research team has designed and manufactured a virus-killing surface that could help control disease spread in hospitals, labs and other high-risk environments.
Pushing for a higher speed isn't just for athletes. Researchers, too, can achieve such feats with their discoveries. A new device called SCARF (for swept-coded aperture real-time femtophotography) can capture transient absorption in a...
Researchers at Goethe University Frankfurt and Kiel University have developed a novel sensor for the detection of bacteria. It is based on a chip with an innovative surface coating that ensures only very specific microorganisms adhere to...
Scientists report they have extracted a compound with powerful antibacterial properties from the skin of farmed African catfish. Although additional testing is necessary to prove the compound is safe and effective for use as future...
A team of engineers has recently built a tissue-like bioelectronic mesh system integrated with an array of atom-thin graphene sensors that can simultaneously measure both the electrical signal and the physical movement of cells in...
Engineers have discovered a new way to manufacture solar cells using perovskite semiconductors. It could lead to lower-cost, more efficient systems for powering homes, cars, boats and drones.
Researchers have recently published FreeDTS -- a shared software package designed to model and study biological membranes at the mesoscale -- the scale 'in between' the larger macro level and smaller micro level. This software fills an...
A team of aroma chemists at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, working with psychologist colleagues from the Technical University of Dresden, has uncovered the reasons for the dissimilar smells between babies and...
Certain types of peptides and microproteins for drug discovery research can be made more efficiently and quickly using a reaction solvent that helps mimic nature's way.
A 3D-printed 'brain phantom' has been developed, which is modeled on the structure of brain fibers and can be imaged using a special variant of magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI). The scientific team has now shown in a study, these brain...
Finding viable alternatives to traditional petroleum-based plastics and microplastics has never been more important. New research shows that their plant-based polymers biodegrade -- even at the microplastic level -- in under seven months.
A new way to make an important ingredient for plastics, adhesives, carpet fibers, household cleaners and more from natural gas could reduce manufacturing costs in a post-petroleum economy by millions of dollars, thanks to a new chemical...
Microplastics are tiny, nearly indestructible fragments shed from everyday plastic products. As we learn more about microplastics, the news keeps getting worse. Already well-documented in our oceans and soil, we're now discovering them...
A cross-disciplinary team has developed a new contact lens material that could act as a bandage for corneal wounds while releasing drugs in a controlled manner to help the eye heal faster.
Researchers have incorporated a swept illumination source into an open-top light-sheet microscope to enable improved optical sectioning over a larger area of view. The advance makes the technique more practical for nondestructive 3D...
If it walks like a particle, and talks like a particle... it may still not be a particle. A topological soliton is a special type of wave or dislocation which behaves like a particle: it can move around but cannot spread out and...
Lithium-ion rechargeable batteries are showing up in ever more devices, and the increasing use of this technology means more lithium is expected to find its way into the environment as a contaminant. In new research, a team has explored...
Once thrown away, disposable diapers and sanitary pads can take hundreds of years to decompose, because they contain plastics and other synthetic polymers. But now, researchers are replacing these materials with components made from...
At first glance, Rabih Al-Kaysi's molecular motors look like the microscopic worms you'd see in a drop of pond water. But these wriggling ribbons are not alive; they're made from crystallized molecules that perform coordinated movements...
In a new study, researchers describe a novel approach for a wireless communication network that can efficiently transmit, receive and decode data from thousands of microelectronic chips that are each no larger than a grain of salt.
In a step toward nanofluidic-based neuromorphic -- or brain-inspired -- computing, engineers have succeeded in executing a logic operation by connecting two chips that use ions, rather than electrons, to process data.
Researchers have discovered that the mere act of attaching their microparticle 'backpacks' to neutrophils is enough to activate them against cancer -- no drugs needed. In experiments, backpack-bearing neutrophils shrank tumors and...
By evaluating sound vibrations produced by the airflow induced within the lungs and bronchial tree during normal breathing as well as those produced by the larynx during vocalizations, doctors can identify potential disease-related...
Since the 1970s, the federal government has listed the active ingredients in mushrooms—psilocybin and psilocin—as illegal and having no accepted medical use.
Once thrown away, disposable items such as diapers and sanitary pads can take hundreds of years to decompose, because their absorbent parts and waterproof layers contain plastics and other synthetic polymers. But now, researchers are...
A new report uncovers how hydrogen gas, the energy of the future, provided energy in the past, at the origin of life 4 billion years ago. Hydrogen gas is clean fuel. It burns with oxygen in the air to provide energy with no CO2. Hydrogen...
During cold and flu season, excess mucus is a common, unpleasant symptom of illness, but the slippery substance is essential to human health. To better understand its many roles, researchers synthesized the major component of mucus, the...
Performing a new task based solely on verbal or written instructions, and then describing it to others so that they can reproduce it, is a cornerstone of human communication that still resists artificial intelligence (AI). A team has...
Load-bearing structures like bridges and shelters can be made with origami modules -- versatile components that can fold compactly and adapt into different shapes -- engineers have demonstrated.
In a first for the condensate field, researchers have figured out how nucleolar sub-structures are assembled. This organization gives rise to unique pH profiles within nucleoli, which they measured and compared with the pH of nearby...
Mosquito-borne illnesses remain a formidable challenge threatening millions of people each year with diseases such as malaria, dengue, zika and chikungunya.
Insects are typically unwelcome visitors to a picnic, but they could be a flavorful, nutritious and sustainable addition to the menu. Eating insects is common in some parts of the world, and some species are even considered delicacies.
Kombucha is a fermented tea known for its health benefits and tangy kick. But brewers can find it challenging to keep kombucha's alcohol levels low because the bacteria and yeast used in the fermentation process vary from batch to batch.
Bioengineers have invented a thin, flexible device that adheres to the neck and translates the muscle movements of the larynx into audible speech. The device is trained through machine learning to recognize which muscle movements...
Researchers have created a DNA origami platform called DoriVac, whose core component is a self-assembling square block-shaped nanostructure. DoriVac vaccines enabled tumor-bearing mice to better control the growth of tumors and to...
A printable organic polymer that assembles into chiral structures when printed has enabled researchers to reliably measure the amount of charge produced in spin-to-charge conversion within a spintronic material at room temperature.
In order to limit the increase in global average temperature to 1.5 C, it is essential to drastically reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere. This would mean not exploiting most of the existing coal, conventional gas and oil...
Automated insulin dosing systems combine low-cost blood-glucose monitors with insulin pumps that use precision dosing to continuously regulate blood-sugar and hold it steady. Synthetic biologists have found a way to piggyback on the...
Materials that are incredibly thin, only a few atoms thick, exhibit unique properties that make them appealing for energy storage, catalysis and water purification. Researchers have now developed a method that enables the synthesis of...