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Rice scientists combine graphene foam, epoxy into tough, conductive composite

While making smart glue, a team of engineers discovered a handy byproduct: hydrogen peroxide. In microgel form, it reduces bacteria and virus ability to infect by at least 99 percent.

In collaboration with fellow researchers, chemists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed a process that, according to initial calculations, can facilitate economically removing the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The latest World Climate Report (IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 ° C) acknowledges the global relevance of the process.

National Institutes of Health scientists and their collaborators found that hepatitis B virus (HBV)-associated acute liver failure (ALF)--a rare condition that can turn fatal within days without liver transplantation--results from an uncommon encounter between a highly mutated HBV variant and an unusual immune response in the patient's liver that is mainly sustained by antibody-producing B cells.

An international team of drought scientists show that while many dams and reservoirs are built, or expanded, to alleviate droughts and water shortages, they can paradoxically contribute to make them worse. The study is published in Nature Sustainability.

Technique enables direct imaging of neural tissue; could lead to earlier detection of diseases affecting eye tissue

Materials scientists at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) have achieved a new record in the performance of organic non-fullerene based single-junction solar cells. Using a series of complex optimisations, they achieved certified power conversion efficiency of 12.25 percent on a surface area measuring one square centimetre. This standardised surface area is the preliminary stage for prototype manufacture. The results achieved in conjunction with partners from the South China University of Technology (SCUT) have now been published in the renowned journal ‘Nature Energy’.

An international collaboration uses laser-generated stars to determine the Earth's magnetic field in the sodium layer of the atmosphere

Biodiversity goes beyond species diversity. Another important aspect of biodiversity is genetic variation within species. A notable example is the immense variety of cultivars and landraces of crop plants and their wild progenitors. An international research consortium led by the of the IPK Gatersleben and supported by the iDiv research centre has now characterised at the molecular level a world collection of barley comprising seed samples from a total of more than 22,000 varieties. In a study published in the journal Nature Genetics, the scientists usher in a new era for gene banks that transform from museums of past crop diversity into bio-digital resource centres.

The African elephantnose fish generates weak electrical pulses to navigate its environment. This localization sense apparently shows an astonishing similarity to vision, as a study by the University of Bonn now shows. The study demonstrates that different objects have different electrical “colors”. Fish use these colors for instance to distinguish their favorite food - mosquito larvae - from other small animals or plants. The study is published in the renowned journal “Current Biology”.

More than 135 researchers and students from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) presented their latest findings at the 60th annual meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics -- a worldwide gathering focused on fundamental plasma science research and discoveries. Some 1,700 participants from more than two dozen countries joined the November 5-to-9 event in Portland, Oregon, presenting posters and talks on topics ranging from astrophysical plasmas to nanotechnology to magnetic confinement fusion experiments.

By comparing genetic sequences in the eye tumors of children whose cancers spread with tumors that didn't spread, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers report new evidence that a domino effect in cells is responsible for the cancer spreading. Their experiments suggest that blocking part of the chain of events -- which they successfully accomplished in zebra fish and human cells -- stops the growth and spread of the eye tumor cells.

Carnegie Mellon University researchers have developed a synthetic molecule that can recognize and bind to double-stranded DNA or RNA under normal physiological conditions. The molecule could provide a new platform for developing methods for the diagnosis and treatment of genetic conditions. Their findings are published in Communications Chemistry, a new Nature journal.

Scientists at the University of Liverpool have discovered a new and important function of a toxin produced by disease-causing bacteria that could have significant implications for future vaccine design.

This week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA a research team from the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) reports that there is a critical period in infant and young brains, when a specific gene needs to be activated to make complex learning in adulthood at all possible. The findings may have implications for child education and treatment of psychiatric disorders in which brain development was disturbed.

A team of scientists from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), in collaboration with the Monash University Australia, has succeeded in significantly increasing the stability and biocompatibility of special light-transducing nanoparticles. The team has developed so-called “upconverting” nanoparticles that not only convert infrared light into UV-visible light, but also are water-soluble, remain stable in complex body fluids such as blood serum, and can be used to store medications. They have created a tool that could potentially make the fight against cancer significantly more effective. The results were published in the journal "Angewandte Chemie" (DOI: 10.1002/anie.201811003).

A new Research Training Group aims to decode the complex structure of peptides. The German Research Foundation is to provide EUR 4.5 million in funding for the research

UMass Amherst materials scientists have developed a method for making a charge-storing system that is easily integrated into clothing for 'embroidering a charge-storing pattern onto any garment'

Researchers at the Center for Quantum Nanoscience (QNS) within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) achieved a major breakthrough in shielding the quantum properties of single atoms on a surface.

Popping the top on house paint usually draws people to look inside the can. But Princeton researchers have turned their gaze upward, to the underside of the lid, where it turns out that pattern of droplets could inspire new ways to make microscopically small structures.

Innovative experimental scheme can create tailor-made mirror molecules

A newly discovered mechanism of the immune system may lead to new approaches in airway drug delivery

Minimally invasive patch delivers exact doses directly into cells, lessens pain, toxicity