This frog knows its face. I’ve shared before about the discovery that tiny electrical fields help cells determine where a nose should be, for example. I can’t get enough of how cool this is. “Picasso tadpoles make largely normal frog […]
Algae as asphalt’s green hero. “Algae-derived compounds can improve moisture resistance, flexibility and self-healing behavior in asphalt, potentially extending pavement life and reducing maintenance costs,” says Assoc. Prof. Elham Fini. ~ learn more
Plants’ secret language revealed. Scientists have unraveled a century-old mystery of how plants communicate stress. “We are trying to build a foundational knowledge of understanding how communication in plants happens,” explains Vesna Bacheva. The study shows plants use negative pressure […]
Meet targeted protein degraders. “Targeted Protein Degraders (TPDs) are a revolutionary class of drugs that hijack the cell’s natural waste disposal system to eliminate disease-causing proteins, rather than just inhibiting them.” By leveraging the cell’s own machinery, TPDs promise potent […]
Anxiety disorders tied to low levels of an essential nutrient in the brain. “This is the first meta-analysis to show a chemical pattern in the brain in anxiety disorders,” said Jason Smucny, co-author and an assistant professor in the Department […]
We induced smells with ultrasound. Researchers targeted the scent-processing region of the brain using an ultrasound probe. “We pointed an ultrasound probe at the scent-processing region of the brain to obtain different sensations,” including “the smell of garbage, like few-day-old […]
Tiny robots swim through blood, deliver drugs – and then dissolve. “A remote-controlled robot the size of a grain of sand can swim through blood vessels to deliver drugs before dissolving into the body.” This technology may enable targeted drug […]
A deep-sea worm uses toxins as armor. In blazing hydrothermal vents, Paralvinella hessleri transforms lethal arsenic into armor. “Inside this deep-sea chemistry lab, the two poisons lock together into solid orpiment (As₂S₃) crystals, transforming them from lethal threats into inert, […]
A trigger for lupus confirmed. Researchers have pinpointed the Epstein-Barr virus as a direct cause of lupus. “For the first time, we have a clear biological explanation of how Epstein-Barr virus can lead to lupus,” says Dr. William Robinson of […]
Nanoparticle vaccine breakthrough. Researchers at MIT have developed a new lipid nanoparticle that “significantly enhances the potency of mRNA vaccines,” making them 100 times more effective in mice and reducing dosage requirements. This could make vaccines cheaper and reduce liver […]