Science

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An alternative to platinum: Iron-nitrogen compounds as catalysts in graphene

Fuel cells convert the chemical energy stored in hydrogen (H2) into electrical energy by electrochemically "combusting" hydrogen gas with oxygen (O2) from the air into water (H2O), thereby generating electricity. As a result, future electric automobiles might be operated quite well with fuel cells instead of with heavy batteries. But for "cold" combustion of hydrogen and oxygen to function well, the anode and cathode of the fuel cell must be coated with extremely active catalysts. The problem is that the platinum-based catalysts employed for this contribute about 25 per cent of the total fuel-cell costs.

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Nano-island of graphene in which iron-nitrogen complexes are embedded. The FeN4 complexes (shown in orange) are catalytically active.

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Researchers from the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA have created a new technique that greatly enhances digital microscopy images

The development is significant because digital imagery has led to many advances in microscopy, but digital microscopic imaging can sometimes result in blurry, pixelated images.

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The image sensor of the wavelength scanning super-resolution apparatus collects a “stack” of images of the sample.

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Designing a pop-up future: Simple origami fold may hold the key to designing pop-up furniture, medical devices and scientific tools

What if you could make any object out of a flat sheet of paper?

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This image shows various shapes made from Miura-ori pattern.

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Theorists Propose a New Method to Probe the Beginning of the Universe

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Microscopic drug 'depots' boost efficacy against tumors in animal model

Biomedical engineering researchers have developed a technique for creating microscopic "depots" for trapping drugs inside cancer tumors. In an animal model, these drug depots were 10 times more effective at shrinking tumors than the use of the same drugs without the depots.

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Biomedical engineering researchers have developed a technique for creating microscopic "depots" for trapping drugs inside cancer tumors. In an animal model, these drug depots were 10 times more effective at shrinking tumors than the use of the same drugs without the depots.

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Highly efficient heavy metal ions filter

In November 2015, Brazil experienced an unparalleled environmental disaster. When two dams broke at an iron ore mine, a poisonous cocktail of heavy metals was sent pouring into the Rio Doce, reaching the Atlantic some days later. The consequences were devastating for nature and humans alike: countless fish, birds and animals died, and a quarter of a million people were left without drinking water.

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In November 2015, Brazil experienced an unparalleled environmental disaster. When two dams broke at an iron ore mine, a poisonous cocktail of heavy metals was sent pouring into the Rio Doce, reaching the Atlantic some days later. The consequences were devastating for nature and humans alike: countless fish, birds and animals died, and a quarter of a million people were left without drinking water.The contaminated water (colored water in vials) is drawn through the hybrid membrane by negative pressure; the heavy metal ions (red spheres) bind to the protein fibers in the process. The filtered water is of drinking quality.

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Flexible and transparent pressure sensor

Healthcare practitioners may one day be able to physically screen for breast cancer using pressure-sensitive rubber gloves to detect tumors, owing to a transparent, bendable and sensitive pressure sensor newly developed by Japanese and American teams.

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The pressure sensors wrap around and conform to the shape of the fingers while still accurately measuring pressure distribution.

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Weaving a New Story for COFS and MOFs

First Materials to be Woven at the Atomic and Molecular Levels Created at Berkeley

There are many different ways to make nanomaterials but weaving, the oldest and most enduring method of making fabrics, has not been one of them – until now. An international collaboration led by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC) Berkeley, has woven the first three-dimensional covalent organic frameworks (COFs) from helical organic threads. The woven COFs display significant advantages in structural flexibility, resiliency and reversibility over previous COFs – materials that are highly prized for their potential to capture and store carbon dioxide then convert it into valuable chemical products.

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Seeing the big picture in photosynthetic light harvesting: Berkeley Lab researchers create first multiple antennae model of photosystem II

To understand what goes on inside a beehive you can't just study the activity of a single bee. Likewise, to understand the photosynthetic light-harvesting that takes place inside the chloroplast of a leaf, you can't just study the activity of a single antenna protein. Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California (UC) Berkeley have created the first computational model that simulates the light-harvesting activity of the thousands of antenna proteins that would be interacting in the chloroplast of an actual leaf. The results from this model point the way to improving the yields of food and fuel crops, and developing artificial photosynthesis technologies for next generation solar energy systems.

The new model simulates light-harvesting across several hundred nanometers of a thylakoid membrane, which is the membrane within a chloroplast that harbors photosystem II (PSII), a complex of antennae made up of mostly of chlorophyll-containing proteins. The antennae in PSII gain "excitation" energy when they absorb sunlight and, through quantum mechanical effects, almost instantaneously transport this extra energy to reaction centers for conversion into chemical energy. Previous models of PSII simulated energy transport within a single antenna protein.

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Flying in the Dark? NAMRU-D’s Night Vision Simulation Lab to Benefit Aviators

We sometimes take our five senses for granted, especially our vision. As our most utilized sense, vision gives us accurate information about our environment, where we are within it, and how it changes as we move. Most don’t give this sense a second thought, until our vision is degraded.