Science

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Carbon nanotube 'stitches' make stronger, lighter composites: Method to reinforce these materials could help make airplane frames lighter, more damage-resistant

The newest Airbus and Boeing passenger jets flying today are made primarily from advanced composite materials such as carbon fiber reinforced plastic -- extremely light, durable materials that reduce the overall weight of the plane by as much as 20 percent compared to aluminum-bodied planes. Such lightweight airframes translate directly to fuel savings, which is a major point in advanced composites' favor.

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The researchers’ technique integrates a scaffold of carbon nanotubes within a polymer glue. They first grew a forest of vertically-aligned carbon nanotubes and transferred it onto a sticky, uncured composite layer. Then they repeated the process to generate a stack of 16 composite plies, with carbon nanotubes glued between each layer.

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Is Earthly Life Premature from a Cosmic Perspective?

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Synthetic vaccine particles immune tolerance mechanism published in Nature Nanotechnology: Antigen-specific targeting of the immune system offers new treatment approach to improve efficacy and safety profile of biologic drugs

A clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing targeted antigen-specific immune therapies for rare and serious diseases, announced. Details that elucidate the mechanism of action of the company's immune tolerance therapy, SVP-Rapamycin (SEL-110), were also shown. Data in the publication support the Company's lead clinical program, showing Selecta's SVP-Rapamycin (SEL-110) induces antigen-specific immune tolerance and mitigates the formation of anti-drug antibodies (ADAs) to biologic drugs, including pegsiticase (for gout) and adalimumab (for rheumatoid arthritis).

"Undesired immune responses affect both the efficacy and safety of marketed biologic therapies and the development of otherwise promising new technologies. Selecta's SVP platform positions the company to enhance biologic therapy and to advance a pipeline of proprietary products that meet the therapeutic needs of patients with rare and serious diseases," said Werner Cautreels, PhD,Chairman of the Board, CEO and President of Selecta Biosciences. "We believe that SVP-Rapamycin has the potential to mitigate ADAs against a broad range of biologic therapies."

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Dutch radio antenna to depart for the moon on Chinese mission

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The satellite rotates around a fixed point behind the moon – the second Lagrange, or L2, point in the Earth-moon system. This point is located 65 000 kilometres from the moon.

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Scientists find a way of acquiring graphene-like films from salts to boost nanoelectronics: Physicists use supercomputers to find a way of making 'imitation graphene' from salt

Researchers from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech), the Technological Institute for Superhard and Novel Carbon Materials (TISNCM), the National University of Science and Technology MISiS (Russia), and Rice University (USA) used computer simulations to find how thin a slab of salt has to be in order for it to break up into graphene-like layers. Based on the computer simulation, they derived the equation for the number of layers in a crystal that will produce ultrathin films with applications in nanoelectronics. Their findings were in The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters (which has an impact factor of 8.54).

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Transition from a cubic arrangement into several hexagonal layers.

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NASA Orders Second SpaceX Crew Mission to International Space Station

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This artist's concept shows a SpaceX Crew Dragon docking with the International Space Station, as it will during a mission for NASA's Commercial Crew Program. NASA is partnering with Boeing and SpaceX to build a new generation of human-rated spacecraft capable of taking astronauts to the station and back to Earth, thereby expanding research opportunities in orbit.

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Scientists change properties of zeolites to improve hemodialysis

Scientists of Tomsk State University are working on changing physicochemical properties of zeolites using thermal and mechanical treatment. Based on the results of this research the scientists will be able to create a new material for a portable device for hemodialysis.

The scientists examined synthetic zeolite powder manufactured by SAPO-34 and natural zeolite of Tokay deposits (Hungary)

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Mars Gullies Likely Not Formed by Liquid Water

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Martian gullies as seen in the top image from HiRISE on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter resemble gullies on Earth that are carved by liquid water.

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Study Finds Molecular Switch That Triggers Bacterial Pathogenicity

DNA-binding proteins could provide new target for development of drugs to prevent or treat bacterial infection

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The top two rows show illustrations of crystals and solution structures of bacterial HU proteins with DNA represented by X-ray crystallography and small angle X-ray scattering, respectively. DNA strands are yellow and HU proteins are shades of blue. Soft X-ray tomography was used to visualize bacterial chromatin (in yellow) in wild type and invasive E. coli cells, shown in the bottom row.

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GJ 3253: Astronomers Gain New Insight into Magnetic Field of Sun and its Kin

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