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Graphene biochemical sensors could become reality

This full-circle panorama of the landscape surrounding NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on July 31, 2014, offers a view into sandy lower terrain called "Hidden Valley," which is on the planned route ahead. It combines several images from Curiosity's Navigation Camera. South is at the center.

Researchers at MIT have found a way to control how graphene conducts electricity by using extremely short light pulses. In this illustration, a lattice of graphene is shown with its bonds (bars) connecting carbon atoms (balls). When the light pulse hits the atoms, electrons can accumulate or diminish in number. By controlling the concentration of electrons in a graphene sheet, researchers can change the material's electrical conductivity.

Graphene biochemical sensors could become reality.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of what the sun looked like on April 23, 2013, at 1:30 p.m. EDT when the EUNIS mission launched. EUNIS focused on an active region of the sun, seen as bright loops in the upper right in this picture.

Applying a method that uses nanoparticles to create visual contrast, a researcher created the above photoacoustic image of a mouse intestine. The colors indicate the depth of the intestine (red: deep; blue: shallow).