/ en-us Â鶹ÒùÔº internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Â鶹ÒùÔºics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. A new species of flapjack octopus, with massive eyes and blood-red tentacles, has been discovered from a deep-sea canyon off the coast of Australia. /news/2025-05-species-octopus-deep-sea-canyon.html Plants & Animals Tue, 20 May 2025 06:59:04 EDT news666943141 A team from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya—BarcelonaTech (UPC) and the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia has developed polymeric resins derived from plant-based materials aimed at reducing 3D printing's reliance on fossil fuel-based resins. The research findings have been published in RSC Applied Polymers. /news/2025-05-sustainable-3d-resins-based-materials.html Polymers Mon, 05 May 2025 16:30:02 EDT news665681401 Hundreds of millions of people live in areas that could be affected by volcanic eruptions. Fortunately, clues at the surface, such as earthquakes and ground deformation, can indicate movement within underground magma dikes—sheets of magma that cut across layers of rock. Scientists can use these clues to make potentially lifesaving predictions of eruptions. /news/2025-04-magma-dikes-patterns.html Earth Sciences Wed, 30 Apr 2025 13:10:06 EDT news665237402 A joint team from National Taiwan University and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology has developed a novel hydrogel actuator whose movement can be programmed using UV light, enabling precise spatial control of thermoresponsive deformation for presenting a potential application in soft robotics and in vitro muscle models. /news/2025-04-uv-programmable-hydrogel-actuator-bioinspired.html Polymers Materials Science Thu, 24 Apr 2025 07:28:03 EDT news664698481 Sit down, relax and get your nails done at the sustainability salon. In a new study, a team of researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder's ATLAS Institute has designed a new kind of press-on nails that are biodegradable, colorful and endlessly customizable. /news/2025-04-biodegradable-manicures-sustainable.html Environment Wed, 02 Apr 2025 12:05:04 EDT news662814301 An edible biofilm, obtained from agricultural and fishing waste and developed by researchers at the São Carlos Institute of Chemistry of the University of São Paulo (IQSC-USP) in Brazil, allows the shelf life of strawberries (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.) to be extended. /news/2025-04-edible-biofilm-based-pomegranate-shelf.html Biotechnology Agriculture Tue, 01 Apr 2025 17:22:03 EDT news662746921 With increased awareness about food sources and their environmental impacts, replacing animal-derived products in food and drugs is a significant research area. One common—but often overlooked—animal protein is gelatin, found everywhere from candy to plastic-free packaging. /news/2025-03-based-gelatin-gum-tragacanth-animal.html Soft Matter Tue, 01 Apr 2025 11:00:01 EDT news662646018 Foie gras—the fattened liver of ducks or geese—is a French delicacy prized for its rich, buttery flavor. But its production, which involves force-feeding the animals, has led to bans in several countries. /news/2025-03-faux-gras-scientists-craft-ethical.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Sun, 30 Mar 2025 10:10:01 EDT news662126926 In a new paper, researchers at North Carolina State University show proof of concept for a system that—in a single cycle—actively removes microplastics from water. /news/2025-03-microcleaners-disperse-capture-microplastics.html Polymers Materials Science Wed, 26 Mar 2025 15:10:06 EDT news662220601 Picture an ocean world so deep and dark it feels like another planet—where creatures glow and life survives under crushing pressure. /news/2025-03-deep-sea-threatens-life-dumping.html Ecology Tue, 25 Mar 2025 12:19:04 EDT news662123941 Foie gras is a unique delicacy made from the liver of a duck or goose. While it can be an acquired taste, the buttery, fatty dish is an indulgent cuisine prized in many parts of the world. /news/2025-03-foie-gras.html Biotechnology Molecular & Computational biology Tue, 25 Mar 2025 11:00:05 EDT news662026327 Chinese scientists have uncovered two major genes responsible for sorghum's double-grain spikelet that dramatically enhance grain number and crop yield. A substantial 35.7-kilobase intrachromosomal inversion at the DG1 (Double-Grain 1) promoter drives the upregulation of DG1 expression, leading to the development of double-grain spikelets that remarkably increase sorghum grain number while illustrating the critical role of genomic structural variation in plant evolution. /news/2025-03-scientists-variation-boosts-grain-sorghum.html Molecular & Computational biology Agriculture Wed, 12 Mar 2025 09:32:04 EDT news660990722 Scientists have created a new way to quickly and minimally invasively detect glucose using microneedles. These swellable hydrogel microneedles extract substantial amounts of skin fluid in just five minutes, a less invasive alternative to the finger-prick blood tests. /news/2025-02-micro-vibration-microneedles-paving-rapid.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 20 Feb 2025 02:51:47 EST news659242298 A nut used in herbal tea has become a hydrogel perfect for a variety of biomedical uses in new research from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Engineering (UChicago PME) and UChicago Chemistry Department. /news/2025-02-material-tree-nuts-broad-medical.html Biochemistry Materials Science Mon, 17 Feb 2025 11:00:07 EST news659003222 Hydrogels are polymeric materials with three-dimensional network structures containing large amounts of water. They serve as sustained-release drug delivery systems as they can encapsulate various bioactive substances, including drugs, antigens, and even cells. /news/2025-02-dna-hydrogels-sustained-drug.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 13 Feb 2025 09:43:05 EST news658662181 Scientists at UC Santa Cruz have completed the first end-to-end genome of the iconic Pacific banana slug, a species synonymous with California's coastal redwood forests and the university's beloved mascot. /news/2025-02-scientists-genome-banana-slug.html Plants & Animals Molecular & Computational biology Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:54:10 EST news658151640 Commercial fishing fleets have been playing a key role in trafficking parts of tigers poached in Malaysia, according to research released Wednesday that could help enforcement efforts to save the critically endangered cat. /news/2025-01-tiger-poachers-fishing-boats-smuggle.html Ecology Wed, 29 Jan 2025 04:19:51 EST news657346784 If you've ever made kombucha, you will be familiar with the term SCOBY—a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. It's impossible to miss—it's the floating biofilm on top of your delicious drink. /news/2025-01-fermented-biofilm-kombucha-green-textiles.html Cell & Microbiology Biotechnology Tue, 28 Jan 2025 09:32:03 EST news657279119 DNA profiling technologies are rapidly advancing, creating the potential to identify individuals involved in making, packing and transporting illegal capsules by analyzing the exterior of the illicit drugs and the plastic bag in which they are carried. /news/2025-01-dna-fingerprints-drug-makers-linked.html Molecular & Computational biology Tue, 28 Jan 2025 09:05:02 EST news657277499 A team of research scientists led by US Food and Drug Administration chemist Timothy Duncan has found evidence of silver nanoparticles embedded in packaging used as an antimicrobial agent seeping into the dry food it is meant to protect. In their paper published in the journal ACS Food Science & Technology, the group describes how they created their own packaging with embedded silver nanoparticles and tested it with various foods, and what they learned by doing so. /news/2025-01-silver-nanoparticles-packaging-contaminate-dry.html Bio & Medicine Nanomaterials Wed, 22 Jan 2025 14:45:00 EST news656779493 In an era of medical care that is increasingly aiming at more targeted medication therapies, more individual therapies and more effective therapies, doctors and scientists want to be able to introduce molecules to the biological system to undertake specific actions. /news/2024-12-scientists-machine-molecular.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Soft Matter Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:00:01 EST news654497718 A collaborative study has uncovered evidence of rice beer dating back approximately 10,000 years at the Shangshan site in Zhejiang Province, China, providing new insights into the origins of alcoholic beverage brewing in East Asia. /news/2024-12-year-ancient-rice-beer-neolithic.html Archaeology Mon, 09 Dec 2024 15:22:32 EST news652980141 Major findings on the inner workings of a brittle star's ability to reversibly control the pliability of its tissues will help researchers solve the puzzle of mutable collagenous tissue (MCT) and potentially inspire new "smart" biomaterials for human health applications. /news/2024-12-secrets-collagen-sea-creature-superpowers.html Molecular & Computational biology Fri, 06 Dec 2024 16:02:04 EST news652723295 Researchers from the Collaborative Research Center (CRC) Microplastics at the University of Bayreuth have developed a new concept for the production of microplastic reference particles. These make it possible for the first time to introduce a precisely defined number of reference particles into experiments. In future, their use may enable better comparability of data from different microplastic studies. /news/2024-12-microplastic-particles-enable.html Environment Tue, 03 Dec 2024 10:07:03 EST news652442821 More than two decades after spotting a mysterious, gelatinous, bioluminescent creature swimming in the deep sea, California researchers this week announced that it is a new species of sea slug. /news/2024-11-california-mysterious-gelatinous-sea-slug.html Plants & Animals Sun, 17 Nov 2024 03:50:01 EST news650778448 A simple biomaterial-based strategy that can influence the behavior of cells could pave the way for more effective medical treatments such as wound healing, cancer therapy and even organ regeneration, according to a research team at Penn State. /news/2024-11-squishy-microgels-granular-biomaterials-confine.html Cell & Microbiology Biotechnology Wed, 13 Nov 2024 13:20:09 EST news650726401 Bioprinting is a technology used to create three-dimensional structures, such as human tissues or organs, using bio-inks made of cells and hydrogels. However, conventional inkjet technology has difficulty dispensing bio-inks that are sensitive to temperature due to the heat generated during operation. /news/2024-11-high-inkjet-bioprinting-productivity.html Materials Science Tue, 12 Nov 2024 14:00:08 EST news650642401 MBARI researchers have discovered a remarkable new species of sea slug that lives in the deep sea. Bathydevius caudactylus swims through the ocean's midnight zone with a large gelatinous hood and paddle-like tail, and lights up with brilliant bioluminescence. The team published a description of the animal, nicknamed the "mystery mollusk," in the journal Deep-Sea Research Part I. /news/2024-11-bioluminescent-sea-slug-deep-ocean.html Plants & Animals Ecology Tue, 12 Nov 2024 12:00:02 EST news650626571 A German-American research team has discovered two highly unusual bacterial species in the tissue of two deep-sea corals from the Gulf of Mexico. These previously unknown coral symbionts have an extremely reduced genome and lack the ability to obtain energy from carbohydrates, the team reports in an article published in the journal Nature Communications. /news/2024-11-deep-sea-corals-home-previously.html Ecology Cell & Microbiology Mon, 04 Nov 2024 11:41:04 EST news649942862 As a lake researcher, I have in recent years had quite a few people ask me whether jellyfish really do live in lakes. Some people think they are seeing things, or that their friends or family are. I've even heard of marital spats over the issue. So, are jellyfish present in Canadian freshwater lakes or not? /news/2024-11-freshwater-jellyfish-sightings-canadian-lakes.html Plants & Animals Ecology Fri, 01 Nov 2024 10:00:04 EDT news649674001