/ 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 joint study by researchers from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology and the University of Texas at Austin sheds new light on the structure of membranes used in water desalination. Published in ACS Nano, the study was selected as the journal's cover article. /news/2025-08-desalination-characterizing-membranes-dry-states.html Nanomaterials Mon, 25 Aug 2025 15:10:01 EDT news675351033 Scientists have long speculated that polaritons—hybrids of light and matter—could be harnessed to control photochemistry. Now, researchers at the City University of New York (CUNY) have shown that these fleeting states can indeed drive a fundamental type of molecular reaction. /news/2025-08-scientists-harness-polaritons-molecular.html Nanophysics Thu, 21 Aug 2025 15:22:43 EDT news675008559 Researchers can use a metric called the particle number concentration (PNC) to calculate the number of particles in a sample, such as the number of marbles in a jar. /news/2025-08-formula-accuracy-particle-diverse-samples.html Analytical Chemistry Thu, 21 Aug 2025 01:57:34 EDT news674960249 For decades, researchers around the world have searched for alternatives to iridium, an extremely rare, incredibly expensive metal used in the production of clean hydrogen fuels. /news/2025-08-hydrogen-iridium-problem-afternoon-megalibrary.html Analytical Chemistry Materials Science Tue, 19 Aug 2025 13:29:22 EDT news674828952 A palm-sized device developed by researchers at the University of Waterloo could help save lives and reduce illness by rapidly and inexpensively detecting toxic bacteria in water supplies. /news/2025-08-pocket-sized-device-coli-minutes.html Biotechnology Molecular & Computational biology Tue, 19 Aug 2025 12:15:04 EDT news674824501 The trouble with many drugs is that they go where they shouldn't, producing unwanted side effects. Psychiatric drugs might cause dissociation, painkillers can induce nausea and chemotherapy often damages healthy cells. Now a team of Stanford Medicine researchers are closing in on a novel solution: a noninvasive system that can deliver drugs anywhere in the body with precision down to a few millimeters. /news/2025-08-sugar-stabilized-nanoparticles-drugs-side.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 18 Aug 2025 09:55:51 EDT news674729746 Using artificial intelligence, MIT researchers have come up with a new way to design nanoparticles that can more efficiently deliver RNA vaccines and other types of RNA therapies. /news/2025-08-ai-nanoparticles-efficient-rna-vaccine.html Bio & Medicine Fri, 15 Aug 2025 05:00:01 EDT news674411341 Similar to the way the caps on the ends of a shoelace prevent it from fraying, telomeres—regions of repetitive DNA sequences and a protein structure—protect the tips of chromosomes from damage. /news/2025-08-telomerase-rna-polygenic-scores-reveal.html Biotechnology Molecular & Computational biology Thu, 14 Aug 2025 17:27:04 EDT news674411221 A new study led by researchers at the University of Cambridge, in collaboration with international institutions, has uncovered a key mechanism in how DNA behaves as it passes through nanoscale pores—a process central to many biological functions and emerging DNA sensing technologies. The study sheds new light on a structural "hidden player," plectonemes, long missed by researchers, with the potential to reshape biosensing and genomic technologies. /news/2025-08-uncovering-hidden-dna-nanopore-plectonemes.html Bio & Medicine Nanophysics Thu, 14 Aug 2025 10:51:23 EDT news674387479 In the world of nanotechnology, seeing clearly isn't easy. It's even harder when you're trying to understand how a material's properties relate to its structure at the nanoscale. Tools like piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) help scientists peer into the nanoscale functionality of materials, revealing how they respond to electric fields. But those signals are often buried in noise, especially in instances where the most interesting physics happens. /news/2025-08-clarity-noise-approach-recovers-hidden.html Nanomaterials Wed, 13 Aug 2025 14:58:05 EDT news674315881 During the COVID-19 pandemic, pharmaceutical companies produced unprecedented quantities of vaccines. This helped save millions of lives, but on the other hand, many vaccines remained unused, expired, and had to be thrown away. To avoid such problems in the future, Lithuanian researchers at the Center for Â鶹ÒùÔºical Sciences and Technology (FTMC) are proposing an environmentally friendly solution as part of a project. Perhaps expired vaccines could be repurposed for another task: the development of new biosensors? /news/2025-08-unused-covid-vaccines-life-biosensors.html Bio & Medicine Tue, 12 Aug 2025 14:49:05 EDT news674228933 Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) are tiny fat bubbles that are used to deliver medicines, genes, and RNA into cells. However, in some cases LNPs can cause harmful inflammation as a result of the process of RNA delivery. /news/2025-08-solutions-safer-rna-therapies-inflammatory.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 11 Aug 2025 14:50:04 EDT news674142601 From lifelong farmers to backyard gardeners, most plant-lovers know that adding organic matter to a field, vegetable plot or flowerpot increases the soil's moisture. Now, for the first time, Northwestern University scientists have uncovered the molecular mechanisms that enable organic matter to boost soil's ability to retain water—even in desert-like conditions. The study is published in the journal PNAS Nexus. /news/2025-08-soil-driest-conditions.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 11 Aug 2025 12:35:04 EDT news674134502 Researchers at UBC Okanagan have made two major discoveries that are set to revolutionize how scientists observe and measure molecular forces within living cells. /news/2025-08-molecular-imaging-tech-cells-nanometer.html Biotechnology Molecular & Computational biology Thu, 07 Aug 2025 11:46:04 EDT news673785961 Cancer remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and despite advancements in diagnosis and treatment, it continues to impose a significant health burden globally. Researchers have now started exploring various innovative methods, such as engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) that can enable targeted drug delivery to cancer cells. While promising, the in vivo behavior of pH-responsive ENMs, which continuously interact with body fluids once administered, remains poorly understood. /news/2025-08-ph-responsive-graphene-nanocarriers-precision.html Bio & Medicine Nanomaterials Thu, 07 Aug 2025 10:20:04 EDT news673780802 Researchers from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune and the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay have developed an innovative, cost-effective method to produce high-quality metal nanoparticles, as detailed in a study published in the journal Small Methods. /news/2025-08-confined-dewetting-yields-uniform-metal.html Nanomaterials Wed, 06 Aug 2025 09:20:03 EDT news673690801 Newly developed DNA nanostructures can form flexible, fluid, and stimuli-responsive condensates without relying on chemical cross-linking, report researchers from the Institute of Science Tokyo and Chuo University, in the journal JACS Au. /news/2025-08-dna-nanostructures-mimic-molecular-chemical.html Bio & Medicine Nanomaterials Wed, 06 Aug 2025 09:10:06 EDT news673690201 Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed a new carbon membrane that could revolutionize proton therapy for cancer patients and advance technologies in medicine and other areas such as energy devices and flexible electronics. /news/2025-08-ultra-thin-carbon-membrane-sharpens.html Bio & Medicine Nanomaterials Tue, 05 Aug 2025 10:36:04 EDT news673608961 Researchers have developed a simple yet highly effective method for delivering mRNA to target cells, opening up new possibilities for future non-vaccine mRNA medicines for a broad range of diseases. /news/2025-08-scientists-method-optimize-delivery-mrna.html Bio & Medicine Tue, 05 Aug 2025 07:13:15 EDT news673596789 What occurs during the melting process in two-dimensional systems at the microscopic level? Researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have explored this phenomenon in thin magnetic layers. /news/2025-08-scientists-capture-real-2d-skyrmion.html Nanophysics Mon, 04 Aug 2025 15:20:02 EDT news673539254 University of Queensland researchers have developed an affordable, open-source DNA measurement tool that can be built using a home 3D printer. /news/2025-07-dna-analysis-device-3d-printer.html Biotechnology Wed, 30 Jul 2025 07:50:05 EDT news673080242 The glycocalyx surrounds each cell in the human body like a coat. This complex sugar layer plays a key role in the progression of numerous diseases, such as cancer and autoimmune diseases. /news/2025-07-function-glycocalyx-molecular.html Bio & Medicine Nanophysics Tue, 29 Jul 2025 11:28:10 EDT news673007286 Crystallization, a fundamental process in nature, hinges on two distinct stages: nucleation and growth. The latter plays a pivotal role in shaping the morphology, size, and purity of crystalline materials, making it a focus for scientific research and defect engineering. Understanding how crystals grow at the atomic level has long been a key challenge in the field. /news/2025-07-atomic-reveals-gold-nanocrystals-coalescence.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Tue, 29 Jul 2025 10:06:03 EDT news673002361 Creating complex structures at the tiniest scales has long been a challenge for engineers. But new research from Georgia Tech shows how electron beams, already widely used in imaging and fabrication, can also be used as ultra-precise tools to both carve and build structures out of materials like copper. /news/2025-07-electron-method-enables-precise-nanoscale.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Fri, 25 Jul 2025 10:10:05 EDT news672656297 The reliable separation of some gases from others could be highly advantageous for a wide range of applications. For instance, it could help to produce hydrogen (H2) for fuel cells and chemical applications or to capture the carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by industrial sites. /news/2025-07-approach-crumpled-membranes-hydrogen-gases.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Fri, 25 Jul 2025 08:19:54 EDT news672650388 As global energy use continues to rise, the demand for renewable energy sources such as biofuels is also growing—especially in the transportation sector. Now, researchers at The University of Texas at El Paso have demonstrated how nanotechnology can significantly improve biofuel production from microalgae, offering a sustainable path forward. /news/2025-07-microalgae-biofuel-yields-boosted-nanotechnology.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 24 Jul 2025 11:10:06 EDT news672572821 The generation of electricity from heat, also known as thermoelectric energy conversion, has proved to be advantageous for various real-world applications. For instance, it proved useful for the generation of energy during space expeditions and military missions in difficult environments, as well as for the recovery of waste heat produced from industrial plants, power stations or even vehicles. /news/2025-07-giant-nonlinear-nernst-effect-trilayer.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Fri, 18 Jul 2025 06:30:01 EDT news671959548 Researchers are creating new moiré materials at the nanometer scale using advanced DNA nanotechnology. DNA moiré superlattices form when two periodic DNA lattices are overlaid with a slight rotational twist or positional offset. This creates a new, larger interference pattern with completely different physical properties. /news/2025-07-programmable-dna-moir-superlattices-material.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Thu, 17 Jul 2025 11:52:25 EDT news671971940 A new method turns noise into valuable data to enhance understanding of chemical reactions and material properties with unprecedented detail at the atomic level. The results of this research are now published in Nature. /news/2025-07-nobel-prize-idea-super-resolution.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Wed, 16 Jul 2025 13:30:12 EDT news671890832 Researchers have discovered a simple yet powerful way to protect atoms from losing information—a key challenge in developing reliable quantum technologies. /news/2025-07-tuned-laser-quantum-noise.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Thu, 10 Jul 2025 12:54:16 EDT news671370842