New lightweight polymer film can prevent corrosion

MIT researchers tested the gas permeability of their new polymer films by suspending them over microwells to form bubbles. Some bubbles from 2021 experiments are still inflated. This optical micrograph shows how the films form very colorful spots when suspended over microwells.
Image Credit: Courtesy of the researchers
(CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

MIT researchers have developed a lightweight polymer film that is nearly impenetrable to gas molecules, raising the possibility that it could be used as a protective coating to prevent solar cells and other infrastructure from corrosion, and to slow the aging of packaged food and medicines.

The polymer, which can be applied as a film mere nanometers thick, completely repels nitrogen and other gases, as far as can be detected by laboratory equipment, the researchers found. That degree of impermeability has never been seen before in any polymer, and rivals the impermeability of molecularly-thin crystalline materials such as graphene.

“Our polymer is quite unusual. It’s obviously produced from a solution-phase polymerization reaction, but the product behaves like graphene, which is gas-impermeable because it’s a perfect crystal. However, when you examine this material, one would never confuse it with a perfect crystal,” says Michael Strano, the Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT.

Astronomers discover a superheated star factory in the early universe

Glowing deep red from the distant past: galaxy Y1 shines thanks to dust grains heated by newly-formed stars (circled in this image from the James Webb telescope).
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. Diego (Instituto de Física de Cantabria, Spain), J. D’Silva (U. Western Australia), A. Koekemoer (STScI), J. Summers & R. Windhorst (ASU), and H. Yan (U. Missouri)

Astronomers have uncovered a previously unknown, extreme kind of star factory by taking the temperature of a distant galaxy using the ALMA telescope. The galaxy is glowing intensely in superheated cosmic dust while forming stars 180 times faster than our own Milky Way. The discovery indicates how galaxies could have grown quickly when the universe was very young, solving a long-standing puzzle for astronomers.  

The first generations of stars formed under conditions very different from anywhere we can see in the nearby universe today. Astronomers are studying these differences using powerful telescopes that can detect galaxies so far away their light has travelled towards us for billions of years.   

Higher methane emissions from warmer lakes and reservoirs may exacerbate worst-case climate scenario

Lakes are large sources of methane.
Photo Credit:Monica Westman

Emissions of the greenhouse gas methane from lakes and reservoirs risk doubling by the end of the century due to climate change according to a new study from Linköping University, Sweden, and NASA Ames Research Center in the US. This in turn could raise Earth’s temperature more than suggested by the UN climate panel IPCC’s current worst-case scenario. 

“This study makes it even clearer that we really, really want to change the climate scenario as quickly as possible. The future will be very uncertain if we don’t,” says Professor David Bastviken at Linköping University. 

Lakes and water reservoirs are some of the largest sources of methane on Earth. The methane emitted is largely formed as microorganisms decompose organic matter in oxygen-free environments. Before industrialization, natural methane emissions to the atmosphere were in balance with the methane breakdown processes. If the ongoing climate change disturbs the natural balance causing emissions to increase, global warming is at risk of worsening. 

Bioengineering: In-Depth Description

Bioengineering is an interdisciplinary field that applies engineering principles, design concepts, and quantitative methods to biological systems. It bridges the gap between engineering and the life sciences to create solutions for problems in biology, medicine, agriculture, and environmental science. Its primary goals are to analyze and understand complex biological systems and to develop new technologies, materials, and therapies to improve human health, quality of life, and sustainability.

New ultrasound technique could help aging and injured brains

Raag Airan, Matine Azadian, Payton Martinez, and Yun Xiang in the lab. Azadian is holding a version of their ultrasound apparatus designed for humans.
Photo Credit: Andrew Brodhead

Just like your body needs a bath now and then, so too does your brain – but instead of a tub filled with hot water, your brain has cerebrospinal fluid, which flows around inside the brain and helps clear away waste products, misplaced blood cells, and other sometimes-toxic debris.

The trouble is, that natural brain-bathing system can break down as people age or after a brain injury, such as a stroke – and there aren’t any particularly good ways to help the brain out in those situations. Indeed, current ideas to promote cerebrospinal fluid cleaning are either rather invasive or require drugs that may not be safe or effective in people.

Fortunately, a team of Stanford researchers has found a radically simple tool that may help the brain wash itself out without the need for drugs or invasive procedures: ultrasound, the same tool obstetricians regularly use at prenatal checkups.

Metasurfaces show promise in boosting AR image clarity and brightness

Photo Credit: J. Adam Fenster / University of Rochester

Researchers at the University of Rochester have designed and demonstrated a new optical component that could significantly enhance the brightness and image quality of augmented reality (AR) glasses. The advance brings AR glasses a step closer to becoming as commonplace and useful as today’s smartphones.

“Many of today’s AR headsets are bulky and have a short battery life with displays that are dim and hard to see, especially outdoors,” says research team leader Nickolas Vamivakas, the Marie C. Wilson and Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Optical Physics with URochester’s Institute of Optics. “By creating a much more efficient input port for the display, our work could help make AR glasses much brighter and more power-efficient, moving them from being a niche gadget to something as light and comfortable as a regular pair of eyeglasses.”

New analysis yields clearer picture of toxin-producing blue-green algae blooms

2024 cyanobacterial bloom at Detroit Reservoir
Photo Credit: Elijah Welch, city of Salem.

A long-term analysis shows that a major Oregon reservoir abruptly swapped one type of toxic algae for another midway through the 12-year study period, absent from any obvious cause. 

The project provides a novel look at harmful algal blooms, or HABs which pose multiple health risks to people and animals worldwide. 

Harmful algal blooms in lakes and reservoirs are explosions of cyanobacteria, often referred to as blue-green algae. Microscopic organisms ubiquitous in all types of water around the globe, cyanobacteria use sunlight to make their own food and in warm, nutrient-rich environments can quickly multiply, resulting in blooms that spread across the water’s surface. 

These blooms can form at any time of the year but most often occur between spring and fall. Some types of cyanobacteria produce liver toxins and neurotoxins, while others make toxins that can cause gastrointestinal illness if swallowed and acute rashes upon contact with skin. 

Biochemistry: In-Depth Description

Image Credit: Scientific Frontline

Biochemistry is a branch of biology and chemistry that explores the chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. Its primary goal is to understand the chemical basis of life by studying the structure, function, and interactions of biological macromolecules.

This field seeks to answer fundamental questions about how collections of inanimate molecules interact to constitute, maintain, and perpetuate living organisms.

Nonsurgical treatment shows promise for targeted seizure control

Jerzy Szablowski
Photo Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University

Rice University bioengineers have demonstrated a nonsurgical way to quiet a seizure-relevant brain circuit in an animal model. The team used low-intensity focused ultrasound to briefly open the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in the hippocampus, delivered an engineered gene therapy only to that region and later flipped an on-demand “dimmer switch” with an oral drug. The research shows that a one-time, targeted procedure can modulate a specific brain region without impacting off-target areas of the brain.

“Many neurological diseases are driven by hyperactive cells at a particular location in the brain,” said study lead Jerzy Szablowski, assistant professor of bioengineering and a member of the Rice Neuroengineering Initiative. “Our approach aims the therapy where it is needed and lets you control it when you need it, without surgery and without a permanent implant.”

UC Irvine team track massive ice loss from Berry Glacier in West Antarctica

UC Irvine researchers analyzed decades worth of satellite data to better understand the causes of the rapid retreat of Berry Glacier, a tributary of the Getz Ice Shelf (pictured) in West Antarctica.
Photo Credit: NASA

Berry Glacier, a tributary of the Getz Ice Shelf in West Antarctica, has deteriorated dramatically in the past three decades, according to researchers in the Department of Earth System Science at the University of California, Irvine. In a study published recently in Nature Communications, the scientists documented that in the period spanning 1996 to 2023, the glacier retreated seven-tenths of a kilometer per year for a total of 18 kilometers, about 11 miles. 

Berry Glacier thinned by 11 meters per year during the study period, and its retreat velocity increased by 64 percent, resulting in a loss of 130 gigatons of ice mass. The team derived these results by analyzing synthetic-aperture radar interferometry data from several missions, including ERS-1/2, ALOS-1/2 PALSAR, Sentinel-1, COSMO-SkyMed and the RADARSAT Constellation Mission.