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The device allows flow of the streams of Shewanella Oneidensis MR-1 (yellow) and the Potassium Ferricyanide (white) into the chambers. Proton exchange membrane is placed between the two chambers to separate the two liquids as well as allow the positively charged ions released in the biocatalytic breakdown of the anolyte to flow from the anode to the cathode. Credit: TECHNOLOGY

A team has demonstrated a proof-of-concept 3D paper-based microbial fuel cell (MFC) that could take advantage of capillary action to guide the liquids through the MFC system and to eliminate the need for external power.The paper-based MFC runs for 5 days and shows the production of current as a result of biofilm formation on anode. The system produces 1.3 μW of power and 52...

This is a black hole visualization. Credit: Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology

Scientists have devised a method of distinguishing black holes from compact massive objects that are externally indistinguishable from one another. The method involves studying the energy spectrum of particles moving in the vicinity – in one case it will be continuous and in the other it will be discrete.

Black holes, which were predicted by Einstein’s theory of general relativity, have an event horizon – a boundary beyond which nothing, even light, can return to the outside world. The radius of this boundary is called the Schwarzschild radius, ie radius of an object for which the escape velocity is greater than the speed of light, which means that nothing is able to overcome its gravity.

Black holes of ...

This image combines an image taken with Hubble Space Telescope in the optical (taken in spring 2014) and observat ions of its auroras in the ultraviolet, taken in 2016. Credit: NASA, ESA

This aurora observation programme is supported by measurements made by NASA’s Juno spacecraft, currently on its way to Jupiter.
Jupiter, the largest planet in the Solar System, is best known for its colourful storms, the most famous being the Great Red Spot. Now astronomers have focused on another beautiful feature of the planet, using the ultraviolet capabilities of the Hubble. This programme will determine how various components of Jupiter’s auroras respond to different conditions in the solar wind.

This observation programme is perfectly timed as NASA’s Juno spacecraft is currently in the solar wind nea...

This is a schematic of how a “chimeric autoantibody receptor,” or CAAR, that displays fragments of the autoantigen Dsg3 helps fight an autoimmune disease called pemphigus vulgaris, a condition in which a patient’s own immune cells attack Dsg3, which normally adheres skin cells. Credit: Christoph T. Ellebrecht, MD, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

Preclinical study shows that engineered T cells can selectively target the antibody-producing cells that cause autoimmune disease. The autoimmune disease the team studied is pemphigus vulgaris (PV), a condition in which a patient’s own immune cells attack a protein called desmoglein-3 (Dsg3) that normally adheres skin cells...