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Saturn’s moon Titan could harbor life, but only a tiny amount, study finds

This artist's concept illustrates a lake at the north pole of Saturn's moon Titan underneath a hazy, yellowish atmosphere.
This artist’s concept of a lake at the north pole of Saturn’s moon Titan illustrates raised rims and rampart-like features as seen by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft.
NASA/JPL-Caltech

Despite its uniquely rich inventory of organic molecules, Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, may be able to support only a minuscule amount of biomass, if life exists on the moon, according to a study using bioenergetic modeling.

Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, is a strange, alien world. Covered in rivers and lakes of liquid methane, icy boulders and dunes of soot-like “sand,” its topography has long fascinated scientists and invited speculation on whether lifeforms might lurk beneath the moon’s thick, hazy atmosphere.

An international team of researchers co-led by Antonin Affholder at the U of A Department of Ec...

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Antiviral chewing gum shows promise in reducing influenza and herpes spread

An antiviral chewing gum to reduce influenza and herpes simplex virus transmission
The engineering and evaluation of anti-viral bean gum. Credit: Yuwei Guo, Rachel Kulchar, Rahul Singh, and Geetanjali Wakade

In today’s interconnected world, infectious diseases pose an escalating threat, as demonstrated by the coronavirus pandemic and outbreaks of H1N1, SARS, Ebola, Zika, and H5N1 (bird flu) viruses—all of which have had significant global health and economic impacts.

But more common viral diseases also contribute to global health challenges and economic costs. For example, seasonal influenza epidemics occur annually, causing a substantial global disease burden and economic losses exceeding $11.2 billion each year in the United States alone...

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New approach reliably integrates 2D semiconductors with dielectrics

Two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor materials could enable the development of smaller yet highly performing electronic components, thus contributing to the advancement of a variety of devices. While significant strides have been made in the synthesis of 2D semiconductors with advanced electronic properties, their clean transfer onto substrates and reliable integration in real devices has so far proved challenging.

Researchers at Peking University, the Beijing Graphene Institute and other institutes in China have recently developed a new method to integrate 2D semiconductors with dielectric materials, which are insulating materials that help control the flow of electric charge in devices...

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Vision restored: Retinal therapy research marks first successful induction of long-term neural regeneration

Vision is one of the most crucial human senses, yet more than 300 million people worldwide are at risk of vision loss due to various retinal diseases. While recent advancements in retinal disease treatments have successfully slowed disease progression, no effective therapy has been developed to restore already lost vision—until now.

KAIST researchers led by Professor Jinwoo Kim from the Department of Biological Sciences have successfully developed a novel drug to restore vision through retinal nerve regeneration. The research is published in the journal Nature Communications. The study was co-authored by Dr. Eun Jung Lee of Celliaz Inc. and Museong Kim, a Ph.D. candidate at KAIST, as joint first authors.

The research team successfully induced neural regeneration and vision rec...

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