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Researchers showed that FAP (middle panels) is overexpressed in pancreatic tumors compared to normal pancreatic tissue. Particularly high levels of FAP expression were associated with poorer outcomes. Credit: University of Pennsylvania

New findings from a University of Pennsylvania-led team offer a promising target for future therapies that could potentially root out even well-hidden metatstatic cancer lesions. When they deleted the gene encoding this protein in mice with the disease, the animals lived longer, and the cancer’s spread to other organs was reduced...

Three-Dimensional Printing with Biomass-Derived PEF for Carbon-Neutral Manufacturing. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2017; DOI: 10.1002/anie.201708528

3D printing with a biobased polymer for CO2-neutral manufacturing. In our modern world, eliminating plastics is inconceivable. Unfortunately, they do have disadvantages, including the formation of CO(2) in both production and combustion, depletion of fossil feedstocks, and growth of landfills. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, Russian researchers introduce a new way forward, a polymer made entirely from biomass that can easily and inexpensively be used in 3D printing. Objects produced in this way are of high quality, easily recyclable, and highly solvent-resistant.

Conventional “subtractive” processes involve cutting, sawing, turni...

Linear gullies on a dune in Matara Crater, Mars, Red and white arrows point to pits. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Winter temperatures on the Red Planet sublimate CO2 from a gas to a solid. These solid carbon dioxide blocks are then thought responsible for making gullies and furrows on Mars’ landscape, based on innovative lab experiments. Researchers millions of kilometres from Mars lab-based experiments on sublimation suggest the same process is responsible for altering the appearance of sand dunes on Mars. Lauren Mc Keown said: “We’ve all heard the exciting news snippets about the evidence for water on Mars...

1. The DEUCE payload undergoing testing and integration at Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Credits: Nicholas Erickson
2.The rocket is prepared at Wallops for delivery to White Sands Missile Range in Las Cruces, New Mexico for launch on Oct 30, 2017
Credits: Nicholas Erickson
3. The DEUCE grating, sensitive to ultraviolet, is carefully positioned for bonding into its flight mount. Credits: Nicholas Erickson

Though stars and galaxies fill our night sky, most of the matter in the universe resides in the dark voids in between. Spread out over unfathomable distances, this cold, diffuse gas between galaxies—called the intergalactic medium, or IGM for short—hardly emits any light, making it difficult to study.

Scientists plan to launch a sounding rocket for a 15 minute flight Oct...