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DanielSimon and Theresia Arbring Sjöström. Credit: Image courtesy of Linköping Universitet

With a microfabricated ion pump built from organic electronic components, ions can be sent to nerve or muscle cells at the speed of the nervous system and with a precision of a single cell. “Now we can start to develop components that speak the body’s own language,” says Daniel Simon, Laboratory of Organic Electronics, Linköping University. Certain substances, such as GABA, are important signal substances throughout the CNS. 18 months ago, researchers at the Laboratory of Organic Electronics demonstrated an ion pump which researchers at the Karolinska Institutet could use to reduce the sensation of pain in awake, freely-moving rats. The ion pump delivered GABA directly to the rat´s spinal cord.

Illustration of a KTN crystal operating under different phases. Credit: Penn State

A major technological advance in the field of high-speed beam-scanning devices has increased the speed of 2D and 3D printing by up to 1000 times, according to researchers in Penn State’s College of Engineering. Using a space-charge-controlled KTN beam deflector – a kind of crystal made of potassium tantalate and potassium niobate – with a large electro-optic effect, researchers have found that scanning at a much higher speed is possible.

“Basically, when the crystal materials are applied to an electric field, they generate uniform reflecting distributions, that can deflect an incoming light beam,” said Prof. Shizhuo Yin...

Artist’s concept of a binary system similar to the one that originated the nova Sagittarii 2015 N.2. Credit: David A. Hardy y PPARC

Lithium, the lightest solid element, is created during astrophysical phenomena, but its origin has been elusive. Recently, researchers detected enormous quantities of beryllium-7, an unstable element that decays into lithium in 53.2 days, inside nova Sagittarii 2015 N.2, which suggests that novae are the main source of lithium in the galaxy. Practically every chemical element has an astronomical origin. Light elements were formed between 10s and 20min after the Big Bang, including H (75%), He (25%) and a very small amount of Li and Be.

The remaining chemical elements were formed in stars, either through fusion of other elements inside the nucleus, which begins...