Sight-Saving Treatment for Eye Infection or Trauma


Sustained release of decorin to the surface of the eye enables scarless corneal regenerationnpj Regenerative Medicine, 2018; 3 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41536-018-0061-4

Scientists at the University of Birmingham have developed a novel eye drop that rapidly reduces sight-threatening scarring to the surface of the eye. The surface of the eye (the cornea) is usually transparent, but scars resulting from eye infection or trauma make it opaque causing blurred vision or in extreme cases complete blindness.

Their pre-clinical research, published today (Friday 21 December 2018) in npj Regenerative Medicine, shows that within a matter of days the eye drop speeds healing, reduces scarring and improves corneal transparency compared to the current standard of care for Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an e...

Read More

A Lung-inspired design turns Water into Fuel


This image shows the similarities between the exchange of gases in mammalian lungs and a newly developed mechanism to turn water into fuel.
Credit: Li et al. / Joule

Scientists at Stanford University have designed an electrocatalytic mechanism that works like a mammalian lung to convert water into fuel. Their research, published December 20 in the journal Joule, could help existing clean energy technologies run more efficiently.

The act of inhaling and exhaling is so automatic for most organisms that it could be mistaken as simple, but the mammalian breathing process is actually one of the most sophisticated systems for two-way gas exchange found in nature...

Read More

NASA Telescopes take a close look at the Brightest Comet of 2018


NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope photographed comet 46P/Wirtanen on Dec. 13, when the comet was 7.4 million miles (12 million kilometers) from Earth. In this visible light image, the comet’s nucleus is hidden in the center of a fuzzy glow from the comet’s coma. The coma is a cloud of gas and dust that the comet has ejected during its pass through the inner solar system due to heating from the Sun. To make this composite image, the color blue was applied to high-resolution grayscale exposures acquired from the spacecraft’s WFC3 instrument.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and D. Bodewits (Auburn University), and J.-Y. Li (Planetary Science Institute)

As the brilliant comet 46P/Wirtanen streaked across the sky, NASA telescopes caught it on camera from multiple angles...

Read More

Mighty Morphing materials take complex shapes

A face made of a unique polymer at Rice University takes shape when cooled and flattens when heated. The material may be useful in the creation of soft robots and for biomedical applications.
Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University

Sophisticated shape-shifters for soft robots, biomedical applications. Rice University scientists have created a rubbery, shape-shifting material that morphs from one sophisticated form to another on demand.

The shapes programmed into a polymer by materials scientist Rafael Verduzco and graduate student Morgan Barnes appear in ambient conditions and melt away when heat is applied. The process also works in reverse.

The smooth operation belies a battle at the nanoscale, where liquid crystals and the elastomer in which they’re embedded fight for control...

Read More