Metallic hydrogen is one of the rarest materials on earth yet it makes up more than 80% of planets like Jupiter. Researchers at the the University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics created metallic hydrogen in the lab to study Jupiter’s magnetic field. The research has implications in planet formation and evolution, including how planets both inside and outside our solar system form magnetic shields. (NASA / JPL photo)

Liquid metallic hydrogen is not present naturally on Earth and has only been created in a handful of places. Now scientists are researching the properties of liquid metallic hydrogen to understand how planets both inside and outside our solar system form magnetic shields...

Norbert Leitinger, Ph.D. (left), and Vlad Serbulea, Ph.D., of the University of Virginia School of Medicine, have determined why obesity causes harmful inflammation that can lead to diabetes, clogged arteries and other health problems. Doctors may be able to use this knowledge to battle these chronic diseases and others driven by damaging inflammation.
Credit: Dan Addison, University of Virginia Communications

Finding points to new approaches to battling diabetes, other chronic conditions. New research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine explains why obesity causes harmful inflammation that can lead to diabetes, clogged arteries and other health problems. Doctors may be able to use this knowledge to battle these chronic diseases and others driven by damaging inflammation...

The IgM antibody has multiple arms to catch the virus, making it more efficient in clumping up the virus and keeping it from passing through the mucosal barrier and entering the rest of the body.
Credit: Graphic artwork: Chris Wager

A group of scientists at Texas Biomedical Research Institute have zeroed in on a new defense against HIV-1, the virus that causes AIDS. Led by Ruth Ruprecht, M.D., Ph.D., the team used an animal model to show for the first time that Immunoglobulin M (IgM) was effective in preventing infection after mucosal AIDS virus exposure. Worldwide, an estimated 90% of new cases of HIV-1 are caused through exposure in the mucosal cavities like the inside lining of the rectum or vagina. “IgM is sort of the forgotten antibody,” Dr...

Organic Mega Flow Battery Transcends Lifetime, Voltage Thresholds

Dubbed ‘Methuselah’, new molecule outlives previous chemistries. Researchers have demonstrated a new organic molecule that outlives and outperforms its predecessors, offering the longest-lasting high-performance organic flow battery to date. Nicknamed the Methuselah quinone – after the longest-lived Biblical figure – this molecule could usefully store and release energy many tens of thousands of times over multi-year periods. Organic flow batteries are a potentially safer, less expensive alternative to lithium ion batteries and vanadium flow batteries for large-scale renewable energy storage.

“We designed and built a new organic compound that can store electrical energy and also has a very long life before it decomposes,” sa...