The pulsar PSR B1957+20 is seen in the background through the cloud of gas enveloping its brown dwarf star companion. Credit: Dr. Mark A. Garlick; Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto

A team of astronomers has performed one of the highest resolution observations in astronomical history of a pulsar 6,500 light-years away. The observation is equivalent to using a telescope on Earth to see a flea on the surface of Pluto. The extraordinary observation was made possible by the rare geometry and characteristics of a pair of stars orbiting each other. One is a cool, lightweight star called a brown dwarf, which features a “wake” or comet-like tail of gas. The other is an exotic, rapidly spinning star called a pulsar.

“The gas is acting as like a magnifying glass rig...

Electrical control of third harmonic generation (THG) can be obtained in single-layer graphene. In THG three low-frequency photons (red) sum up to generate one high-frequency (blue) photon. For this reason, THG can be used for optical frequency converters. Credit: Giancarlo Soavi, University of Cambridge

Technology could lead to new devices for faster, more reliable ultra-broad bandwidth transfers. For the first time, researchers demonstrated how electrical fields boost the non-linear optical effects of graphene. Graphene, among other materials, can capture photons, combine them, and produce a more powerful optical beam. This is due to a physical phenomenon called the optical harmonic generation, which is characteristic of nonlinear materials...

This is a photomicrograph of tissue that has grown into the stroke cavity in the stroke-healing gel. The red tubes are blood vessels. They are growing into the site of the stroke in the center of the image. The green filaments are axons. These grow along the blood vessels as they enter the gel and infarct area. The blue ovoids are cell nuclei in the tissue. Credit: UCLA Health

In a first-of-its-kind finding, a new stroke-healing gel helped regrow neurons and blood vessels in mice with stroke-damaged brains, researchers report. “We tested this in laboratory mice to determine if it would repair the brain in a model of stroke, and lead to recovery,” said Dr. S. Thomas Carmichael, Professor and Chair of neurology at UCLA...

The 3D bioprinter designed by Khademhosseini has two key components: a custom-built microfluidic chip (pictured) and a digital micromirror. Credit: Amir Miri

Device could help advance regenerative medicine. A UCLA Samueli-led team has developed a specially adapted 3D printer to build therapeutic biomaterials from multiple materials. The advance could be a step toward on-demand printing of complex artificial tissues for use in transplants and other surgeries. “Tissues are wonderfully complex structures, so to engineer artificial versions of them that function properly, we have to recreate their complexity,” said Ali Khademhosseini, who led the study and is UCLA’s Levi James Knight, Jr., Professor of Engineering at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering...