These images, taken with an electron microscope, show the patterned nanotubes that would operate as electron emitters in a new instrument now being developed for analyzing extraterrestrial samples. The right image is a close-up of one of the bumps. Credit: NASA

An ultra-dark coating comprised of nearly invisible shag rug-like strands made of pure carbon is proving to be highly versatile for all types of spaceflight applications. In the most recent application of the carbon-nanotube coating, optical engineer John Hagopian, a contractor at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and Goddard scientist Lucy Lim are growing an array of miniscule, button-shaped bumps of multi-walled nanotubes on a silicon wafer...

Zebrafish-Based Discovery of Antiseizure Compounds from the Red Sea: Pseurotin A2 and Azaspirofuran A

New treatments for epilepsy are sorely needed because current medications don’t work for many people with the disease. To find new leads, researchers have now turned to the sea – a source that has been largely untapped for prospective drugs. 2 metabolites produced by a fungus from the Red Sea look promising. “Epilepsy” covers a spectrum of brain disorders with symptoms ranging from mildly odd sensations to seizures, loss of consciousness and death. Worldwide, the condition affects 50 million people, according to the World Health Organization. Current treatments work in only about 70% of those who try them.

Marcel Jaspars, Peter A. M...

Researchers have discovered that soaking low density plastic in a sulfur-containing solvent, putting it into a microwave and transforming it into a carbon scaffold makes lithium-sulfur batteries last longer and retain elevated capacity. Credit: Purdue University/Patrick Kim

Purdue engineers have figured out a way to tackle plastic landfills while also improving batteries – by putting ink-free plastic soaked in sulfur-containing solvent into a microwave, and then into batteries as a carbon scaffold. Lithium-sulfur batteries have been hailed as the next generation of batteries to replace the current lithium ion variety. Lithium-sulfur batteries are cheaper and more energy-dense than lithium ions, which would be important characteristics in everything from electric vehicles to laptops...

In this visualization, as the supersonic solar wind (yellow haze) flows around the Earth’s magnetic field (blue wavy lines), it forms a highly turbulent boundary layer called the ‘magnetosheath’ (yellow swirling area). A new research paper describes observations of small-scale magnetic reconnection within the magnetosheath, revealing important clues about heating in the sun’s outer layers and elsewhere in the universe. Credit: NASA/GSFC

Explorations in Earth’s space environment by NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft have discovered a surprising new magnetic event in turbulent plasma. Magnetic reconnection is one of the most important processes in the space – filled with charged particles known as plasma – around Earth...