This large, fuzzy-looking galaxy is so diffuse that astronomers call it a ‘see-through’ galaxy because they can clearly see distant galaxies behind it. The ghostly object, catalogued as NGC 1052-DF2, doesn’t have a noticeable central region, or even spiral arms and a disk, typical features of a spiral galaxy. But it doesn’t look like an elliptical galaxy, either. Even its globular clusters are oddballs: they are twice as large as typical stellar groupings seen in other galaxies. All of these oddities pale in comparison to the weirdest aspect of this galaxy: NGC 1052-DF2 is missing most, if not all, of its dark matter. Credit: NASA, ESA, and P. van Dokkum (Yale University)

Galaxies and dark matter go together like peanut butter and jelly. You typically don’t find one without the other...

PrintrBot Simple Metal modified with the LVE for FRESH printing. Credit: Adam Feinberg/HardwareX

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a low-cost 3D bioprinter by modifying a standard desktop 3D printer, and they have released the breakthrough designs as open source so that anyone can build their own system. The researchers – Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) and Biomedical Engineering (BME) Associate Professor Adam Feinberg, BME postdoctoral fellow TJ Hinton, and Kira Pusch, a recent graduate of the MSE undergraduate program – recently published a paper in the journal HardwareX that contains complete instructions for printing and installing the syringe-based, large volume extruder (LVE) to modify any typical, commercial plastic printer.

“What we’ve created,” says ...

This is Francesco Greco, researcher at TU Graz in Austria, with a temporary tattoo electrode. Credit: Lunghammer – TU Graz

Electrodes for longterm monitoring of electrical impulses of heart or muscles in the form of temporary tattoos produced using an ink-jet printer. In the case of diagnostic methods such as electrocardiogram (ECG) and electromyography (EMG), gel electrodes are the preferred method of transmitting electric impulses from the heart or muscle. In clinical practice the frequently stiff and cumbersome electrodes noticeably restrict the mobility of patients and are not very comfortable. Because the gel on the electrodes dries out after a short time, the possibilities of taking measurements over a longer period using this kind of electrode are limited.

In the presented method, c...

Antibodies against APOE (red) bind to amyloid plaques (blue) in brain tissue from people with Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers have found that the antibody can sweep away the damaging plaques, at least in mice, which could lead to a therapy for the devastating disease. Credit: Monica Xiong

Potential therapy removes APOE and plaques from brain. Amyloid beta plaques are a characteristic sign of Alzheimer’s disease. But nestled within the plaques are small amounts of another Alzheimer’s protein: APOE. Now, researchers have shown that an antibody not only targets APOE for removal but sweeps away plaques in mice. The findings could lead to a way to halt the brain damage triggered by amyloid plaques while the disease is still in its early stages, perhaps before symptoms appear...