A powerful new 4D printing technique could one day allow manufacturers to produce electronic devices and their wiring in a single process. Credit: H. Jerry Qi

Scientists report that they have developed a powerful new printer that could streamline the creation of self-assembling structures that can change shape after being exposed to heat and other stimuli. They say this unique technology could accelerate the use of 4D printing in aerospace, medicine and other industries. “We are on the cusp of creating a new generation of devices that could vastly expand the practical applications for 3D and 4D printing,” H. Jerry Qi, Ph.D., says. “Our prototype printer integrates many features that appear to simplify and expedite the processes used in traditional 3D printing...

Rice University graduate student Nicole Carrejo analyzes a sample of K2(SL)6K2, an injectable hydrogel researchers believe may help accelerate the healing of diabetic ulcers. Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University

Invention could accelerate tissue growth compared with current treatment. A hydrogel invented at Rice University that is adept at helping the body heal may also be particularly good at treating wounds related to diabetes. The Rice lab of chemist and bioengineer Jeffrey Hartgerink reported this week that tests on diabetic animal models showed the injectable hydrogel significantly accelerated wound healing compared with another hydrogel often used in clinics. The study appears this week in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering...

Artist’s conception of Scholz’s star and its brown dwarf companion (foreground) during its flyby of the solar system 70,000 years ago. The Sun (left, background) would have appeared as a brilliant star. The pair is now about 20 light years away. / Michael Osadciw/University of Rochester

New evidence of the passage of Scholz’s star. About 70,000 years ago, a small reddish star approached our solar system and gravitationally disturbed comets and asteroids. Astronomers from the Complutense University of Madrid and the University of Cambridge have verified that the movement of some of these objects is still marked by that stellar encounter.

At a time when modern humans were beginning to leave Africa and the Neanderthals were living on our planet, Scholz’s star – named after the German astronom...

Using data from three different satellites, scientists have developed new models that recreate, in 3-D, CMEs and shocks, separately. Credit: Image courtesy of NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Scientists have developed new models to see how shocks associated with coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, propagate from the Sun – an effort made possible only by combining data from 3 NASA satellites to produce a much more robust mapping of a CME than any one could do alone. CMEs set off interplanetary shocks when they erupt from the Sun at extreme speeds, propelling a wave of high-energy particles. These particles can spark space weather events around Earth, endangering spacecraft and astronauts.

Understanding a shock’s structure – particularly how it develops and accelerates – is key to predicting ho...