Penn researchers leading the DARPA-funded Restoring Active Memory project constructed the first whole-brain map of electrical connectivity in the brain based on data from nearly 300 neurosurgical patients. Above, the image on the left represents the ~30,000 electrodes used in the study. On the right is a rendering of a whole-brain network derived from electrical activity during memory processing. Credit: Image courtesy of University of Pennsylvania

A team of neuroscientists at the University of Pennsylvania has constructed the first whole-brain map of electrical connectivity in the brain based on data from nearly 300 neurosurgical patients with electrodes implanted directly on the brain...

Tim Potteiger, a Ph.D. student in electrical engineering, tests his battery-switching device on a levitating electric vehicle in the School of Engineering. Credit: Joe Howell/Vanderbilt University

Nissan Leafs, which go about 107 miles on a charge, sometimes end up relegated to commuter cars due to battery-range worries. The mass-market, standard Tesla Model 3 can go double that but still can be disconcerting on long road trips. Both batteries could work up to 50% longer with a device provisionally patented by Vanderbilt University’s Ken Pence, professor of the practice of engineering management, and Tim Potteiger, a Ph.D. student in electrical engineering...

Moon crust formation graphic. Credit: The University of Texas at Austin/Jackson School of Geosciences

A team led by The University of Texas at Austin Jackson School of Geosciences took to the lab to recreate the magmatic melt that once formed the lunar surface and uncovered new insights on how the modern moonscape came to be. Their study shows that the Moon’s crust initially formed from rock floating to the surface of the magma ocean and cooling. However, the team also found that one of the great mysteries of the lunar body’s formation – how it could develop a crust composed of just one mineral – cannot be explained by the initial crust formation and must have been the result of some secondary event.

“It’s fascinating to me that there could be a body as big as the Moon that was completely ...

Cancer cells. Credit: Dr. Cecil Fox, National Cancer Institute

Cancer researchers seeking non-toxic alternatives to harmful chemotherapy are reporting a highly significant result for a humble cold remedy. N-Acetyl cysteine – or NAC – is routinely used as a dietary supplement and as a decongestant given to children to ward off a cold. Now, clinical trials in the US indicate the cheap, over-the-counter drug, is a first rate inhibitor of the tumour stroma, a cell compartment which is fundamental to the spread of cancer. The results, published in Seminars in Oncology, confirm a long-held theory that cancer cells are being sustained and strengthened by the presence of MCT4, a protein which ‘brings them’ energy, in the form of lactate, from neighbouring cells.

Patients taking high dosages of NAC...