Antiinflammatory Therapy with Canakinumab for Atherosclerotic Disease. New England Journal of Medicine, 2017; DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1707914

Inflammatory hypothesis confirmed: Landmark randomized clinical trial of high-risk patients finds that a drug targeting inflammation reduced risk of major adverse cardiovascular events. Investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital today announced results of a clinical trial culminating from 25 years of cardiovascular research work. Paul M...

The perovskite material changes size when exposed to light. Reproduced with permission from reference 1.© 2017 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co.

A crystalline material that changes shape in response to light could form the heart of novel light-activated devices. Perovskite crystals have received a lot of attention for their efficiency at converting sunlight into electricity, but new work by scientists at KAUST shows their potential uses extend far beyond the light-harvesting layer of solar panels. Photostriction is the property of certain materials to undergo a change in internal strain, and therefore shape, with exposure to light...

Charge screening in ferroelectric Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 nanorods was used to control their domain pattern. The c-domain fraction markedly increased with as the rod width decreased, while the a-domain formation prevailed by metallization of their sidewall. All the observed results could be explained by the depolarizing field, arising from the imperfect charge screening. This approach could be expanded to other low-dimensional nanoscale ferroelectric systems. Credit: Tomoaki Yamada

Scientists have taken control of the configuration of domains in nanorod- and thin-film ferroelectric systems. Many next-generation electronic and electro-mechanical device technologies hinge on the development of ferroelectric materials...

Artist’s concept of NASA’s Voyager spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Are we alone? Forty years ago, NASA rocket scientists sought to answer this question by launching the Voyager spacecraft, twin unmanned spaceships that would travel further than any human-made object in history. When Voyager 1 and 2 launched about two weeks apart in 1977 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, scientists knew little about the outer planets in our solar system, and could hardly imagine the scope of their upcoming space odyssey.

“None of us knew, when we launched 40 years ago, that anything would still be working, and continuing on this pioneering journey,” said Voyager project scientist Ed Stone...