Rod-like cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) approximately 120 nanometers long and 6.5 nanometers in diameter under the microscope.
Credit: Empa

Empa researchers have succeeded in developing an environmentally-friendly ink for 3D printing based on cellulose nanocrystals (CNC). This technology can be used to fabricate microstructures with outstanding mechanical properties, which have promising potential uses in implants and other biomedical applications. In order to produce 3D microstructured materials for automobile components, for instance, Empa researchers have been using a 3D printing method called “Direct Ink Writing” for the past year (DIW)...

A mosaic of images from the navigation cameras on the NASA Curiosity rover shows “halos” of lighter-toned bedrock around fractures. These halos comprise high concentrations of silica and indicate that liquid groundwater flowed through the rocks in Gale crater longer than previously believed. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Lighter-toned bedrock that surrounds fractures and comprises high concentrations of silica – called “halos” – has been found in Gale crater on Mars, indicating that the planet had liquid water much longer than previously believed. “The concentration of silica is very high at the centerlines of these halos,” said Jens Frydenvang, a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the University of Copenhagen...

1.The first wild back-and-forth line records the moment on October 13, 2014 when the left Narrow Angle Camera’s radiator was struck by a meteoroid.
Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University
2. The Narrow Angle Camera sits on a bench in the clean room at Malin Space Science Systems. The radiator (right) extends off the electronics end and keeps the sensor cool while imaging the moon. Computer modeling shows the meteoroid impacted somewhere on the radiator.
Credits: Malin Space Science Systems/Arizona State University

On Oct.13, 2014 something very strange happened to the camera aboard NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)...

Dr. Anwesha Sanyal holds up two vials with HIV-infected cells that she is preparing for Pitt Public Health’s TZA test. The yellow indicates more stimulated HIV infected cells. Credit: Image courtesy of University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences

Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health announced in Nature Medicine that they’ve created a test sensitive enough to detect “hidden” HIV, and yet is faster, less labor-intensive and less expensive than the current “gold standard” test. The new Pitt test also revealed that the amount of virus lurking dormant in people who appear to be nearly cured of HIV is about 70-fold larger than previous estimates.

HIV spreads by infecting CD4+ T cells that plays a major role in protecting the body from infection...