Illinois professor Paul Braun and Hailong Ning, the director of research and development at Xerion Advanced Battery Corporation, led a research team that developed a method for directly electroplating lithium-ion battery cathodes. Credit: Photo by L. Brian Stauffer

The process that makes gold-plated jewelry or chrome car accents is now making powerful lithium-ion batteries. Researchers at the University of Illinois, Xerion Advanced Battery Corporation and Nanjing University in China developed a method for electroplating lithium-ion battery cathodes, yielding high-quality, high-performance battery materials that could open the door to flexible and solid-state batteries.

Traditional lithium-ion battery cathodes use lithium-containing powders formed at high temperatures...

An infrared image reveals strange bright streaks extending from Santa Fe crater on Mars. Researchers suggest the streaks were caused by tornado-force winds created by the impact that formed the crater. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Arizona State University

In looking at NASA images of Mars a few years ago, Brown University geologist Peter Schultz noticed sets of strange bright streaks emanating from a few large-impact craters on the planet’s surface. The streaks are odd in that they extend much farther from the craters than normal ejecta patterns, and they are only visible in thermal infrared images taken during the Martian night...

Unusual galaxy IRAS 06076-2139, found in the constellation Lepus (The Hare).

This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the unusual galaxy IRAS 06076-2139, found in the constellation Lepus (The Hare). Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) instruments observed the galaxy from a distance of 500 million light-years.

This particular object stands out from the crowd by actually being composed of two separate galaxies rushing past each other at about 2 million kilometers (1,243,000 miles) per hour. This speed is most likely too fast for them to merge and form a single galaxy...

This is a surface and cross-section analysis of lyophilized scaffolds (A) and rehydrated scaffolds (B). Credit: UPV/EHU

When one’s own body is no longer capable of regenerating the bone defects it suffers, fitting compatible, biodegradable structures that can be used as temporary scaffolding in the damaged tissues is, as a general rule, very helpful. The NanoBioCel group in the UPV/EHU’s Faculty of Pharmacy has led the development of one of these scaffolds, which apart from physical support, also offers the chance to release growth factors, thus imitating the way in which the body does this.

The NanoBioCel group in the UPV/EHU’s Faculty of Pharmacy has developed a scaffolds, or matrices, for cases of critical bone defects, like those that can generate themselves in situations such as burns...