The retina replica consists of soft water droplets (hydrogels) and biological cell membrane proteins. Designed like a camera, the cells act as pixels, detecting and reacting to light to create a grey scale image. Credit: Oxford University

A synthetic, soft tissue retina developed by an Oxford University student could offer fresh hope to visually impaired people. Until now, all artificial retinal research has used only rigid, hard materials. The new research, by Vanessa Restrepo-Schild, a 24yo Dphil student and researcher at the Oxford University, Department of Chemistry, is the first to successfully use biological, synthetic tissues, developed in a laboratory environment...

Schematic of the pathway describing the evolution of adsorbed ethene (top left) to graphene (bottom left). The sequence of intermediates identified in the study and their respective appearance temperatures are indicated. Credit: F. Esch, R. Schaub, U. Landman

An international has developed a new way to produce single-layer graphene from a simple precursor: ethene aka ethylene – the smallest alkene molecule, which contains just two atoms of carbon. By heating the ethene in stages to a temperature of slightly >700C – hotter than had been attempted before – the researchers produced pure layers of graphene on a rhodium catalyst substrate. The stepwise heating and higher temperature overcame challenges in earlier efforts to produce graphene directly from hydrocarbon precursors.

Because of its l...

Scientists have developed a new molybdenum-coated catalyst that prevents an unwanted back reaction in certain chemical systems that split water into hydrogen and oxygen. (Andy Freeberg/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

Hydrogen is one of the most promising clean fuels for use in cars, houses and portable generators. But water-splitting systems require a very efficient catalyst. Now an international research team, including scientists at DOE SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, has developed a new catalyst with a molybdenum coating that prevents this problematic back reaction and works well in realistic operating conditions...

The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) galaxy is a striking feature of the southern sky even to the unaided eye. But visible-light telescopes cannot get a really clear view of what is in the galaxy because of obscuring clouds of interstellar dust. VISTA’s infrared capabilities have now allowed astronomers to see the myriad of stars in this neighbouring galaxy much more clearly than ever before. The result is this record-breaking image — the biggest infrared image ever taken of the Small Magellanic Cloud — with the whole frame filled with millions of stars. As well as the SMC itself this very wide-field image reveals many background galaxies and several star clusters, including the very bright 47 Tucanae globular cluster at the right of the picture. Credit: ESO/VISTA VMC

The SMC is a dwarf galaxy...