Subjecting artificial amino acids to extreme conditions, researchers hunt for clues on what it takes to survive on other planets. Credit: Claire Mammoser, Valparaiso University

Subjecting artificial amino acids to extreme conditions, researchers hunt for clues on what it takes to survive on other planets. Scientists are attempting to identify the amino acids -building blocks that make proteins and support all life on Earth – that might feasibly form the basis of extraterrestrial life. The researchers have analyzed how an assortment of 15 amino acids, some found here on Earth in living organisms and some not found in living organisms on Earth, hold up in the face of extreme conditions found on other planets and moons.

Claire Mammoser, an undergraduate research assistant at Valparaiso Univer...

Credit: Vera Kratochvil/public domain

Researchers show that foot’s impact helps control, increase the amount of blood sent to the brain. You probably know that walking does your body good, but it’s not just your heart and muscles that benefit. Researchers at New Mexico Highlands University (NMHU) found that the foot’s impact during walking sends pressure waves through the arteries that significantly modify and can increase the supply of blood to the brain.

Until recently, the cerebral blood flow or CBF was thought to be involuntarily regulated by the body and relatively unaffected by changes in the blood pressure caused by exercise or exertion...

New imaging potential: Standard resolution (left) compared to (center, right) high resolution and super-resolution obtained with the chip-based technique. Credit: Bielefeld University/Robin Diekmann

Physicists have developed a photonic chip that makes it possible to carry out super-resolution light microscopy, ie ‘nanoscopy,’ with conventional microscopes. In nanoscopy, the position of single fluorescent molecules can be determined with a precision of just a few nano-meters (millionth of a millimeter). This information can be used to produce images with a resolution of ~20 to 30 nm, and thereby 10X that of conventional light microscopy. Until now, this method has required the use of expensive special instruments...

Schematic representation of the monolithically integrated SiPV–LIB device and the electrochemical performance of the bipolar LIB.

A UNIST affiliated team has developed a single-unit, photo-rechargeable portable power source based on high-efficiency silicon solar cells and lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). This newly-developed power source is designed to work under sunlight and indoor lighting, allowing users to power their portable electronics anywhere with access to light. In addition, the new device could power electric devices even in the absence of light.

In this work, the team of Professor Sang-Young Lee and Professor Kwanyoung Seo of Energy and Chemical Engineering at UNIST presented a new class of monolithically integrated, portable PV-battery systems (denoted as ‘SiPV-LIBs’) based on...