This is AR Scorpii, the first discovered white dwarf pulsar. Credit: Mark Garlick/University of Warwick

An exotic binary star system 380 light-years away has been identified as an elusive white dwarf pulsar – the first of its kind ever to be discovered in the universe – thanks to research by the University of Warwick. Professors Tom Marsh and Boris Gänsicke (University of Warwick’s Astrophysics Group), with Dr David Buckley (South African Astronomical Observatory), have identified the star AR Scorpii (AR Sco) as the first white dwarf version of a pulsar – objects found in the 1960s and associated with very different objects called neutron stars.

The white dwarf pulsar has eluded astronomers for over half a century...

Image of a ON Delayed retinal ganglion cell colored by its depth in the retina. Arrowheads point out the unique “recursive” morphology of the dendrites that snake up and down.

Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered a cell in the retina that may cause myopia when it dysfunctions. The dysfunction may be linked to the amount of time a child spends indoors and away from natural light. “This discovery could lead to a new therapeutic target to control myopia,” said Greg Schwartz, lead investigator and assistant professor of ophthalmology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine...

Rahim Esfandyarpour helped to develop a way to create a diagnostic “lab on a chip” for just a penny. Inset: The lab on a chip comprises a clear silicone microfluidic chamber for housing cells and a reusable electronic strip — a flexible sheet of polyester with commercially available conductive nanoparticle ink.
Zahra Koochak

Stanford University School of Medicine has developed a way to produce a cheap and reusable diagnostic “lab on a chip” with the help of an inkjet printer. At a cost of as little as 1 cent per chip, the new technology could usher in a medical diagnostics revolution like the kind brought on by low-cost genome sequencing. The inexpensive lab-on-a-chip technology has the potential to enhance diagnostic capabilities around the world, especially in developing countries...

1. How to make ceramic foam ink 2. Close up image of one node of the triangular honeycomb. The structure, which consists of air surrounded by ceramic, can be designed with specific porosity. (Image courtesy of James Weaver/Wyss Institute)

Nature does amazing things with limited design materials. Grass, for example, can support its own weight, resist strong wind loads, and recover after being compressed. The plant’s hardiness comes from a combination of its hollow, tubular macrostructure and porous, or cellular, microstructure. These architectural features work together to give grass its robust mechanical properties. Harvard SEAS, Wyss Institute and MIT have developed a new method to 3D print materials with independently tunable macro-and microscale porosity using a ceramic foam ink...