An artist’s rendition (appearing on the cover of the journal Advanced Functional Materials) of the charge carrier “traps” created by the addition of certain molecules to polymer semiconductor materials. Credit: Image courtesy of University of California – Santa Barbara

In what could be called a classic “Eureka” moment, UC Santa Barbara materials researchers have discovered a simple yet effective method for mastering the electrical properties of polymer semiconductors. The elegant technique allows for the efficient design and manufacture of organic circuitry (the type found in flexible displays and solar cells, for instance) of varying complexity while using the same semiconductor material throughout...

The Calabash Nebula, OH 231.8+04.2 — is a spectacular example of the death of a low-mass star like the sun.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt

The Calabash Nebula – which has the technical name OH 231.8+04.2 – is a spectacular example of the death of a low-mass star like the sun. NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the star going through a rapid transformation from a red giant to a planetary nebula, during which it blows its outer layers of gas and dust out into the surrounding space. The recently ejected material is spat out in opposite directions with immense speed – the gas shown in yellow is moving close to 1M km/hr (621,371 miles/hr).

Astronomers rarely capture a star in this phase of its evolution because it occurs within the blink of an eye – in astronomical...

Zircones. Credit: Anders Lindskog

Sustained meteorite bombardment. Some 470 million years ago, during the middle part of the geological period known as the Ordovician, an asteroid collision took place somewhere between Mars and Jupiter. The collision caused an explosion that sent a cascade of meteorites towards Earth. The heavy bombardment of Earth continued for millions of years, and even today some 20% of all meteorites that reach Earth originate from this asteroid break-up. At the same time Earth witnessed the greatest rise in marine biodiversity since the origin of multicellular life...

These are the researchers. (From left) Dr. Rhonda Bassel-Duby, Dr. Lawrence Lum, Huanyu Zhou, Dr. Jesung Moon, and Dr. Wei Tan. Credit: UT Southwestern Medical Center

An anticancer agent in development promotes regeneration of damaged heart muscle – an unexpected research finding that may help prevent congestive heart failure, CHF in the future. Many parts of the body, such as blood cells and the lining of the gut, continuously renew throughout life. Others, such as the heart, do not. Because of the heart’s inability to repair itself, damage caused by a heart attack causes permanent scarring that frequently results in serious weakening of the heart, known as heart failure.

For years, Dr...