Sustainable Plastics from Agricultural Waste

The dyed and natural polyamide fibers after extrusion. Credit: Lorenz Manker/EPFL
EPFL scientists have developed a sustainable method to make high-performance plastics from agricultural leftovers, turning them into valuable materials.

Scientists have developed a sustainable method to make high-performance plastics from agricultural leftovers, turning them into valuable materials.

In our rapidly industrialized world, the quest for sustainable materials has never been more urgent. Plastics, ubiquitous in daily life, pose significant environmental challenges, primarily due to their fossil fuel origins and problematic disposal.

Now, a study led by Jeremy Luterbacher’s team at EPFL unveils a pioneering approach to producing high-performance plastics from renewable resources.

The research, published in Nature Sustainability, introduces a novel method for creating...

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Astrophysicist Explains Science Behind Once-in-a-Lifetime Nova Outburst that will Light up the Sky this Year

Illustration of a star-field.
The nova explosion that will be visible this year occurs every 80 years and will create a new pinprick of light in the Milky Way. Getty Images

The total solar eclipse isn’t the only reason to keep your eyes to the sky this year. For the first time in 80 years, a star system 3,000 light years away will be visible to the naked eye thanks to a once-in-a-lifetime nova outburst.

NASA announced that the nova, which will create a “new” star in the night sky, will light up the night sky some time between now and September and be as bright as the North Star. One of only five recurring novae in our galaxy, it will be visible for a week before it fades back down.

Jonathan Blazek, an assistant professor of physics at Northeastern University, says this is an exciting moment for amateur astron...

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Swallowable Sensors could Pinpoint Gut Movement Problems for Patients

Swallowable sensors could pinpoint gut movement problems for patients
A close-up picture of the capsule. Credit: Gerard Cummins, University of Birmingham.

Scientists have developed an ingestible capsule dotted with sensors that can detect pressure in a patient’s guts and detect points of failure.

The ingestible system will give colorectal medical teams an unprecedented understanding of the movement of a patient’s digestive tract, or lack thereof. Instead of simply taking images of inside the guts, the system will sense whether it’s contracting, how much pressure is exerted and exactly where it might be inactive.

The system has been tested in a synthetic gut and animals. A patent for the technology is pending.

The team from Heriot-Watt University and the University of Birmingham, with colleagues from the University of Edinburgh, have reported the...

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Astrophysicist’s Research could provide a Hint in the Search for Dark Matter

A photo with a bunch of white and yellow lights in the sky
Photo credit: NASA, ESA, and D. Coe (NASA JPL/Caltech and STScI)

Dark matter is one of science’s greatest mysteries. It doesn’t absorb, reflect or emit light, so we can’t see it. But its presence is implied by the gravitational effects it appears to have on galaxies.

Although dark matter makes up about 85% of the cosmos, scientists know very little about its fundamental nature.

Theories abound, and research by Clemson University postdoctoral fellow Alex McDaniel provides some of the most stringent constraints on the nature of dark matter yet. His research also reveals a small hint of a signal that if real, could be confirmed sometime in the next decade or so.

The work is published in the journal Physical Review D.

“With data collection and new discoveries in the future, thi...

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