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    Moisture-driven tech can power green batteries—and destroy spy gear

    July 3, 2026, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    Mystery solved: The physics behind next-generation Janus semiconductors
    An image of the Janus formation reaction in which the outermost chalcogen atom in an atomic layer material is replaced by another chalcogen atom with the support of electron accumulation. Credit: Toshiaki Kato

    Researchers from North Carolina State University and Rice University have created a nontoxic, stretchable battery that operates by extracting moisture from the ambient environment—even in climates as dry as the desert. The batteries could be useful in Internet of Things (IoT) applications ranging from wearables to advanced surveillance monitors with built-in kill switches. The study is published in the journal Science Advances.

    Emerging technologies like wearable monitors, miniature robotics and other IoT devices require lightweight, flexible power sources...

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    TESS just found a planet in a new way—and more may be hiding in its eight years of data

    July 3, 2026, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    microlensing
    This animation illustrates the concept of gravitational microlensing. When one star in the sky appears to pass nearly in front of another, the light rays of the background source star become bent due to the warped space-time around the foreground star. This star acts like a virtual magnifying glass, amplifying the brightness of the background source star. If the nearer star harbors a planetary system, then those planets can also act as lenses, each one producing a short deviation in the brightness of the source. When astronomers find planets this way, they can measure their mass and orbital distance from their host star. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/CI Lab

    For the first time, NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) mission has identified a planet orbiting a ...

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    A blood protein can flag dementia risk decades before symptoms appear

    July 2, 2026, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    A blood protein can flag dementia risk years before symptoms appear

    Forgetting the name of a loved one may be one of the first signs people notice of dementia, but it’s rarely the first warning sign your brain gives. Changes in the brain that lead to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and dementia start showing up decades before symptoms arrive, and the chemicals at work inside the body can often tip us off to these changes well ahead of time.

    A recent study found that a blood protein called GDF15, which is released when cells are under stress, could serve as one of the earliest warning signs of dementia. After tracking more than half a million people for 15–25 years, researchers discovered that those with higher GDF15 levels before age 55 were significantly more likely to develop dementia later in life...

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    3D-printed battery electrolyte could let devices store power in almost any shape

    July 2, 2026, Categories  Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    3D-printed battery electrolyte could let devices store power in almost any shape
    3D printing capability of PC-based GPE formulations and effect of Allura Red on electrochemical behavior. Credit: Communications Engineering (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s44172-026-00682-9

    Researchers at The University of Texas at El Paso have developed a way to 3D-print an essential battery component in nearly any shape. Their innovation could free engineers from the constraints of standard rechargeable battery sizes and allow energy storage to be built directly into the devices the batteries power.

    The work, detailed in a study published in Communications Engineering, centers on gel polymer electrolytes, the material inside a battery that carries the ions (the particles that carry the electrical charge) between the electrodes—the two terminals where chemical reactions occur and electric...

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