Mergers between two neutron stars have produced more heavy elements in last 2.5 billion years than mergers between neutron stars and black holes. Most elements lighter than iron are forged in the cores of stars. A star’s white-hot center fuels the fusion of protons, squeezing them together to build progressively heavier elements. But beyond iron, scientists have puzzled over what could give rise to gold, platinum, and the rest of the universe’s heavy elements, whose formation requires more energy than a star can muster.

A new study by researchers at MIT and the University of New Hampshire finds that of two long-suspected sources of heavy metals, one is more of a goldmine than the other.

The study, published today in Astrophysical Journal Letters, reports that in the last 2...

Increased consumption of whole grain foods could significantly reduce the incidence of type 2 diabetes and the costs associated with its treatment in Finland, according to a recent study by the University of Eastern Finland and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare. The findings were published in Nutrients.

“Our study shows that already one serving of full grains as part of the daily diet reduces the incidence of type 2 diabetes at the population level and, consequently, the direct diabetes-related costs, when compared to people who do not eat whole grain foods on a daily basis. Over the next ten years, society’s potential to achieve cost savings would be from 300 million (-3.3%) to almost one billion (-12...

Metalens-based design shrinks footprint, making optical traps practical for precision sensing and measurements.

Researchers have created tiny chip-based optical tweezers that can be used to optically levitate nanoparticles in a vacuum. Optical tweezers — which employ a tightly focused laser beam to hold living cells, nanoparticles and other objects — can be used for a variety of precision measurements and sensing applications. However, these optical traps are usually produced with bulky optical components.

“By using an ultrathin metalens, we reduced the diameter of the focusing lens from about...

The breakthrough advance could lead to a novel, drug-free therapeutic that can slow, possibly stop, the growth of cancer cells. A multi-institutional research team has designed nanoparticles that can communicate with and slow the development of cancer cells. The work — detailed in a newly published paper in Advanced Materials — has uncovered a novel framework for the potential development of drug-free cancer therapies.

Led by scientists at the Advanced Science Research Center at the Graduate Center, CUNY (CUNY ASRC), the research team was able to design nanoparticles that are activated to se...