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To highlight tumours in the body for cancer diagnosis, doctors can use tiny optical probes (nanoprobes) that light up when they attach to tumours. These nanoprobes allow doctors to detect the location, shape and size of cancers in the body.
Most nanoprobes are fluorescent; they absorb light of a specific colour, like blue and then emit back light of a different colour, like green. However, as tissues of the human body can emit light as well, distinguishing the nanoprobe light from the background light can be tough and could lead to the wrong interpretation.
Now, researchers at Imperial College London have developed new nanoprobes, named bioharmonophores and patented at Imperial, which emit light with a new type of glowing technology known as second harmonic generation (SHG).
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IMAGE: The mosaic of cone and rod photoreceptor cells is shown by confocal imaging (left) and split detection. view more
Credit: Johnny Tam, Ph.D., National Eye Institute
A team led by scientists at the National Eye Institute (NEI) has noninvasively visualized the light-sensing cells in the back of the eye, known as photoreceptors, in greater detail than ever before. Published in
Optica, the researchers report how they improved imaging resolution by a third by selectively blocking the light used to image the eye. NEI is part of the National Institutes of Health.
The achievement is the latest in an evolving strategy to monitor cell changes in retinal tissue that, in turn, will help identify new ways to treat and prevent vision loss from diseases such as age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness in people age 65 and older.
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Does a warmer climate mean more dry land? For years, researchers projected that drylands including deserts, savannas and shrublands will expand as the planet warms, but new research from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) challenges those prevailing views.
Previous studies used atmospheric information, including rainfall and temperature, to make projections about future land conditions. The real picture is more complicated than that, said Kaighin McColl, Assistant Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences and of Environmental Science and Engineering at SEAS and senior author of the paper. Historically, we have relatively good records of rainfall and temperature but really poor records of the land surface, things like soil moisture and vegetation, said McColl. As a result, previous definitions of drylands are based only on how the atmosphere is behaving, as an approximation of the land surface. But models can now simulat
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IMAGE: Power transmitted through the conductive silver-hydrogel composite actuated the shape-memory alloy muscle of this stingray-inspired soft swimmer. view more
Credit: Soft Machines Lab, College of Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University
In the field of robotics, metals offer advantages like strength, durability, and electrical conductivity. But, they are heavy and rigid properties that are undesirable in soft and flexible systems for wearable computing and human-machine interfaces.
Hydrogels, on the other hand, are lightweight, stretchable, and biocompatible, making them excellent materials for contact lenses and tissue engineering scaffolding. They are, however, poor at conducting electricity, which is needed for digital circuits and bioelectronics applications.
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IMAGE: The cellulose yarn, which the researchers present in the article, is practical to work with and could be used to make clothing with smart functions. Using a standard household sewing. view more
Credit: Anna-Lena Lundqvist/Chalmers University of Technology
Electronic textiles offer revolutionary new opportunities in various fields, in particular healthcare. But to be sustainable, they need to be made of renewable materials. A research team led by Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, now presents a thread made of conductive cellulose, which offers fascinating and practical possibilities for electronic textiles. Miniature, wearable, electronic gadgets are ever more common in our daily lives. But currently, they are often dependent on rare, or in some cases toxic, materials. They are also leading to a gradual build-up of great mountains of electronic waste. There is a real need for organic, renewable materials for use in electronic textiles, says So