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IMAGE: Mechanical treatment of mitranol-based polymers: ? - primary polymer as white powder; b - melted polymer, c-f - various forms of the polymer after being melted repeatedly view more
Credit: SPbU
Researchers at the Laboratory of Cluster Catalysis at St Petersburg University have synthesised polymers from biomass. What makes them different is that they can be easily recycled.
Today, our life is simply unthinkable without polymers. Plastics, fibres, films, paint and lacquer coating - they are all polymers. We use them both in our everyday life and in industry. Yet the goods made from polymers, e.g. bottles, bags, or disposable tableware, are used just once or for a short period of time before they are thrown away. Due to the chemical compounds that they may release during recycling, they pose a real threat to our environment.
POSTECH professor Hyung Joon Cha s research team develops a drug-delivering adhesive patch that mimics the blood vessel formation mechanism.
The patch can be applied to any shape anyplace and was verified for the regenerations of myocardial infarction and severe skin loss.
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IMAGE: The above diagram shows part of the molecular assembly process from individually trapped atoms to ground state molecule using optical tweezers (lasers). view more
Credit: Photo courtesy of the Ni group
In 2018, Kang-Kuen Ni and her lab earned the cover of Science with an impressive feat: They took two individual atoms, a sodium and a cesium, and forged them into a single dipolar molecule, sodium cesium.
Sodium and cesium normally ignore each other in the wild; but in the Ni lab s carefully calibrated vacuum chamber, she and her team captured each atom using lasers and then forced them to react, a capability that gifted scientists with a new method to study one of the most basic and ubiquitous processes on Earth: the formation of a chemical bond. With Ni s invention, scientists could not only discover more about our chemical underpinnings, they could start creating bespoke molecules for novel uses like qubits for quantum computers.
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IMAGE: The nucleocapsid phosphoprotein (blue) of SARS-CoV-2 (N) (grey) plays critical roles in multiple processes of the SARS-CoV-2 infection cycle, including replication and transcription, and packaging and protecting the genomic RNA. view more
Credit: OSU College of Science
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Researchers in the Oregon State University College of Science have taken a key step toward new drugs and vaccines for combating COVID-19 with a deep dive into one protein s interactions with SARS-CoV-2 genetic material.
The virus nucleocapsid protein, or N protein, is a prime target for disease-fighting interventions because of the critical jobs it performs for the novel coronavirus infection cycle and because it mutates at a comparatively slow pace. Drugs and vaccines built around the work of the N protein carry the potential to be highly effective and for longer periods of time - i.e., less susceptible to resistance.
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IMAGE: ORNL researchers used electron beam powder bed fusion to produce refractory metal molybdenum, which remained crack free and dense, proving its viability for additive manufacturing applications. view more
Credit: ORNL/U.S. Dept. of Energy
Manufacturing - Mighty Mo
Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists proved molybdenum titanium carbide, a refractory metal alloy that can withstand extreme temperature environments, can also be crack free and dense when produced with electron beam powder bed fusion. Their finding indicates the material s viability in additive manufacturing.
Molybdenum, or Mo, as well as associated alloys, are difficult to process through traditional manufacturing because of their high melting temperature, reactivity with oxygen and brittleness.