Microscopic insulator
Scientists have created a layered crystalline material that is both a thermal conductor and an insulator within the same microstructure.
Thorium reactors
China is to begin testing a 2MW thorium-fueled nuclear reactor as the first step in commercialising the technology. The plant has been constructed in Wuwei, near the Gobi Desert, in Gansu province.
Cellular coffee
Our love of coffee is a big environmental issue, requiring vast acreages to produce enough coffee beans, leading to deforestation – particularly in sensitive rainforest areas. But scientists at Finnish research organisation VTT may have the solution: coffee grown in a bioreactor through cellular agriculture.
Not so united front
While the UK’s COP26 President Alok Sharma was clocking up air miles jetting around the world attempting to stir up support for radical measures to combat climate change, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government has been announcing more and more dramatic and urgent measures to achieve the so-called net-zero target of 2050, in an attempt to encourage other G20 nations to follow suit.
Nose for knee repair
Osteoarthritis is one of the biggest causes of knee injury. Currently, sufferers receive palliative treatment for pain and inflammation – until a prosthetic knee implant becomes necessary. Surgery is especially problematic in younger patients, owing to the limited lifespan of prosthetics.
Lithium-selective membranes
Lithium is a key constituent in batteries for electronic devices and is expected to be crucial in future batteries that power next-generation cars and planes. But lithium extraction from salt brines in South America is time consuming and costly, requiring solar evaporation. Now, researchers report that a newly designed membrane could do the job more efficiently.
AI in drug discovery
The development of pharmaceutical drugs is a long costly process. AI has been successfully applied to speed up virtual screening, de novo drug discovery, and can be utilised to optimise compounds to have drug-like properties.
Nanojar CO2 trap
Nanojars smaller than the width of a human hair can capture carbonate as well as certain toxic ions from water, so potentially removing them from the environment for future recycling.
AD diagnosis tool
Early accumulation of tau proteins in the brain is a useful measure of memory impairment in Alzheimer’s patients, researchers have found. They report the method was more effective than measuring brain levels of amyloid plaque or cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers (Mol. Psych., doi: 10.1038/s41380-021-01263-2).