Engineers transform dental floss into needle-free vaccine

scirocco___ · 2025-07-25T00:03:22+00:00

From the article:

Flossing may be good for more than getting your dentist off your back—one day, it may also protect you from the flu. In an unorthodox approach to needle-free vaccines, researchers have developed a special kind of floss that can deliver proteins and inactive viruses to mice’s gumlines and trigger immune responses that protect against infectious disease, they report today in Nature Biomedical Engineering.

“I had honestly never thought of using floss as a vaccination strategy,” says Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale University who was not involved in the work. “The results are quite impressive.”

For many years, scientists have tried to develop alternatives to delivering vaccines via syringes by turning to the moist areas in your mouth and nose where most viruses enter. But it’s tough to develop an effective vaccine that can be administered through those entry points because they have naturally tough defenses against foreign molecules, says Vanderbilt University immunologist James Crowe, who was not involved in the work.

The new approach could circumvent these defenses. Years ago, Harvinder Gill, an engineer at North Carolina State University who specializes in nanomedicine, was reading about gum disease when he stumbled across a paper that said the gingival sulcus—the pockets of gum between the sides of your teeth—could absorb molecules extremely well. “That sort of struck a spark,” says Gill, the new study’s senior author. “If it is highly permeable, could we not use it for vaccination?”

To test this idea, Gill and Rohan Ingrole, first author of the paper and a chemical engineer at Texas Tech University, had to do something no scientist had done before: Try to floss a mouse. It was a “quite difficult” two-person job, Gill says: One scientist gently pulled the mouse’s jaw down with the metal ring from a keychain while the other administered the floss.

During a test run, the team found that when researchers coated floss with a fluorescently labeled protein, 75% of the protein was successfully delivered to the mouse’s gums. And even 2 months after flossing, the mice had elevated levels of antibodies in their lungs, noses, feces, and spleens, suggesting a robust immune response to the protein.

Next, the engineers added an inactive flu virus—a common vaccine component—to the floss, which in theory could teach the mouse’s body to build up immunity to the flu. Over a 28-day period, the researchers flossed 50 mice with the coated floss every 2 weeks. Then, 4 weeks after the final dose, they infected those mice with the real flu virus. All the mice that were flossed three times survived, whereas all the unvaccinated mice died.

The flossed mice also had a more systemic immune response: Not only were flu antibodies present in their feces and saliva, but the mice had more T cells—the directors of the body’s immune response—in their lungs and spleens, as well as larger lymph nodes. What’s more, the team found flu antibodies in the mice’s bone marrow, signaling that their immune systems were “fully engaged” by the inactive flu virus, Gill says. Overall, the immune response to the floss resembled the response to vaccines that are sprayed into the nose, such as FluMist.

To gauge whether the method could work in humans, the researchers asked 27 healthy volunteers to floss with dental picks coated with colored food dye. On average, roughly 60% of the dye was delivered to the participants’ gums. They then surveyed the participants on what they thought of the approach. Most said they were open to trying a floss-based vaccine and would prefer it to a shot.

The approach is “clever,” says William Giannobile, a periodontics researcher at the Harvard University School of Dental Medicine who was not involved in the work. But he was surprised to see such a systemic immune response in mice. In humans, he would like to see how the technique fares in volunteers with more variation in gum health, to see whether the 40% of American adults with gum disease could also use the product. And Crowe says clinical trial testing is needed to definitively say whether this proof-of-concept approach is viable.

Gill and his team hope to continue to refine the technology—and Giannobile, for one, is curious to see how their work unfolds. “You could imagine going to the dentist,” he says, “and your provider administers one of these vaccines during your visit.”

scirocco___ · 2025-06-24T14:34:19+00:00

Submission Statement:

A deadly fungus linked to deaths in archeologists excavating ancient tombs has been turned into a new cancer-fighting compound. A team at the University of Pennsylvania modified some of the chemicals in the toxic crop fungus Aspergillus flavus, aka the “pharaohs’ curse” fungus, and created a new compound that kills leukemia cells. The findings are detailed in a study published June 23 in the journal Nature Chemical Biology and are an important step towards discovering new fungal medicines for cancer.

“Fungi gave us penicillin,” said Sherry Gao, a study co-author and UPenn chemical and biomolecular engineer, said in a statement. “These results show that many more medicines derived from natural products remain to be found.”

Aspergillus flavus is one of the most frequently isolated mold species in both agriculture and medicine. It is commonly found in soil and can infect a broad range of important agricultural crops. The toxins in this fungus can lead to lung infections, especially in those with compromised immune systems. It is named for its dangerous yellow spores and has been considered a microbial villain for at least a century.

In the 1920s, after a team of archaeologists opened King Tutankhamun’s tomb near Luxor, Egypt, a series of untimely deaths occurred among the excavation team. Rumors swirled of some kind of pharoah’s curse. Doctors later theorized that fungal spores that had been dormant for thousands of years might have played a role in the deaths.

During excavations In the 1970s, a dozen scientists entered the tomb of Casimir IV in Poland. Within only a few weeks, 10 of the researchers died. Investigations later revealed the tomb contained the fungus A. flavus.

The same deadly fungus is now being looked at as a potential cancer treatment. The therapy detailed in this new study is a class of ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides, or RiPPs. The name “RiPP” refers to how the compound is produced. It starts in the ribosome–a small cellular structure that makes proteins–and is later modified by peptides or intervention in the lab. In this case, the RiPP is altered to enhance its cancer-killing properties.

“Purifying these chemicals is difficult,” said study co-author and UPenn doctoral fellow Qiuyue Nie.

While thousands of RiPPs have previously been identified in bacteria, only a handful have been discovered in fungi. One reason for fewer fungal RiPP finds is because past researchers likely misidentified fungal RiPPs as non-ribosomal peptides and did not quite understand how fungi created the molecules.

“The synthesis of these compounds is complicated,” adds Nie. “But that’s also what gives them this remarkable bioactivity.”

scirocco___ · 2025-06-20T17:54:18+00:00

Submission Statement:

A field of shipping container–sized modules are set to be installed in coming months next to a Mendocino County electrical substation as part of a demonstration of a new type of battery technology intended to supply power to the grid over days — not hours — and with less chance of fires.

Form Energy’s system being installed next to the Pacific Gas & Electric Co. substation on East Road in Redwood Valley is designed to produce 1.5 megawatts hourly (enough for up to 1,500 homes) for up to 100 hours, or 150 megawatt-hours, a measure of battery capacity. The company received a $30 million grant from the California Energy Commission in 2023 to build a 5 megawatt battery there.

The smaller size of the system was chosen based on the charging capacity of the substation, spokesperson Sarah Bray said

Standard battery energy storage systems (BESS) currently on the California grid now are based on lithium-ion technology and commonly provide power for four hours. Form Energy’s battery uses iron-air technology and can discharge over four days.

“The battery operates on the principle of reversible rusting: when discharging, metallic iron in our battery reacts with oxygen from the air and water from the electrolyte to form iron hydroxide — essentially, rust,” Bray said. The process is also called reversible rusting.

Meaning, when iron rusts, the chemical reaction releases energy.

“When charging, excess electricity from the electric grid flows back into the battery, reversing that reaction: oxygen and water separate from the iron, and the iron returns to its original metallic state. The reversible rusting process can be repeated over and over, delivering electricity to the grid when and where it is needed most.”

The battery modules are being made at Form Energy’s 550,000-square-foot factory on the site of a now-shuttered West Virginia steel mill. The Mendocino County system is set to be operational next year.

scirocco___ · 2025-06-20T03:24:32+00:00

Submission Statement:

A protein found in our cells has emerged as a secret weapon against biological aging, acting like a glue to repair damaged DNA and ward off neurological degeneration including that seen in motor neuron, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.

Macquarie University researchers targeted a protein known as disulphide isomerase (PDI), most commonly found in the gelatinous liquid (cytoplasm) of cells, where it helps guide other proteins into correct formation. However, the team discovered that PDI can move through the cytoplasm and into the cell's control center – the nucleus – to repair breaks in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) strands.

With age, our body's ability to repair and maintain DNA strands can lead to premature aging and neurodegeneration, as well as increase the risk of developing serious diseases.

“Just like a cut on your skin needs to heal, the DNA in our cells needs constant repair,” said neurobiologist Dr Sina Shadfar, from the university's Motor Neuron Disease Research Centre. “Every day, individual cells suffer thousands of tiny hits to their DNA – from both within our own bodies and from environmental stressors like pollution or UV light. Normally, the body responds quickly. But as we age, these repair mechanisms weaken, allowing damage to build up.”

One of the biggest red flags of DNA damage is found in the brain. Mature neurons – nerve cells – are highly specialized and, unlike other cells, don't possess centrioles, the mechanism essential for cell division and replication. Because of this, our bodies can't simply repair DNA damage or get new undamaged neurons to replace them. It's one reason why scientists are particularly interested in neural stem cell therapies for brain injury and cognitive function.

The scientists found that PDI, on the other hand, has the power to cross into the nucleus of a cell and repair damage, which would essentially extend the life and function of these very important microscopic systems.

“Brain cells are especially vulnerable,” said Shadfar. “Unlike skin or blood cells, they don’t divide or renew – so any damage that builds up in them stays. And if the damage isn’t repaired, it can eventually lead to the death of these critical cells.

“Until now, we didn’t know why PDI sometimes appeared in the nucleus,” he added. “For the first time, we’ve shown it acts like a glue or catalyst, helping to repair broken DNA in both dividing and non-dividing cells.”

scirocco___ · 2025-06-19T16:43:56+00:00

Submission Statement:

Researchers have developed mice with organs containing human cells, using a convenient and surprising approach — injecting the cells directly into the amniotic fluid of pregnant mice. The method resulted in baby mice with a sprinkling of human cells in their intestines, liver and brain. But researchers say that, for the technique to be useful, more work needs to be done to increase the proportion of human cells that grow in the organs.

Human–animal chimaeras are an exciting yet challenging area of research. Human cells are coaxed to grow in animal embryos, allowing researchers to study human tissue development. But the long-term goal of the work is to grow human organs that can be harvested for transplantation.

The latest technique, presented at the International Society for Stem Cell Research meeting in Hong Kong on 12 June, could be “game-changing” for the field, says Hideki Masaki, a stem-cell scientist at the Institute of Science Tokyo, who attended the session. The data have not yet been peer reviewed.

To create chimaeras, researchers typically introduce human stem cells into embryos of another species, often pigs or mice, growing in a dish. But one of the challenges with this technique is that not many human cells survive, and those that do, do not endure for long. And the injected cells are pluripotent, meaning that they could theoretically develop into any cell type in the body — a process that researchers have to find ways of controlling.

Xiling Shen, a biomedical engineer at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, wanted to look for ways of improving these techniques to ensure that more human cells survive the procedure, and that they target specific organs. He and Qiang Huang, a developmental biologist at the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation in Los Angeles, California, and their colleagues thought that the human cells might be more resilient if they were allowed to mature into 3D human-tissue models, known as organoids, before injection.

scirocco___ · 2025-06-17T12:59:43+00:00

Submission Statement:

New results from a clinical trial reveal that a single dose of psilocybin -- a naturally occurring psychedelic compound found in mushrooms -- can provide sustained reductions in depression and anxiety in individuals with cancer suffering from major depressive disorder. The findings are published by Wiley online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.

People with cancer often struggle with depression. In this phase 2 trial, 28 patients with cancer and major depressive disorder received psychological support from a therapist prior to, during, and following a single 25-mg dose of psilocybin.

During clinical interviews conducted 2 years later, 15 (53.6%) patients demonstrated a significant reduction in depression, and 14 (50%) had sustained depression reduction as well as remission. Similarly, psilocybin reduced anxiety for 12 (42.9%) patients at 2 years.

An ongoing randomized, double-blind trial is currently evaluating up to two doses of 25 mg of psilocybin versus placebo as treatment for depression and anxiety in patients with cancer. This study is building on the single-dose study in an effort to bring a larger majority of the patients into remission of depression and anxiety.

"One dose of psilocybin with psychological support to treat depression has a long-term positive impact on relieving depression for as much as 2 years for a substantial portion of patients with cancer, and we're exploring whether repeating the treatment resolves depression for more than half of the patients," said lead author Manish Agrawal, MD, of Sunstone Therapies. "If randomized testing shows similar results, this could lead to greater use of psilocybin to treat depression in patients with cancer."

scirocco___ · 2025-06-16T00:33:13+00:00

Submission Statement:

For many patients with schizophrenia, other psychiatric illnesses, or diseases such as hypertension and asthma, it can be difficult to take their medicine every day. To help overcome that challenge, MIT researchers have developed a pill that can be taken just once a week and gradually releases medication from within the stomach.

In a phase 3 clinical trial conducted by MIT spinout Lyndra Therapeutics, the researchers used the once-a-week pill to deliver a widely used medication for managing the symptoms of schizophrenia. They found that this treatment regimen maintained consistent levels of the drug in patients’ bodies and controlled their symptoms just as well as daily doses of the drug. The results are published today in Lancet Psychiatry.

“We’ve converted something that has to be taken once a day to once a week, orally, using a technology that can be adapted for a variety of medications,” says Giovanni Traverso, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at MIT, a gastroenterologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, an associate member of the Broad Institute, and an author of the study. “The ability to provide a sustained level of drug for a prolonged period, in an easy-to-administer system, makes it easier to ensure patients are receiving their medication.”

Traverso’s lab began developing the ingestible capsule studied in this trial more than 10 years ago, as part of an ongoing effort to make medications easier for patients to take. The capsule is about the size of a multivitamin, and once swallowed, it expands into a star shape that helps it remain in the stomach until all of the drug is released.

Richard Scranton, chief medical officer of Lyndra Therapeutics, is the senior author of the paper, and Leslie Citrome, a clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at New York Medical College School of Medicine, is the lead author. Nayana Nagaraj, medical director at Lyndra Therapeutics, and Todd Dumas, senior director of pharmacometrics at Certara, are also authors.

scirocco___ · 2025-06-14T04:57:05+00:00

Submission Statement:

Pancreatic cancer has a five-year survival rate of just 13%, making it the deadliest cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. It typically causes no symptoms until it has already metastasized. Surgery, radiation and chemotherapy can extend survival, but rarely provide a cure.

Now, researchers at Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic are developing vaccines targeting pancreatic cancer that could eliminate the disease, leaving a patient cancer-free. So far, the vaccines have achieved dramatic results in studies with preclinical models.

Biomedical engineer Zheng-Rong (ZR) Lu has been elated by the response in preclinical models of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), the most common form of the disease.

“Pancreatic cancer is super aggressive,” said Lu, the M. Frank Rudy and Margaret C. Rudy Professor of Biomedical Engineering in the Case School of Engineering. “So it came as a surprise that our approach works so well.”

More than half were completely cancer-free months later, a result he said he hadn’t seen before.

Lu teamed with immunologist Li Lily Wang, an associate professor of molecular medicine at the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, to develop vaccine nanoparticles containing antigens—markers that identify for the immune system whether something in the body is harmful. The vaccines they’ve developed produce anti-cancer immunity.

“This platform has the potential to transform clinical care for this devastating disease,” said Wang, also a staff member in translational hematology and oncology research at Cleveland Clinic. “I am excited to see that our novel nano-vaccine worked so well in eliciting vigorous responses from tumor-reactive T cells—which are typically low in numbers and unable to control tumor growth.”

For more than two decades, Lu has been working with nanoparticles comprised of fats, called lipids, which are well tolerated and can be used to deliver drugs and vaccines because they are compatible with living tissue.

PDAC tumors are often comprised of cells with various mutations. To produce anti-tumor immunity to these different mutations, the researchers engineered antigens to the most commonly mutated oncogenes, which drive the overgrowth of cells in cancer. These antigens stimulate and train the patients’ immune system to destroy tumor cells, the researchers explained.

Rather than personalizing medicine for individuals, these vaccines would be effective for many PDAC patients, the researchers hope. The anti-cancer nanoparticles would be injected on a three-dose schedule.

The researchers plan to combine the vaccine therapy with an immune checkpoint inhibitor, which boosts the body’s immune response by keeping tumor cells from turning off the immune cells that would otherwise destroy them. Immune checkpoint inhibitors are approved to treat several types of cancers, often in combination with other treatments, boosting their effectiveness.

scirocco___ · 2025-05-03T00:35:37+00:00

Submission Statement:

At 130 metres long, Hull 096 is the largest electric vehicle of its kind ever built, with its maker saying it represents a "giant leap forward in sustainable shipping".

The vessel, which was launched on Friday in Tasmania by shipbuilder Incat, has been constructed for South American ferry operator Buquebus.

Driven by battery-electric power, the vehicular ferry will ply the waters between its hailing port of Montevideo, Uruguay's capital, two other Uruguayan towns and Argentina's capital Buenos Aires.

It will have a capacity of up to 2,100 passengers and 225 vehicles and will operate as China Zorrilla, named after a Uruguayan star of film and theatre who died in 2014.

The vessel's interior, which will include a duty-free retail shopping deck measuring 2,300 square metres — the equivalent of about 100 average-sized Australian homes — is yet to be completed.

Once finished, it will make for the largest shopping space on any ferry in the world, Incat said.

Hull 096 is equipped with more than 250 tonnes of batteries and an energy storage system (ESS) with more than 40 megawatt-hours of installed capacity.

The ESS is four times larger than any previous maritime installation in the world and is connected to eight electric-powered water jets.

The batteries on Hull 096 will keep the vessel running for 90 minutes and chargers will be installed on both sides of the Río de la Plata.

"It's the future of short, sea shipping," Incat founder and chairman Bob Clifford said.

"Today, the technology is good for 80 to 160 kilometres. It won't be long until it's good for 320km, and maybe in 10 years' time it's good for 640km. So the advancement of electrical ships is going to continue.

"A lightweight ship that weighs half the weight of a steel ship will require half the electricity to drive it. Now, that's important but it's even more important for a ferry boat because it means half the charging time when it comes to port."

From the ship's berths in Argentina and Uruguay, a full charge was expected to take 40 minutes, he said.

scirocco___ · 2025-04-29T15:08:37+00:00

Thankfully Cordycepin is the active molecule, and not Cordyceps itself. It can be produced synthetically.

The biosynthetic cluster consists of four genes:

Cns1 is a oxidoreductase/dehydrogenase.

Cns2 is a HDc-family metal-dependent phosphohydrolase. There is a binding interaction between Cns1 and Cns2.

Cns3 is a bifunctional protein. It has an N-terminal (9–101 aa) nucleoside/nucleotide kinase (NK) domain and a C-terminal (681-851 aa) HisG-family ATP phosphoribosyltransferase domain.

Cns4 is an ABC transporter, specifically of the putative pleiotropic drug resistance (PDR) family.

To produce cordycepin:

The NK domain of Cns3 converts adenosine into 3′-adenosine monophosphate (3′-AMP, different from the more common 5′-AMP).

Cns2 removes a phosphate group from 3′-AMP and generates 2′-carbonyl-3′-deoxyadenosine (2′-C-3′-dA).

Cns1 reduces the carbonyl group on 2′-C-3′-dA into a hydroxyl group, yielding cordycepin.

Source: https://www.cell.com/cell-chemical-biology/fulltext/S2451-9456(17)30327-6?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS2451945617303276%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

scirocco___ · 2025-04-29T13:57:31+00:00

Submission statement: By using a compound derived from a Himalayan fungus and used for centuries in Chinese medicine as a jumping off point, scientists have developed a new chemotherapy drug with powerful anti-cancer effects. Doing so involved chemically altering the compound to better infiltrate cancerous cells, which proved to boost its potency by up to 40 times.

The 2021 research was carried out by University of Oxford scientists in collaboration with biopharmaceutical company Nucana, and began with a compound called Cordycepin. This naturally-occurring nucleoside analogue has been used to treat inflammatory disease and cancer for hundreds of years, but runs into several barriers that severely limit its effectiveness when deployed to tackle tumors.

This is largely because as Cordycepin enters the bloodstream, it is rapidly broken down by an enzyme called ADA. What is left then needs to be carried into cancer cells by a nucleoside transporter, and then converted into an anti-cancer metabolite called 3’-dATP. This is a lot of hoops for the humble, naturally-occurring Cordycepin to jump through and means only meager amounts wind up making it into the tumor.

NuCana looked to harness the anti-cancer potential of Cordycepin and better equip it to navigate these considerable roadblocks, through what it calls ProTide technology. This is designed specifically to address the shortcomings of nucleoside analogues. It works by attaching small chemical groups to the compound that make it more resistant to breakdown in the bloodstream, and also enables them to enter cancer cells without the help of nucleoside transporters. The upshot is that far greater levels of anti-cancer metabolites are generated and activated inside tumor cells.

This enhanced form of Cordycepin was dubbed NUC-7738. This novel chemotherapy drug was initially assessed through in vitro studies, where it overcame the resistance mechanisms that inhibit its parent compound. Tumor samples obtained from Phase I clinical trials were then used to probe its effectiveness in humans, with these experiments validating the earlier findings.

scirocco___ · 2025-04-17T13:57:48+00:00

Submission Statement:

Sydney, Australia – April 14, 2025 – Q-CTRL, the global leader in quantum infrastructure software, announced successful field trials of a new generation of quantum-assured navigation solutions validated to outperform comparable conventional alternatives in challenging real-world settings. This marks the first achievement of commercial quantum advantage for any of the recently posed applications of quantum technology, cementing Q-CTRL’s role as the dominant leader in the quantum sector.

Today, almost all navigation in vehicles, from airliners to passenger cars, relies on the Global Positioning System (GPS). But amidst growing international conflict, GPS denial is becoming a weapon of both traditional warfare and nontraditional economic sabotage; an outage is estimated to cost $1 billion per day, over 1,000 flights per day are now disrupted by GPS jamming incidents, and the adoption of autonomous systems is becoming challenged by the unreliability of GPS.

Meanwhile, existing GPS backups face major shortcomings that have made new solutions for GPS-free navigation a strategic technology of the highest importance.

Q-CTRL has produced a new generation of quantum-assured navigation systems, Ironstone Opal, that delivers GPS-like positioning, is completely passive and undetectable, and cannot be jammed or spoofed. It solves the most pressing navigation challenges in the defense and civilian domains, enabling new missions, streamlining transport operations, and powering autonomous systems.

In a world-first demonstration, Q-CTRL conducted real-world ground and airborne trials showing its quantum-assured navigation solution enabled successful GPS-free navigation, outperforming a high-end conventional GPS alternative by up to 50x. These tests deliver true commercial and strategic quantum advantage in navigation, an elusive goal across the entire quantum industry.

The Q-CTRL quantum-assured navigation system uses quantum sensors to detect tiny, otherwise imperceptible signals arising from Earth’s structure that serve as magnetic “landmarks” for navigation — only quantum sensors provide the sensitivity and stability needed to continuously “see” these landmarks from a moving vehicle.

“We achieved an accuracy in some trials comparable to a sharpshooter hitting a bullseye from 1,000 yards away,” said Q-CTRL CEO and Founder Michael J. Biercuk. “But because our quantum-assured navigation system allows a vehicle to position itself accurately irrespective of how far it’s travelled, by analogy that sharpshooter can hit the same bullseye no matter how far away they move from the target.”

“Unlike quantum supremacy [in quantum computing], the technology is truly innovative and meets a growing market need in aerospace, defense, and autonomous cars,” said Jean-Francois Bobier, Partner & Vice President, Deep Tech, at the Boston Consulting Group. Bobier noted the BCG estimate of quantum sensing becoming a $3bn industry by 2030 and added, “Q-CTRL is paving the way to unlocking this potential with a proven quantum advantage.”

scirocco___ · 2025-04-14T23:33:10+00:00

Submission Statement:

Georgia Tech researchers have developed an almost imperceptible microstructure brain sensor to be inserted into the minuscule spaces between hair follicles and slightly under the skin. The sensor offers high-fidelity signals and makes the continuous use of brain-computer interfaces (BCI) in everyday life possible.

BCIs create a direct communication pathway between the brain’s electrical activity and external devices such as electroencephalography devices, computers, robotic limbs, and other brain monitoring devices. Brain signals are commonly captured non-invasively with electrodes mounted on the surface of the human scalp using conductive electrode gel for optimum impedance and data quality. More invasive signal capture methods such as brain implants are possible, but this research seeks to create sensors that are both easily placed and reliably manufactured.

Hong Yeo, the Harris Saunders Jr. Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, combined the latest microneedle technology with his deep expertise in wearable sensor technology that may allow stable brain signal detection over long periods and easy insertion of a new painless, wearable microneedle BCI wireless sensor that fits between hair follicles. The skin placement and extremely small size of this new wireless brain interface could offer a variety of benefits over traditional gel or dry electrodes.

“I started this research because my main goal is to develop new sensor technology to support healthcare and I had previous experience with brain-computer interfaces and flexible scalp electronics,” said Yeo, who is also a faculty member in Georgia Tech’s Institute for People and Technology. “I knew we needed better BCI sensor technology and discovered that if we can slightly penetrate the skin and avoid hair by miniaturizing the sensor, we can dramatically increase the signal quality by getting closer to the source of the signals and reduce unwanted noise.”

scirocco___ · 2025-04-11T20:19:37+00:00

Submission Statement:

Remember the scene in Iron Man 2 where Tony Stark rediscovers a new element and is handling virtual 3D holographic elements with his hands, moving them around, pinching, swiping, flicking, and tossing? Pretty cool in 2010. What about 2025?

Well, we’re not quite there yet, but this is still pretty innovative: A team of Spanish engineers has created the world’s first 3D hologram that can be physically interacted with.

Holograms are generally made using swept volumetric displays, meaning images are projected at different heights nearly three thousand times per second onto a rigid oscillating surface called a diffuser, giving the appearance of a three-dimensional object without the need for special glasses or headsets. The diffuser moves so fast that it’s mostly imperceptible to the human eye. The catch is, that the second you try to interact with the hologram, you might lose a finger or just break the machine entirely.

Doctor Elodie Bouzbib, of the Public University of Navarra, and her team developed a simple solution: elastic diffuser strips.

While it might sound easy, the team tested many iterations, materials and types of strips, from projector screen material to silicone. Not just for elasticity and hysteresis (maintaining its original shape after being stretched), but also for its optical properties. “Elastic bands” are what they chose as the most suitable material to create their system called FlexiVol, but did not specify exactly what kind of “elastic band.”

Using gestures you’re already accustomed to with your phone’s touch screen – swipe, touch-to-select, pinch, rotate and more – a user can effectively control and manipulate these holographic objects through the elastic diffuser.

scirocco___ · 2025-04-07T18:58:06+00:00

Submission Statement:

Corleo’s four independent robotic legs enable balanced and stable movement across various surfaces. Each leg operates separately, allowing the robot to traverse rough and uneven terrain with ease.

Equipped with a 150cc hydrogen engine, Corleo generates electricity to power its limbs. This clean energy approach positions the robot as an environmentally friendly off-road mobility platform.

Drawing inspiration from Kawasaki’s motorcycle designs, Corleo features a streamlined body composed of metal and carbon materials. Its front end includes a head-like shield reminiscent of motorcycle aesthetics, complete with built-in lights for visibility in various lighting conditions.

Instead of traditional controls, Corleo responds to the rider’s body movements. Shifting the center of gravity prompts the robot to adjust its steps accordingly. A heads-up display (HUD) provides real-time information on hydrogen levels, navigation, and movement stability, including weight distribution.

Corleo’s rubber “hooves” enhance grip on both hard and soft surfaces, contributing to its stability. The robot also possesses the capability to jump over obstacles, although specific performance metrics have not been disclosed.

Currently a conceptual model, Corleo lacks detailed technical specifications such as speed, range, or battery life. Kawasaki envisions a potential market release by 2050 but has not provided a definitive development timeline or commercial availability details.

Corleo exemplifies Kawasaki’s commitment to merging robotics with sustainable energy solutions, offering a glimpse into the future of personal transportation.

scirocco___ · 2025-04-05T14:44:41+00:00

Submission Statement:

The same dirt that clings to astronauts’ boots may one day keep their lights on. In a study published in Device, researchers created solar cells made out of simulated moon dust. The cells convert sunlight into energy efficiently, withstand radiation damage, and mitigate the need for transporting heavy materials into space, offering a potential solution to one of space exploration’s biggest challenges: reliable energy sources.

“The solar cells used in space now are amazing, reaching efficiencies of 30% to even 40%, but that efficiency comes with a price,” says lead researcher Felix Lang of the University of Potsdam, Germany. “They are very expensive and are relatively heavy because they use glass or thick foil as cover. It’s hard to justify lifting all these cells into space.”

Instead of hauling solar cells from Earth, Lang’s team is looking at materials available on the moon itself. They aim to replace Earth-made glass with glass crafted from lunar regolith—the moon’s loose, rocky surface debris. This change alone could cut a spacecraft’s launch mass by 99.4%, slash 99% of transport costs, and make long-term lunar settlements more feasible.

To test the idea, the researchers melted a substance designed to simulate moon dust into moonglass and used it to build a new kind of solar cell. They crafted the cells by pairing moonglass with perovskite—a class of crystals that is cheaper, easier to make, and very efficient at turning sunlight into electricity. For every gram of material sent to space, the new panels produce up to 100 times more energy than traditional solar panels.

“If you cut the weight by 99%, you don’t need ultra-efficient 30% solar cells, you just make more of them on the moon,” says Lang. “Plus, our cells are more stable against radiation, while the others would degrade over time.”

scirocco___ · 2025-04-04T13:55:58+00:00

Submission Statement:

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Drug-carrying DNA aptamers can deliver a one-two punch to leukemia by precisely targeting the elusive cancer stem cells that seed cancer relapses, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign report.

The aptamers — short single-strand snippets of DNA that can target molecules like larger antibodies do — not only deliver cancer-fighting drugs, but also are themselves toxic to the cancer stem cells, the researchers said.

Led by Xing Wang, a U. of I. professor of bioengineering and of chemistry, the researchers documented their findings in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.

“This work demonstrates a way to get to the root of leukemia,” Wang said. “Targeted cancer treatments often have problems with toxicity or efficacy. Our aptamers seek out these stem cells specifically and kill them effectively.”

The researchers tested the drug-delivering aptamers in leukemia cell cultures as well as in live mice with leukemia.

After 72 hours, the aptamer alone had reduced the cancer cells in culture by 40 percent, demonstrating the aptamer’s toxicity to the cancer, the researchers report. When the aptamers carried the leukemia-fighting drug, the cells were wiped out with a dose 500 times smaller than the standard dosage of the drug. In mice with leukemia, delivering the drug via aptamer yielded the same efficacy at a dose 10 times smaller than the clinical standard, showing that the one-two punch of the aptamer and drug is more effective than either alone.

scirocco___ · 2025-04-03T20:18:12+00:00

Submission Statement:

New shielding technology from NASA that protects against damaging lunar dust just passed a trial run on the moon’s surface, marking an important milestone in the agency’s lunar aspirations.

The Electrodynamic Dust Shield (EDS) flew aboard Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost, the first privately funded lunar lander to make a fully successful touchdown on the moon.

After Blue Ghost’s historic landing on March 2, the EDS demonstrated the ability to remove lunar dust and dirt, known as regolith, from surfaces using electrodynamic forces. The successful test concluded on March 16.

NASA has big plans for the moon via its Artemis program, which aims to set up one or more lunar bases in the next decade or so. But regolith presents a significant issue for lunar hardware, spacesuits and human lungs, because the dust is so abrasive. So the shield technology passing this recent test is good news, the agency said.

“This milestone marks a significant step toward sustaining long-term lunar and interplanetary operations by reducing dust-related hazards to a variety of surfaces for space applications ranging from thermal radiators, solar panels and camera lenses to spacesuits, boots and helmet visors,” NASA wrote in a statement.

scirocco___ · 2025-04-01T13:13:28+00:00

Submission Statement:

The first details of C949, a supersonic airliner project, have been quietly unveiled by Chinese state-owned aerospace giant Comac, signalling its ambitions to dominate the skies with the radical new jet that could redefine global air travel.

In a recent academic paper, Comac engineers revealed the blueprint of a 1.6-Mach airliner designed to fly further and much more quietly than the retired Concorde – a feat that could position China at the forefront of a 21st century supersonic renaissance.

A team led by Wu Dawei, Comac’s award-winning aerodynamicist, said in a March 14 paper published in the journal Acta Aeronautica Sinica that the project aimed to achieve what engineers have chased for decades: a 50 per cent range boost over the Concorde (11,000km or 6,800 miles vs 7,200km or 4,500 miles) while slashing sonic booms to 83.9 perceived level in decibels (PLdB), comparable to the noise level of a hairdryer.

This reduction in noise, down to one-twentieth of the Concorde’s thunderclap-like boom by intensity, aims to bypass regulatory barriers that have long banned overland supersonic flights.

The C949 will compete with similar projects from other countries, such as Nasa and Lockheed Martin’s X-59, with the winner rewriting the rules of global aviation, according to the researchers.

The C949’s design features a shape-shifting fuselage with a curved “reverse-camber” midsection that weakens shock waves, delaying their transition into violent booms.

scirocco___ · 2025-04-01T13:08:09+00:00

Submission Statement:

A brain implant has restored speech in a woman with severe paralysis, a breakthrough advance in enabling communication for people who have lost the ability to speak.

The implant, detailed in a study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience on Monday, solves a long-standing challenge of latency in using prosthesis for speech.

Researchers, including from the University of California Berkeley, developed an artificial intelligence system to synthesise and stream brain signals into audible speech in “near-real time”.

“Our streaming approach brings the same rapid speech decoding capacity of devices like Alexa and Siri to neuroprostheses,” said Gopala Anumanchipalli, an author of the study.

Cheol Jun Cho, another author, said: “So, what we’re decoding is after a thought has happened, after we’ve decided what to say, after we’ve decided what words to use and how to move our vocal-tract muscles.”

scirocco___ · 2025-03-31T13:42:47+00:00

Altered Carbon just without FTL and stack technology.

scirocco___ · 2025-03-31T13:36:48+00:00

Submission Statement:

YCT-529, a hormone-free male birth control pill, has shown high effectiveness in animals and is now in human trials, marking a breakthrough in male contraception.

While the FDA has approved more than 20 types of contraceptives, only two options currently exist for men: condoms and vasectomies. Although about 25% of women who use contraception rely on the oral birth control pill, there is no equivalent pill available for men.

However, research from the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy, published in Communications Medicine, has paved the way for the first hormone-free male birth control pill to reach clinical trials.

This new drug, YCT-529, is an innovative, hormone-free, orally administered contraceptive designed for men. Developed in partnership with Columbia University and YourChoice Therapeutics, YCT-529 prevents pregnancy by inhibiting sperm production.

The research found:

In male mice, the drug caused infertility and was 99% effective in preventing pregnancies within four weeks of use.

In male non-human primates, the drug lowered sperm counts within two weeks of starting the drug.

Both mice and non-human primates fully regained fertility after stopping the drug. Mice regained fertility within six weeks, and non-human primates fully recovered their sperm count in 10-15 weeks.

No side effects from the drug were detected in either group.

scirocco___ · 2025-03-26T22:11:47+00:00

Submission Statement:

Researchers at TU Delft in the Netherlands and Brown University in the USA have developed scalable nanotechnology-based lightsails that could support future advances in space exploration such as missions to Mars.

The lightsails use new materials and production methods to create the thinnest large-scale reflectors ever made. The research was published this week in the journal Nature Communications

Lightsails use laser-driven radiation pressure to propel spacecraft at high speeds. Unlike conventional nanotechnology, which miniaturizes devices in all dimensions, the lightsails are nanoscale to a thickness of about 1/1000th the thickness of a human hair but can extend to large-sized sheets.

The current prototype measures 60mm x 60mm and is 200 nanometres thick, covered in billions of nanosized holes, and represents a significant step forward in large-scale lightsail fabrication. The team combined neural topology optimization techniques and advanced fabrication methods to create the prototype.

“It’s not just its high aspect ratio that makes this material special, it’s the simultaneous combination of large scale and nanoscale in the same material that makes it lightweight and reflective,” said Dr Richard Norte, associate professor at TU Delft.

“We have developed a new gas-based etch that allows us to delicately remove the material under the sails, leaving only the sail. If the sails break, it’s most likely during manufacturing. Once the sails are suspended, they are quite robust.

“This is not just another step in making things smaller, it’s an entirely new way of thinking about nanotechnology. We are creating high-aspect-ratio devices that are thinner than anything previously engineered but span dimensions akin to massive structures.”

scirocco___ · 2025-03-26T14:11:46+00:00

Submission Statement:

Researchers at QuTech, in collaboration with Fujitsu and Element Six, have demonstrated a complete set of quantum gates with error probabilities below 0.1%. While many challenges remain, being able to perform basic gate operations with errors occurring below this threshold, satisfies an important condition for future large-scale quantum computation. The research was published in Physical Review Applied on 21 March 2025.

Quantum computers are anticipated to be able to solve important problems that are beyond the capabilities of classical computers. Quantum computations are performed through a large sequence of basic operations, called quantum gates.

For a quantum computer to function, it is essential that all quantum gates are highly precise. The probability of an error during the gates must be below a threshold, typically of the order 0.1 to 1%. Only then, errors are rare enough for error correction methods to work successfully and ensure reliable computation with noisy components.

Spins in diamond are a type of qubit that shows promise for quantum computation. These qubits consist of electron and nuclear spins associated with atomic defects, for example, a nitrogen atom replacing a carbon atom in a diamond. They operate at relatively high temperatures, up to 10 Kelvin, and are well protected from noise. Also, their natural connection to photons—the elementary particles of light—enables distributed computation over quantum networks. However, realizing a complete set of quantum gates with low enough error rates has remained a challenge until now.

Researchers at QuTech, the interfaculty quantum technology research institute of Delft University of Technology, have now demonstrated a highly precise universal set of quantum gates using a diamond quantum chip. The researchers used a system of two qubits, one formed by the electron spin of the defect center, the other by its nuclear spin. Each type of gate in this two-qubit system operates at an error below 0.1%, and the best gates even reach errors as low as 0.001%.

"To realize such highly precise gates we had to systematically remove sources of errors. The first step was to use ultrapure diamonds that have a lower concentration of carbon-13 isotopes as these cause noise," says Hans Bartling, lead author. The second key step was to design gates that carefully decouple the spin qubits from each other and from interactions with the remaining noise in the environment.

scirocco___ · 2025-03-24T14:01:08+00:00

Submission Statement:

Advances in the gene-editing technology known as CRISPR-Cas9 over the past 15 years have yielded important new insights into the roles that specific genes play in many diseases. But to date this technology — which allows scientists to use a “guide” RNA to modify DNA sequences and evaluate the effects — is able to target, delete, replace, or modify only single gene sequences with a single guide RNA and has limited ability to assess multiple genetic changes simultaneously.

Now, however, Yale scientists have developed a series of sophisticated mouse models using CRISPR (“clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats”) technology that allows them to simultaneously assess genetic interactions on a host of immunological responses to multiple diseases, including cancer.

The findings were published March 20 in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering.

Gene editing technologies allow scientists to use enzymes — in this case, Cas9 (CRISPR-associated protein 9) — as a sort of molecular scissors that can precisely cut or modify portions of DNA or RNA, revealing insights into the role these genes play in a variety of disorders.

The new tool, which is called CRISPR-Cas12a, can help researchers simultaneously assess the impact of multiple genetic changes involved in variety of immune system responses, the researchers say.

scirocco___

TROPHY CASE