All Stories by Sarah Webb
- Materials Science
Life in Print
Tissues printed with an ink-jet could provide patches for damaged organs, new cell-based materials for drug testing, new ways to probe cellular communication, living sensors, or even fuel cell–type batteries.
- Materials Science
Snappy Transition: Venus flytrap inspires new materials
Inspired by the quick-shut action of the Venus flytrap, researchers have designed a patterned surface with microscale hills that can rapidly flip to form valleys.
- Agriculture
Silencing Pests: Altered plants make RNA that keeps insects at bay
Engineered plants make genetic material that disables critical genes in insects that eat the plants, offering a possible new strategy for agricultural-pest control.
- Tech
Catch a Wave: Carbon nanotubes go wireless
Despite all the hubbub about carbon nanotubes as possible building blocks of superstrong materials or as components of supersmall electronics, few practical applications have yet come to fruition. Integrating nanotubes into functioning electronic devices has proved especially difficult, but researchers have now built a carbon-nanotube component into a simple radio receiver. TINY RADIO. A single […]
- Health & Medicine
Blood vessel growth factor also does housekeeping
A growth factor that promotes blood vessel development also maintains normal blood vessel health, perhaps explaining the vascular side effects of some cancer drugs.
- Chemistry
Nanoparticles multitask
Magnetite nanoparticles have catalytic properties that may be useful in wastewater treatment and biomedical assays.
- Health & Medicine
How platelets help cancer spread
A tumor cell protein influences blood platelets in a way that helps a cancer spread through the body.
- Earth
Lack of oxygen stunts fish reproduction
Seasonal oxygen shortages in coastal waters, increasing in severity because of pollution, may impair fish reproduction.
- Earth
Metal spews from tires and brake pads
A study in Stockholm says that tires and brake pads emit a variety of metal pollutants despite European regulations aimed at cleaning up these parts.
- Materials Science
Gecko adhesive gets added mussel
A new adhesive that borrows tricks from the gecko and the mussel can stick and detach repeatedly and works even when wet.
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Chemical Conversation: Red blood cells send a signal that makes platelets less sticky
Red blood cells can send a chemical signal that makes platelets less sticky, easing blood flow through narrow vessels.
- Earth
E-Waste Hazards: Chinese gear recyclers absorb toxic chemicals
People who live in an area of China where electronic devices are dismantled and recycled, as well as villagers 50 kilometers away, have high concentrations of flame retardants in their blood.
