News by Subject Technology & Engineering

To reduce dependence on nonrenewable fossil fuels, scientists are investigating renewable biomass as a host for valuable compound production. Generating economically competitive quantities of these bioproducts involves metabolic engineering: editing cells' genetic blueprint. Researchers at the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI) have developed a set of three genetic tools to aid in manufacturing organic acid with the yeast strain I. orientalis.

A new technique allows researchers to test how the deformation of tiny train track-like cell proteins affects their function. The findings could help clarify the roles of deformed 'microtubules' in traumatic brain injuries and in neurological diseases like Parkinson's.

The remaining 'bound water' on cotton surfaces cross-link single fibers of cotton, causing hardening after natural drying, according to a new study conducted by Kao Corporation and Hokkaido University. This provides new insight into unique water behaviors on material surfaces and helps us develop better cleaning technologies.

An international research team led by scientists from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has recently discovered that high-entropy alloys (HEAs) exhibit exceptional mechanical properties at ultra-low temperatures due to the coexistence of multiple deformation mechanisms. Their discovery may hold the key to design new structural materials for applications at low temperatures.

One of the most widely used oil-based plastics, polyurethane, is particularly hard to recycle or destroy safely. It also releases toxic chemicals into landfills. However, some microorganisms are capable of metabolizing these compounds and degrading the plastic waste in the process. A team of scientists in Germany have identified one such bacterium that could be used to help break down polyurethane-based plastics for future bio-recycling.

Stanford professor Alexandria Boehm and visiting scholar Krista Wigginton describe potential transmission pathways of COVID-19 and their implications.

In a paper publishing March 26 in the journal Cell, investigators report that they have used microelectrode arrays implanted in human brains to map out motor functions down to the level of the single nerve cell. The study revealed that an area believed to control only one body part actually operates across a wide range of motor functions. It also demonstrated how different neurons coordinate with each other.

Beads that contain bacteria and a slow-release food supply to sustain them can clean up contaminated groundwater for months on end, maintenance free.