Never-before-seen 3D reconstructions of human liver tissue have been created at a cellular level. The details capture the spatial microstructure of multiple lobes of this multitasking organ. The reconstructions show how cirrhosis rearranges this intricate architecture and thereby alter the organ's biological activities. In addition, 3D liver maps with a high degree of cellular detail are critical to someday realizing the dream of bioprinting new organs for transplantation. 

Orbitronics devices use an electron’s orbital angular momentum to store and process more information, much more efficiently. Typically, generating orbital currents requires magnetic metals that are heavy and expensive. For the first time ever, researchers prove that atomic vibrations can transfer orbital angular momentum directly to electrons in a non-magnetic material, quartz. The method will work on other chiral materials, such as tellurium, selenium and hybrid organic/inorganic perovskites, and is the most streamlined system yet for orbitronics research.

A Rice research lab’s signature keepsake helped perfect a method for growing patterned diamond surfaces that could help decrease operating temperatures in electronics by 23 degrees Celsius.

When a plant's immune system is triggered, its growth is stunted. Colorado State University researchers have discovered how to turn on a hormone that allows plants to keep growing as they defend against disease and pests – a breakthrough that could increase crop production.

Using advanced imaging technology to examine a stretchy material commonly used in soft robotics and touchscreens known as PEDOT:PSS, a team led by Enrique Gomez found how adding different salt additives and water enabled the material to grow hair-like fibers capable of effectively conducting electricity. These findings could help facilitate longer-lasting pacemakers or glucose monitors in the future, the team said.

An article by Mississippi State University researchers examines new evidence from ancient DNA that pushes the origins of diseases closely related to syphilis back more than 5,000 years and strongly supports an American rather than European origin for a close relative of the disease.

Antarctica’s pale expanses of ice keep water locked up and reflect heat from the planet — but the climate crisis is putting these safeguards at increasing risk. Antarctica is warming much faster than the global average, which could destroy its ecosystems and put other parts of the planet at risk by driving sea level rise and damaging food chains. Scientists modelling possible climate crisis outcomes for the Antarctica Peninsula show just how high the stakes are if we don’t act now.