Technology News

Chemists have successfully resolved two of the most challenging issues surrounding lithium-oxygen batteries, and in the process created a working battery with near 100 per cent coulombic efficiency. The new work demonstrates that four-electron conversion for lithium-oxygen electrochemistry is highly reversible. The team is the first to achieve four-electron conversion, which doubles the electron storage of lithium-oxygen, also known as lithium-air, batteries.

Scientists have demonstrated that the motor cortex is necessary for the execution of corrective movements in response to unexpected changes of sensory input but not when the same movements are executed spontaneously. Signatures of differential neuronal usage in the cortex accompany these two phenomena.

Scientists have discovered that DNA methylation involved in gene regulation is largely digital and stochastic, with maternal and paternal copies of genes in each cell being on or off a certain fraction of time.

Noma, a rare disease found predominantly in underserved areas, causes progressive destruction, or gangrene, of the tissues of the face and jaw within just the span of one week. Now, researchers have analyzed 74 cases of noma in northwest Nigeria to pinpoint the risk factors for developing the disease.

Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus, which causes acute encephalitis in Eastern and Southern Asia, is traditionally considered a rural disease. Now, researchers have shown that pigs in a peri-urban and a rural farm were infected by the virus at the same rate. This finding suggests vaccination efforts should be widened to encourage travelers to receive JE virus immunization.

'The current approach for treatment of filovirus infections with antibody cocktails tested in animal models utilizes the principle of targeting of non-overlapping epitopes. Our study suggests that possible synergistic effects of antibodies which block various steps of viral replication should be also considered.'

The innate immune response to lung infection takes priority at the expense of wound healing, according to a new study.

Epithelial cells grown on a plastic dish are worse at segregating their chromosomes than epithelial cells growing in mice, a new study shows. The results may help explain why chromosomes go awry in cancer.

The 'molecular dirt' found on any surface can change the properties of the material. A new method has been developed to study this. By creating ultra-pure ice in a vacuum chamber and melting it the world's cleanest water drops were created and applied to titanium dioxide surfaces. The 'dirt' turns out to be a single-molecule-thick layer of two organic acids. This is surprising, because only minute traces of these acids are found in air.

A pioneering research collaboration into yellow fever virus (YFV) has shed new light on the exceptional recent outbreak in Brazil and how the virus spreads. The findings have implications for monitoring viral transmission and could potentially contribute to a strategy for eliminating YFV worldwide.