MIT chemists designed a new photoredox catalyst that could make it easier to incorporate light-driven reactions into continuous flow manufacturing processes. The polymer catalysts could be used to coat tubing and perform chemical transformations on reactants as they flow through the tube.

A gene that has been associated with severe learning disabilities in humans has been found to also play a vital role in cells’ response to environmental stress, according to a study appearing May 24 in the journal Cell Reports from a Duke University research team. The gene, Rad6 has previously been associated with a set of symptoms called “Nascimento Syndrome,” that include severe learning disabilities.

Everyone knows that while disinformation is a problem, social media is a powerful tool for communicating fast in an emergency. A new study from the University of Central Florida finds that social media can be a critical tool for collecting intelligence in real time to better deploy resources before and after hurricanes hit. When messages are pushed out - pre and during storms are the most sought after - are equally important.

Northwestern University engineers have taken their transient pacemaker and integrated it into a coordinated network of four soft, flexible, wireless wearable sensors and control units placed on different anatomically relevant locations on the body. The sensors communicate with each other to continuously monitor the body’s various physiological functions, including body temperature, oxygen levels, respiration, muscle tone, physical activity and the heart’s electrical activity. The system then uses algorithms to analyze this combined activity in order to autonomously detect abnormal cardiac rhythms and decide when to pace the heart and at what rate.

Researchers in the Lew lab in the McKelvey School of Engineering are using light in novel ways to better image biological samples.

Researchers have discovered magma in volcanic rocks that never erupted -- but rather solidified deep in the earth -- recorded far wetter levels than previously thought. This deep underground magma, or molten rock stored in Earth’s crust, contained 8 to nearly 20 weight percent water. Previous conventional studies analyzed magma on Earth’s surface, which had an average of 4 weight percent water.