Researchers at Case Western Reserve University have discovered a way to breach one of cancer’s most stubborn defenses: the impenetrable fortress that solid tumors build around themselves. By injecting nanobubbles filled with inert gas into tumors and “jiggling” them with ultrasound, the team successfully broke down tumor barriers enough for treatment-bearing molecules to get inside, according to results of a new study published in ACS Nano.

Among the enduring challenges of storing energy—for wind or solar farms, or backup storage for the energy grid or data centers—is batteries that can hold large amounts of electricity for a long time. In addition to having a large capacity—potentially enough to power a neighborhood or small city for days or weeks—ideally these batteries would be safe, affordable and environmentally harmless. With an eye toward meeting those benchmarks, researchers at Case Western Reserve University are developing novel electrolytes—fluids that can conduct ions—for rechargeable flow batteries.

A new study led by the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) has unveiled the first biomaterial that is not only waterproof but actually becomes stronger in contact with water. The material is produced by the incorporation of nickel into the structure of chitosan, a chitinous polymer obtained from discarded shrimp shells. The development of this new biomaterial, published in Nature Communications, marks a departure from the plastic-age mindset of making materials that must isolate from their environment to perform well. Instead, it shows how sustainable materials can connect and leverage their environment, using their surrounding water to achieve mechanical performance that surpasses common plastics.

The days of dropping a thermal imaging camera and replacing an expensive lens are coming to an end with a new repairable lens developed by Flinders University scientists. 

A high-performance lens for infrared cameras invented by Flinders researchers is emerging as a lower cost, more sustainable option for industries whish use thermal imaging cameras, including security and surveillance, medicine, electrical engineering, electronics, defence and autonomous vehicle operation. 

Researchers at Miguel Hernández University (Elche, Spain) have developed MCL-DLF, a coarse-to-fine 3D LiDAR localization approach combining Monte Carlo Localization with deep local features for long-term robot navigation in large environments. Published in the International Journal of Intelligent Systems, the system achieves more stable and accurate positioning than existing methods, particularly in outdoor scenarios subject to seasonal changes.