Genetic changes can occur naturally through evolution or can be initiated with the help of genetic engineering. The bacterium Thermoanaerobacter kivui (T. kivui) was manipulated by a research team led by Stefan Pflügl from the Institute of Chemical, Environmental and Bioscience Engineering at TU Wien in such a way that it can metabolize carbon monoxide. When used in bioreactors, it can contribute to converting synthesis gas, which consists of carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO₂) and hydrogen (H₂), into valuable products.

Stefan Pflügl and his team recently reported in the renowned journal Nature Communications how T. kivui can be brought to use CO as its sole energy source. In the journal Biotechnology for Biofuels and Bioproducts, the team also reported on their method of genetically modifying T. kivui within twelve days so that it shows the desired characteristic.

This study presents a novel CuO/MgO catalyst for electrochemical CO₂ methanation, achieving high activity, selectivity, and stability. The catalyst exhibits a Faradaic efficiency of 82.3 % and a current density of 568.2 mA cm^-2 at -1.0 V vs. RHE. In-situ characterizations and theoretical calculations reveal that strong electronic metal-support interactions stabilize Cu²⁺ sites and optimize the adsorption of key intermediates, promoting methane production while suppressing C-C coupling pathways.

“China virus”, the Chinese virus — at the start of the 2020 pandemic, you likely often encountered this epithet in the media. The use of geographically-based labels to define the disease (COVID-19) and the virus causing it (SARS-CoV-2) had significant consequences on public opinion, fueling and amplifying — sometimes with very serious outcomes — prejudices against specific people and countries, accused of having a causal role in spreading the contagion. The neutral designation COVID-19, proposed for the disease by the WHO in mid-February 2020, was quickly adopted globally. However, geographic names arose again with subsequent variants of the virus: in the media and in everyday language, people referred to the “Indian,” “British,” or “South African” variants, among others.

To counter this trend, in May 2021 the WHO introduced a nomenclature based on Greek letters — Alpha, Beta, Delta, etc. — completely neutral and free of geographic references. A study published in the Journal of Science Communication (JCOM) analyzed the impact of this change in the Australian media, showing that although the shift toward neutral names happened relatively quickly after the announcement, the positive effects in reducing potential stigma remained only partial.

This finding highlights the importance of expanding research on this topic, in order to establish effective communication guidelines within national and global pandemic response plans.

A new study led by researchers at the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Manchester has achieved a major advance in quantum materials, developing a method to precisely engineer single quantum defects in diamond—an essential step toward scalable quantum technologies. The results have been published in the journal Nature Communications.