UConn researchers design a programmable metamaterial that can morph into more configurations than there are atoms in the universe, in a blink of an eye
Category: materials – Page 3
Puzzling ultraviolet radiation in the birthplaces of stars
Researchers used the MIRI instrument onboard the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to identify the presence of ultraviolet radiation in five young stars in the Ophiuchus region, and to understand its role in the formation of stars. The discovery of UV radiation around these protostars and its significant impact on the surrounding material is a challenge to models describing the formation of stars.
The paper is published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, and the research team included Iason Skretas, a doctoral student at MPIfR, and Dr. Agata Karska (Center for Modern Inter-disciplinary Technologies at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland, and Max Planck Institute of Radio Astronomy (MPIfR), Bonn, Germany).
Particle accelerator waste could help produce cancer-fighting materials
Energy that would normally go to waste inside powerful particle accelerators could be used to create valuable medical isotopes, scientists have found.
Researchers at the University of York have shown that intense radiation captured in particle accelerator “beam dumps” could be repurposed to produce materials used in cancer therapy. The study is published in the journal Physical Review C.
Scientists have now found a way to make those leftover photons do a second job, without affecting the main physics experiments.
Anomalous electronic state opens pathway to room-temperature superconductivity
Superconductive materials can conduct electricity with no resistance, but typically only at very low temperatures. Realizing superconductivity at room temperature could enable advanced, energy-efficient electronics and other technologies.
Now, an international research team is one step closer to such an achievement. The researchers made the first observation of a special electronic state known as a “nodal metal,” which provides more insight into electronic behavior at different temperatures, in a multilayer system comprising copper and oxygen.
The team, which includes researchers based in Japan, Taiwan and the United States, published their results in Nature Communications.
A polymer for needle-free insulin delivery
A new polymer could one day deliver insulin without needles. Researchers have designed a material that slips through skin and ferries insulin into the bloodstream.
Here’s how it works.
New material slips past skin and ferries insulin into the bloodstream by Ananya Palivela.
Ultrasonic device dramatically speeds harvesting of water from the air
MIT engineers designed an ultrasonic system to “shake” water out of an atmospheric water harvester.
MIT researchers designed a device that quickly recovers drinking water from an atmospheric water harvesting material. The system uses ultrasonic waves to shake the water out of the material, recovering water in minutes.
New p-wave magnet with helix spin structure could enable smaller computer chips
A novel magnetic material with an extraordinary electronic structure might allow for the production of smaller and more efficient computer chips in the future: the p-wave magnet. Researchers from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) were involved in its development.
The magnetic behavior in the interior of this material results from the way the electron spins arrange themselves—in the shape of a helix. Therefore, the electric current flowing through is deflected laterally. The results are published in Nature.
Magnetism, as we experience it every day, makes us usually think of materials such as iron, nickel, or cobalt that generate permanent magnetic fields or are attracted by magnetic forces. In these ferromagnetic materials, the spins, i.e. the moments of all electrons, move in the same direction.
Delta Radiomics and Tumor Size: A New Predictive Radiomics Model for Chemotherapy Response in Liver Metastases from Breast and Colorectal Cancer
Background/Objectives: Radiomic features exhibit a correlation with tumor size on pretreatment images. However, on post-treatment images, this association is influenced by treatment efficacy and varies between responders and non-responders. This study introduces a novel model, called baseline-referenced Delta radiomics, which integrates the association between radiomic features and tumor size into Delta radiomics to predict chemotherapy response in liver metastases from breast cancer (BC) and colorectal cancer (CRC). Materials and Methods: A retrospective study analyzed contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) scans of 83 BC patients and 84 CRC patients. Among these, 57 BC patients with 106 liver lesions and 37 CRC patients with 109 lesions underwent post-treatment imaging after systemic chemotherapy. Radiomic features were extracted from up to three lesions per patient following manual segmentation. Tumor response was assessed by measuring the longest diameter and classified according to RECIST 1.1 criteria as progressive disease (PD), partial response (PR), or stable disease (SD). Classification models were developed to predict chemotherapy response using pretreatment data only, Delta radiomics, and baseline-referenced Delta radiomics. Model performance was evaluated using confusion matrix metrics. Results: Baseline-referenced Delta radiomics performed comparably or better than established radiomics models in predicting tumor response in chemotherapy-treated patients with liver metastases. The sensitivity, specificity, and balanced accuracy in predicting response ranged from 0.66 to 0.97, 0.81 to 0.97, and 80% to 90%, respectively. Conclusions: By integrating the relationship between radiomic features and tumor size into Delta radiomics, baseline-referenced Delta radiomics offers a promising approach for predicting chemotherapy response in liver metastases from breast and colorectal cancer.