Lifeboat Foundation

Searchable tool reveals more than 90,000 known materials with electronic properties that remain unperturbed in the face of disruption.

What will it take for our electronics to become smarter, faster, and more resilient? One idea is to build them out of topological materials.

Topology stems from a branch of mathematics that studies shapes that can be manipulated or deformed without losing certain essential properties. A donut is a common example: If it were made of rubber, a donut could be twisted and squeezed into a completely new shape, such as a coffee mug, while retaining a key trait — namely, its center hole, which takes the form of the cup’s handle. The hole, in this case, is a topological trait, robust against certain deformations.

Diagnostic device promises miniaturization in stand-alone system.

The United States’ reliance on China for rare earth elements could soon come to an end, thanks to a new process that pulls the valuable metals from the ash left over when we burn coal.

Why it matters: The 17 rare earth elements aren’t actually rare — they’re all more common than gold, and one is more abundant than copper. But getting our hands on them is difficult because they’re widely dispersed in Earth’s crust and hard to extract through mining.

Continue reading “‘Fly ash’ contains rare earth elements needed for electronics” »

Two commercial enterprises have been awarded contracts by the DoD to develop the next generation of nuclear propulsion in space.

According to the team, the new semiconducting cellulose nanopaper (CNP) can be tailored for a variety of applications. The paper itself can be shaped into different designs and the material’s electrical conduction properties can be tuned from 10¹² to 10^–2 Ω cm – values that exceed those of previously-reported 3D semiconducting materials – by changing the concentration of charge carriers (electrons and holes) in it. This means it is suitable for use in many devices, from water vapour sensors to electrodes in enzymatic biofuel cells.

The early Solar System was a much different place than that seen today.

The Solar System may have started with five gas giants, but according to the Nice model, Planet X may have been flung into interstellar space.

Cell-Based Dairy Bio-Products For Health & Nutrition — Dr. Aletta Schnitzler, Ph.D. — CSO — Turtletree Labs

Dr. Aletta Schnitzler, PhD. is the Chief Scientific Officer at TurtleTree Labs (https://turtletree.com/) where she leads the R&D teams and spearheads an innovation roadmap to bring nutritious cell-based dairy and meat alternatives to market.

Continue reading “Dr Aletta Schnitzler — CSO — TurtleTree Labs — Cell-Based Dairy Bio-Products For Health & Nutrition” »

Summary: Study reveals the ZNF117 gene is a major regulator of glioblastoma tumor cells.

Source: Yale.

A recent research paper published in Nature Communications by a team led by Yale School of Medicine researchers finds a promising way to make brain cancer cells more susceptible to chemotherapy.

A mechanism that causes autism, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s and other conditions and is shared by mutations in the genes ADNP and SHANK3 has been unraveled by Tel Aviv University researchers who developed an experimental drug they found to be effective in animal models.

The drug could also be suitable for treating a range of rare syndromes that impair brain functions, said the scientists. The researchers were led by Prof. Illana Gozes from the Department of Human Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry at TAU’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Sagol School of Neuroscience. The experimental drug, called Davunetide, had previously been developed in her lab.

The paper, which the team called a “scientific breakthrough,” was published in the scientific journal Molecular Psychiatry under the title “SH3-and actin-binding domains connect ADNP and SHANK3, revealing a fundamental shared mechanism underlying autism.”