In a recent blog post about the Minim friar, Marin Mersenne (1588–1648), I mentioned that when Mersenne arrived in Paris in 1619 he was introduced to the intellectual elite of the city by Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc (1580-1637). In another recent post on the Republic of Letters I also mentioned that Peiresc was probably, the periods […]

2D materials have been grown inside living cells that would be impossible to get cells to take up any other way. The approach could be useful for bioimaging, diagnostic and therapeutic platforms.

Fast fashion, which encourages clothing to be quickly discarded and replaced, uses significant amounts of natural, social, and creative resources and creates excessive waste. Research into sustainable fashion aims to change this. Employing more than 300 million people and producing 100 billion items every year, the fashion industry has a colossal impact on the environment. Driving this […]

Using specialized carbon nanotubes, MIT engineers have designed a novel sensor that can detect SARS-CoV-2 without any antibodies, giving a result within minutes. Their new sensor is based on technology that can quickly generate rapid and accurate diagnostics, not just for Covid-19 but for future pandemics, the researchers say. “A rapid test means that you […]

Good sleep can be hard to come by. But a new study finds that if you can make up for lost sleep, even for just a few weekend hours, the extra zzz’s could help reduce fatigue-induced clumsiness, at least in how you walk. There’s plenty of evidence to show sleep, and how much we get […]

Mixing metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) with ionic liquids makes for meltable porous materials, researchers have discovered. Such MOF glasses could find applications in gas separation and water treatment. ‘These hybrid materials combine the adsorbing properties of powdered MOFs and the processability of glass,’ explains Lothar Wondraczek from the University of Jena, Germany, who led the study […]

In the last decade or so, much handwringing has transpired over “fake news” – stories that are not factually accurate that seem to get wedged in the popular psyche and stick. Many now accept the conventional wisdom that fake news spreads “farther, faster, deeper and more broadly than the truth.” “The online spread of fake […]

Agrowing body of evidence points to a link between iron-deficiency anemia and severe tooth decay. Whether the connection is correlative or causative is unknown, though both conditions are associated with poor diets and are more common in people living in impoverished environments and with underlying medical conditions. Now, research from the University of Pennsylvania, in collaboration […]

The mechanism which allows β-lactam antibiotics, including penicillin, to kill MRSA has been revealed for the first time. An international team of researchers led by the University of Sheffield discovered that β-lactam antibiotics kill MRSA (Methicillin Resistant S. aureus) by creating holes in the cell wall which enlarge as the cell grows, eventually killing the […]

The sharpest images ever of living bacteria have been recorded by UCL researchers, revealing the complex architecture of the protective layer that surrounds many bacteria and makes them harder to be killed by antibiotics. The study, published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA and done in collaboration with scientists at National […]