Matter and energy from Science Daily Feed

Researchers have developed a new therapy that can be injected intravenously right after a heart attack to promote healing and prevent heart failure. The therapy both prompts the immune system to encourage tissue repair and promotes survival of heart muscle cells after a heart attack. Researchers tested the therapy in rats and showed that it is effective up to five weeks after injection.

Many products in the modern world are in some way fabricated using computer numerical control (CNC) machines, which use computers to automate machine operations in manufacturing. While simple in concept, the ways to instruct these machines is in reality often complex. A team of researchers has devised a system to demonstrate how to mitigate some of this complexity.

Researchers have long recognized that quantum communication systems would transmit quantum information more faithfully and be impervious to certain forms of error if nonlinear optical processes were used. However, past efforts at incorporating such processes could not operate with the extremely low light levels required for quantum communication.

Researchers have developed a novel high-energy particle detection instrumentation approach that leverages the power of quantum sensors -- devices capable of precisely detecting single particles.

A study describes a new method of recycling silicone waste (caulk, sealants, gels, adhesives, cosmetics, etc.). It has the potential to significantly reduce the sector's environmental impacts. This is the first universal recycling process that brings any type of used silicone material back to an earlier state in its life cycle where each molecule has only one silicon atom. And there is no need for the raw materials currently used to design new silicones. Moreover, since it is chemical and not mechanical recycling, the reuse of the material can be carried out infinitely.

Combining two different kinds of signals could help engineers build prosthetic limbs that better reproduce natural movements, according to a new study. A combination of electromyography and force myography is more accurate at predicting hand movements than either method by itself.

An international team has explored how in future aerial robots could process construction materials precisely in the air -- an approach with great potential for difficult-to-access locations or work at great heights. The flying robots are not intended to replace existing systems on the ground, but rather to complement them in a targeted manner for repairs or in disaster areas, for instance.

When bottom trawls are dragged across the seafloor, they stir up sediments. This not only releases previously stored organic carbon, but also intensifies the oxidation of pyrite, a mineral present in marine sediments, leading to additional emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2).

Plant-based seafood alternatives should have similar flavors, textures and nutritional content to the foods they mimic. And recreating the properties of fried calamari rings, which have a neutral flavor and a firm, chewy texture after being cooked, has been a challenge. Building off previous research, a team describes successfully using plant-based ingredients to mimic calamari that matches the real seafood's characteristic softness and elasticity.

Inspired by the movements of a tiny parasitic worm, engineers have created a 5-inch soft robot that can jump as high as a basketball hoop. Their device, a silicone rod with a carbon-fiber spine, can leap 10 feet high even though it doesn't have legs. The researchers made it after watching high-speed video of nematodes pinching themselves into odd shapes to fling themselves forward and backward.

Using their novel FRESH 3D bioprinting technique, which allows for printing of soft living cells and tissues, a lab has built a tissue model entirely out of collagen.

The iCares bandage uses innovative microfluidic components, sensors, and machine learning to sample and analyze wounds and provide data to help patients and caregivers make treatment decisions.

After uncovering a unifying algorithm that links more than 20 common machine-learning approaches, researchers organized them into a 'periodic table of machine learning' that can help scientists combine elements of different methods to improve algorithms or create new ones.

In a breakthrough that blends ancient design with modern materials science, researchers have developed a new class of ceramic structures that can bend under pressure -- without breaking.

Addressing the challenges of fragrance design, researchers have developed an AI model that can automate the creation of new fragrances based on user-defined scent descriptors. The model uses mass spectrometry profiles of essential oils and corresponding odor descriptors to generate essential oil blends for new scents. This breakthrough is a game-changer for the fragrance industry, moving beyond trial-and-error, enabling rapid and scalable fragrance production.

Researchers have identified a new material which could be used as a flexible semiconductor in wearable devices by using a technique that focuses on the manipulation of spaces between atoms in crystals.

A new catalyst structure offers a potential pathway toward more cost-effective hydrogen production via water electrolysis. The material centers on mesoporous single-crystalline Co3O4 doped with atomically dispersed iridium (Ir), designed for the acidic oxygen evolution reaction (OER).

A research team has developed an innovative single-step laser printing technique to accelerate the manufacturing of lithium-sulfur batteries. Integrating the commonly time-consuming active materials synthesis and cathode preparation in a nanosecond-scale laser-induced conversion process, this technique is set to revolutionize the future industrial production of printable electrochemical energy storage devices.

Engineers have fabricated a metamaterial that is not only strong but also stretchy. Their new method could enable stretchable ceramics, glass, and metals, for tear-proof textiles or stretchy semiconductors.

A bacteria killing coating created by scientists has been used in trials of a new paint that can be applied to a range of surfaces to effectively kill bacteria and viruses, including difficult to kill species such as MRSA, flu and COVID-19.