Research published this week in Science Advances shows that it may be possible to create rocket fuel that is much cleaner and safer than the hypergolic fuels that are commonly used today. And still just as effective. The new fuels use simple chemical “triggers” to unlock the energy of one of the hottest new materials,…
Laser Light Examines how Epilepsy Arises in the Healthy Brain
Scientists at McGill University have developed a new method to study how seizures arise in the healthy brain. Using laser light guided through ultra-thin optic fibers in the brain of rodents, the researchers “turned on” light-sensitive proteins in selective brain cells and were able to eventually cause seizures through repeated laser stimulation. These findings were…
AI Could Predict Cognitive Decline Leading to Alzheimer’s Disease in the Next Five Years
New Insight Into Aging
Nuclear Pasta, the Hardest Known Substance in the Universe
Billion-Year-Old Lake Deposit Yields Clues to Earth’s Ancient Biosphere
The Effect of Night Shifts: Gene Expression Fails to Adapt to New Sleep Patterns
Cracking the Mysteries of Eggshell Nanostructure
Eggshells are made of both inorganic and organic matter, this being calcium-containing mineral and abundant proteins. Graduate student Dimitra Athanasiadou, the study’s first author, found that a factor determining shell strength is the presence of nanostructured mineral associated with osteopontin, an eggshell protein also found in composite biological materials such as bone. The results also…
New Technique for Finding Life on Mars
Origins of Photosynthesis in Plants Dated to 1.25 Billion Years Ago
The world’s oldest algae fossils are a billion years old, according to a new analysis by earth scientists at McGill University. Based on this finding, the researchers also estimate that the basis for photosynthesis in today’s plants was set in place 1.25 billion years ago. The study, published in the journal Geology, could resolve a long-standing…
DNA Strands Employed to Design New Polymer Materials
McGill University researchers have chemically imprinted polymer particles with DNA strands — a technique that could lead to new materials for applications ranging from biomedicine to the promising field of “soft robotics.” In a study published in Nature Chemistry, the researchers describe a method to create asymmetrical polymer particles that bind together in a spatially…
A Non-Invasive Method to Detect Alzheimer’s Disease
Brains Are More Plastic Than We Thought
A More Sustainable Way to Refine Metals
A team of chemists in Canada has developed a way to process metals without using toxic solvents and reagents. The system, which also consumes far less energy than conventional techniques, could greatly shrink the environmental impact of producing metals from raw materials or from post-consumer electronics. “At a time when natural deposits of metals are…
Molecule Shown to Repair Damaged Axons
A foray into plant biology led one researcher to discover that a natural molecule can repair axons, the thread-like projections that carry electrical signals between cells. Axonal damage is the major culprit underlying disability in conditions such as spinal cord injury and stroke. Andrew Kaplan, a PhD candidate at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital…