Lifeboat Foundation

Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory have successfully developed a new way to produce a specific type of photon that could prove critical for quantum data exchange, notably encryption. The specific kind of photons, called “circularly polarized light,” have thus far proved challenging to create and control, but this new technique makes the process easier and, importantly, cheaper. This was achieved, the team explains, by stacking two different, atomically thin materials to “twist” (polarize) photons in a predictable fashion.

Encoded, “twisted,” photons

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Goldbeating, an age-old craft pioneered by ancient Egyptian artisans more than five millennia ago, involves the meticulous thinning of bulk gold into gossamer-like leaves. Throughout history, this intricate process has adorned various masterpieces, such as the tombs of Thebes and Saqqara, and has cemented its place in art and adornments across cultures. Today, nanoscale gold is used not only for decorating fancy desserts, but is indispensable for modern applications ranging from microelectronics to nanomedicine.

Researchers have discovered that graphene.

Graphene is an allotrope of carbon in the form of a single layer of atoms in a two-dimensional hexagonal lattice in which one atom forms each vertex. It is the basic structural element of other allotropes of carbon, including graphite, charcoal, carbon nanotubes, and fullerenes. In proportion to its thickness, it is about 100 times stronger than the strongest steel.

The discovery overturns more than a century of physics orthodoxy by identifying a new form of energy that can be extracted from ambient heat using graphene.

Graphene is an allotrope of carbon in the form of a single layer of atoms in a two-dimensional hexagonal lattice in which one atom forms each vertex. It is the basic structural element of other allotropes of carbon, including graphite, charcoal, carbon nanotubes, and fullerenes. In proportion to its thickness, it is about 100 times stronger than the strongest steel.

Regrowing the cells of the human retina on a scaffold of synthetic, tissue-like material showed substantial improvements over previously used materials such as cellulose, and the scientists hope they can move on to testing their method in the already blind.

Macular degeneration is increasing in prevalence in the developed world. It’s the leading cause of blindness and is caused by the loss of cells in a key part of the eye called the retina.

Humans have no ability to regrow retinal pigment cells, but scientists have determined how to do it in vitro using pluripotent stem cells. However as the study authors describe, previous examples of this procedure saw scientists growing the cells on flat surfaces rather than one resembling the retinal membrane.

It can be time consuming to test food and drink for potentially harmful bacteria, but viruses that naturally attack the bacteria can be gene edited to speed up the process.

By Karmela Padavic-Callaghan

Rayleigh scattering enhanced nanoparticle-doped optical fibers, for distributed sensing applications, is a new technology that offers unique advantages to optical fiber community. However, the existing fabrication technology, based on in situ grown alkaline earth nanoparticles, is restricted to few compositions and exhibit a great dependence on many experimental conditions. Moreover, there is still several uncertainties about the effect of drawing process on the nanoparticle characteristics and its influence on the scattering enhancement and the induced optical loss. In this work, we shed light on all these issues that prevent the progress in the field and demonstrate the suitability of doping optical fibers with YPO4 nanocrystals for developing tunable Rayleigh scattering enhanced nanoparticle-doped optical fibers.

A new efficient system of cancer treatment using vitamin k3 (Vk3)-loaded copper zinc ferrite nanoparticles having therapeutic capabilities, could benefit millions of cancer patients worldwide.

With the ever-increasing prevalence of cancer cases worldwide, newer approaches to cancer therapy are increasingly needed to tackle the problem. Since conventional cancer therapies such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery have significant drawbacks such as resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs, adverse effects and lower efficacy, development of nanotherapies that can target hypoxic (when oxygen is not available in sufficient amounts at the tissue level) tumors, with minimum side-effects is necessary.

At present, magnetic hyperthermia-based cancer therapy (MHCT) therapy has been shown to be therapeutic. However, in most cases, it is not as effective due to the generation of lower levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in a hypoxic tumor microenvironment (TME) and low heat transmission.

The current influenza A vaccines utilize surface proteins as antigens, predominantly hemagglutinin. These antigens change each season, requiring new vaccine formulations and annual administration; thus, development of a universal influenza vaccine is a high priority. In an industry-sponsored phase 2a trial, investigators evaluated a recombinant, nanoparticle-based influenza A vaccine candidate containing influenza nucleoprotein (an invariant protein) and designed to elicit cell-mediated immunity. In all, 137 healthy adults (age range, 18–55) were randomized to receive vaccine (180 µg, 300 µg, or 480 µg) or placebo as a single intramuscular injection.

The vaccine elicited mild-to-moderate local and systemic reactogenicity at all active doses. Cell-mediated responses, as measured by nucleoprotein-specific interferon-gamma ELISpot, showed statistically significant increases compared with baseline in all vaccine groups. In addition to polyfunctional CD4 T-cells and increased antibody levels, the higher doses elicited CD8 T-cell responses. Preliminary evaluation of RT-PCR–positive influenza illness among participants was consistent with vaccine efficacy.

This candidate for a universal influenza A vaccine was safe and showed promise to elicit a strong immune-mediated response. Further studies are needed to evaluate protection against infection and disease compared with the currently available products. However, durability of protection will be the key requirement if a single administration of vaccine is to have a long-lasting effect.