A natural food colorant called phycocyanin provides a fun, vivid blue in soft drinks, but it is unstable on grocery shelves. A synchrotron is helping to steady it. A fun food colorant with a scientific name — phycocyanin — provides a vivid blue pigment that food companies crave, but it can be unstable when placed…

Lysosomes are organelles that play essential roles in cellular digestion and waste management, and lysosomal dysfunction typically leads to serious diseases. In a recent study, scientists developed a novel technique to extract intact lysosomes from cells using magnetic nanoparticles. Their approach is much faster than previous methods and yields samples with high purity, allowing for…

Researchers believe a new hinge is the key to get load-bearing, large, Army quadrotors to climb a few dozen feet in seconds. Dr. Jean-Paul Reddinger, a research aerospace engineer with the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, now known as DEVCOM, Army Research Laboratory, is studying how quickly a quadrotor the size of a king-sized…

Using neutron experiments and computer simulations, researchers delved into how some of the proposed COVID-19 drug candidates behave at the molecular scale when exposed to water. The results could help experts understand the mechanisms by which drug molecules have the potential to mitigate the impact of viral infection. Scientists can analyze the molecular dynamics of…

Researchers have developed a way to use smartphone images of a person’s eyelids to assess blood hemoglobin levels. The ability to perform one of the most common clinical lab tests without a blood draw could help reduce the need for in-person clinic visits, make it easier to monitor patients who are in critical condition, and…

Researchers have applied photolithographic techniques from the computer chip industry to enzymatic DNA synthesis, and thus developed a new method to multiplex the superior DNA writing ability of Terminal deoxynucleotidyl Transferase TdT’s. One solution to this pending global data-storage problem could be the development of DNA — life’s very own information-storage system — into a…

Researchers have developed a microneedle patch that delivers a COVID-19 DNA vaccine into the skin, causing strong immune responses in cells and mice. Importantly, the patch can be stored for over 30 days at room temperature. To date, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized three vaccines for use during the COVID-19 pandemic: one…

Blood spatters are hydrodynamic signatures of violent crimes, often revealing when an event occurred and where the perpetrator and victim were located, and researchers have worked toward better understanding the fluid dynamics at play during gunshot spatters. They propose a model for the disintegration of a liquid due to an arbitrarily shaped projectile. Their model…

Lysosomes are organelles that play essential roles in cellular digestion and waste management, and lysosomal dysfunction typically leads to serious diseases. In a recent study, scientists developed a novel technique to extract intact lysosomes from cells using magnetic nanoparticles. Their approach is much faster than previous methods and yields samples with high purity, allowing for…