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To synthesize potential drugs or natural products, you need natural substances in specific mirror-image variants and with a high degree of purity. For the first time, chemists at the University of Bonn have succeeded in producing all eight possible variants of polypropionate building blocks from a single starting material in a relatively straightforward process. Their work has now been published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition.

Polypropionates are that can help save lives. They are needed to make reserve antibiotics, compounds that are only ever used to treat infections caused by drug-resistant bacteria. In nature, chiral compounds exist in two different variants that share the same molecular formula but are of each other, like a right and a left hand. Chemists call this “chirality,” which literally means “handedness.”

“What’s interesting is that the mirror-image forms can have very different properties,” explains Professor Andreas Gansäuer from the Kekulé Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Bonn. “One well known example is undoubtedly carvone. The dextro-, or ‘right-handed,’ form of this molecule smells of caraway, while its levo-, or ‘left-handed,’ form is what gives peppermint its distinctive odor.”

Sandia National Laboratories researchers have developed a fundamentally new type of rotary electrical contact. The technology is called Twistact, and it will eliminate the need for expensive rare-earth magnets in large wind turbines.

Sandia is now ready to partner with the energy industry to develop the next generation of direct-drive wind turbines.

Sandia’s Twistact is a novel approach to transmitting electrical current between a stationary and rotating frame, or between two rotating assemblies having different speeds or rotational directions. This method is ideal for use in wind turbines.

Scientists have proposed an intriguing theory on our universe’s rapid expansion.


For years, scientists have grappled with the enigma of the universe expanding rapidly.

Observations like the redshift of galaxies and the cosmic microwave background hint at this cosmic phenomenon, but a complete explanation remains elusive.

A theoretical study has now provided an intriguing explanation: our universe’s expansion may be driven by the collisions and mergers with other universes, colloquially referred to as “baby” parallel universes.

Doug Philippone, a venture capitalist, has explained to a media house the importance of lizard-like robots for the future of US Armed Forces like the United States Navy.


Wall climbing robots are used for non-destructive testing inspections of tanks, boilers, pressure vessels, piping, and more, explains Gecko Robotics. These robots utilize specially designed sensor payloads to inspect wall thickness, pitting, and numerous forms of degradation.

“Our robots collect 1,000x more information with continuous data capture at speeds an average of 10x faster than previous methods,” Gecko’s website boasts. “Using specially-designed sensor payloads, the robots can inspect wall thickness, pitting, and many other forms of degradation,” they added.