Lifeboat Foundation

When you pop a tray of water into the freezer, you get ice cubes. Now, researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Toronto have achieved a similar transition using clouds of ultracold atoms.

In a study that will appear August 2 in the journal Science Advances, the team discovered that it could nudge these quantum materials to undergo transitions between “dynamical phases”—essentially, jumping between two states in which the atoms behave in completely different ways.

“This happens abruptly, and it resembles the phase transitions we see in systems like water becoming ice,” said study co-author Ana Maria Rey. “But unlike that tray of ice cubes in the freezer, these phases don’t exist in equilibrium. Instead, atoms are constantly shifting and evolving over time.”

Quantum sensors based on nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond are a promising detection mode for nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy due to their micron-scale detection volume and noninductive-based sample detection requirements. A challenge that exists is to sufficiently realize high spectral resolution coupled with concentration sensitivity for multidimensional NMR analysis of picolitre sample volumes. In a new report now on Science Advances, Janis Smits and an interdisciplinary research team in the departments of High Technology Materials, Physics and Astronomy in the U.S. and Latvia addressed the challenge by spatially separating the polarization and detection phases of the experiment in a microfluidic platform.

They realized a spectral resolution of 0.65±0.05 Hz, an order-of-magnitude improvement compared with previous diamond NMR studies. Using the platform, they performed 2-D correlation spectroscopy of liquid analytes with an effective detection volume of ~40 picoliters. The research team used diamond quantum sensors as in-line microfluidic NMR detectors in a major step forward for applications in mass-limited chemical analysis and single-cell biology.

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a powerful and well-established technique for compositional, structural and functional analysis in a variety of scientific disciplines. In conventional NMR spectrometry the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is strongly dependent on the external field strength (B₀). As the spectral resolution increased, the B₀ increased as well, motivating the development of increasingly large and expensive superconducting magnets for improved resolution and SNR, resulting in a two-fold increase in field strength within the past 25 years.

Researchers from North Carolina State University and Elon University have developed a technique that allows them to remotely control the movement of soft robots, lock them into position for as long as needed and later reconfigure the robots into new shapes. The technique relies on light and magnetic fields.

“We’re particularly excited about the reconfigurability,” says Joe Tracy, a professor of materials science and engineering at NC State and corresponding author of a paper on the work. “By engineering the properties of the material, we can control the soft robot’s movement remotely; we can get it to hold a given shape; we can then return the robot to its original shape or further modify its movement; and we can do this repeatedly. All of those things are valuable, in terms of this technology’s utility in biomedical or aerospace applications.”

For this work, the researchers used soft robots made of a polymer embedded with magnetic iron microparticles. Under normal conditions, the material is relatively stiff and holds its shape. However, researchers can heat up the material using light from a light-emitting diode (LED), which makes the polymer pliable. Once pliable, researchers demonstrated that they could control the shape of the robot remotely by applying a magnetic field. After forming the desired shape, researchers could remove the LED light, allowing the robot to resume its original stiffness—effectively locking the shape in place.

Two remarkable new studies are suggesting sci-fi stories of memory manipulation may not be so far-fetched. The research describes early proof-of-concept experiments showing how negative emotional associations with traumatic memories can potentially be weakened or even entirely edited out.

Over 4000 patients in the United States alone are waiting for a heart transplant, while millions of others worldwide need hearts but are ineligible for the waitlist. The need for replacement organs is immense, and new approaches are needed to engineer artificial organs that are capable of repairing, supplementing, or replacing long-term organ function.

A team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University has published a paper in Science that details a new technique allowing anyone to 3D bioprint tissue scaffolds out of collagen, the major structural protein in the human body. This first-of-its-kind method brings the field of tissue engineering one step closer to being able to 3D print a full-sized, adult human heart.

The technique, known as Freeform Reversible Embedding of Suspended Hydrogels (FRESH), has allowed the researchers to overcome many challenges associated with existing 3D bioprinting methods, and to achieve unprecedented resolution and fidelity using soft and living materials.

Continue reading “3D printing the human heart” »

As an Earth Touch crew leaves sunny South Africa behind to do some serious chilling out in Antarctica (check out their journey to the bottom of the world!), we’ve been thinking about some of the extreme adaptations necessary for survival when temperatures plummet below zero. From powerful antifreeze to crazy cryogenics and dehydration verging on death, these animals (and one amazing bacterium) have evolved some impressive tactics for sub-zero survival.

Image credit: Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife, Flickr.

Like a misshapen potato chip, our home galaxy is warped. A new 3D map brings the contorted structure of the Milky Way’s disk into better view, thanks to measurements of special stars called Cepheids, scientists report in the Aug. 2 Science.

Making 3D measurements of the galaxy requires estimating how far away stars are from Earth, typically a matter of guesswork. But unlike other stars, Cepheids vary in brightness over time in a particular way that can be used to determine a precise distance to each star.

Continue reading “A 3D map of stars reveals the Milky Way’s warped shape” »

Shift Bioscience is a company aiming to solve the problem of mitochondrial dysfunction, one of the hallmarks of aging, by repairing the aging mitochondria in our cells so that they work as if they were younger.

Mitochondrial dysfunction is at the heart of aging

The mitochondria are often called the powerhouses of cells, and they convert the food we eat into usable energy in the form of a chemical called adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP supplies energy for many cellular processes, such as muscle contraction, nerve impulse propagation, and protein synthesis. ATP is found in all forms of life and is often referred to as the “molecular unit of currency” of intracellular energy transfer.

It’s letting them study the Sun in a more “hands-on” way.