Category archives: Technology

Turning cheese whey into value: a sustainable substrate for probiotic biomass production

Turning cheese whey into value: a sustainable substrate for probiotic biomass production

Biotechnology • Chemical engineering • Food processing • Microbiology

By Invited Researcher

Probiotics are part of a rapidly expanding field of research. They are live microorganisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, may confer health benefits[1]. Among the most extensively studied probiotics, some species of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium have been associated with the maintenance of gut microbiota balance and with several physiological functions[2]. Producing these microorganisms usually […]

The ‘WarGames’ problem: AI agents don’t go rogue

The ‘WarGames’ problem: AI agents don’t go rogue

Artificial Intelligence • Philosophy of science

By Invited Researcher

Author: Deven Desai, Professor of Business Law and Ethics; Associate Director for Law, Policy, and Ethics at the Machine Learning Center, Georgia Institute of Technology AI agents don’t go rogue. That’s something only humans do. Nevertheless, a New York Times article – representative of much news coverage of AI – described an OpenAI hacking as […]

Supramolecular polymers can dramatically enhance brain cell activity

Supramolecular polymers can dramatically enhance brain cell activity

Biomedicine • Chemistry • Materials • Neuroscience

By Mapping Ignorance

Scientists have developed remarkably long, precisely patterned molecular threads that could open new possibilities for designing advanced materials. The scientists also discovered these threads — called supramolecular polymers — can dramatically enhance brain cell activity. Built from self-assembling molecules, the longest threads reach dimensions greater than the diameter of a cell. By molecular standards, they […]

How a magnetic molecular junction shapes the current between two superconductors

How a magnetic molecular junction shapes the current between two superconductors

Condensed matter • DIPC Advanced materials • Materials

By DIPC

In 1911, Heike Kamerlingh Onnes cooled mercury to a few degrees above absolute zero and watched its electrical resistance vanish. Lead soon joined the list of superconductors, losing its resistance below about 7.2 kelvin. A full explanation arrived in 1957: electrons bind into Cooper pairs that move together as one collective state below a critical […]

Waves find order in the chaos of an oddly shaped cavity

Waves find order in the chaos of an oddly shaped cavity

Condensed matter • Materials • Nanotechnology • Physics

By Mapping Ignorance

When light or sound bounces around inside an oddly shaped room, its reflections can quickly become difficult to predict. But new research led by scientists at the Advanced Science Research Center at the CUNY Graduate Center (CUNY ASRC) shows that waves can behave very differently when they travel through a special class of materials. The […]

Nanocellulose: from the most abundant biopolymer to next-generation sustainable materials

Nanocellulose: from the most abundant biopolymer to next-generation sustainable materials

Materials

By Invited Researcher

26 April 2026 will always be remembered as the day an apparently impossible barrier was finally broken. At the London Marathon, Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe and Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha became the first men to officially run the 42.195 km distance in under two hours, finishing in 1:59:30 and 1:59:41 respectively. Reaching this landmark was not the […]

My brain runs on 20 watts. Take that, AI !

My brain runs on 20 watts. Take that, AI !

Artificial Intelligence • Computer science • Energy

By Invited Researcher

Author: Aysha Asif Riaz, Research Fellow in Roadmapping Neuromorphic Computing Hardware, Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, UCL Right now, your brain is recognising the shapes of these letters, analysing their meaning, and holding a stream of thought together – all on about 20 watts of power. That’s roughly what it takes to run a […]

Why an insulator can conduct electricity along its edges

Why an insulator can conduct electricity along its edges

Condensed matter • DIPC Advanced materials • Materials • Quantum physics

By DIPC

Nickel disulfide, NiS₂, is an unusual material. Its interior behaves as an electrical insulator, blocking the flow of current, while certain parts of its surface conduct electricity freely. This contradiction has puzzled physicists for decades, and a recent study offers a detailed explanation. The conduction, it turns out, is confined to tiny one-dimensional steps on […]

First switchable graphene nanoribbon that twists on demand

First switchable graphene nanoribbon that twists on demand

Condensed matter • Materials • Nanotechnology

By Mapping Ignorance

Researchers at Nagoya University have built a graphene nanoribbon that can switch which way it twists using a natural solvent. Graphene nanoribbons are thin ribbon-shaped structures made of fused carbon rings. Twisted or helical versions of these ribbons show promise for advanced light and electronic devices. However, no graphene nanoribbon could switch that twist on […]

A polymer membrane that grows its own arsenic-catching surface

A polymer membrane that grows its own arsenic-catching surface

Chemistry • DIPC Polymers • Environment • Materials

By DIPC

Arsenic contamination in drinking water poses a critical global public health hazard. Prolonged exposure to inorganic arsenic—predominantly present in groundwater as arsenate, where arsenic exists in its +5 oxidation state—can lead to severe dermatological lesions, cardiovascular diseases, and cancers. To mitigate these health risks, the World Health Organization has established a strict provisional safety guideline […]