ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

How can we reduce the carbon footprint of electricity consumption in Switzerland? The country relies on electricity imports from fossil fuel power plants, which are major emitters of greenhouse gases.

Toward a new kind of superconductivity: In the past four years scientists have discovered metals whose crystal structure mimics that of a traditional Japanese woven bamboo pattern: kagome metals. The international research activity in this new direction of quantum materials has recently reached a new climax: an international team of physicists has discovered that the underlying kagome lattice structure induces the joint appearance of intricate quantum phenomena which can lead to an unprecedented type of superconductivity.

Researchers have developed a system based on computer vision techniques that allows automatic analysis of biomedical videos captured by microscopy in order to characterize and describe the behavior of the cells that appear in the images.

Facing the challenging task of developing lightweight, high-strength ceramic materials, an engineer has turned to an unexpected collaborator for design inspiration: the knobby sea star from the tropical Indo-Pacific. By investigating the complex and highly ordered mineralized skeletal system of this unusual marine species, the research team discovered an unexpected combination of characteristics that may lead to developing an entirely new class of high-performance lightweight ceramic composites. 

Cellular proteins that hold cells and tissues together also perform critical functions when they experience increased tension. A new study observed that when tugged upon in a controlled manner, these proteins -- called cadherins -- communicate with growth factors to influence in vitro tumor growth in human carcinoma cells.

Mathematicians have developed a new mathematical model which could greatly increase the efficiency of pest control and hence significantly reduce the impact of pests on crops whilst minimizing the damage to environment.

Researchers have developed a new material that improves the performance of solid-state sodium batteries, a less dangerous and more durable alternative to lithium.

Carbon capture and storage describes the process of injecting carbon dioxide from industrial sources into underground geological reservoirs, theoretically for thousands of years. Researchers used supercomputers to understand how carbon dioxide storage works at the level of micrometer-wide pores in rock. They found that two factors greatly impact the amount of carbon dioxide that can be stored: wettability and injection rate.

A new study demonstrates 'species agnostic' screening of lipid nanoparticles, which could significantly accelerate the development of cutting edge mRNA targeted therapies.

New research could make it much simpler to repair disease-causing mutations in RNA without compromising precision or efficiency. The new RNA editing technology holds promise as a gene therapy for treating genetic diseases. In a proof of concept, researchers showed that the technology can treat a mouse model of Hurler syndrome, a rare genetic disease, by correcting its disease-causing mutation in RNA.