Science Highlights

Gasoline cars are able to travel further between fill-ups than electric cars before recharge, which is a limiting factor for the widespread adoption of electric vehicles and utilization of renewable energy sources for transportation. Improving the energy density of the batteries could solve this problem, so researchers are developing lithium metal batteries to replace lithium-ion batteries.

Lithium ion batteries (LIBs), which are widely used in consumer electronics ranging from mobile phones to electric cars, have enabled our electronics to become smaller and last longer on a charge. However, their functionality is limited by environmental conditions.

Cytokines are small proteins that communicate messages between cells of our immune systems. Secreted from one cell and recognized by other cells through membrane receptors, cytokines carry information about pathogens, cancers, or other problems that concern the immune system.

Enzymes’ ability to speed biochemical reaction rates is the core of life processes, and much of molecular life science research involves understanding how an enzyme’s structure (often found through x-ray crystallography or NMR) is related to its function (biochemical analyses of the reaction).

Uranium contamination in our environment is a serious threat to public health. Successfully managing the problem to mitigate health impacts requires an understanding of how environments affect the different forms of uranium, the chemical reactions at work, and the molecular species that are created over time.

Made of a repeated structure of proteins and fats, myelin insulates our nerve cells, allowing signals to travel quickly and efficiently. If myelin is damaged, nervous system signals will not transmit as well. The degree of myelination could be an important diagnostic for brain health because it is disrupted in almost all known brain diseases.

The biosynthesis of methane is significant because this molecule is both a good source of energy and a greenhouse gas. Despite its importance, the processes by which methane is made is not well understood. Methane is synthesized by methanogens, archaea found in anaerobic conditions like bogs and the guts of mammals.

A potential treatment for COVID-19 patients is administering monoclonal antibodies, which can directly neutralize virus by interacting with its spike protein. Monoclonal antibodies are identified from patients or lab animals that have been exposed to the virus and manufactured in larger quantities to treat patients.

Spintronics is analogous to electronics, where an electron’s spin state is used to store information rather than, or in addition to, the charge. Potential uses for spintronics include storing information in electron spin, which is not disturbed by magnetic fields nor affects neighboring electrons like electron charge.

Evidence gathered over the last 40 years suggests that a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) includes different types of diseases, but MS is usually treated as one disease. MS is defined by a loss of myelin that surrounds the axons of neurons and inflammation, which leads to serious outcomes like paralysis, blindness, and bowel and bladder problems.