For electric vehicles (EVs) to become mainstream, they need cost-effective, safer, longer-lasting batteries that won’t explode during use or harm the environment. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology may have found a promising alternative to conventional lithium-ion batteries made from a common material: rubber.

UC Davis researchers have found that DNA mutations are not random. This changes our understanding of evolution and could one day help researchers breed better crops or even help humans fight cancer.

Vascular systems found in trees transport vital nutrients from root, to branch, to leaf. In a new study, researchers at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign developed a chemical process to mimic this arboreal architecture in foamed polymers, enabling directional fluid transport and adding structure throughout the material.

A research team led by chemistry professors Frank Glorius (University of Münster, Germany) and Kendall N. Houk (University of California, Los Angeles) has solved a problem in the field of organic synthesis that had been considered a challenge for years. To do so, they employed what is known as ternary catalysis.

Bioengineer Amir Arzani, an assistant professor at Northern Arizona University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, recently received a $507,642 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The award will support Arzani’s research aimed at developing scientific machine learning models to improve the accuracy and fidelity of current cardiovascular flow models.

University of Delaware engineers are working with colleagues at LSU to green chemical manufacturing, an industry that too often relies on non-renewable fossil energy. The researchers are examining the use of electrolyzers, devices that use electricity to convert raw materials like carbon dioxide (CO2) into useful molecules for chemicals and products.

Researchers have come up with a computer model that mirrors the way misinformation spreads in real life. The work might provide insight on how to protect people from the current contagion of misinformation that threatens public health and the health of democracy.

An international research team led by scientists at Georgetown University have demonstrated the power of artificial intelligence to predict which viruses could infect humans — like SARS-CoV-2, the virus that led to the COVID-19 pandemic — which animals host them, and where they could emerge.