Topology has real implications in the world. For example, topological techniques can be brought to bear on calculating the trajectories of spacecraft, and missions have been saved by the efforts of topologists.

Preliminary research led by ophthalmologist Jesse Smith, MD, indicates that a virtual reality-based vision test was as accurate as a standard test among patients with geographic atrophy, a potentially vision-threatening eye disease.

Researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U. of I.) have been working on resolving a grand challenge for molecular biology, and more specifically, genetic research: how to take a high-resolution image of DNA to facilitate study. Using a number of compute resources, including NCSA’s Delta, Aleksei Aksimentiev, a professor of physics at U. of I, and Dr. Kush Coshic, formerly a graduate research assistant in the Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology and the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at U. of I., and currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics, recently made significant contributions to solving this challenge. They did it by focusing on two specific problems: creating a “camera” that could capture the molecular movement of DNA, and by creating an environment in which they could predictably direct the movement of the DNA strands.

“To track progress toward the Paris Agreement and the implementation of effective policies, accurate estimates of carbon sinks and sources are fundamental,” says Manuela Balzarolo, scientific leader of the EU’s flagship carbon cycle project, as she explains why accurate data on the carbon cycle is the key to successful climate negotiations. Initiatives such as the Tropical Forests Forever Facility will require more information on ecosystems and the carbon cycle.