Air quality in America’s largest cities has steadily improved thanks to tighter regulations. However, increased heat, wildfire smoke and other emerging global drivers of urban aerosol pollution are now combining to create a new set of challenges on the East Coast. Research from Colorado State University published in npj Climate and Atmospheric Science begins to unpack and characterize these developing relationships against the backdrop of New York City.

The results offer an important wake-up call for people who want to keep their brain sharp as they age.

Early-stage disease diagnosis relies on the highly sensitive detection of biomarkers. Optical whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) microcavity sensors have emerged as a highly promising technology for precise, label-free biosensing. However, major challenges remain in the rapid fabrication of large-scale arrayed WGM microcavity sensors and their integration into lab-on-a-chip devices for biomedical applications. In a noteworthy advance, researchers at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) have developed a novel 3D micro-printed WGM microlaser sensor for highly sensitive on-chip biosensing. This innovation drives the development of next-generation biosensing tools, enabling direct, ultrasensitive and quantitative measurement of biomarkers for early disease detection.