Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have developed silk iron microparticles (SIMPs)—magnetic, biodegradable carriers designed to deliver therapies directly to disease sites like aneurysms or tumors. The particles are created by chemically bonding iron oxide nanoparticles to regenerated silk fibroin using glutathione, enhancing their magnetic responsiveness while maintaining biocompatibility. These nanoscale carriers, roughly one-hundred-thousandth the width of a human hair, can potentially be guided externally to precise locations in the body. The platform enables localized delivery of therapeutic agents such as extracellular vesicles, regenerative factors, or drugs, offering a minimally invasive approach to treating conditions like abdominal aortic aneurysms and expanding the potential for targeted therapies in regenerative medicine.

A new study in Engineering introduces the electroactive biofiltration dynamic membrane (EBDM). Developed by researchers from Tongji University, this innovation aims to enhance wastewater treatment and mitigate membrane fouling. Tests show it has the potential to improve treatment efficiency and methane production, offering a promising solution for the wastewater treatment field.

A new study at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign asks a deceptively simple question: what is the best way to feed artificially reared pigs? The answer has implications not just for agriculture, but for biomedical research where pigs are used to study different aspects of human medicine. 

A new UAS traffic management platform named AcrOSS, detailed in a paper published in Engineering, has been developed by researchers from the University of Salento. Designed to enhance the safety and efficiency of unmanned aircraft system operations in critical areas, the platform features a three-layer architecture and has undergone experimental testing, offering both promising results and areas for improvement.

MIT researchers showed they can inexpensively nanomanufacture silk microneedles to precisely fortify crops, monitor plant health, and detect soil toxins.

A new study in Engineering presents an adaptive quantum computing-based model predictive control strategy for building energy management. It aims to boost energy efficiency and decarbonize buildings, and experiments show promising results in reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions.

In Physics of Fluids, researchers have developed a foolproof recipe for cacio e pepe, based on their findings studying the physics of mixing cheese in water and determining the mechanism that causes the cheese sauce to go from creamy to clumpy. The team found that a 2%-3% starch-to-cheese ratio produced the smoothest, most uniform sauce; they recommend using powdered starch, rather than relying on an unknown amount of starch in pasta water.