A new study published in Engineering explores the biomimetic synthesis of natural products. This research, led by scientists from Jinan University and the University of Illinois Chicago, delves into the progress, challenges, and prospects of mimicking natural processes to create these valuable compounds. Natural products play a crucial role in drug discovery, but traditional production methods face issues. Biomimetic synthesis offers an alternative, with recent developments and a promising future, as the researchers detail.

Tokyo, Japan – A team led by a member of Tokyo Metropolitan University have made advances in the search for dark matter, observing galaxies using new spectrographic technology and the Magellan Clay Telescope. With a mere 4 hours of observations, precise measurements in the infrared range have set new limits on the lifetime of dark matter. Their findings highlight the crucial utility of their technology and extend the search to less explored parts of the spectrum.

A new article in the peer-reviewed journal Nucleic Acid Therapeutics addresses the recognition by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that immunogenicity assays may be necessary to measure immune responses to different components of oligonucleotide therapeutic (ONT) drugs, especially when the therapeutic includes carriers or conjugates.

In the race to meet the growing global demand for lithium — a critical component in batteries for electric vehicles — a team of researchers from Rice University’s Elimelech lab has developed a breakthrough lithium extraction method that could reshape the industry. In their study published in Science Advances, the researchers demonstrated near-perfect lithium selectivity by repurposing solid-state electrolytes (SSEs) as membrane materials for aqueous lithium extraction. While originally designed for the rapid conduction of lithium ions in solid-state batteries — where there are no other ions or liquid solvents — the highly ordered and confined structure of SSEs was found to enable unprecedented separation of both ions and water in aqueous mixtures.