The study, the result of a collaboration between the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, Graz University of Technology, CSGI and the University of Florence, opens up new scenarios in the field of electronics. “Using simple and low-cost materials, we can develop innovative applications such as physical, chemical or environmental sensors on any surface,” says Francesco Greco, associate professor of bioengineering

Those who climb indoors are doing something for their health. But climbing shoes contain chemicals of concern that can enter the lungs of climbers through the abrasion of the soles. In a recent study, researchers from the University of Vienna and EPFL Lausanne have shown for the first time that high concentrations of potentially harmful chemicals from climbing shoe soles can be found in the air of bouldering gyms, in some cases higher than on a busy street. The results have been published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology Air.

Enhancing wheat plants’ sugar signalling ability could deliver increased yields of up to 12%, according to researchers from Rothamsted, Oxford University and the Rosalind Franklin Institute in a study published today in the journal Nature Biotechnology. That is an order of magnitude greater than annual yield increases currently being achieved through breeding.  

The study overcomes a decades-old limitation in quantum sensing by a substantial margin.