Category: 7. Science

Researchers from the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have created a new nanopore sensor for single-biomolecule detection. Their findings were published in the journal PNAS. 

Nanopore sensors detect and analyze individual molecules by measuring ionic changes as the molecules pass through openings in the device. Nanopore sensors can be made from biological materials or inorganic solid-state materials. Biological nanopores are commercially available, but solid-state nanopores “offer a significant advantage over biological nanopores for massively parallelized, low-cost sequencing,” said Sihan Chen, an Illinois Grainger postdoctoral researcher and the lead author of the paper.

However, the sensor has to be small enough to have base-by-base resolution as single molecules pass through and to electrically read out the translocation of the molecules. This poses significant challenges in fabricating ultra-thin metal films encapsulated in dielectric layers. 

An innovative 2D design

This team brought together a nanopore sensor expert, Rashid Bashir, and a 2D materials expert, Arend van der Zande, to overcome the barriers presented by using ultra-thin 3D materials. 

The team integrated a 2D heterostructure into the nanopore membrane, creating a nanometer-thick out-of-plane diode for the molecules to pass through. This diode allows them to simultaneously measure the changes in electrical current during DNA translocation and apply out-of-plane biases across the diode to control the speed of the DNA translocation. 

Looking forward: important applications 

This device has potential applications in the future of precision medicine, a concept that dates back to the early 2000s but whose applications have lagged behind the initial enthusiasm. Also called personalized medicine, this approach to disease prevention and treatment is based on an individual patient’s genes, environment, and lifestyle. Creating tailored medicine and therapy regimens will require fast and affordable sequencing techniques such as this nanopore sensor. 

“In the future, we envision arrays of millions of 2D diodes with nanopores inside that could read out the sequences of DNA in parallel, reducing sequencing time from two weeks to as little as one hour,” said Rashid Bashir, Dean of The Grainger College of Engineering and an author of the paper. This could have important implications for precision medicine, making it easier and less expensive to create treatments tailored to a patient’s genetic makeup. 

The researchers anticipate further studies to improve on their design, particularly its single p-n junction, which limits the quality of control of DNA translocation. One possibility for future investigation is to use a three-layer structure to enable opposing electric fields to stretch the DNA and achieve base-by-base translocation control. 

“This work represents an important step towards base-by-base molecular control and opens doors to more advanced DNA sequencing technologies,” said Arend van der Zande, a professor of mechanical science and engineering and materials science and engineering. 

Precision medicine: a growing market 

According to Global Market Insights, the global precision medicine market is estimated at $79.9 billion in 2023, and is projected to reach $157.1 billion by 2032. 

Innovations in technology, like the new nanopore sensor, as well as the rising prevalence of cancer, are both factors that are expected to contribute to this growing market. Rising investments in human genome research will also contribute to market growth. The National Institute of Health provided $5.2 billion in funding for genome research in 2024. 

Personalized medicines accounted for 25% of the new drugs approved by the FDA in 2019, an increase from 5% in 2005, according to Global Market Insights. The number of personalized medicines on the market grew from 132 in 2016 to 286 in 2020.

Launching in the 2030s, GMT will be the world’s most powerful optical telescope. By producing images 10 times clearer than the Hubble Space Telescope, GMT will explore the distant universe, including the search for signs of life. Unique among the new class of “extremely large telescopes,” GMT will feature the widest field of view with adaptive optics to correct for blur caused by Earth’s atmosphere. 

As a partner, Northwestern will contribute its expertise in astrophysics, artificial intelligence (AI) and engineering. Specifically, Northwestern scientists will develop and apply AI tools to enhance GMT’s abilities to search for Earth-like planets across the Milky Way, probe the universe’s most energetic explosions and explore the relationship between galaxies and black holes.

Backed by nearly $1 billion in private funding — the largest private investment ever made in ground-based astronomy — the Giant Magellan is built by an international consortium of 15 universities and research institutions. Along with Northwestern, other partners include the University of Arizona, Carnegie Institution for Science, The University of Texas at Austin, Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, University of Chicago, São Paulo Research Foundation, Texas A&M University, Harvard University, Astronomy Australia Ltd., Australian National University, Smithsonian Institution, Weizmann Institute of Science, Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics and Arizona State University.

About 40% of the Giant Magellan is already under construction, with major components manufactured and tested in facilities across 36 states in the U.S., including advanced optics and primary mirrors in Arizona, science instruments in multiple states including Texas and the telescope mount structure in Illinois. At the observatory’s privately owned site in Chile, major infrastructure progress includes utilities, roads, support structures and a fully excavated foundation for the enclosure.

“The Giant Magellan Telescope represents a bold vision for the future of astrophysics,” Kalogera said. “Northwestern is proud to help shape this vision and to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers who will use this telescope to answer some of the universe’s biggest questions.”

Astronomers have discovered a distant galaxy that is a “cosmic fossil” which has remained “frozen in time” for billions of years.

Just as dinosaur fossils here on Earth are used to probe the evolution of life, this cosmic fossil in the form of the galaxy KiDS J0842+0059 could be used to understand cosmic evolution.

These pulses are gradually tearing the African continent apart and forming a new ocean basin, according to a study led by University of Southampton researchers.

The Afar region is a rare place on Earth where three tectonic rifts converge: the Main Ethiopian Rift, the Red Sea Rift, and the Gulf of Aden Rift.

Geologists have long suspected that a hot upwelling of mantle, sometimes referred to as a plume, lies beneath the region, helping to drive the extension of the crust and the birth of a future ocean basin.

But until now, little was known about the structure of this upwelling, or how it behaves beneath rifting plates.

“We found that the mantle beneath Afar is not uniform or stationary — it pulses, and these pulses carry distinct chemical signatures,” said Dr. Emma Watts, who conducted the research at the University of Southampton and is now based at Swansea University.

“These ascending pulses of partially molten mantle are channelled by the rifting plates above.”

“That’s important for how we think about the interaction between Earth’s interior and its surface.”

Dr. Watts and colleagues collected more than 130 volcanic rock samples from across the Afar region and the Main Ethiopian Rift.

They used these, plus existing data and advanced statistical modeling, to investigate the structure of the crust and mantle, as well as the melts that it contains.

Their results show that underneath the Afar region is a single, asymmetric plume, with distinct chemical bands that repeat across the rift system, like geological barcodes.

These patterns vary in spacing depending on the tectonic conditions in each rift arm.

“The chemical striping suggests the plume is pulsing, like a heartbeat,” said University of Southampton’s Professor Tom Gernon.

“These pulses appear to behave differently depending on the thickness of the plate, and how fast it’s pulling apart.”

“In faster-spreading rifts like the Red Sea, the pulses travel more efficiently and regularly like a pulse through a narrow artery.”

The findings show that the mantle plume beneath the Afar region is not static, but dynamic and responsive to the tectonic plate above it.

“We have found that the evolution of deep mantle upwellings is intimately tied to the motion of the plates above,” said Dr. Derek Keir, a researcher at the University of Southampton and the University of Florence.

“This has profound implications for how we interpret surface volcanism, earthquake activity, and the process of continental breakup.”

“The work shows that deep mantle upwellings can flow beneath the base of tectonic plates and help to focus volcanic activity to where the tectonic plate is thinnest.”

“Follow on research includes understanding how and at what rate mantle flow occurs beneath plates.”

“Working with researchers with different expertise across institutions, as we did for this project, is essential to unravelling the processes that happen under Earth’s surface and relate it to recent volcanism,” Dr. Watts said.

“Without using a variety of techniques, it is hard to see the full picture, like putting a puzzle together when you don’t have all the pieces.”

The study was published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

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E.J. Watts et al. Mantle upwelling at Afar triple junction shaped by overriding plate dynamics. Nat. Geosci, published online June 25, 2025; doi: 10.1038/s41561-025-01717-0

FireSat is capable of multispectral imaging across the visible, near-infrared, short-, mid- and long-wave infrared bands simultaneously. The firm said the broad array of IR data is essential for detecting wildfires in their early stages, monitoring fire dynamics and tracking other thermal anomalies. 

While this technology demonstration has proven successful, a further 50 or so satellites will ultimately need to be in orbit to complete the constellation. It will operate in low-Earth orbit with an observation swath width of 1,500km and a nadir ground sample distance of 50m.

The instrument’s resolution, sensitivity and large dynamic range enable it to detect small cool fires 5×5 metres while also imaging without saturation for hot, intense fires.

Google, which has provided $13m (£9.5m) to the initiative led by Earth Fire Alliance, said it will be able to “detect and track wildfires the size of a classroom within 20 minutes”. While each point on Earth will be observed every 20 minutes, key wildfire-prone regions will benefit from more frequent observations. 

Muon Space is planning to launch the first block of three additional FireSat satellites in 2026, followed by a series of further launches that should see the constellation completed by 2030.

In recent years, scientists have been exploring the use of renewable polymers derived from natural sources. Materials such as vegetable cellulose, bacterial cellulose, chitosan, and starch offer attractive properties for biomedical applications, especially in controlled drug release systems and regenerative medicine. However, despite their potential, many of these polymers still face significant challenges in reaching commercialization.

The study conducted by Lopes et al. points out that despite advances, only a few natural polymers have become available on the market. The research emphasizes the importance of chemical modification and preparation strategies to improve the properties of these materials for clinical applications consequently.

An interesting finding of the study is that, despite the promising properties of these renewable polymers, the path from the bench to the market remains challenging. This is due to factors such as the need to ensure the safety, efficacy, and economic viability of these materials before their widespread adoption.

As such, this study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the properties and potential of renewable polymers for biomedical applications, highlighting the routes from the laboratory to the market and the prospects for future developments. Addressing these aspects is hoped to contribute to the advancement and applicability of these sustainable materials in biomedical practice.

The Earth will reach its farthest point from the sun on Thursday, July 3, according to Timeanddate.com

This event, known as aphelion, happens once per year typically around two weeks after the summer solstice in June. Although the Earth’s distance from the Sun does not affect the seasons, aphelion does influence the length of summer in the Northern Hemisphere.

Because Earth moves in an elliptical orbit around the sun, being further away means it travels slower along its orbit. This increases the time it takes to get from the solstice, the beginning of summer, to the equinox, the end of summer, effectively making the season longer in the Northern Hemisphere, according to Timeanddate.com.

On Thursday, Earth will be over 94.5 million miles away from the sun. On average the planet sits at 93 million miles away, according to Earthsky.com.

Earlier this year, astronomers alerted the world to a startling possibility: based on initial calculations, it appeared that a recently discovered asteroid known as 2024 YR4 had a not-zero chance of colliding with Earth in 2032. At 174–220 feet wide, the space rock has the potential to destroy a sizable city in less than a decade’s time. In this case, however, “not-zero” never amounted to anything higher than a three percent probability. And after gathering additional information from an array of terrestrial observatories as well as the James Webb Space Telescope, experts concluded in March that 2024 YR4 didn’t pose any direct threat to the planet.

But just because Earth was spared doesn’t mean our moon is safe. Based on the most recent calculations, the chance that the asteroid has a 2032 date with the lunar surface is higher than it ever was for us.

“The probability that asteroid 2024 YR4 will strike the Moon on 22 December 2032 is now approximately 4 percent, and this probability was still slowly rising as the asteroid faded out of view,” the European Space Agency said in its most recent update.

Okay, so it’s not that much more likely than 2024 YR4’s highest probability for Earth. But a 96-percent likelihood of missing the moon leaves room for the space rock to defy the odds. Astronomers will now need to wait until its orbit sends it around the sun in mid-2028 to begin conducting further observations.

So what happens if 2024 YR4 really does collide with the moon? That’s a great question—one that even the experts can’t answer at the moment.

“No one knows what the exact effects would be,” admitted ESA Planetary Defense Office director Richard Moissl. “It is a very rare event for an asteroid this large to impact the Moon—and it is rarer still that we know about it in advance.”

Moissl added the collision “would certainly leave a new crater on the surface,” but it’s not currently possible to accurately predict how much material would eject into space, and whether Earth’s gravitational pull would catch any of it. That said, there isn’t a major worry that an asteroid of 2024 YR’s size would result in lunar armageddon. Moissl also explained that while the impact would likely be visible from Earth, astronomers remain “excited by the prospect of observing and analyzing it.”

If you’re still uneasy about errant asteroids hurtling towards us, take comfort in knowing that international space agencies are working to improve our early detection capabilities and plan for worst-case scenarios. The ESA, for example, is currently planning to launch its Near-Earth Object Mission in the Infrared (NEOMIR) satellite in the early 2030s. NEOMIR is designed to position itself at the first Sun-Earth Lagrange Point, one of five locations where the planet’s gravitational forces and the satellite’s orbit interact to allow for a stable observation point. Once there, the array will be able to scan for unknown asteroids larger than 197-feet-wide that are potentially en route to Earth. This will provide governments and agencies much more time to identify, analyze, and plan for space emergencies.

“NEOMIR would have detected asteroid 2024 YR4 about a month earlier than ground-based telescopes did,” Moissl explained. “This would have given astronomers more time to study the asteroid’s trajectory and allowed them to much sooner rule out any chance of Earth impact in 2032.”