Minuscule particles of plastic are not only bad for the environment. A study led from Umeå University, Sweden, has shown that the so-called nanoplastics which enter the body also can impair the effect of antibiotic treatment. The results also indicate that the nanoplastics may lead to the development of antibiotic resistance. Even the indoor air in our homes contains high levels of nanoplastics from, among other things, nylon, which is particularly problematic.

“The results are alarming considering how common nanoplastics are and because effective antibiotics for many can be the difference between life and death,” says Lukas Kenner, professor at the Department of Molecular Biology at Umeå University and one of the researchers who led the study.

Nanoplastics are plastic particles that are smaller than a thousandth of a millimetre. Due to their smallness, they can float freely in the air and have the ability to enter the body.

Method could probe whether a key tenet of quantum mechanics applies to gravity, which has so far resisted quantum theory.

After thousands of years as a highly valuable commodity, silk continues to surprise. Now it may help usher in a whole new direction for microelectronics and computing.

While silk protein has been deployed in designer electronics, its use is currently limited in part because silk fibers are a messy tangle of spaghetti-like strands.

Now, a research team led by scientists at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has tamed the tangle. They report in the journal Science Advances (“Two-dimensional silk”) that they have achieved a uniform two-dimensional (2D) layer of silk protein fragments, or “fibroins,” on graphene, a carbon-based material useful for its excellent electrical conductivity.

A 9th grader from Snellville, Georgia, has won the 3M Young Scientist Challenge, after inventing a handheld device designed to detect pesticide residues on produce.

Sirish Subash set himself apart with his AI-based sensor to win the grand prize of $25,000 cash and the prestigious title of “America’s Top Young Scientist.”

Like most inventors, Sirish was intrigued with curiosity and a simple question. His mother always insisted that he wash the fruit before eating it, and the boy wondered if the preventative action actually did any good.

Antonia, a cloned black-footed ferret at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, has produced two healthy offspring that will help build genetic diversity in their recovering population.