Tech

Organometallic reagents are essential tools in synthetic chemistry. They work even better and more effectively in combination with alkali alkoxides. The exact nature of this effect has never been well understood. A team based in Switzerland has now performed a detailed study of the mechanism of reaction of aryl bromides with organo-magnesium reagents and lithium alkoxides. As reported in the journal Angewandte Chemie, a complex equilibrium of bimetallic intermediates plays a key role.

Substituted aromatic ring systems are an important class of building block for the synthesis of many products, including pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and natural substances. However, the required functional side groups cannot generally be hooked onto the ring systems in a simple way. A widely employed method uses a detour through a halogen/metal exchange. First, a halogen atom, such as bromine, is attached to the desired position on the ring system. With the use of special organometallic reagents--compounds with at least one metal-carbon bond--the Br atom can be exchanged for a metal atom, such as magnesium. The Mg atom can then easily be replaced by the desired substituent.

Interestingly, the use of alkali alkoxides in conjunction with the organometallic reagents causes synergistic effects; that is, increased reactivity and altered reactivity profiles. In this manner, lithium alkoxides (LiOR) activate the organo-magnesium reagent sBu(2)Mg (di-sec-butylmagnesium), allowing for an Mg/Br exchange with bromine-containing aromatics.

A team led by Eva Hevia at the University of Bern (Switzerland) has now taken a closer look at this type of reaction, using various methods to trap and analyze the organometallic intermediates that are formed. "We have found a complex equilibrium between various bimetallic species," says Hevia. "The key components are two different intermediates of the Br/Mg exchange that depend on the substitution pattern of the aromatic substrate."

Detailed NMR spectroscopic studies showed that the heart of the reaction is a novel version of the Schlenk equilibrium between bimetallic intermediates, lithium magnesiates, which have different sets of ligands and different Li:Mg ratios. Surprisingly, the in situ generation of an alkyl-rich lithium magnesiate is revealed as the active species of the Mg/Br exchange.

"Our insights advance our understanding of the modus operandi of these fascinating bimetallic systems," states Hevia, "which could pave new paths toward new exciting synthetic applications."

Recently, the Laboratory of Micro and Nano Engineering, School of Engineering Science, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) has made important progress in the field of structural chirality detection research using vortex light and found that photon orbital angular momentum can efficiently detect the optical chiral signal of structures.

The achievement was published in an international well-known journal PNAS.

Chiral structures are widely found in nature, such as DNA double helix structures, plant tendrils and shells. In addition to observing the geometry of objects, their chirality can also be distinguished by the interaction of light with matter. For example, the detection of circular dichroism spectra can be achieved by studying the different optical response of structures to left and right spin circularly polarized light through the interaction of photon spin angular momentum with matter.

Similarly, can photon orbital angular momentum, which also has chiral characteristics, be used to detect chiral structures and how can the significant optical response signal be obtained?

To address the above scientific questions, the team found that the vortex light contains a helical phase (photon orbital angular momentum) that can interact with the chiral microstructure to produce significant vortex differential scattering by matching the size of the beam and the chiral structure.

It was found that the region of structure size versus operational wavelength where the vortex differential scattering peak is located lies in a region previously unexplored by the circular dichroism response and allows for monochromatic light detection.

The work also investigates the relationship between the vortex difference scattering spectrum and the geometry of the helical structure, as well as the means to enhance the detection signal of chiral molecules.

This technique is expected to provide a novel detection method in the field of subsequent chiral light-matter interaction studies.

Aqueous free-radical precipitation polymerization is one of the most useful methods to prepare the uniformly sized hydrogel microspheres (microgels), and an understanding of the polymerization mechanism is crucial to control the structure or physicochemical properties of microgels. However, the details of the mechanism of precipitation polymerization remain unclear.

Thus, first author Yuichiro Nishizawa, Prof. Daisuke Suzuki of the Graduate School of Textile Science & Technology, Shinshu University and Prof. Takayuki Uchihashi of Nagoya University set out to clarify the formation mechanism of microgels during precipitation polymerization by evaluating structural evolution and thermoresponsiveness of developing microgels during the polymerization and by visualization of polymerization directly.

Through the direct visualization of the microgels with different polymerization times, it was clarified that some inhomogeneous, non-thermoresponsive nanostructures existed in the thermoresponsive microgels formed in the initial stages of precipitation polymerization (Figure 1).

This result indicates that the aggregation of precipitated polymer chains in the nucleation process (the initial stages of the polymerization) is an important factor in determining the nanostructures of microgels.

With this study published in Langmuir, the research group succeeded in the direct visualization of the precipitation polymerization in real-time and obtained definitive evidence for understanding the formation mechanism of microgels during this polymerization (Video 1).

Nishizawa hopes to clarify what parameter is important for controlling the aggregation of polymer chain during precipitation polymerization, and ultimately, solve the mystery of the formation of uniformly sized microgels.

The study examined the gender and affiliations of 1051 top-authors, those scientists with the most publications in 13 leading ecology and conservation journals. The results show that women and the Global South are barely represented on this list. "The overall list of top authors included only 11% women, while 75% of the articles were related to just five countries in the Global North," says Bea Maas, lead author from the University of Vienna. "This massive imbalance in scientific authorship is extremely concerning, especially in the field of ecology and conservation, where diverse perspectives are needed to address global climate and environmental challenges," Maas emphasizes.

Analysed trends over different time periods showed that the proportion of top female authors increased from 3% to 18% between 1945 and 2019, while the Global South recently represented 25% of top publishing authors. "The current proportions of women and scientists from the Global South in the top authorship are still far from societal or academic distributions, and show a clear need to catch up in the promotion of scientific diversity" says Maas. "Hardly any authors from India, China and other densely populated regions of major importance for global conservation and sustainability appear in the list, while many other countries are not represented at all," Maas notes.

The lack of representation of women and the Global South affects not only top authorship in ecology, but also scientific leadership, according to the authors of the study. "In many areas of science, publication output and especially top authorship determine career development and the allocation of leadership positions," Maas explains.

The study highlights links between top authorship and scientific leadership and derives four specific recommendations to promote scientific diversity:

First, scientific journals and societies should make special efforts to promote diversity and inclusion in leadership recruitment. Second, the authors recommend evaluating the trajectory of a scientific career based on diverse competencies beyond publication outputs. Third and fourth, the authors of the study advocate for structural changes to promote parenting time and diversity among staff, collaborators and co-authors to promote and protect the integrity of scientific communities. Other recommendations directed specifically at scientific author and community level, serve, according to Maas "to improve scientific best practice, especially with respect to actively promoting diverse and global perspectives in ecology and conservation."

A technological and biological development that is unprecedented in Israel and the world has been achieved at Tel Aviv University. For the first time, the ear of a dead locust has been connected to a robot that receives the ear's electrical signals and responds accordingly. The result is extraordinary: When the researchers clap once, the locust's ear hears the sound and the robot moves forward; when the researchers clap twice, the robot moves backwards.

The interdisciplinary study was led by Idan Fishel, a joint master student under the joint supervision of Dr. Ben M. Maoz of the Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering and the Sagol School of Neuroscience, Prof. Yossi Yovel and Prof. Amir Ayali, experts from the School of Zoology and the Sagol School of Neuroscience together with -, Dr. Anton Sheinin, Idan, Yoni Amit, and Neta Shavil. The results of the study were published in the prestigious journal Sensors.

The researchers explain that at the beginning of the study, they sought to examine how the advantages of biological systems could be integrated into technological systems, and how the senses of dead locust could be used as sensors for a robot. "We chose the sense of hearing, because it can be easily compared to existing technologies, in contrast to the sense of smell, for example, where the challenge is much greater," says Dr. Maoz. "Our task was to replace the robot's electronic microphone with a dead insect's ear, use the ear's ability to detect the electrical signals from the environment, in this case vibrations in the air, and, using a special chip, convert the insect input to that of the robot."

To carry out this unique and unconventional task, the interdisciplinary team (Maoz, Yovel and Ayali) faced number of challenged. In the first stage the researchers built a robot capable of responding to signals it receives from the environment. Then, in a multidisciplinary collaboration, the researchers were able to isolate and characterize the dead locust ear and keep it alive, that is, functional, long enough to successfully connect it to the robot. In the final stage, the researchers succeeded in finding a way to pick up the signals received by the locust's ear in a way that could be used by the robot. At the end of the process, the robot was able to "hear" the sounds and respond accordingly.

"Prof. Ayali's laboratory has extensive experience working with locusts, and they have developed the skills to isolate and characterize the ear," explains Dr. Maoz. "Prof. Yovel's laboratory built the robot and developed code that enables the robot to respond to electrical auditory signals. And my laboratory has developed a special device - Ear-on-a-Chip - that allows the ear to be kept alive throughout the experiment by supplying oxygen and food to the organ, while allowing the electrical signals to be taken out of the locust's ear and amplified and transmitted to the robot.

"In general, biological systems have a huge advantage over technological systems - both in terms of sensitivity and in terms of energy consumption. This initiative of Tel Aviv University researchers opens the door to sensory integrations between robots and insects - and may make much more cumbersome and expensive developments in the field of robotics redundant.

"It should be understood that biological systems expend negligible energy compared to electronic systems. They are miniature, and therefore also extremely economical and efficient. For the sake of comparison, a laptop consumes about 100 watts per hour, while the human brain consumes about 20 watts a day. Nature is much more advanced than we are, so we should use it. The principle we have demonstrated can be used and applied to other senses, such as smell, sight and touch. For example, some animals have amazing abilities to detect explosives or drugs; the creation of a robot with a biological nose could help us preserve human life and identify criminals in a way that is not possible today. Some animals know how to detect diseases. Others can sense earthquakes. The sky is the limit."

Removal of pollutants from the air, or atmospheric deposition, is a natural cleaning mechanism. However, the removed toxic matters don't just disappear on the Earth. China's Soil Pollution Survey released in 2014 shows that 19.4% of the Chinese farmland soil was polluted and 82% of pollutant was toxic heavy metals such as cadmium, which can cause chronic health problems.

Atmospheric deposition is an important source of these heavy metals in the soil but it tends to be neglected. Unlike sources from irrigation water, sewage sludge, fertilizers and livestock manures, atmospheric deposition can't easily be perceived. And the paucity of measurements also makes it difficult to track what happens to heavy metals when they fall from the air to the soil.

Earlier in 2013, a series of control measures was launched to improve air quality in China. As a consequence, the concentrations of fine particles and sulfate aerosols were reduced significantly during 2013 to 2017.

Dr. Yuepeng Pan with the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences was a researcher dedicated to tracking atmospheric processing and deposition of air pollutants and their impacts on ecosystem. He was greatly encouraged by the positive effect of the Clean Air Act and meanwhile he wondered, "Will the Clean Air Act also affect the atmospheric deposition? If yes, what implication can we get?"

In a recent study published in Atmosphere, Dr. Pan and his group tracked the atmospheric depositions of heavy metals at an agricultural site of rural Beijing. They found that the deposition flux of heavy metals that exist entirely in fine particles declined significantly compared to those that exist in coarse particulate form, indicating that the Clean Air Act implemented in recent years were highly effective, with beneficial "side effect" in reducing ambient heavy metals from anthropogenic emissions.

Pan also noticed that while the bulk deposition flux of heavy metals declined substantially compared to the records ten years ago, the current deposition flux of lead is still higher than that reported in Europe. In addition, Pan and his team found that the annual bulk deposition flux of heavy metals tended to decrease during 2017-2020, coinciding with the annual variations of particulate matter. They attributed this decline to the fluctuations of the emissions from their major sources rather than to precipitation controlling the deposition processes.

"This beneficial side effect of Clear Air Act is totally unintended, but from this we can learn that to further reduce the airborne heavy metals in the North China Plain, future control measures should pay more attention to soil/dust, biomass burning, coal combustion and industrial emissions," Pan suggested, "because these sources contributed to ~90% of chemical components in atmospheric depositions. "

Earth's surface environments are highly oxygenated - from the atmosphere to the deepest reaches of the oceans, representing a hallmark of active photosynthetic biosphere. However, the fundamental timescale of the oxygen-rich atmosphere on Earth remains uncertain, particularly for the distant future. Solving this question has great ramifications not only for the future of Earth's biosphere but for the search for life on Earth-like planets beyond the solar system.

A new study published in Nature Geoscience this week tackles this problem using a numerical model of biogeochemistry and climate and reveals that the future lifespan of Earth's oxygen-rich atmosphere is approximately one billion years.

"For many years, the lifespan of Earth's biosphere has been discussed based on scientific knowledge about the steadily brightening of the sun and global carbonate-silicate geochemical cycle. One of the corollaries of such a theoretical framework is a continuous decline in atmospheric CO2 levels and global warming on geological timescales. Indeed, it is generally thought that Earth's biosphere will come to an end in the next 2 billion years due to the combination of overheating and CO2 scarcity for photosynthesis. If true, one can expect that atmospheric O2 levels will also eventually decreases in the distant future. However, it remains unclear exactly when and how this will occur," says Kazumi Ozaki, Assistant Professor at Toho University.

To examine how Earth's atmosphere will evolve in the future, Ozaki and Christopher Reinhard, Associate Professor at Georgia Institute of Technology, constructed an Earth system model which simulates climate and biogeochemical processes. Because modelling future Earth evolution intrinsically has uncertainties in geological and biological evolutions, a stochastic approach was adopted, enabling the researchers to obtain a probabilistic assessment of the lifespan of an oxygenated atmosphere. Ozaki ran the model more than 400 thousand times, varying model parameter, and found that Earth's oxygen-rich atmosphere will probably persist for another one billion years (1.08±0.14 (1σ) billion years) before rapid deoxygenation renders the atmosphere reminiscent of early Earth before the Great Oxidation Event around 2.5 billion years ago.

"The atmosphere after the great deoxygenation is characterized by an elevated methane, low-levels of CO2, and no ozone layer. The Earth system will probably be a world of anaerobic life forms," says Ozaki.

Earth's oxygen-rich atmosphere represents an important sign of life that can be remotely detectable. However, this study suggests that Earth's oxygenated atmosphere would not be a permanent feature, and that the oxygen-rich atmosphere might only be possible for 20-30% of the Earth's entire history as an inhabited planet. Oxygen (and photochemical byproduct, ozone) is most accepted biosignature for the search for life on the exoplanets, but if we can generalize this insight to Earth-like planets, then scientists need to consider additional biosignatures applicable to weakly-oxygenated and anoxic worlds in the search for life beyond our solar system.

In the group of Prof. Karl Leo, physicists, material scientists and engineers are working jointly on the development of novel organic materials and devices for high performance, flexible and possibly even biocompatible electronics and optoelectronics of the future. Increasing the performance of organic devices is one of the key challenges in their research. It was only last year, when the team headed by Dr. Hans Kleemann announced an important breakthrough with the development of efficient, printable vertical organic transistors.

Now Dr. Zhongbin Wu, Dr. Yuan Liu, and PhD student Erjuan Guo present the first electronic device that combines a vertical organic permeable base transistor (OPBT) and an OLED. With this novel device concept of an organic permeable base light-emitting transistor (OPB-LET), the researchers succeeded in combining the function of a highly efficient switching transistor and an organic light-emitting diode as commonly employed in active matrix displays. Active matrix liquid crystal displays (AMLCD) usually contain a matrix of thin-film transistors to drive LCD pixels. Each individual pixel has a circuit with active components (mostly transistors). In this context, organic light-emitting transistors, three-terminal devices combining a thin-film transistor with a light-emitting diode, have generated increasing interest. However, increasing their efficiency while keeping the operating voltage low remains a key challenge. "The key to construct the high performance OPB-LETs is the permeable base electrode located at the center of the device, forming a distinctive optical microcavity and regulating charge carrier injection and transport. The thus designed three-terminal vertical optoelectronic devices can simultaneously high efficiencies (up to 24.6%), high luminance (up to 12,513 cd m-2), and low driving voltages (

The performance of OPB-LETs demonstrated in this work is comparable to state-of-the-art OLEDs and cutting-edge, low-voltage organic transistors. Prof. Karl Leo explains: "We expect that this novel device principle will pave the way for highly-efficient flexible displays with a rather simple pixel design."

Active or voluntary learning is a major topic in education, psychology, and neuroscience. Over the years, numerous studies have shown that when learning occurs through voluntary action, there is a modulation of attention, motivation and cognitive control that makes the process much more effective. Consequently, memory is benefited. However, although the physiological processes underlying this reality had been identified in the brain of mice, their existence in our species had not been corroborated.

Now, an international group of researchers led by ICREA Research Professor Paul Verschure from the SPECS laboratory at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) and Professor Nikolai Axmacher from the Department of Neuropsychology at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (Germany), in collaboration with Pompeu Fabra University and Dr. Rodrigo Rocamora from Hospital del Mar, have identified for the first time in humans, the mechanism responsible for this phenomenon.

The key lies in the oscillations of theta waves generated by the hippocampus of the human brain, when it is the brain that has control of the learning process.

Memory and individual freedom

The work - to be published in the prestigious scientific journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America) in the week starting 1 March 2021 - is based on an experiment carried out with epilepsy patients. In a virtual reality game, participants navigated a square track, and were asked to recall images of objects presented at different locations on the track. Navigation could be active, whereby participants freely controlled their movements; or passive, if it was another subject who planned the route and, therefore, who decided the order of exposure to the images. In this second modality, therefore, the subjects did not exercise any control over how to memorize the dispersed objects in the virtual environment.

By studying the electrophysiological activity of the hippocampus and testing the recognition of the objects at the end of the experiment, the researchers were able to verify the importance of active learning in each of the participants. "In the subjects who had had the possibility to carry out active navigation, an increase in theta oscillations was identified that made learning and subsequent memory more efficient. But, in addition, what happened was that there were two consecutive phenomena, separated by milliseconds. One of them corresponded to the encoding of the information; the other, to the retrieval of previously stored information: the reactivation of memory", explains Dr. Daniel Pacheco, the first author of the study.

Indeed, the subjects who could freely navigate through the virtual environment promoted a theta phase code that favoured the fixation and retrieval of information, as was the case in previous studies carried out with rodents. These results therefore constitute a bridge between the experimental results in the animal model and the investigation of human memory.

Pedagogical and psychological implications

The practical applications of this discovery are wide-ranging and profound. "Identifying these two different moments in theta oscillations could facilitate concrete interventions. For example, we could manipulate the oscillation to modify traumatic memories or enhance memories that are lost due to amnesia or neurodegenerative diseases", continues Dr. Pacheco. In addition, it has great relevance in the educational field, since it empirically confirms that elements such as motivation, cognitive control and the ability to decide for oneself are key to effective learning.

"The significance of this discovery is enormous," says Paul F. M. J. Verschure, ICREA Research Professor and SPECS Group Leader at IBEC, another of the study's authors. "We have managed to get to this point after more than 20 years of research and the results obtained are clear. The fact that willpower is key to the integration of information in memory gives us arguments to say that, if we turn people into passive subjects, if they are coerced, their learning will be worse."

The first observations of a space hurricane have been revealed in Earth's upper atmosphere, confirming their existence and shedding new light on the relationship between planets and space.

Hurricanes in the Earth's low atmosphere are known, but they had never before been detected in the upper atmosphere.

An international team of scientists led by Shandong University in China analysed observations made by satellites in 2014 to reveal a long-lasting hurricane, resembling those in the lower atmosphere, in the polar ionosphere and magnetosphere with surprisingly large energy and momentum deposition despite otherwise extremely quiet geomagnetic conditions.

The analysis allowed a 3D image to be created of the 1,000km-wide swirling mass of plasma several hundred kilometres above the North Pole, raining electrons instead of water.

Professor Qing-He Zhang, lead author of the research at Shandong University, said: "These features also indicate that the space hurricane leads to large and rapid deposition of energy and flux into the polar ionosphere during an otherwise extremely quiet geomagnetic condition, suggesting that current geomagnetic activity indicators do not properly represent the dramatic activity within space hurricanes, which are located further poleward than geomagnetic index observatories."

Professor Mike Lockwood, space scientist at the University of Reading, said: "Until now, it was uncertain that space plasma hurricanes even existed, so to prove this with such a striking observation is incredible".

"Tropical storms are associated with huge amounts of energy, and these space hurricanes must be created by unusually large and rapid transfer of solar wind energy and charged particles into the Earth's upper atmosphere.

"Plasma and magnetic fields in the atmosphere of planets exist throughout the universe, so the findings suggest space hurricanes should be a widespread phenomena."

Hurricanes often cause loss of life and property through high winds and flooding resulting from the coastal storm surge of the ocean and the torrential rains. They are characterised by a low-pressure centre (hurricane eye), strong winds and flow shears, and a spiral arrangement of towering clouds with heavy rains.

In space, astronomers have spotted hurricanes on Mars, and Saturn, and Jupiter, which are similar to terrestrial hurricanes in the low atmosphere. There are also solar gases swirling in monstrous formations deep within the sun's atmosphere, called solar tornadoes. However, hurricanes had not been reported in the upper atmosphere of the planets in our heliosphere.

The space hurricane analysed by the team in Earth's ionosphere was spinning in an anticlockwise direction, had multiple spiral arms, and lasted almost eight hours before gradually breaking down.

The team of scientists from China, the USA, Norway and the UK used observations made by four DMSP (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) satellites and a 3D magnetosphere modelling to produce the image. Their findings were published in Nature Communications.

Professor Zhang added: "This study suggests that there are still existing local intense geomagnetic disturbance and energy depositions which is comparable to that during super storms. This will update our understanding of the solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling process under extremely quiet geomagnetic conditions.

"In additional, the space hurricane will lead to important space weather effects like increased satellite drag, disturbances in High Frequency (HF) radio communications, and increased errors in over-the-horizon radar location, satellite navigation and communication systems."

New energy tariffs could leave people on bad deals even worse off despite the potential benefits for everyone, research has found.

The study, led by the University of Leeds, found new types of energy contracts designed for a low carbon future could benefit all types of customer, with opportunities to sell excess energy from solar panels or incentives for using energy at off-peak times.

However, many people were unlikely to choose them because they were disengaged from the energy market, didn't trust energy companies, or already feel satisfied with their current tariffs. Those likely to adopt them first are younger, with higher incomes and higher education.

Energy companies are already starting to offer these contracts, but there has been little understanding of how much consumer demand there is for these new models, and how consumers may be affected by them.

The study, carried out by a team that included researchers from UCL and University of Waikato, New Zealand, shows consumers who already trust the energy market, with higher incomes and positive attitudes towards technology, are likely to do well out of contracts that help energy system decarbonisation.

However, consumers in lower-income and lower education groups may be too cautious to gain the benefits of early adoption, be too disinterested in switching supplier, or find the market too untrustworthy to engage with. This could lead to them defaulting to more expensive, less tailored, or even more risky contracts.

Principal investigator Dr Stephen Hall, from Leeds' School of Earth and Environment, said: "These new energy contracts are really important for low-carbon energy systems, and are already appearing on price comparison sites.

"Our work shows only some consumers find these new types of energy supply attractive, and others cannot access them because they rent their home or might not be able to afford cutting edge technologies like electric cars and home batteries. This means some consumers could get left behind because they cannot or will not engage with new tariffs.

"The energy market tends to preference affluent and active consumers, while often exploiting inactive consumers who are usually in lower-income groups.

"The findings of this research suggests that gap is likely to widen without intervention because smarter and more flexible tariffs worsen the divide between who benefits from the market, and who loses out."

Researchers set out to explore how likely customers were to choose new types of energy contracts when presented with a range of offers.

Some 2,024 customers were presented with five new business models and asked and asked a series of questions about them, including their likelihood to sign up to them if they were available today.

The models included options such as longer 10-year contracts with energy efficiency measures, allowing for utilities to control some energy services in the home, making the switching decision automatic, and trading their own excess green electricity.

From the responses they identified four consumer segments based on how engaged they were with their current electricity and gas suppliers, their appetite for choosing new business models and their reasons for wanting certain types of products. The segment with the highest appetite for new models was also the smallest, suggesting that they may have a limited consumer base to expand into.

This group was made up of people who had the highest income, tended to be younger and keen on adopting new technologies, they also had the highest level of education.

The other three segments were less likely to choose new business models because they were cautious in their adoption of new technology, didn't think the new tariffs would offer a better deal, had significant trust issues in the market, or were too disengaged to switch supplier regularly.

The report, Matching consumer segments to innovative utility business models, is published in Nature Energy.

The findings suggest there is potential for further innovation in the energy market, but at the same time, the customer base may be more limited than is generally expected.

There is also the risk of a further loss of trust in the energy market as tariffs become more complex and winners and losers more obvious.

Professor Jillian Anable, who led the statistical analysis, said: "Our analysis has revealed a rich set of segments which shows that there is no average domestic energy consumer.

"Energy companies are going to have to work hard to tailor their products and their marketing in ways that cut through the disengagement, complexity and mistrust experienced by people with respect to their home energy consumption."

Dr Hall said: "Our research shows there is some demand for innovative energy contracts, but there is a disconnect between the groups that find them attractive and their ability to sign up to them. Energy companies should target them directly and give them the means to act on their preferences.

"As the market diversifies and contracts become more complex, consumers may decide to stick with what they know, introducing more complex consumer risks. The challenge for regulatory institutions is to recognise these risks and evolve the regulatory model of the retail market."

Advances in wearable devices have enabled e-textiles, which fuse lightweight and comfortable textiles with smart electronics, and are garnering attention as the next-generation wearable technology. In particular, fiber electronic devices endowed with electrical properties, while retaining the specific characteristics of textiles, are key elements in manufacturing e-textiles.

Optoelectronic devices are generally constructed using layers of semiconductors, electrodes, and insulators; their performance is greatly affected by the size and structure of the electrodes. Fiber electronic components for e-textiles need to be fabricated on thin, pliable threads; since these devices cannot be wider than threads having diameter of a few micrometers, it is a challenge to improve the performances of such fiber electronic components. However, a team of Korean scientists has been receiving attention after developing a new technology to overcome these limitations.

A team of researchers, led by Dr. Hyunjung Yi and Dr. Jung Ah Lim, at the Post-silicon Semiconductor Institute of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) announced that they have developed a technique to manufacture fiber electronic components, such as transistors and photodiodes, with desired electrode structures by wrapping. Specifically, the desired electrode array can be fabricated using an inkjet printer, and an electrode thread coated with a semiconductor surface is rolled on top of these electrodes.

In 2019, Dr. Yi and her research team developed a technique to build an electrode array on a given surface by printing carbon nanotube (CNT) ink on a template made of a hydrophilic hydrogel and transferring the CNT ink to the desired surface (Nano Letters 2019, 19, 3684-3691). Once printed on the hydrogel, the CNT electrodes behave in a manner similar to floating on water. Hence, the researchers predicted the possibility of transferring such electrodes intact to the surfaces of fibers by rolling the fibers on the electrodes. In a collaborative study with Dr. Lim and her team, the researchers were able to develop high-performance fiber electronic components without damaging the semiconductor layer or CNT electrodes. The fiber transistors wrapped with CNT electrodes maintained stable performances of at least 80% even with a sharp bend radius of 1.75 mm.

Using the semitransparent property of the CNT electrode, the researchers have also succeeded in developing fiber photodiodes to detect light by wrapping the CNT electrodes around electrode threads coated with a semiconductor that produces current upon absorption of light. The fiber photodiodes can detect a wide range of visible light and have excellent sensitivities that are comparable to those of rigid components. The researchers manufactured a glove from a fabric containing these photodiodes and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The LEDs produce light, and the photodiodes measure the intensity of the light reflected by the fingers, which changes according to blood flow. Thus, the glove can be used to measure the wearer's pulse.

Dr. Lim stated that "The finger glove pulse monitor developed by us could offer an alternative to conventional clip-type pulse monitoring device. It has the advantages of being more approachable for patients because of its comfortable and soft texture and of being able to measure the pulse in real time in any time and place." Dr. Yi, the co-investigator, stated that "This research provides a new approach to electrode fabrication, which remains an important problem to solve in the development of fiber devices. We expect that these findings would advance the field from improving the performances of fiber optoelectronic components to development of fiber electronic devices with complex circuits."

TAMPA, Fla. - Advanced melanoma is one of the deadliest types of cancer, with a 5-year survival rate of only 27% for patients with distant metastases. Recent advances in targeted therapies and immunotherapies have greatly improved patient prognosis; however, many patients eventually develop resistance and disease recurrence. Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center are investigating how to combine and sequence new therapies to improve survival. In a new article published in Cancer Immunology Research, the Moffitt team shows that sequential administration of immunotherapy followed by targeted therapy prolongs anti-tumor responses in preclinical models and may be a potential treatment option for patients.

One of the most common genetic alterations in melanoma are mutations of the BRAF gene, which affect approximately 50% of patients. These alterations result in downstream signaling through the protein MEK and stimulation of cell growth, invasion, and survival. Several therapies that target both BRAF or MEK have been developed and approved, and standard treatment for patients who have BRAF mutations is now combination therapy with BRAF and MEK inhibitors. Additionally, approximately 20% of melanomas have activating mutations in the NRAS gene, and there are no effective targeted therapies for this group of patients.

Immunotherapies have greatly improved patient outcomes by activating the immune system to target cancer cells, such as agents that target the proteins PD-1, PD-L1 and CTLA-4.

Given the success of both BRAF/MEK inhibitors and immunotherapies, researchers have attempted to combine these two classes of anti-cancer therapies. However, according to Keiran Smalley, Ph.D., director of Moffitt's Donald. A. Adam Melanoma and Skin Cancer Center of Excellence, "Initial attempts to develop targeted therapy/immunotherapy combinations clinically were not successful due to severe toxicity." Because of these toxicities, the Moffitt research team wanted to determine whether using a sequential treatment approach rather than a simultaneous combination approach would lead to durable anti-tumor activity in BRAF and NRAS-mutated melanoma.

Researchers analyzed sequential combinations of immunotherapy followed by either BRAF/MEK targeted therapy or another targeted therapy combination (ceritinib/trametinib) and vice versa in preclinical mouse models. They discovered that immunotherapy followed by targeted therapy was more effective than either treatment approach alone. And while using targeted therapy followed by immunotherapy was better than targeted therapy alone, it was not as effective as the immunotherapy-targeted therapy sequence.

To determine why the immunotherapy-targeted therapy approach was effective, they performed laboratory experiments. They discovered the immunotherapy-targeted therapy sequence modulated the environment to promote immune cell functions resulting in anti-tumor activity while simultaneously blocking activity that permitted tumor cell escape from immune detection. The researchers also showed that the immunotherapy-targeted therapy sequence enriched the melanoma cells for proteins that promoted immune cell detection and suppressed signaling pathways associated with drug resistance.

The results from these studies suggest that sequential treatment approaches with anti-PD-1 agents followed by targeted therapy may be clinically beneficial, and several ongoing trials are currently investigating this hypothesis. "Together our data demonstrates that sustained anti-tumor responses to targeted therapy are dependent upon a vigorous, sustained immune response and that upfront use of immunotherapy can augment this," said Smalley.

A foundational study conducted by scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) shows for the first time that white-rot fungi are able to use carbon captured from lignin as a carbon source.

The research confirms a hypothesis from Davinia Salvachúa Rodriguez, the senior author of a newly published paper. Until now, scientists were unsure whether white-rot fungi--the most efficient lignin-degrading organisms in nature--actually consume the products generated from breaking down lignin.

"What we have demonstrated here is that white-rot fungi can actually utilize lignin-derived aromatic compounds as a carbon source, which means they can eat them and utilize them to grow," Salvachúa said. "That is another strategy for carbon sequestration in nature and has not been reported before."

The paper, "Intracellular pathways for lignin catabolism in white-rot fungi," appears in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Her co-authors from NREL are Carlos del Cerro, Erika Erickson, Tao Dong, Kelsey Ramirez, Venkataramanan Subramanian, Rui Katahira, Jeffrey Linger, Wei Xiong, and Michael Himmel. Other co-authors are from the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the Joint Genome Institute at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Salvachúa, a research scientist in NREL's Renewable Resources and Enabling Sciences Center, has spent more than a decade studying white-rot fungi. Last year, the Department of Energy's Office of Science awarded her a prestigious $2.5 million grant as part of the Early Career Research Program to further her work.

White-rot fungi evolved to degrade lignin, which Salvachúa calls "the most recalcitrant biopolymer on Earth." Lignin helps make the plant's cell walls more rigid. Other parts of the plant, such as cellulose, are also recalcitrant but can be fully depolymerized to single monomeric species for use as a biofuel and biochemical precursors, for example. But the intractability of lignin and the lack of an efficient method to deconstruct and convert lignin to monomeric compounds hampers the viability of plant-based biorefineries.

Salvachúa's work forms the foundation of a new research area based on lignin being broken down by white-rot fungi, which could be further exploited to simultaneously convert the biopolymer into value-added compounds.

The researchers examined two species of white-rot fungi: Trametes versicolor and Gelatoporia subvermispora. Through the use of genomic analysis, isotopic labeling, and systems biology approaches, the researchers determined the ability of these organisms to incorporate carbon from lignin-derived aromatic compounds into central metabolism and were able to map out the potential aromatic catabolic pathways for that conversion process. Further, in vitro enzyme analyses enable validation of some of the proposed steps. The researchers also highlight that this work is just the beginning of a broad area towards discovering new enzymes and pathways and better understanding carbon flux in these organisms.

Lignin accounts for about 30% of the organic carbon in the biosphere. Concerns about the changing climate have sparked a growing interest in the issue of carbon cycling, in which carbon is absorbed by natural reservoirs--such as plants--from the atmosphere and later decomposed and returned to the atmosphere or other natural reservoirs. Because more carbon is stored in the soil than in the atmosphere or plants, white-rot fungi are now positioned as key players in the sequestration of lignin-derived carbon in soils.

Scientists have demonstrated the ability of some bacterial strains to break down lignin as well, but not as effectively as white-rot fungi. Salvachúa said bacteria are easier to work with than fungi because they grow more quickly, and many are genetically tractable, contrary to white-rot fungi. "With fungi, one experiment can be up to two months," she said. "We try to be very careful when we plan an experiment because that's a long time. That's six experiments a year if you need results to move forward. With bacteria, you can do one per week."

Inherited retinal dystrophy is a common cause of blindness, with as many as two million people suffering from the disorder globally. No effective treatment is available for retinal dystrophies. Gene therapy is expected to offer a solution, but developing such therapies is possible only when the genetic cause of the disease is known. Related mutations have been identified in more than 70 genes so far, but the genetic background of the disease remains unknown in as many as half of the patients.

"Retinal dystrophy has been described in over 100 dog breeds, with related investigations helping to identify new genes associated and pathogenic mechanisms with blindness across different breeds. IFT122 is a good example, offering a potential explanation for unsolved human cases as well," Professor Hannes Lohi states.

Data encompassing more than a thousand Lapponian Herders and Finnish Lapphunds from a canine DNA bank were utilised in the study. Previously, several retinal dystrophy genes have been described in both breeds.

"Among other finds, two eye disease genes have previously been identified in Lapponian Herders, but they have not accounted for all cases. In some dogs, the disease is caused by the IFT122 gene. The finding is significant since gene tests can now distinguish between retinal dystrophies associated with different genes in breeds, which makes a difference in monitoring disease progression, making prognoses, and developing novel treatments. Diagnostics are getting better and making the job of veterinarians easier," explains Maria Kaukonen, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine.

The gene discovery also facilitates the understanding of retinal biology. IFT122 is part of a protein complex linked with ciliary function in the retina.

"The age of onset varies, and the disease progresses slowly in some dogs. IFT122 is known to contribute to the transport of opsin in photoreceptor cells. The gene variant disturbs this transport and results in progressive blinding. Since IFT122 is associated with cilia's function, which is important to the body, we studied some of the dogs even more closely with regard to other issues potentially linked with cilia-related disturbances, such as renal abnormalities or serious developmental disorders of the internal organs. We found that the damage seems to be limited to the retina alone. This information helps us understand the gene's mechanisms of action," Kaukonen adds.

The findings are also significant for further plans to remove the disease from different breeds. In the Lapponian Herders and Finnish Lapphunds, the share of individuals carrying the gene variant was 28% and 12%, respectively.

"This is a recessively inherited disease, which means that a dog that will become blind inherits the variant from both parents, who are both carriers of the variant. Gene testing can help avoid carrier-carrier combinations, easily preventing the birth of sick dogs. A new concrete tool has been developed based on the study for the benefit of breeders," says Lohi.

The new study is part of a broader research project on the genetic background of inherited diseases by Professor Lohi's research group. Kaukonen recently transferred to a research group active at the University of Oxford, focusing on developing gene therapies for retinal dystrophy. At the same time, Kaukonen and Lohi are continuing close collaboration to survey a range of eye diseases together with the Helsinki University Hospital and other operators.

"There are a lot more gene findings associated with eye diseases on the way in canine research. We are only just getting started. Among other things, we are currently investigating the genetic background of glaucoma as well as corneal and retinal dystrophia in roughly 30 breeds. The preliminary results are promising," says Lohi.