Emerging Technologies News #3

1. Stackable artificial leaf uses less power than lightbulb to capture 100 times more carbon

Engineers at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) have built a cost-effective artificial leaf that can capture carbon dioxide at rates 100 times better than current systems. Unlike other carbon capture systems, which work in labs with pure carbon dioxide from pressurized tanks, this artificial leaf works in the real world.

2. An ultrasensitive bioelectronic tongue measures sweetness by mimicking human taste buds.

By creating an electronic version of taste buds, researchers have developed a bioelectronic tongue that can detect low levels of sweet substances in complex mixtures.

3. Achieving a milestone, scientists regrow frog’s lost leg

Frogs briefly treated with a five-drug cocktail administered by a wearable bioreactor were able to regrow a functional, nearly complete limb.

4. AI can identify heart disease from an eye scan

Scientists have developed an artificial intelligence system that can analyse eye scans taken during a routine visit to an optician or eye clinic and identify patients at a high risk of a heart attack.

5. Twist - MIT's new programming language for quantum computing

MIT has developed Twist, a Quantum programming language that can describe and verify which pieces of data are entangled to prevent bugs in a quantum program.

6. Landing therapeutic genes safely in the human genome

Researchers at Harvard and the ETH Zurich predict and validate genomic safe harbors for therapeutic genes, enabling safer, more efficient and predictable gene and cell therapies.

7. Scientists find audio from graphene production contains valuable data

Two brothers in a Rice University laboratory heard something unusual while making graphene. Ultimately, they determined the sound itself could give them valuable data about the product. They published a paper that describes the real-time analysis of laser-induced graphene (LIG) production through sound.

8. Decarbonisation tech instantly converts CO2 to solid carbon

Australian researchers have developed a smart and super-efficient new way of capturing carbon dioxide and converting it to solid carbon, to help advance the decarbonisation of heavy industries. The carbon dioxide utilisation technology from RMIT researchers is designed to be smoothly integrated into existing industrial processes.

9. Low-pressure method to convert industrially processed biomass into plastics, chemicals

University of Delaware researchers and collaborators from CanmetENERGY have demonstrated that it is possible to efficiently turn industrially processed lignin into high-performance plastics, such as bio-based 3D-printing resins, and valuable chemicals. An economic and life-cycle analysis reveals the approach can be competitive with similar petroleum-based products, too.