Biomaterials

Nerve Coolers: Pain Relief Without Drugs

IEEE Spectrum: Soft, miniature implantable cooling devices designed to wrap around nerves can help relieve pain on demand without drugs, a new study finds. Although the researchers do not envision their invention completely replacing painkilling drugs, they suggest it could offer…

Soft ‘NeuroString’ could probe brain and gut

Futurity: A new invention called “NeuroString” is a soft implantable probe that lets researchers study the chemistry of brain and gut health. “The mainstream way people are trying to understand the brain is to read and record electric signals,” says…

Holes help shed light on novel medical devices

Materials Today: Holes help to make sponges and English muffins useful (and in the case of the latter, delicious). Without holes, sponges wouldn’t be flexible enough to bend into small crevices, and muffins wouldn’t be able to sop up the perfect…

Plastic-eating worms offer solution to waste crisis

E&T Magazine: University of Queensland researchers discovered the common Zophobas morio ‘superworm’ can eat through polystyrene, thanks to a bacterial enzyme in their gut. They fed superworms different diets over a three-week period, with some given polystyrene foam, some bran and…