Articles Archives

Thought Leaders

The HIBAR Research Alliance: Reinvigorating research for the 21st century

How can the research ecosystem be improved so that it better contributes to solving the critical problems facing society today? That’s the motivating question behind an alliance of universities and other research organisations which believes that an answer lies in carrying out more Highly Integrative Basic And Responsive (HIBAR) research projects – efforts that are both basic and use-inspired, and […]

Health & Medicine

Increasing the efficacy of monoclonal antibodies

The advent of monoclonal antibody (mAb) technology has allowed the production of antibodies that can target specific antigens on malignant tumour cells or other inflammatory molecules that are known to exacerbate diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis or Crohn’s disease. Dr Martina Zimmermann, Dr Aline Zimmer, and their team from Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, added 5-Thio-L-Fucose (ThioFuc) to the cell culture […]

Health & Medicine

Poor appetite in dogs: A potentially common symptom of gall bladder disease

Poor appetite is common in dogs, but it’s often dismissed if there are no other symptoms. Dr A D Viljoen, from Vets4Pets Torquay, believes this may be a sign that can help to identify dogs with early stages of gall bladder disease and should be investigated further. Some of these dogs appear to benefit clinically from having their gall bladder […]

Education & Training

Play like a team in Teams: How students engage with online social learning

As the global pandemic increasingly keeps students away from classrooms, school and university-level teaching has had to adapt to online environments. It is now more important than ever that we understand how students can engage with each other in the online learning process. Associate Professor Sarah Prestridge from Griffith University, Australia, studied how students interact with their peers and online […]

Physical Sciences

Polarized fuel: A new option for sustained nuclear fusion

The journey towards sustained nuclear fusion may seem never-ending, but some physicists believe a promising step forward could come in the form of ‘polarized fuel’. In his research, Dr Ralf Engels at the Research Centre Jülich / GSI Darmstadt, Germany, together with colleagues at the Polarization Research for Fusion Experiments and Reactors (PREFER) collaboration, has identified three key challenges faced […]

Physical Sciences

Combating corrosion in geothermal wells

Geothermal energy holds the potential to harvest vast amounts of energy from within the Earth’s crust. So far, however, exploitation of geothermal energy can be limited by corrosion – which damages the metal pipes required to carry high-temperature steam generated deep underground. In a new experiment, Andri Thorhallsson and Sigrun Karlsdottir at the University of Iceland show how the problem […]

Health & Medicine

Could a serpin antibody help to treat type 1 diabetes?

Research from Dr Jan Czyzyk and his team at the University of Minnesota, USA, explores the balance between proteases and serpins, and how their activity can in turn affect the inflammation and tissue regeneration of pancreatic islet cells. Their findings show that antibodies can be used to change this serpin–protease balance, with interesting impacts. Excitingly, their research opens the possibility […]

Physical Sciences

Theory and Experience: Assessing the methodology of physics

The relationship between theories and experiments is a central concept in physics, providing a robust basis for the sum of our knowledge of how the universe works. Yet despite its immense importance, there are still several key aspects of the relationship which physicists can’t agree upon – leading to deep-rooted disputes within the wider research community. In his essay, Theory […]

Engineering & Technology

Creating value in the age of digital transformation

The digital revolution has led to more businesses undertaking their own digital entrepreneurship by utilising digital operations, offering new digital products, and generating more profound digital insights. Professors Jahangir Karimi and Zhiping Walter at the University of Colorado Denver, USA, have studied the role of entrepreneurial agility in digital entrepreneurship in the newspaper industry, with a focus on creating business […]

Earth & Environment

Dousing the flames: A model approach to fire management

Fire management is complex, and strategies that work in one geographic area are unlikely to work in another owing to the unique geographical, ecological, and socioeconomic conditions. Professor Trent Penman at the University of Melbourne, Australia, is using Bayesian decision networks to model cost-effective wildfire management options (ie, types of prescribed burning). The model shows that no single cost-effective solution […]