Scientists create a floss pick that samples cortisol within saliva as a marker of stress and quantifies it with a built-in electrode. The system uses a polymer casting technology that can be adapted to capture a wide a range of markers, such as estrogen for tracking fertility, or glucose for tracking diabetes. Ease of use allows monitoring to be incorporated into many areas of treatment

Rutgers University-New Brunswick researchers have discovered a new class of materials – called intercrystals – with unique electronic properties that could power future technologies. Intercrystals exhibit newly discovered forms of electronic properties that could pave the way for advancements in more efficient electronic components, quantum computing and environmentally friendly materials, the scientists said. The research is described in a report in the journal Nature Materials.

The smallest grooves on the brain's surface, unique to humans, have largely been ignored by anatomists, but recent studies show that they're related to cognitive performance, including face recognition and reasoning ability. A new UC Berkeley study shows that the depths of these tertiary sulci are also linked to increased interconnectedness between areas of the brain associated with reasoning and high-level cognitive functions. The sulci may decrease the length of neural connections, improving communication efficiency.