Researchers have demonstrated new wearable technologies that both generate electricity from human movement and improve the comfort of the technology for the people wearing them. The work stems from an advanced understanding of materials that increase comfort in textiles and produce electricity when they rub against another surface.

New proteins not found in nature have now been designed to counteract certain highly poisonous components of snake venom. The deep learning, computational methods for developing these toxin-neutralizing proteins offer hope for creating safer, more cost-effective and more readily available therapeutics than those currently in use.  Each year more than 2 million people suffer snakebites. More than 100,000 die, and 300,000 suffer disabling complications. Snakebites pose a significant public health concern in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, Papua New Guinea, and Latin America. Treatments for bites from elapid snakes currently depend on immunizing animals againt the venom and recovering antibodies. Computationally designed antivenom proteins could offer such advantages as simpler manufacturing requirements and the ability to more quickly counteract toxins and reduce damage. 

Scientists have developed a tool to narrow down potential host species of filoviruses like Ebola and better prioritize wildlife surveillance.

A study by researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities offers new insights into how alternating corn and soybean crops can help increase crop yield in a changing climate.

New research from the University of Chicago revealed that the nervous system circuitry that controls arm movement in octopuses is segmented, giving these extraordinary creatures precise control across all eight arms and hundreds of suckers to explore their environment, grasp objects, and capture prey.

Florida State University researchers are part of the first global study on glacial organic carbon and have found that just like the snowflakes that form them, no two glaciers are identical.

Rice researchers have published a study describing how quasiparticles called polarons behave in tellurene, a nanomaterial first synthesized in 2017 that is made up of tiny chains of tellurium atoms and has properties useful in sensing, electronic, optical and energy devices.

Tiffany Earley-Spadoni, an associate professor of history at UCF, and a team of researchers made the new discoveries during field work at the Bronze Age site of Kurd Qaburstan. The research provides insights into regional heritage and fills gaps in knowledge about how ancient humans lived and advanced.

Chenbing Deng, a researcher at the University of Oklahoma, has received funding from the National Science Foundation to monitor farm ponds across Oklahoma to improve understanding of how small bodies of water respond to human- and climate-based changes.

The new models could give antibiotics a laser-like precision to target only specific bacteria in specific parts of the body. This would represent a major step forward in the battle against the growing problem of antibiotic resistance.