Chemists in Nebraska are developing a new synthetic skin that could be used for next generation soft machines, robots and other devices. Like the skin of cephalopods such as squid, octopus and cuttlefish, the skin would have the ability to change color in response to changes in the environment. As an autonomous materials, the skin would have the ability to interact, sense and react with the environment without user input.  It could be used for environmental sensors and informational displays, perhaps replacing existing display technologies that  are electrically powered and require rigid, inflexible componenets like computer screens. 

The University of Cincinnati will play host to a workshop on the future direction of high-energy physics research. The fifth periodic New Physics Opportunities at Neutrino Facilities workshop runs Wednesday through Friday at UC's Clifton Court Hall.

Physicists at the University of Liège (Belgium) have succeeded in sculpting the surface of water by exploiting surface tension. Using 3D printing of closely spaced spines, they have combined menisci to create programmed liquid reliefs, capable of guiding particles under the action of gravity alone. This is a promising advance for microscopic transport and sorting, as well as marine pollution control.

Insilico Medicine, a clinical-stage biotechnology company driven by generative artificial intelligence (AI), today announces the development of novel pan-KRAS inhibitors of new chemotypes through structure-based drug design, scaffold hopping combined with intense molecular modeling, empowered by the generative chemistry methods of Chemistry42, Insilico’s proprietary generative chemistry platform. Developed in the joint efforts of artificial intelligence and human expertise, the candidate compounds demonstrated pan-KRAS inhibition with potency in the upper nanomolar range. The results have been recently published on ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters.

Professor Marco Durante, Head of the Biophysics Department at GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung and Professor at the Department of Physics at TU Darmstadt, Institute of Condensed Matter Physics, has been granted a prestigious European Union research funding award for established scientists: The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded him the renowned Advanced Grant. The biophysicist will be able to use the millions in funding to realize an ambitious research project to improve tumor therapy. As lead scientist and together with his team he will conduct research into even more effective treatments for cancer and investigate a promising radiotherapy method that uses ultra-short pulses of heavy ion beams with ultra-high dose rates.