Biobatteries harness energy from biological chemical reactions. An example of this is microbial fuel cells (MFCs), which use microbe like bacteria that can transfer electrons through their cell membranes. Researchers hope to make biobatteries powered by bacteria from the human microbiome, like the gut bacteria listeria monocytogenes, for implantable, ingestible, and wearable medical devices to make them safer than current MFCs that use bacteria from inhospitable environments. Read full article here
Science
‘Ghostly’ neutrinos provide new path to study protons
In groundbreaking research, an international collaboration of scientists from the University of Rochester have used a beam of neutrinos to measure the size and shape of the protons that make up the nuclei of atoms. This feat, once thought impossible, provides scientists with a new way of looking at the small components of an atom’s nucleus and opens up a wealth of new information about the structure of an atom’s nucleus and the dynamics of the forces that affect neutrino interactions. The researchers solved the challenge of harnessing neutrinos in large numbers by using a neutrino detector containing a target of both hydrogen and carbon atoms, and over nine years of data collection at Fermilab’s accelerator. Read full article here