Blocking viruses from replicating their RNA is one way antivirals work. CROCOTHERY/iStock via Getty Images PlusAntiviral drugs are generally considered to be a 20th century invention. But recent research has uncovered an unexpected facet to your immune system: It can synthesize its own antiviral molecules in response to viral infections. My laboratory studies a protein that makes these natural antiviral molecules. Far from a modern human invention, nature evolved cells to make their own “drugs”
This article discusses the growing importance of semiconductor nanowires in energy applications and the feasibility of using them in flexible energy storage devices, specifically in flexible supercapacitors (SCs).
A recent paper published in Nature Energy detailed the use of a guest-assisted assembly strategy to offer a unique approach to creating high-efficiency and large-area OSCs processed from green solvents.
Science Fiction & Fantasy
A Conversation with Octavia Cade by Arley Sorg
New Zealand author Octavia Cade had always planned to be a scientist when she grew up. “But as much as I love science, scientific writing sucked all my enthusiasm out. It’s the worst. It’s boring and inaccessible and scientists have no right to whine about people misunderstanding science when they have done everything they can to keep them from it.” Cade studied botany as an undergrad, and “became fascinated with algae and the intertidal zone.” She earned her master’s in biology, looking at reproductive strategies of a native seagrass, and her PhD in science communication at the University of Otago, “the biggest scicomm center in the world . . . and it’s a fantastic place to study.”