Laboratories across the globe are making use of smart technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI)—in line with the ‘Industry 4.0’ concept—due to its numerous advantages as well as to keep up with today’s changing and demanding market requirements. One of the most crucial aspects of the AI technology for laboratories is its ability to analyze large sets of data and also recommend the best possible solutions for developing innovative and at times revolutionary products.

Scientists at Inserm, CNRS and the Université de Montpellier at the Structural Biology Center in Montpellier, France have built a small robot entirely from DNA and are using it to study cell processes that are invisible to the naked eye.

So far, lignin was only a waste material of the paper industry. A team at the University of Delaware succeeded in turning industrially processed lignin into high-performance plastics, such as bio-based 3D-printing resins, and valuable chemicals.

Researchers at MIT have developed a rechargeable lithium-ion battery in the form of an ultra-long fiber that could be woven into fabrics. The battery could enable a wide variety of wearable electronic devices, and might even be used to make 3D-printed batteries in virtually any shape.

3D-printed and packed with a "toolbox" for wound healing: a novel gel patch is supposed to help close chronic wounds faster. The special feature: The patch can be "switched on" and controlled specifically by light, making personalised treatment possible.

A team of UCLA engineers and their colleagues have developed a new design strategy and 3D printing technique to build robots in one single step. A study that outlined the advance, along with the construction and demonstration of an assortment of tiny robots that walk, maneuver and jump, was published in Science.

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed an upcycling approach that adds value to discarded plastics for reuse in additive manufacturing, or 3D printing.

Rapid developments at all levels of microscopy, such as contrast, illumination, resolution, signal detection and data processing have occurred over the last decades and there is reason to expect that these advances will continue. However, severe limitations in accuracy, reproducibility and throughput are caused by the involvement of humans in all steps of the imaging workflow. It also poses a significant burden and workload for the researcher. To improve this situation is the biggest challenge in automation.

Researchers have developed a biocompatible material that can be 3D-printed into any shape and pre-programmed with reversible shape memory. The research could help the broader effort of reducing waste in the fashion industry, one of the biggest polluters on the planet.

Custom-fabricated lenses make it easy to attach high-tech microscopes directly to cell incubators.