A protective layer of epoxy resin helps prevent the leakage of pollutants from perovskite solar cells (PSCs), report scientists from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (Oist). Adding a “self-healing” polymer to the top of a PSC can radically reduce how much lead it discharges into the environment. This gives a strong boost to prospects for commercializing the technology.

The UK has become the first country in the world to approve a Covid-19 vaccine in order to combat the global pandemic. The first doses of the vaccine developed by Pfizer-Biontech will be available to the UK immediately.

By studying the genomes of hundreds of thousands of people, scientists from Unige, HUG and the University of Utrecht discovered the genetic basis of intracranial aneurysms.

Scientists made use of machine learning and artificial intelligence to identify molecular signatures in the immune component of the blood which can reveal how patients with sepsis and systemic inflammatory response syndrome are likely to respond to the conditions.

The Oxford University has revealed that the efficacy of its Covid-19 vaccine AZD1222 was 90 % and 62 % in two different dose regimens respectively. It also shared that the vaccine is 70.4 % effective when combining the data from the two dosing regimens.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Prof. Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier, Scientific and Managing Director of the newly established Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens in Berlin for her groundbreaking work on the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology. She shares the prize with Jennifer Doudna from the University of California, Berkeley, USA.

Some, if not all, early sharks that lived 300 to 400 million years ago not only dropped their lower jaws downward but rotated them outwards when opening their mouths, paleontologists at the Universities of Zurich and Chicago have now shown using CT scanning and 3D printing.

Southern small-leaved oak forests are the habitats with a higher level of spider endemism in the Iberian Peninsula. A new study analyses the factors that affect biodiversity patterns of spider communities in the national park network of Spain, and explains the role of the environmental factors in the distribution of the biodiversity of this faunistic group in the peninsular territory.

Researchers have analysed immune cell types and numbers from the blood of healthy volunteers, Covid-19 patients experiencing mild-to-moderate effects and patients classified as severe. After comparing the T cell immune response, the researchers noted the surprising absence of a strong anti-viral response in the blood of Covid-19 patients.

Scientists at the Nottingham Trent University and Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust have identified a protein called sperm associated antigen 5 or Spag5 which if present in certain breast cancer patients indicates how they will respond to specific therapies.