Using four low-cost smartphone cameras and some simple colored backlighting, researchers could construct a tomographic particle image velocimetry (PIV) system that is capable of quantitative flow visualization.

Process analysis technology permeates every aspect of pharmaceutical production — Improved process understanding, higher process reliability, and fewer rejects: PAT techniques can achieve all this and more.

For the first time, researchers have solved the structure of viral anti-Crispr proteins attached to a bacterial Crispr surveillance complex, revealing precisely how viruses incapacitate the bacterial defense system.

Will manual pipettes still be around in 50 years’ time? What challenges lie ahead? What opportunities? Two Eppendorf experts share their views with LP. The conversation was conducted by Dr. Ilka Ottleben.

It has been assumed that the Vikings were trading in stockfish, but so far solid evidence has been lacking. With new methods, it is possible to extract ancient DNA from fishbone remnants and reveal the source of the stockfish.

As recently as 60 years ago, it was almost impossible to pipette small amounts of liquid in the microliter range safely and reproducibly. Many breakthroughs, particularly in the fields of molecular and chemical research, would not have been conceivable in the milliliter range.

In freshwater lakes, large amounts of the greenhouse gas methane are oxidized by bacteria before it can be emitted into the atmosphere. A study in Lakes Rotsee and Zug has now shown that the bulk of this work is done, not by “classical” methane consumers, but by filamentous bacteria previously known only as contaminants of water supplies.

Researchers from the University of Granada announced progress in Chagas disease research. The disease affects over 8 million people worldwide and there is currently no treatment. Their findings may prove invaluable in designing new drugs to tackle this disease.

Sand, coffee grounds and rice behave very differently than water or oil, but under certain conditions they will suddenly exhibit astonishing similarities. Scientists oft the ETH Zurich in collaboration with international colleagues have found a way to better understand the behaviour of granular materials.

The characteristics of human skin are heavily dependent on the hydration of the tissue. Its water content also changes its interaction with textiles. Up to now, it has only been possible to determine the interaction between human skin and textiles by means of clinical trials on human subjects. Now, Empa researchers have developed an artificial gelatine-based skin model that simulates human skin.