The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awards the Nobel Prize for Chemistry 2019 to John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino for the development of lithium-ion batteries.

Researchers at the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung have examined the effects of hydrogen in aluminium alloys and how it embrittles aluminium alloys. They have also found first approaches of hindering this effect.

The pollution of water, food and the environment by microparticles and especially micro- plastics is a growing concern. Therefore, efficient techniques for analyzing them in detail are urgently needed. A Raman microscopy system equipped with an advanced software package enables researchers to automatically find, classify and identify microparticles.

Bioscientists at the Kaust University have revealed that changes in batch cultures could lead to a significant impact on cell processes and research reproducibility as the cells grow. In this background, there is a need for enhanced procedures and more monitoring.

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.

Evacuated space is a good place for research and manufacture. It has been a long journey though from a philosophical question in ancient times to today’s significance of the vacuum. It was Wolfgang Gaede who in the early 20th century laid the foundation for modern vacuum technology with his molecular pump.

Dxcover has secured US patents for its game-changing Autosampler and Brain Cancer Liquid Biopsy. The unique devices help for the early detection of cancer which leads to earlier diagnosis for the patients.

The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has decided to award the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly to William G. Kaelin Jr., Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe and Gregg L. Semenza for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability.

Scientists at the University of Warwick in England have developed a unique process that can mimic the manner in which plants produce compounds. The new process uses enzymes to break down molecules and synthesize them into compounds such as indolic amides, carboxylic acids and auxins which are used for numerous agrochemical and pharmaceutical applications.

Researchers from Harvard University have developed an electronic chip that can perform high-sensitivity intracellular recording from thousands of connected neurons simultaneously. This breakthrough allowed them to map synaptic connectivity at an unprecedented level, identifying hundreds of synaptic connections.