An enzyme variant created by engineers and scientists at The University of Texas at Austin can break down environment-throttling plastics that typically take centuries to degrade in just a matter of hours to days. This discovery, published today in Nature, could help solve one of the world’s most pressing environmental problems: what to do with […]

Material researchers are developing a procedure that allows them to mimic the complex fine structure of biological composite materials, such as teeth or seashells. They can thus create synthetic materials that are as hard and tough as their natural counterparts.

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Paper Abstract: Synthetic carriers such as polymer and lipid particles often struggle to meet clinical expectations. Natural particulates — that range from pathogens to mammalian cells — are therefore worth examining in more depth, as they are highly optimized for their specific functions in vivo and possess features that are often desired in drug delivery […]