Gel-Based Sensor Continuously Monitors Wounds for Infection

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November 30, 2021

Dear Reader, When bacteria enter an open wound, they can create an infection that literally threatens life and limb. To catch the problem as soon as possible, researchers have developed a wearable gel-based sensor that can send an infection warning to a nearby phone.

Sophie Bushwick, Associate Editor, Technology @sophiebushwick

Biotech Gel-Based Sensor Continuously Monitors Wounds for Infection The device can sit beneath a bandage and send infection alerts directly to a smartphone By Sophie Bushwick

Water 'Portable Oasis' Extracts Water from Dry Desert Air An ultraporous humidity sponge could provide 300 gallons of fresh water a day By Steven Ashley

Vaccines This Cheap Device Could Expand the World's Access to Vaccines A new delivery method for certain vaccines could make the lifesaving treatments more effective and accessible By Sam Jones

Renewable Energy U.S. Looks to Extract Lithium for Batteries from Geothermal Waste The global demand for the element could grow tenfold by 2030 By John Fialka,E&E News

Biotech No Bones, No Scales, No Eyeballs: Appetite Grows for Lab-Grown Seafood Cell-based fish taste the same as their wild and farmed counterparts. But will it ever make economic sense to produce this kind of protein? By Emily Waltz,Nature Biotechnology

Climate Change Northeast States Abandon Cap-and-Trade Plan for Cars The demise of the program is the latest setback for carbon pricing in the U.S. By Benjamin Storrow,E&E News

Sociology Your Boss Wants to Spy on Your Inner Feelings Tech companies now use AI to analyze your feelings in job interviews and public spaces. But the software seems prone to racial, cultural and gender bias By John McQuaid

Space Exploration U.S. Officials Condemn Russian Anti-Satellite Test That Threatened Astronauts "The test has so far generated over 1,500 pieces of trackable orbital debris," a State Department spokesperson said By Chelsea Gohd,SPACE.com

Engineering Top 10 Emerging Technologies for 2021 Innovations to help tackle societal challenges—especially climate change

FROM THE STORE The Math of Everything Galileo said that mathematics is the language of nature. This eBook examines math across disciplines, exploring how math is the backbone connecting the physical, social and economic worlds. From practical questions about the significance of p values and using math to fight gerrymandering to the top theoretical problems in the field, this collection looks at what math reveals about our universe.

QUOTE OF THE DAY "This is a case when something genuinely interesting is going on, but both the scientists and some of the coverage of the developments are promoting it as far more than it actually is." John Timmer, Ars Technica

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FROM THE ARCHIVE A Novel Way to Fight Drug-Resistant Bacteria Host-directed therapy can boost a patient's immune response instead of relying only on antibiotics  By Zahidul Alam | January 2019

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