A Japanese research team has harnessed the unique microgravity environment aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to elucidate, for the first time, the detailed structure of amyloid β fibrils bearing the Tottori-type familial mutation (D7N), a rare variant linked to Alzheimer's disease. This space-based breakthrough not only enabled structural analysis that is difficult on Earth but also provides new insights into how disease-related mutations affect fibril formation—paving the way for new therapeutic strategies.

Dr. Congrui Grace Jin and her colleagues from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln have worked for years on bio-manufacturing engineered living materials and have developed a synthetic lichen system that can form building materials with no outside intervention. Their latest study, funded by the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program and recently published in the Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering, applies this research to the autonomous construction of structures on Mars, using the planet’s regolith, which includes dust, sand and rocks.

WASHINGTON, D.C. —  Each summer, students from across the country begin internships with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), gaining hands-on experience in science and technology. These internships take place at various NRL locations, including sites along the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, and Monterey Bay in California. Each hoping for career growth that will take them to new horizons.

Researchers from the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, have created a specially designed “bottlebrush” polymer that was used to produce a reaction space the size of a single molecule. This space acted as a nanoscale vessel to allow new materials, such as specialty polymers, to be created under highly controlled conditions. The technology has applications in advanced technologies such as drug delivery and remote sensing.  

SAN ANTONIO — June 24, 2025— Southwest Research Institute has delivered the novel Compact Dual Ion Composition Experiment (CoDICE) instrument for final integration into NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) spacecraft. Scheduled to launch in late 2025, IMAP will help researchers better understand the boundary of the heliosphere, the magnetic bubble that surrounds and protects our solar system.