Ari Gesher, the new Head of Technology at Parallel Bio, may be a newcomer to biotech, but he’s already making waves with his ambitious vision for disrupting biological research. The startup is banking on a combination of automation and organoid technology to streamline experiments, making them faster, more efficient, and highly reliable. The aim? Freeing scientists to focus on designing innovative experiments while robots handle the repetitive tasks.

Gesher believes this approach could solve the longstanding biotech dilemma of having to choose between speed, quality, and cost. “There’s this old adage: cheaper, faster, better—pick two,” he said. “Our approach asks, why not have all three?”

A research team led by Assistant Professor Edison Ang Huixiang from the National Institute of Education/Nanyang Technological University (NIE/NTU) Singapore has developed a groundbreaking nanocatalyst that could revolutionize wastewater treatment and pollutant elimination. Their innovative approach, detailed in a recent study published in Materials Horizons and featured in the Emerging Investigator series, introduces a more efficient method for cleaning wastewater.

The researchers engineered a novel catalyst by combining cobalt with manganese oxide nanorods (MnO@Co/C-600). They enhanced its performance by coating the catalyst with carbon, significantly improving its ability to attract and degrade harmful pollutants.

In an innovative approach to combating climate change, scientists have formed an unexpected alliance with bacteria to extract rare metals crucial for green technology. Without the aid of these microbes, the world could soon face a shortage of raw materials needed to build essential components like turbines, electric cars, and solar panels.

Leading this groundbreaking work is a team from the University of Edinburgh, which is focusing on harnessing bacteria to extract valuable metals such as lithium, cobalt, and manganese from discarded batteries and electronic waste. These scarce and costly metals are essential for producing electric cars and other green technologies, a fact emphasized by Professor Louise Horsfall, chair of sustainable biotechnology at Edinburgh.

Researchers from EPFL have developed a groundbreaking miniaturized brain-machine interface (BMI) capable of translating brain activity into text on tiny silicon chips. This next-generation technology, known as the Miniaturized Brain-Machine Interface (MiBMI), promises to revolutionize communication for individuals with severe motor impairments.

Brain-machine interfaces have long held the potential to restore communication and control to people with conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and spinal cord injuries. However, traditional BMIs have been bulky, power-hungry, and limited in practical applications. The new MiBMI, developed by EPFL’s Integrated Neurotechnologies Laboratory (INL), overcomes these challenges by offering a compact, low-power, and highly accurate solution.