A new material can switch from matte to shiny and display a variety of other effects as required. Plus, humans were using poison arrows 60,000 years ago and the quest to authenticate a da Vinci drawing using DNA.
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Patterns made on thin polymer films using an electron beam affect how the texture of the surface changes when exposed to water.Credit: Siddharth Doshi, Neerav Soneji, Katie Richards
Researchers have created a synthetic ‘skin’ that can change colour and texture on demand. The material can switch from matte to shiny and display a variety of other effects, before reverting to its initial state. The team used an electron beam to make a ‘landscape’ of bumps on the surface of a polymer that reversibly swells on contact with water. The bumps absorb varying amounts of water, which resulted in a material that could drastically change its appearance when wet. The flow of liquid can be controlled by covering the material with a transparent film.
Nature | 4 min read
Reference: Nature paper
Traces of toxic compounds have been found on 60,000-year-old arrowheads, providing the oldest chemical evidence that Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers used poison to bring down prey. Chemical analysis revealed a compound called buphandrine, derived from the poison bulb plant (Boophone disticha), on arrowheads discovered in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The use of poisons “shows advanced planning, strategy and causal reasoning” among hunter-gatherers, says archaeologist Justin Bradfield. It also suggests that they had a complex understanding of the properties of plants, says archaeologist April Nowell.
Nature | 4 min read
Reference: Science Advances paper
As mpox continues to spark localized outbreaks in Africa and elsewhere, researchers are racing to understand more about the virus that has caused two public-health emergencies in the past three years. In December, a preprint study found that one mpox strain seems to lurk in the testes of infected male mice. And health officials in the United Kingdom reported that a person had been infected with a never-before-seen strain that is a mashup of two other types. “We should not underestimate what it can do if it’s allowed to become firmly entrenched in human populations and continue to adapt,” says infectious-disease physician Boghuma Titanji.
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