The discovery of a family of enzymes with an affinity for lignin -- components of plants that make them rigid and less susceptible to pathogens -- could represent a breakthrough in the recycling of plant waste and production of sustainable chemicals needed for nylon, fuels and plastics. Scientists have been trying for decades to more efficiently break down lignin into its basic chemical building blocks, and a U.S.-U.K. engineering team believes these enzymes could be engineered to be super effective at doing so.

Fish known as "baby whales" possess a protein that enables them to communicate using electrical signals, and thus avoid predators. Turns out, this same protein exists in the hearts and muscles of humans, and a better understanding of its function could lead to improved treatments for heart conditions and diseases such as epilepsy.

Researchers at MIT have improved upon a technique known as "frequency hopping," which protects data transmitted over the internet by sending them across random frequencies. Rather than randomize data in packets of thousands of bits, the MIT method does so with every 1 or 0 bit of data every microsecond -- the smaller data load and faster speed could make the information less likely to be intercepted by hackers.

The time it takes to control DNA-based molecular machines speeds up from several minutes to less than a second, thanks to a new, magnetic control system. Researchers shrank the functionality of magnetic particles used in previous studies by a thousand-fold -- from micro-scale to nano-scale -- to command the machines, and incorporated fluorescent beacons to monitor them.

In a study straight out of science fiction, researchers have discovered that it's possible, by transferring RNA between specimens, to transfer memories from one animal to another -- in this case, snails. The researchers believe that this finding could help develop new treatments to ease the pain of traumatic memories and restore lost ones in people.

Vanderbilt University engineers have discovered how to break carbon dioxide in air into carbon and oxygen, and then stitch the carbon together to make carbon nanotubes -- a valuable engineering material. What one researcher called "black gold," the tiniest carbon nanotubes are stronger than steel and more conductive than copper, and reducing their cost of production would be a boon for the manufacturing of tires and batteries.

Researchers claim that a revolution in chemotherapy could be on the horizon, thanks to Doppler data that helps predict which patients will respond best to treatments. The method differs from previous ways of predicting responses to chemo in that it preserves the cancer environment in 3-D biopsies, rather than breaking it down for 2-D cell cultures.

A number of large predators, including alligators, mountain lions and killer whales, have found their way into novel habitats once considered outside their climatic zones, and conservation efforts could be the reason why. Researchers found that these predators may now be as abundant or more abundant in these novel habitats than in their traditional ones.

In recent years, environmentally friendly materials to replace plastics have become a focus for chemists, and the discovery of a new polymer by Colorado State University could be just what they've been looking for. The material has the same characteristics of plastics that we enjoy -- for example, light weight, heat resistance and durability -- but it can be converted back to a small-molecule state for complete chemical recyclability.

Researchers have developed a surgical camera inspired by the eye of the morpho butterfly. Connected to surgical goggles, it lets surgeons see infrared signals given off by tumor-binding dyes so the surgeon can remove all of the cancerous tissue.