💉Defeating AIDS in two shots, the mystery behind static electricity solved, and zinc-ion batteries a real possibility

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A significant step has been made in finding an HIV vaccine. As the virus mutates rapidly, it can evade the anti💉body response vaccines generate.

Several years ago, MIT researchers showed that administering a series of doses over two weeks could help overcome that challenge by generating larger quantities of neutralizing antibodies. 

Now, they might be able to eliminate HIV in two doses over two weeks. Dive deeper into this Must-Read.

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> A Model-Based Systems Engineer
> Cloud Systems Engineer

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MUST-READ

💉Defeating AIDS: MIT reveals a new vaccination method that could kill HIV in just two shots

Each year, HIV infects more than 1 million people around the world, and some of those people do not have access to antiviral drugs. 

MIT developed a promising vaccine now in clinical trials consisting of an HIV protein called an envelope trimer and a nanoparticle called SMNP. 

The researchers have found that they can achieve an effective immune response with just two doses, given one week apart. 

⚡2,000-year-old mystery solved: Secret behind electric charge from rubbing revealed

For 2,000 years, scientists have been unable to explain why rubbing objects together generates static electricity. But researchers at Northwestern just solved the mystery.

In a study published in Physical Review Letters, rubbing two materials together bends tiny protrusions on the surfaces of those materials. Those bent, deformed protrusions give rise to voltages.

Northwestern researchers have developed a new model that calculates electrical current. The values for the current for a range of different cases were in good agreement with experimental results.

Affordable zinc-ion battery built using office laminator can replace lithium cells

"The demand and consumption of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have led to resource shortages and supply-chain issues of strategic metals including lithium and cobalt,” according to the authors of a new study.

Though researchers have attempted to make a zinc-ion battery in the past, a new study proposes a new low-cost solution that might make adopting zinc-ion batteries a real possibility.

Even if it doesn’t entirely replace conventional batteries, it could help battery manufacturers mitigate the supply-chain issue.

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