Here, beginning from an interest in fractals, infinitely complex shapes. The authors investigated the fractal object that results from crumpling a sheet of paper. They determined its fractal dimension using continuous Chi-squared analysis, thereby testing and validating their model against the more conventional least squares analysis.

Seeking to develop a better understanding of the chemical and physical properties of amino acids that compose proteins, here the authors investigated the unusual relative insolubility of racemic mixtures of D- and L-serine compared to the solubility of pure D- or L-serine. The authors used a combination of microscopy and temperature measurements alongside previous X-ray diffraction studies to conclude that racemic DL-serine crystals consist of comparatively stronger hydrogen bond interactions compared to crystals of pure enantiomers. These stronger interactions were found to result in the unique release of heat during the crystallization of racemic mixtures.

The facial integument, or external skin tissues, were assessed on set of dinosaurs from the Allosauroidea clade to test whether dermal patterns served specific functions.

The authors investigate the ability of machine learning models to developing new drug-like molecules by learning desired chemical properties versus simply generating molecules that similar to those in the training set.

This study examines the higher harmonics in an oscillating string by analyzing the sound produced by a guitar with a spectrum analyzer. The authors mathematically hypothesized that the higher harmonics in the series of the directly excited 2^nd harmonic contain the alternate frequencies of the fundamental series, the higher harmonics of the directly excited 3^rd harmonic series contain every third frequency of fundamental series, and so on. To test the hypotheses, they enforced artificial nodes to excite the 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th harmonics directly, and analyzed the resulting spectrum to verify the mathematical hypothesis. The data analysis corroborates both hypotheses.

In this study, the authors design a series of new biaryl small molecules to target and block the binding pocket of the enzyme dihydropteroate synthase, which is important for prokaryotic biosynthesis of folic acid and could serve as better antimicrobial compounds.

Sweet potatoes are one of the most common starches in Taiwan, and sweet potato peels hold significant potential to make biodegradable plastics which can alleviate the environmental impact of conventional petroleum-based plastics. In this paper, Tsai et al created starch-based bioplastics derived from sweet potato peels and manipulated the amount of added glycerol to alter the plastic’s strength and flexibility properties. Their results indicated that higher concentrations of glycerol yield more malleable plastics, providing insights into how recycled agricultural waste material might be used to slow down the rate of pollution caused by widespread production of conventional plastics.

In this study, the authors investigate the suitability of using bacterial cellulose as a scaffold for cell transplants. Interestingly, this cellulose is a can be found in the discard from a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY) used to make kombucha.

Although commonly associated with cryptocurrency, blockchains offer security that other databases could benefit from. These student authors tested a blockchain database framework, and by tracking runtime of four independent variables, they prove this framework is feasible for application.

The surface of the unicellular eukaryote, Tetrahymena pyriformis, is covered with thousands of hair-like cilia. These cilia are very similar to cilia of the human olfactory and respiratory tracts making them model organisms for studying cilia function and pathology. The authors of this study investigated the effect of voltage on T. pyriformis galvanotaxis, the movement towards an electrical stimulus. They observed galvanotaxis towards the cathode at voltages over 4V which plateau, indicating opening of voltage gated-ion channels to trigger movement.