Secoiridoids are a family of healthy compounds found in olive oil. The type, ratio, and amount of the four major secoiridoids in olive oil depends on several factors. These include the olive variety, the region in which it was produced, and the process used to extract the oil. Understanding how to optimise the secoiridoid content in olive oil is a key focus for many food scientists. Towards this aim, Dr Ilario Losito from the University of Bari Aldo Moro and his colleagues extensively analysed 60 different types of olive oils produced in Italy. They used specialist chemistry techniques to determine the secoiridoid content of these olive oils.

As we attempt to reduce our environmental impact, many fields have changed. This includes bathroom tissue manufacturers, who are under increasing pressure to employ recycled paper as a sustainable raw material. Motivated by this shift, Dr Anett Kondor and her research team at Surface Measurement Systems Ltd studied four types of bathroom tissue, both recycled and non-recycled, to compare their water-adsorption performance.

Patterns can be found across the entire natural world – from the spots on a leopard’s coat to stripes in mineral deposits deep underground. Such motifs are better known as Turing patterns – named after the famous mathematician and codebreaker, Alan Turing, who proposed the theory behind them. Turing patterns are often found on large scales, but they become much rarer at smaller scales, with very few known examples at microscopic and atomic scales. Aharon Kapitulnik and Yuki Fuseya have revealed a new atomic-scale Turing pattern, which arises in an atom-thick layer of bismuth atoms.

Modern microelectronics is currently facing a profound challenge. The demand for even smaller and more closely packed electronics has hit a stumbling block: the power emitted in these devices releases more heat than can be efficiently removed. Now, the Terra Quantum team proposes a solution based on the seemingly counterintuitive phenomenon of ‘negative capacitance’.

It may be surprising to know, that you – and all other mammals – are technically cynodonts. The first cynodonts appeared approximately 260 million years ago as small creatures about the size of a house cat. A particular group of cynodonts evolved to become more ‘mammal-like’, eventually evolving into the first true mammals. Dr Jennifer Botha from the National Museum, Bloemfontein in South Africa studies the anatomy and life history of specimens along the cynodont–mammalian transition, to gain key insights into the origins and evolution of mammals.

Over the past few decades, astronomers have learnt more and more about the planets, moons, and asteroids of our Solar System – but we still have much to learn about the materials they are made from. For hundreds of years, we have used chemistry to study such materials on Earth, but there is no guarantee that they will behave in the same way in space – where they can exist in environments ranging from harsh, airless vacuums, to strange and exotic atmospheres.