Ainhoa Lejardi, a materials engineer at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), has taken a step forward in the development of new polymer materials. Biomaterials are being increasingly used in medicine and need to have a great variety of properties so that they can be used in all types of therapeutic applications. A task into which this researcher has put much effort, because she has opened up a door to the possibility of creating new materials from the PVA polymer and modifying its properties in order to come up with more applications for biomedicine. Her thesis is entitled Polimero biodegradakor berrien lorpena eta ezaugarritzea (Obtaining and characterising of new biodegradable polymers). She has also had articles published on this in the Polymer and Macromolecules journals, among others.

Chromosomes are strands of DNA that contain the blueprint of all living organisms. Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes that instruct how genes are regulated during development of the human body. While scientists have developed an understanding of the one-dimensional structure of DNA, until today, little was known about how different parts of DNA are folded next to each other inside the nucleus.

The theory that pigeons' famous skill at navigation is down to iron-rich nerve cells in their beaks has been disproved by a new study published in Nature.