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Achieving sustainable agricultural productivity and global food security are two of the biggest challenges of the new millennium. Addressing these challenges requires innovative technologies that can uplift global food production, while minimizing collateral environmental damage and preserving the resilience of agroecosystems against a rapidly changing climate. Nanomaterials with the ability to encapsulate and deliver pesticidal active ingredients (AIs) in a responsive (for example, controlled, targeted and synchronized) manner offer new opportunities to increase pesticidal efficacy and efficiency when compared with conventional pesticides. Here, we provide a comprehensive analysis of the key properties of nanopesticides in controlling agricultural pests for crop enhancement compared with their non-nanoscale analogues. Our analysis shows that when compared with non-nanoscale pesticides, the overall efficacy of nanopesticides against target organisms is 31.5% higher, including an 18.9% increased efficacy in field trials. Notably, the toxicity of nanopesticides toward non-target organisms is 43.1% lower, highlighting a decrease in collateral damage to the environment. The premature loss of AIs prior to reaching target organisms is reduced by 41.4%, paired with a 22.1% lower leaching potential of AIs in soils. Nanopesticides also render other benefits, including enhanced foliar adhesion, improved crop yield and quality, and a responsive nanoscale delivery platform of AIs to mitigate various pressing biotic and abiotic stresses (for example, heat, drought and salinity). Nonetheless, the uncertainties associated with the adverse effects of some nanopesticides are not well-understood, requiring further investigations. Overall, our findings show that nanopesticides are potentially more efficient, sustainable and resilient with lower adverse environmental impacts than their conventional analogues. These benefits, if harnessed appropriately, can promote higher crop yields and thus contribute towards sustainable agriculture and global food security. A comprehensive analysis of the key properties of nanopesticides in controlling agricultural pests for crop enhancement shows a much higher efficacy compared with non-nano analogues, also for in-field trials.

Hundreds of scientists had worked on mRNA vaccines for decades before the coronavirus pandemic brought a breakthrough. Hundreds of scientists had worked on mRNA vaccines for decades before the coronavirus pandemic brought a breakthrough.

There has been a rapid growth in patents related to TROP2, a transmembrane glycoprotein involved in calcium signal transduction and an attractive target for cancer therapy.

Patent protection for therapeutic monoclonal antibodies requires a fundamental shift in strategy following Amgen v. Sanofi , which invalidated broad functional claims for antibody genera in the USA.

Artificial intelligence tools for drafting patents will exacerbate challenges with the disclosure of useful technical information in patent documents.

Implementation of intellectual property education in academic institutions can result in increased opportunities for protecting intellectual property and limit costs, but to be successful technology transfer offices must also adapt.

Wavelength is a physical measure of light, and the intricate understanding of its link to perceived colour enables the creation of perceptual entities such as metamers—non-overlapping spectral compositions that generate identical colour percepts 1 . By contrast, scientists have been unable to develop a physical measure linked to perceived smell, even one that merely reflects the extent of perceptual similarity between odorants 2 . Here, to generate such a measure, we collected perceptual similarity estimates of 49,788 pairwise odorants from 199 participants who smelled 242 different multicomponent odorants and used these data to refine a predictive model that links odorant structure to odorant perception 3 . The resulting measure combines 21 physicochemical features of the odorants into a single number—expressed in radians—that accurately predicts the extent of perceptual similarity between multicomponent odorant pairs. To assess the usefulness of this measure, we investigated whether we could use it to create olfactory metamers. To this end, we first identified a cut-off in the measure: pairs of multicomponent odorants that were within 0.05 radians of each other or less were very difficult to discriminate. Using this cut-off, we were able to design olfactory metamers—pairs of non-overlapping molecular compositions that generated identical odour percepts. The accurate predictions of perceptual similarity, and the ensuing creation of olfactory metamers, suggest that we have obtained a valid olfactory measure, one that may enable the digitization of smell. By collecting nearly 50,000 perceptual estimates of smell, a reliable physicochemical measure that links odorant structure to odorant perception at a resolution that enables the creation of olfactory metamers was derived.

Academic scientists who develop entrepreneurial capabilities can make strategic, path dependent decisions that enable university spin-offs to rapidly respond to global crises.

Smartphones, sensors and consumer habits reveal much about society. Too few people have a say in how these data are created and used. Smartphones, sensors and consumer habits reveal much about society. Too few people have a say in how these data are created and used.

Measuring citations to scholarly works in the global patent literature enables assessment of the influence of published research on invention, industry and enterprise, at the individual and institutional level.