It takes a lot for me to change my tried-and-tested roast parsnip recipe, but if there’s anyone who can convince me to alter my beloved roaster routine, it’s Mary Berry.
Writing for Love to Cook, the author and cooking guru shared that “Crunchy sweet parsnips are the perfect side dish. The addition of semolina gives them a lovely crispy outside.”
The trick works for spuds, too, she says ― “With the addition of semolina, these golden parsnips become extra crisp in the oven. Throw some in with your roast potatoes for something a bit different this Sunday.”
So, we thought we’d share why it works, as well as some other root veg-roasting tips:
Semolina has a moisture content of around 14%, which is why you need to hydrate it with milk or another liquid to access its fluffy deliciousness.
Meanwhile, spuds sit between 75% and 85% moisture. Parsnips are 80% water. That means that both veg tend to steam a little as they bake, providing the softer, fluffier texture we love on the inside of our roasters.
So, when you coat either option in small, dry semolina, the cereal stays dry and crispy when you bake them while the insides of the veg grow fluffy.
And because the grain is so fine and small, it clings easily to the outside of your roasted roots.
Yep! Mary Berry recommends cutting your parsnips into eighths rather than quarters for that extra-crisp finish, as you’ll have a larger surface area (and corners) for the oil to cover.
For both parsnips and potatoes, the semolina trick takes a similar pattern. Par-boil the veg (par-boiling should take four minutes for parsnips and up to ten minutes for spuds).
Cool them a little before placing some oil in a baking tray to get hot when you’re ready to prep the veggies for roasting.
Then, coat the parboiled veg salt, pepper, and a little oil before adding semolina and your herbs of choice. Cook until golden and deliciously, perfectly crisp.
If you’ve managed to go this far without becoming familiar with Mariah Carey’s iconic song All I Want For Christmas Is You, then I’d like to apologise for what I’m sure was a difficult time in your bunker.
The song has just achieved a record-breaking 16th week on Billboard’s number one spot, where it’s appeared for the past four consecutive years in the lead-up to Christmas ― some expect the tune will soon exceed $100 million in earnings.
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It blasts from shop speakers, car radios, and YouTube ads yearly. “That song is just embedded in history now,” David Foster, 16-time Grammy-winning composer and producer, said. “It’s embedded in Christmas. When you think of Christmas right now, you think of that song.”
But what I certainly didn’t think about while listening to it, because I didn’t know, was this; it only took 15 minutes to write the song.
“It’s definitely not Swan Lake,” Walter said. “But that’s why it’s so popular—because it’s so simple and palatable.”
Speaking to Billboard, Walter said, “It was always the same sort of system with us. We would write the nucleus of the song, the melody primary music, and then some of the words were there as we finished writing it.”
“That one went very quickly: It was an easier song to write than some of the other ones,” he added.
Huh!
I know ― though to be fair, they did tinker with their easy-bake hit for a little while after the first write-up.
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“I tried to make it a little more unique, putting in some special chords that you really don’t hear a lot of, which made it unique and special. I think that’s one of the components that made it unique year after year. That part of it took maybe an hour,” Walter told Billboard.
“Then for the next week or two Mariah would call me and say, ‘What do you think about this bit?’ We would talk a little bit until she got the lyrics all nicely coordinated and done,” he said.
So, while the core of the song was written in less time than it takes me to make my morning bowl of porridge, the entire polishing process took a few extra hours. Still, worth it for a record-breaking hit, right?
If you’re anything like us, then setting time aside to watch The Muppet Christmas Carol (otherwise known as the greatest film of all time) is an integral part of your festive schedule.
From the flawless soundtrack and the costumes to Michael Caine’s spot-on performance, there’s a lot to love – but how well do you really know the festive classic?
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To mark the festive season, we’ve uncovered 30 facts about the movie that even those who think they know it back to front might not have picked up on…
1. There was a lot riding on the film in 1992 as the first Muppets movie to be released since creator Jim Henson’s death
It was also the first big-screen outing for the Muppets in the better part of a decade, and marked the first time many people will have seen the characters in action since their creator’s death two years earlier.
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Jim Henson with Kermit The Frog
Michael Ochs Archives via Getty Images
The Muppet Christmas Carol opens with a dedication to both Jim and fellow Muppeteer Richard Hunt.
Richard died in January 1992 from AIDS-related complications, almost a year before the movie hit cinemas, with most of his usual characters being absent from the Muppet Christmas Carol, and others being recast.
Jim Henson and Richard Hunt at the Oscars in 1986
ABC Photo Archives via Getty Images
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2. Kermit The Frog performer Steve Whitmire says he had a supernatural experience the night before he began filming Muppet Christmas Carol
Following the death of Jim Henson, Steve took over the role of Muppets favourite Kermit The Frog. He’d already performed the character in a couple of smaller projects, but Muppet Christmas Carol was his first film since taking over as Kermit – not to mention his first time singing as him.
Steve previously told The Guardian: “The night before we pre-recorded the songs, I had a lot of trouble getting to sleep, thinking: ‘I really want this to be good, this means so much to everybody.’
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“Then I had a bizarre dream. I was in this building that was all white, and Jim was there. He comes over to me, in a hurry to get somewhere quickly. I said to him: ‘I’m really nervous about taking over Kermit.’ He looked at me. Jim would do this thing where he would take one finger and put it on his bottom lip as he was thinking – he thought like this for a second and said: ‘It’ll pass.’ And he walked away.”
Steve Whitmire with Kermit in 2003
Lawrence Lucier via Getty Images
He added: “It felt much more like a visit than a dream. The feeling from that gave me confidence for the whole film.”
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3. Songwriter Paul Williams – who previously penned Kermit’s Oscar-winning signature tune Rainbow Connection – was on hand to make sure Steve got Kermit’s voice just right
“Paul would stand in the recording booth and close his eyes while I was singing, to decided whether it sounded like Kermit or not,” Steve recalled to fansite Muppet Central.
“He’s not a harsh guy, at all. He’s one of the most easy-going, nicest people we’ve worked with, but he was really sensing it, and if I didn’t do it just right, we did it again.”
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4. Muppet Christmas Carol was not only Brian Henson’s first time helming a Muppets project – but his first time directing any film
Brian Henson at the premiere of The Muppet Christmas Carol in 1992
Ron Galella via Getty Images
The late Jim Henson’s son Brian took on directing duties, and while it might have been new to him, you apparently wouldn’t have known it.
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“Brian was incredibly good, right from the beginning,” Muppeteer Dave Goelz told The Guardian. “Michael Caine got halfway through the film before he found out it was Brian’s first time directing – he couldn’t believe it.”
5. The film was originally intended to be a TV special – until Disney got their hands on the script
Disney was quick to see the potential in The Muppet Christmas Carol, which is how it ended up getting a full cinema release.
6. That being said, despite going on to become a Christmas classic, it didn’t quite set the box office alight at the time
It had stiff competition from the much-anticipated sequel to Home Alone and another Disney project, Aladdin.
7. Muppet Christmas Carol’s songs have become festive staples – but there were originally even more of them
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Yes, not one but two songs were recorded for the film but ultimately never recorded. Chairman Of The Board would have been performed by Sam The Eagle under the guise of young Scrooge’s headmaster, while Bunsen and Beaker would have performed Room In Your Heart for the older Scrooge in a bid to try and spread some festive cheer, and raise money for charity, earlier on in the film.
Fortunately for those who love Beaker’s iconic “meep meep” vocals, while the songs never made it into the Muppet Christmas Carol, they are both featured on its accompanying soundtrack.
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8. And that’s without getting into that whole When Love Is Gone debacle
Depending on which version of The Muppet Christmas Carol you grew up watching, you may or may not be familiar with the song When Love Is Gone.
The emotional ballad is performed by Belle, younger Scrooge’s fiancée, as they part ways for the final time when he revisits his past. However, it seems not everyone was a fan, with then-Disney chief Jeffrey Katzenberg ultimately scrubbing it from the US cinema release as he felt it slowed down the film and younger viewers would find a whole musical number without any Muppets in it boring.
By the way, that’s why Rizzo seems so disproportionately upset when Belle walks away from Scrooge in certain versions – what you’re not seeing is that she’s just performed a whole song about the slow demise of their relationship.
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Since then, different re-releases of the Muppet Christmas Carol have varied on whether When Love Is Gone was included, with many disappointed to see it absent when the film began streaming on Disney+ in 2020.
Director Brian Henson had always objected to the song’s exclusion, and previously lamented that it would not be re-included as Disney had lost the original masters. However, it turned out he was wrong, and a new edit of Muppet Christmas Carol for its 30th anniversary arrived on the streaming service in 2022, with When Love Is Gone still intact.
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Oh, and if you’re hearing it for the first time but feel like it sounds familiar, that’s because the film’s closing number The Love We Found is actually a reprise of When Love Is Gone.
9. It turns out Sir Michael Caine had long wanted to work with the Muppets gang, as he never got the chance to during The Muppet Show’s original run
Michael Caine and Kermit The Frog as Scrooge and Bob Cratchit
Blanshard/Jim Henson Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock
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Although The Muppet Show was filmed in Sir Michael’s native UK, its run coincided with his time living in the US, having moved away from Britain for tax reasons in the 1970s.
“Everybody I know has done a thing with the Muppets and I always felt a little bit left out,” he told Entertainment Tonight in 1992. “But they only did half-hour television shows and I got to do a two-hour movie, so it’s great.”
He was also heard saying around the film’s release: “Every one of my friends did The Muppet Show except me and now I’ve done a whole movie that I think will turn out to be a perennial Christmas masterpiece.”
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And, as it turns out, he was absolutely right.
10. The actor did have a previous connection with The Muppets, though
The 1988 comedy Dirty, Rotten Scoundrels – starring Michael Caine and Steve Martin – was directed by the OG Miss Piggy himself, Frank Oz.
Steve Martin and Michael Caine in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Orion/Kobal/Shutterstock
11. Sir Michael also wanted to do a film his then-seven-year-old daughter could watch
“She had never seen me in a movie,” he recalled to GQ back in 2016. “I had never made a movie that a seven-year-old can see. And so a man mentioned the Muppets and I said, ‘That’s it! I’ll do that!’. And it’s A Christmas Carol, it’s a fabulous tale! You’ll be old Scrooge, it’ll be marvelous!
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“And it was absolutely perfect at that time for what I wanted. I could make it, and my daughter could see it. That’s why I did it. And it was lovely.”
Michael Caine with the Muppets on the poster for their festive film
Jim Henson Productions/Kobal/Shutterstock
12. The actor took his role as Scrooge even more seriously than you might realise
As Brian Henson told The Guardian: “One of the first things [Michael Caine] said was: ‘I’m going to play this movie like I’m working with the Royal Shakespeare Company. I will never wink, I will never do anything Muppety. I am going to play Scrooge as if it is an utterly dramatic role and there are no puppets around me.’
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“I said ‘Yes, bang on!’”
That doesn’t mean he didn’t get swept up in the unique Muppets fun on set, though.
“It’s very difficult [to keep a straight face around the Muppets],” Sir Michael told GQ. “Very difficult indeed. You have to do a couple of extra takes.”
Michael has previously admitted it was hard to keep a straight face while filming with The Muppets
Jim Henson Productions/Kobal/Shutterstock
He added: “One of the funniest things that I remember is when all of my clerks were rats, in the office, and every time I looked away they did something – and when I looked back they were writing scrupulously and behaving properly. It made me laugh a lot.”
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As Brian Henson observed: “He was intimidating to start with, but he’s a delight.”
13. For Sir Michael’s Scrooge inspiration, he looked closer to home than you might think
“My basic role models for Scrooge were not Victorian, they were very modern,” he has been quoted as saying in promotional materials for the Muppet Christmas Carol.
He claimed inspiration “came from watching CNN and seeing the trials and tribulations of all the Wall Street cheats and embezzlers”.
Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come in one of the film’s most unsettling sequences
Jim Henson Productions/Kobal/Shutterstock
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“I thought they represented a very good picture of meanness and greed!” Sir Michael said. “My Scrooge looks particularly irredeemable and is more psychotic than most.”
Wall Street types in 1992… we wonder if there was anyone in particular he was thinking about…
14. It may or may not come as a surprise to hear that he had never sung or danced before the Muppets came along
He told GQ: “People say to me, Have you ever sung? I say, Yes, I sang in a movie. They say, Who with? I say, Kermit the Frog.”
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On his vocal performance, Sir Michael added: “It wasn’t bad, I wasn’t ashamed of it. I thought I was going to make a fool of myself but it didn’t matter, because it’s Muppets, you know.
“Scrooge sings badly, and it’s fine! It’s funny! But I thought we sang quite well as a duet, Kermit and me.”
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15. It’s tough to imagine anyone but Sir Michael Caine in the role of Scrooge opposite The Muppets, but a fair few actors were considered
Among them were David Hemmings, Ron Moody, and David Warner, with American comedian George Carlin also thought to have been a serious contender at one point.
George Carlin
Kai Mort Shuman via Getty Images
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16. And that’s not the only one case of almost-casting on the Muppet Christmas Carol
While new characters were created for the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present And Future, producers initially had an idea to have existing Muppet character portray the Spectres.
Innocents Scooter and Robin The Frog (the latter of whom ended up playing Tiny Tim) were both initially touted for the Ghost Of Christmas Past, while Miss Piggy was going to be the indulgent Ghost Of Christmas Present.
Meanwhile, Gonzo and Animal were both considered for the third, and weirdest, of the phantoms.
Miss Piggy was briefly considered for the part of the Ghost Of Christmas Present
Christopher Willard via Getty Images
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17. But hang on – if Gonzo had played the Ghost Of Christmas Present, who’d have played Charles Dickens
Well, initially the film didn’t have a narrator.
“Then we stopped and reconsidered,” Brian Henson told The Guardian. “Nobody had ever captured Dickens’s prose – the wonderful way he described the scenes. So we had to put Charles Dickens in the movie.”
Initially, according to Slash Film, the idea was to create a custom Charles Dickens Muppet who would have narrated the story, before they had the thought: “Who’s the least likely character to be Charles Dickens? Gonzo! So we made him this omniscient storyteller.”
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Gonzo The Great depicts Charles Dickens in the Muppet Christmas Carol
Jim Henson Productions/Kobal/Shutterstock
18. And what a storyteller Gonzo turned out to be
According to Brian Henson: “Ninety-five percent of what Gonzo says in the movie is directly taken from the book.”
We’re guessing that doesn’t include flirting with chickens and expressing his envy when his pal burns his feet on a “flaming hot goose”.
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The Muppet Christmas Carol is a true festive classic
Moviestore/Shutterstock
19. Unfortunately, changes to the original plans meant certain Muppet characters don’t get as much spotlight as fans would like
Scooter doesn’t speak in the Muppet Christmas Carol at all, while Animal utters just one word (“QUIET!”) at Fozziwig’s party.
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Even Muppets icon Miss Piggy doesn’t make her entrance until almost an hour into the film – although what an entrance it is.
20. Producers made a couple of key change to Dickens’ original story
For those unfamiliar with A Christmas Carol, Jacob Marley’s brother Robert only appears in the Muppets version, allowing the hecklers Statler and Waldorf to make an appearance to warn Scrooge of his fate. Whether producers chose the name Robert as a reference to reggae legend Bob Marley remains to be seen.
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They also removed the character of Scrooge’s younger sister, Fan, who dies in the book after giving birth to her son, Fred.
21. The Muppeteers took unusual measures to make the (frankly, terrifying) Ghost Of Christmas Past work
The specially-created puppet was filmed in a water tank to make her look like she was floating, before being superimposed into the final edit using green-screen technology
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22. Oh, and did you know she was played by a future soap star?
Hollyoaks’ Jessica Fox, who plays Nancy Hayton, was eight years old when she lent her voice to the ghostly character
Jessica Fox at the Inside Soap Awards in 2011
Mike Marsland via Getty Images
23. You might recognise some of the other human actors too
Steven Mackintosh and Robin Weaver play Scrooge’s nephew Fred, and his wife Clara.
Steven Mackintosh
Karwai Tang via Getty Images
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Since The Muppet Christmas Carol, Steven won a Bafta for his role in the BBC One film Care and appeared in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and the first season of Luther.
Robin, meanwhile, has played Simon’s mum Pamela in the Inbetweeners, as well as starring in the slightly-less-cheery Black Mirror Christmas special.
Robin Weaver
Joanne Davidson/Shutterstock
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24. Although one of them is noticeably absent in the final scene
Apparently Robin Weaver wasn’t available for filming on the last day, which is why she’s not present in the The Love We Found sequence.
25. Ever wondered what was the most complicated part of the shoot?
That would be this sequence in which Kermit appears in a full-body shot walking for the first time ever.
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It was achieved using a whopping 10 Puppeteers, a rotating drum and a whole lot of green screen.
26. And there was a lot more visual trickery going on
The Muppet Christmas Carol was filmed on a lot in the UK, meaning all of the buildings were specially-built.
To make the streets look more like winding Victorian London, the rows of houses and buildings actually get smaller as they go along, with forced perspective being used to make them look regular-sized.
However, Brian Henson shared during the film’s DVD audio commentary that this illusion is spoiled during the It Feels Like Christmas sequence, which ends with a crane shot, briefly giving the game away.
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Brian Henson briefly gave the game away during this scene
27. Signs dotted around the Muppets’ version of London also hold hidden meanings
As well as nods to film’s behind-the-scenes team, one shop is shown as being called Micklewhite’s, a reference to Michael Caine’s real name. Another is named Statler and Waldorf’s, an obvious allusion to the Muppets characters (who themselves are named after two famous New York hotels).
Michael Caine singing outside a shop bearing his real name in The Muppet Christmas Carol
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28. But forget you might have heard about one supposed Easter egg (or whatever the Christmas equivalent would be)
Despite rumours that Beaker gives Scrooge the finger while telling him off, if you look closely you’ll see he’s just pointing enthusiastically.
No, that’s not Beaker’s middle finger
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29. There are fun details hidden in the closing credits too
Look out for “Rizzo’s personal caterer” among the rest of the cast and crew.
30. Keep your eyes open for a familiar face during the opening number, too
While Christmas Carol is the first Muppets film not to feature any characters from Sesame Street, there is a brief cameo from Fraggle Rock canine Sprocket.
Sprocket makes a surprising appearance in the beginning of the film
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The Muppet Christmas Carol is now available to stream on Disney+. HuffPost may receive a share from purchases made via links on this page.
It’s not just down to your cooking skills; turkey really is a naturally drier bird as its both large and relatively lean, which makes even cooking difficult.
The usual solutions to this problem ― spatchcocking the bird or cooking only its fattier parts, like legs ― are sensible, but feel patently un-festive.
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After all, what’s more Christmassy than lifting a plump golden turkey crown from the oven, stuffed with citrus and slathered in butter?
So it’s a good thing former Great British Bake-Off judge Mary Berry has a 15-minute trick that allows you to keep your turkey crown intact while adding some much-needed moisture and flavour.
What’s the trick?
Mary Berry uses a multi-pronged approach; not only does she stick to a crown rather than a whole bird so it cooks more evenly, but she also stuffs the bird with citrus fruits, places butter under the skin, and bastes the meat every so often.
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She recommends placing tinfoil on the top of the crown if you notice it browning too quickly, too. This traps the moisture in and prevents a dry top layer.
But the real secret to tasty, juicy, perfectly crisp success happens 15 minutes before she removes the poultry from the oven.
She suggests we “squeeze the juice from the remaining half-orange over the turkey” a quarter of an hour before its cook time ends.
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Then we should “Return the turkey to the oven, uncovered, to allow the skin to crisp up.”
That’ll provide an extra last-minute boost of flavourful moisture, and the sugar in orange juice will caramelise into a thin, crisp layer that adds an extra crunch to the bird’s delicate skin.
Any other tips?
Yes ― you absolutely have to rest your turkey, even if it’s just a crown or legs, for a minimum of 30 minutes.
As NASA’s Europa Clipper embarks on its historic journey to Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, Dr. Matt Powell-Palm, a faculty member at Texas A&M University’s J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering, has unveiled groundbreaking research that could transform our understanding of icy ocean worlds across the solar system. The study published in Nature Communications, co-authored with planetary scientist Dr. Baptiste Journaux of the University of Washington, introduces a novel thermodynamic concept called the “centotectic” and investigates the stability of liquids in extreme conditions — critical information for determining the habitability of icy moons like Europa.
Revolutionizing the Search for Habitability
The exploration of icy ocean worlds represents a new frontier in planetary science, focusing on understanding the potential for these environments to support life. Powell-Palm’s research addresses a fundamental question in this field: under what conditions can liquid water remain stable on these distant, frozen bodies? By defining and measuring the cenotectic, the absolute lowest temperature at which a liquid remains stable under varying pressures and concentrations, the team provides a critical framework for interpreting data from planetary exploration efforts.
This study combines Powell-Palm’s expertise in cryobiology — specifically the low-temperature thermodynamics of water — initially focused on medical applications like organ preservation for transplantation, with Journaux’s expertise in planetary science and high-pressure water-ice systems. Together, they developed a framework that bridges disciplines to tackle one of the most fascinating challenges in planetary science.
“With the launch of NASA Europa Clipper, the largest planetary exploration mission ever launched, we are entering a multi-decade era of exploration of cold and icy ocean worlds. Measurements from this and other missions will tell us how deep the ocean is and its composition,” said Journaux. “Laboratory measurements of liquid stability, and notably the lowest temperature possible (the newly-defined cenotectic), combined with mission results, will allow us to fully constrain how habitable the cold and deep oceans of our solar system are, and also what their final fate will be when the moons or planets have cooled down entirely.”
A Texas A&M Legacy of Innovation in Space Research
The research was conducted at Texas A&M and led by mechanical engineering graduate student Arian Zarriz. The work reflects Texas A&M’s deep expertise in water-ice systems and tradition of excellence in space research, which spans multiple disciplines. With the recent groundbreaking of the Texas A&M Space Institute, the university is poised to play an even larger role in space exploration, providing intellectual leadership for missions pushing the boundaries of human knowledge.
“The study of icy worlds is a particular priority for both NASA and the European Space Agency, as evidenced by the flurry of recent and upcoming spacecraft launches,” said Powell-Palm. “We hope that Texas A&M will help to provide intellectual leadership in this space.”
Looking Ahead
As planetary exploration missions, such as those targeting icy moons, continue to expand our understanding of the solar system, researchers at Texas A&M and beyond prepare to analyze the wealth of data they will provide. By combining experimental studies like those conducted by Powell-Palm and Journaux with the findings from these missions, scientists aim to unlock the secrets of cold, ocean-bearing worlds and evaluate their potential to harbor life.
Researchers at Rice University have made a meaningful advance in the simulation of molecular electron transfer — a fundamental process underpinning countless physical, chemical and biological processes. The study, published in Science Advances, details the use of a trapped-ion quantum simulator to model electron transfer dynamics with unprecedented tunability, unlocking new opportunities for scientific exploration in fields ranging from molecular electronics to photosynthesis.
Electron transfer, critical to processes such as cellular respiration and energy harvesting in plants, has long posed challenges to scientists due to the complex quantum interactions involved. Current computational techniques often fall short of capturing the full scope of these processes. The multidisciplinary team at Rice, including physicists, chemists and biologists, addressed these challenges by creating a programmable quantum system capable of independently controlling the key factors in electron transfer: donor-acceptor energy gaps, electronic and vibronic couplings and environmental dissipation.
Using an ion crystal trapped in a vacuum system and manipulated by laser light, the researchers demonstrated the ability to simulate real-time spin dynamics and measure transfer rates across a range of conditions. The findings not only validate key theories of quantum mechanics but also pave the way for novel insights into light-harvesting systems and molecular devices.
“This is the first time that this kind of model was simulated on a physical device while including the role of the environment and even tailoring it in a controlled way,” said lead researcher Guido Pagano, assistant professor of physics and astronomy. “It represents a significant leap forward in our ability to use quantum simulators to investigate models and regimes that are relevant for chemistry and biology. The hope is that by harnessing the power of quantum simulation, we will eventually be able to explore scenarios that are currently inaccessible to classical computational methods.”
The team achieved a significant milestone by successfully replicating a standard model of molecular electron transfer using a programmable quantum platform. Through the precise engineering of tunable dissipation, the researchers explored both adiabatic and nonadiabatic regimes of electron transfer, demonstrating how these quantum effects operate under varying conditions. Additionally, their simulations identified optimal conditions for electron transfer, which parallel the energy transport mechanisms observed in natural photosynthetic systems.
“Our work is driven by the question: Can quantum hardware be used to directly simulate chemical dynamics?” Pagano said. “Specifically, can we incorporate environmental effects into these simulations as they play a crucial role in processes essential to life such as photosynthesis and electron transfer in biomolecules? Addressing this question is significant as the ability to directly simulate electron transfer in biomolecules could provide valuable insights for designing new light-harvesting materials.”
The implications for practical applications are far-reaching. Understanding electron transfer processes at this level could lead to breakthroughs in renewable energy technologies, molecular electronics and even the development of new materials for quantum computing.
“This experiment is a promising first step to gain a deeper understanding of how quantum effects influence energy transport, particularly in biological systems like photosynthetic complexes,” said Jose N. Onuchic, study co-author, the Harry C. and Olga K. Wiess Chair of Physics and professor of physics and astronomy, chemistry and biosciences. “The insights we gain in this type of experiment could inspire the design of more efficient light-harvesting materials.”
Peter G. Wolynes, study co-author, the D.R. Bullard-Welch Foundation Professor of Science and professor of chemistry, biosciences and physics and astronomy, emphasized the broader significance of the findings: “This research bridges the gap between theoretical predictions and experimental verification, offering an exquisitely tunable framework for exploring quantum processes in complex systems.”
The team plans to extend its simulations to include more complex molecular systems such as those involved in photosynthesis and DNA charge transport. The researchers also hope to investigate the role of quantum coherence and delocalization in energy transfer, leveraging the unique capabilities of their quantum platform.
“This is just the beginning,” said Han Pu, co-lead author of the study and professor of physics and astronomy. “We are excited to explore how this technology can help unravel the quantum mysteries of life and beyond.”
The study’s other co-authors include graduate students Visal So, Midhuna Duraisamy Suganthi, Abhishek Menon, Mingjian Zhu and research scientist Roman Zhuravel.
This research was made possible thanks to the Welch Foundation Award C-2154, the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Program (No. N00014-22-1-2282), a National Science Foundation CAREER Award (No. PHY-2144910), the Army Research Office (W911NF22C0012), the Office of Naval Research (No. N00014-23-1-2665), the NSF (PHY-2207283, PHY-2019745 and PHY-2210291) and the D. R. Bullard-Welch Chair at Rice (No. C0016). The authors acknowledge that this material is based upon work supported by the U.S Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Nuclear Physics under the Early Career Award No. DE-SC0023806. The isotopes used in this research were supplied by the U.S. Department of Energy Isotope Program managed by the Office of Isotope R&D and Production.
While lithium-ion batteries have been the go-to technology for everything from smartphones and laptops to electric cars, there are growing concerns about the future because lithium is relatively scarce, expensive and difficult to source, and may soon be at risk due to geopolitical considerations. Scientists around the world are working to create viable alternatives.
An international team of interdisciplinary researchers, including the Canepa Research Laboratory at the University of Houston, has developed a new type of material for sodium-ion batteries that could make them more efficient and boost their energy performance — paving the way for a more sustainable and affordable energy future.
The new material, sodium vanadium phosphate with the chemical formula NaxV2(PO4)3, improves sodium-ion battery performance by increasing the energy density — the amount of energy stored per kilogram — by more than 15%. With a higher energy density of 458 watt-hours per kilogram (Wh/kg) compared to the 396 Wh/kg in older sodium-ion batteries, this material brings sodium technology closer to competing with lithium-ion batteries.
“Sodium is nearly 50 times cheaper than lithium and can even be harvested from seawater, making it a much more sustainable option for large-scale energy storage,” said Pieremanuele Canepa, Robert Welch assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at UH and lead researcher of the Canepa Lab. “Sodium-ion batteries could be cheaper and easier to produce, helping reduce reliance on lithium and making battery technology more accessible worldwide.”
From Theory to Reality
The Canepa Lab, which uses theoretical expertise and computational methods to discover new materials and molecules to help advance clean energy technologies, collaborated with the research groups headed by French researchers Christian Masquelier and Laurence Croguennec from the Laboratoire de Reáctivité et de Chimie des Solides, which is a CNRS laboratory part of the Université de Picardie Jules Verne, in Amiens France, and the Institut de Chimie de la Matière Condensée de Bordeaux, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France for the experimental work on the project. This allowed theoretical modelling to go through experimental validation.
The researchers created a battery prototype using the new material, NaxV2(PO4)3, demonstrating significant energy storage improvements. NaxV2(PO4)3, part of a group called “Na superionic conductors” or NaSICONs, is designed to let sodium ions move smoothly in and out of the battery during charging and discharging.
Unlike existing materials, it has a unique way of handling sodium, allowing it to work as a single-phase system. This means it remains stable as it releases or takes in sodium ions. This allows the NaSICON to remain stable during charging and discharging while delivering a continuous voltage of 3.7 volts versus sodium metal, higher than the 3.37 volts in existing materials.
While this difference may seem small, it significantly increases the battery’s energy density or how much energy it can store for its weight. The key to its efficiency is vanadium, which can exist in multiple stable states, allowing it to hold and release more energy.
“The continuous voltage change is a key feature,” said Canepa. “It means the battery can perform more efficiently without compromising the electrode stability. That’s a game-changer for sodium-ion technology.”
Possibilities for a Sustainable Future
The implications of this work extend beyond sodium-ion batteries. The synthesis method used to create NaxV2(PO4)3 could be applied to other materials with similar chemistries, opening new possibilities for advanced energy storage technologies. That could in turn, impact everything from more affordable, sustainable batteries to power our devices to help us transition to a cleaner energy economy.
“Our goal is to find clean, sustainable solutions for energy storage,” Canepa said. “This material shows that sodium-ion batteries can meet the high-energy demands of modern technology while being cost-effective and environmentally friendly.”
A paper based on this work was published in the journal Nature Materials. Ziliang Wang, Canepa’s former student and now a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University, and Sunkyu Park, a former student of the French researchers and now a staff engineer at Samsung SDI in South Korea, performed much of the work on this project.
A research team co-led by a physician-scientist at the University of Arizona College of Medicine — Tucson’s Sarver Heart Center found that a subset of artificial heart patients can regenerate heart muscle, which may open the door to new ways to treat and perhaps someday cure heart failure. The results were published in the journal Circulation.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heart failure affects nearly 7 million U.S. adults and is responsible for 14% of deaths per year. There is no cure for heart failure, though medications can slow its progression. The only treatment for advanced heart failure, other than a transplant, is pump replacement through an artificial heart, called a left ventricular assist device, which can help the heart pump blood.
“Skeletal muscle has a significant ability to regenerate after injury. If you’re playing soccer and you tear a muscle, you need to rest it, and it heals,” said Hesham Sadek, MD, PhD, director of the Sarver Heart Center and chief of the Division of Cardiology at the U of A College of Medicine — Tucson’s Department of Medicine. “When a heart muscle is injured, it doesn’t grow back. We have nothing to reverse heart muscle loss.”
Sadek led a collaboration between international experts to investigate whether heart muscles can regenerate. The study was funded through a grant awarded to Sadek by the Leducq Foundation Transatlantic Networks of Excellence Program, which brings together American and European investigators to tackle big problems.
The project began with tissue from artificial heart patients provided by colleagues at the University of Utah Health and School of Medicine led by Stavros Drakos, MD, PhD, a pioneer in left ventricular assist device-mediated recovery.
Jonas Frisén, MD, PhD, and Olaf Bergmann, MD, PhD, of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, led teams in Sweden and Germany and used their own innovative method of carbon dating human heart tissue to track whether these samples contained newly generated cells.
The investigators found that patients with artificial hearts regenerated muscle cells at more than six times the rate of healthy hearts.
“This is the strongest evidence we have, so far, that human heart muscle cells can actually regenerate, which really is exciting, because it solidifies the notion that there is an intrinsic capacity of the human heart to regenerate,” Sadek said. “It also strongly supports the hypothesis that the inability of the heart muscle to ‘rest’ is a major driver of the heart’s lost ability to regenerate shortly after birth. It may be possible to target the molecular pathways involved in cell division to enhance the heart’s ability to regenerate.”
Finding better ways to treat heart failure is a top priority for Sadek and the Sarver Heart Center. This study builds on Sadek’s prior research into rest and heart muscle regeneration.
In 2011, Sadek published a paper in Science showing that while heart muscle cells actively divide in utero, they stop dividing shortly after birth to devote their energy to pumping blood through the body nonstop, with no time for breaks.
In 2014, he published evidence of cell division in patients with artificial hearts, hinting that their heart muscle cells might have been regenerating.
These findings, combined with other research teams’ observations that a minority of artificial heart patients could have their devices removed after experiencing a reversal of symptoms, led him to wonder if the artificial heart provides cardiac muscles the equivalent of bedrest in a person recovering from a soccer injury.
“The pump pushes blood into the aorta, bypassing the heart,” he said. “The heart is essentially resting.”
Sadek’s previous studies indicated that this rest might be beneficial for the heart muscle cells, but he needed to design an experiment to determine whether patients with artificial hearts were actually regenerating muscles.
“Irrefutable evidence of heart muscle regeneration has never been shown before in humans,” he said. “This study provided direct evidence.”
Next, Sadek wants to figure out why only about 25% of patients are “responders” to artificial hearts, meaning that their cardiac muscle regenerates.
“It’s not clear why some patients respond and some don’t, but it’s very clear that the ones who respond have the ability to regenerate heart muscle,” he said. “The exciting part now is to determine how we can make everyone a responder, because if you can, you can essentially cure heart failure. The beauty of this is that a mechanical heart is not a therapy we hope to deliver to our patients in the future — these devices are tried and true, and we’ve been using them for years.”
In 2022 alone, over 20 million people were diagnosed with cancer, and nearly 10 million died from the disease, according to the World Health Organization. While the reaches of cancer are massive, the answer to more effective treatments may be hidden within a microscopic cell.
Led by Texas A&M University graduate students Samere Zade of the biomedical engineering department and Ting-Ching Wang of the chemical engineering department, an article released by the Lele Lab has uncovered new details about the mechanism behind cancer progression.
Published in Nature Communications, the article explores the influence the mechanical stiffening of the tumor cell’s environment may have on the structure and function of the nucleus.
“Cancer has proven to be a difficult disease to treat. It is extremely complex and the molecular mechanisms that enable tumor progression are not understood,” said Dr. Tanmay Lele, joint faculty in the biomedical engineering and chemical engineering departments. “Our findings shed new light into how the stiffening of tumor tissue can promote tumor cell proliferation.”
In the article, researchers reveal that when a cell is faced with a stiff environment, the nuclear lamina — scaffolding that helps the nucleus keep its shape and structure — becomes unwrinkled and taut as the cell spreads on the stiff surface. This spreading causes yes-associated protein (YAP), the protein that regulates the multiplication of cells, to move to the nucleus.
That localization can cause increased cell proliferation, which may explain the rapid growth of cancer cells in stiff environments.
“The ability of stiff matrices to influence nuclear tension and regulate YAP localization could help explain how tumors become more aggressive and perhaps even resistant to treatment in stiffened tissues,” Zade said.
These findings build on Lele’s previous discovery that the cell nucleus behaves like a liquid droplet. In that work, researchers found that a protein in the nuclear lamina called lamin A/C helps maintain the nucleus’ surface tension. In the most recent study, it was found that reducing the levels of lamin A/C decreases the localization of YAP, in turn decreasing rapid cell proliferation.
“The protein lamin A/C plays a key role here — reducing it made cells less responsive to environmental stiffness, particularly affecting the localization of a key regulatory protein (YAP) to the nucleus,” Zade explained.
Although seemingly complex and specialized, Zade and Lele believe the broader implications of their discovery may guide future treatments for cancer.
“Uncovering how matrix stiffness drives nuclear changes and regulates key pathways, like YAP signaling, opens the door to developing therapies that target these mechanical pathways,” Zade explained. “Drugs or treatments could be designed to soften the tumor environment, disrupting the physical cues that help cancer cells thrive. Lamin A/C and related nuclear mechanics could become targets for cancer treatments.”
Moving forward, the Lele Lab aims to investigate the extent to which their discoveries apply to tumors derived from patients.
For this work, the Lele Lab was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, and the National Science Foundation. Funding for this research is administered by the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station, the official research agency for Texas A&M Engineering.
Lesson 7 of the free Engage course covers how to significantly increase your freedom, so you can enjoy a remarkable flow of time abundance to explore and experience what most appeals to you, including delightful connections with highly compatible people. This video reveals many subtleties that affect how much freedom you can access, express, and experience – there’s a LOT packed into it.
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