R&D magazine (Dec. 2) -- Through some inventive chemistry, MatSE associate professor Jianjun Cheng and his colleagues have developed a class of “hindered urea bond-containing polymeric materials” (PHUs)—cheap polymers that can be designed to degrade over a specified time period, making them potentially useful in biomedical and agricultural applications. Also: eScience News (Dec. 2), ScienceBlog (Dec. 2), Phys.Org (Isle of Man, Dec. 2), Scicasts (Dec. 3), Space Daily (Dec. 4), Med Device Online (Dec. 5), Azo Materials (Dec. 5).