The American Chemical Society’s October 27, 2025 news release on EurekAlert shares these real life, spooky, creepy science stories for Hallowe’en,

Brains, spiders, (were)wolves and slimy eyeballs — a collection of creepy research topics that Dr. Frankenstein would appreciate! But unlike the mad scientist’s work, the research detailed below in ACS journals aims to improve human life by developing an alternative to animal testing, on-demand wound care, an edible protective coating for veggies, and informing future retinal health studies. …

1. Tiny, lab-grown brains. Researchers report in ACS Sensors [open access] that they grew a brain organoid in a petri dish to advance the study of neural networks without laboratory animals. After 2 years, the team’s cultured human nerve cells divided and self-organized into a 3D “mini-brain” with electrophysiological activity. Further development of this technology could lead to a brain model for researching the organization and communication patterns of human brain tissue, or maybe a lab-grown lunch option for zombies.
2. A web-slinging glove. By attaching spider-like spinneret devices to a glove, researchers created a “handy” system to deploy thin polymer fibers in the air. The fibers could spin wound dressings on the fly (pun intended) in hospitals, sports arenas and military field operations. Experiments with the glove are detailed in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces [behind a paywall] and do not include bites from radioactive spiders.
3. Wolf apple coatings. According to a paper published in ACS Food Science & Technology, [open access] a food-safe coating made from wolf apples could be a cost-effective, edible material for extending produce shelf life. Researchers extracted starch from the hearty Brazilian fruit, a staple of the maned wolf’s diet, and then applied it to baby carrots. The coated veggies maintained their bright orange color and were safe to eat after a full moon … or 15 days of room-temperature storage.
4. Microplastics in eyeballs. A paper in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology Letters behind a paywall] reports a foundational study characterizing microplastics in human retinas. The researchers looked at 12 post-mortem human retinas (no eye of newt here) and found plastic particles of various types and levels in all of them. According to the team, these findings provide a crucial foundation for future studies on the potential risks and impacts of microplastics on eye health.

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Here are citations for the four papers in list order,

Brains:

Inkjet-Printed 3D Sensor Arrays with FIB-Induced Electrode Refinement for Low-Noise Amperometric Recordings in hiPSC-Derived Brain Organoids by Inola Kopic, Hu Peng, Sebastian Schmidt, Oleksandr Berezin, Senyao Wang, Gil G. Westmeyer, and Bernhard Wolfrum. ACS Sensors (ACS Sens.) 2025, 10, 9, 6426–6435 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acssensors.4c03740 Published August 21, 2025 Copyright © 2025 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society. This publication is licensed under CC-BY 4.0 (open access)

Web-slinging glove

Wearable, Ultralow Power, and Needleless Electrospinning Equipment for Cannabidiol-Loaded Patch Fabrication by Omar Blandon Cruz, Lihua Lou, Sohail Mazher Ali Khan Mohammed, Rony Thomas Murickan, Luiza Benedetti, Yih-Mei Lin, Tyler Dolmetsch, and Arvind Agarwal. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces) 2025, 17, 34, 48145–48159 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.5c14853 Published August 14, 2025 Copyright © 2025 American Chemical Society (paywall)

Wolf apple coating

Characterization of Solanum lycocarpum Starch and Its Application as Edible Coating in Minimally Processed Baby Carrots by Lohana M. C. Carvalho, Albert Lennon L. Martins, Fernanda M. A. Leal Zimmer, Aroldo A. Pinedo, and Claudia Cristina A. do A. Santos. ACS Food Science & Technology (ACS Food Sci. Technol.) 2025, 5, 9, 3271–3281 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsfoodscitech.5c00182 Published August 26, 2025 Copyright © 2025 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society. This publication is licensed under CC-BY 4.0 .(open access)

Eyeballs

Detection and Characterization of Multiple Microplastics in the Human Retina by Menghui Zhang, Sisi Liu, Yuchen Wang, Yanni Ge, Xiuyi Li, Xiawei Wang, Shulin Zhuang, and Hongguang Cui. Environmental Science & Technology Letters (Environ. Sci. Technol. Lett.) 2025, 12, 10, 1327–1333 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.5c00903 Published October 6, 2025 Copyright © 2025 American Chemical Society (paywall)

Happy Hallowe’en!