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Lowering cholesterol with veg oils may not curb heart disease risk or help you live longer

Replacing saturated fats with vegetable oils rich in linoleic acid lowers blood cholesterol, but doesn't curb heart disease risk or help you live longer, suggests a study published by The BMJ today.

The findings add to doubts around the widely held belief that vegetable oils rich in linoleic acid are good for heart health.

The traditional "diet-heart hypothesis" predicts that replacing saturated fat with vegetable oils rich in linoleic acid will reduce cardiovascular deaths by lowering blood cholesterol levels.

Did butter get a bad rap?

CHAPEL HILL, NC - A research team led by scientists at the UNC School of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health has unearthed more evidence that casts doubt on the traditional "heart healthy" practice of replacing butter and other saturated fats with corn oil and other vegetable oils high in linoleic acid.

Standing up for comfort

Recent studies have suggested that sitting at the computer all day can negatively affect your health. Sit-stand computer workstations are intended to provide a healthier and more comfortable work environment. But how do you find the best setup of workstation components for a standing workstation? And should it be the same as the setup you use when you're sitting down?

A flexible camera: A radically different approach to imaging

New York, NY--April 12, 2016--A team led by Shree K. Nayar, T.C. Chang Professor of Computer Science at Columbia Engineering, has developed a novel sheet camera that can be wrapped around everyday objects to capture images that cannot be taken with one or more conventional cameras.

Bringing the landslide laboratory to remote regions

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 12, 2016 - It'd be hard to overstate how landslide-prone China's Loess Plateau is; thanks to millions of years' accumulation of the wind-deposited, highly-porous sediment from which the plateau takes its name, the region has been called the most erosion-prone on Earth.

PolyU develops solar cells with highest power conversion efficiency

Perovskite solar cells first appeared in 2009 with an efficiency of just 3.8%. With the outstanding photovoltaic properties, perovskite solar cell has become a subject of vigorous research for sustainable power generation, with researchers around the world finding new ways to increase its energy conversion efficiency. It has currently established itself as one of the most promising solar cell materials.

Commonly used strategy for website protection is not waterproof

Cloud-based security providers commonly use DNS redirection to protect customers' websites. The success of this strategy depends on shielding the website's original IP address. Computer scientists from KU Leuven, Belgium, and digital research centre iMinds have now revealed that the IP address can be retrieved in more than 70% of the cases. This means that the DNS redirection security mechanism can easily be bypassed.

Researchers generate clean energy using bacteria-powered solar panel

BINGHAMTON, NY - Researchers have taken the next step in the evolution of bacteria-powered energy.

For the first time ever, researchers connected nine biological-solar (bio-solar) cells into a bio-solar panel. Then they continuously produced electricity from the panel and generated the most wattage of any existing small-scale bio-solar cells - 5.59 microwatts.

Battery components can take the heat

Rice University materials scientists have introduced a combined electrolyte and separator for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that supplies energy at usable voltages and in high temperatures.

An essential part of the nonflammable, toothpaste-like composite is hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), the atom-thin compound often called "white graphene."

US doctors report reconstructing new esophagus tissue in a critically ill patient

Writing in The Lancet, US doctors report the first case of a human patient whose severely damaged esophagus was reconstructed using commercially available FDA approved stents and skin tissue. Seven years after the reconstruction and 4 years after the stents were removed, the patient continues to eat a normal diet and maintain his weight with no swallowing problems.

Pivotal inflammatory players revealed in diabetic kidney disease

In a new study, published in the online edition of the journal EBioMedicine, a multi-disciplinary team led by researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine has identified key inflammatory mechanisms underlying type 1 diabetes and obesity-related kidney dysfunction.

Quantum dots enhance light-to-current conversion in layered semiconductors

UPTON, NY-Harnessing the power of the sun and creating light-harvesting or light-sensing devices requires a material that both absorbs light efficiently and converts the energy to highly mobile electrical current. Finding the ideal mix of properties in a single material is a challenge, so scientists have been experimenting with ways to combine different materials to create "hybrids" with enhanced features.

Clearing the way for real-world applications of superhydrophobic surfaces

In their perspective article in the journal Science, researchers from Aalto University call for consistent and standardized testing of superhydrophobic, i.e. extremely water-repellent, materials.

Agreeing on a unified testing method is needed to allow community-wide comparison between published results. This would significantly progress development of superhydrophobic materials and their transfer to commercial products in, for instance, self-cleaning and anti-icing applications.

Curiosity leads us to seek out unpleasant, painful outcomes

Curiosity is a powerful motivator, leading us to make important discoveries and explore the unknown. But new research shows that our curiosity is sometimes so powerful that it leads us to choose potentially painful and unpleasant outcomes that have no apparent benefits, even when we have the ability to avoid these outcomes altogether.

The findings are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

'Climate-smart soils' may help balance the carbon budget

ITHACA, N.Y. - Here's the scientific dirt: Soil can help reduce global warming.

While farm soil grows the world's food and fiber, scientists are examining ways to use it to sequester carbon and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

"We can substantially reduce atmospheric carbon by using soil. We have the technology now to begin employing good soil practices to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," said Johannes Lehmann, Cornell University professor of soil and crop sciences, co-author of the Perspectives piece, "Climate-smart Soils," published in Nature, April 6.