Ecstasy -- or MDMA, the active chemical ingredient--is one of the most prevalent party drugs; it is estimated to be used by at least one out of ten young adults in the United States.
Tech
Motion-controlled video games, such as those played on the Wii, may help boost skills when players compete in the real world, according to a team of researchers.
Researchers from North Carolina State University and the University of Delaware have developed an algorithm that can quickly and accurately reconstruct hyperspectral images using less data. The images are created using instruments that capture hyperspectral information succinctly, and the combination of algorithm and hardware makes it possible to acquire hyperspectral images in less time and to store those images using less memory.
Hyperspectral imaging holds promise for use in fields ranging from security and defense to environmental monitoring and agriculture.
PHILADELPHIA (February 18, 2016) - A new, novel study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing) shows that there is an alarming connection between the negative social interactions disadvantaged youth experience in both the neighborhoods they live in and on social media. The study, led by Robin Stevens, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor, Department of Family & Community Health and Director of the Health Equity & Media Lab, is set for publication in New Media & Society, but is currently available online.
What do irritable, squished riders on a crowded subway train do? According to a forthcoming study in the INFORMS journal Marketing Science, they often immerse themselves in their mobile phones to escape the crowd, and that they shop and buy more in response to mobile ads in the crowded train.
Innovative membrane wings that work like artificial muscles have been successfully tested in-flight, paving the way for a new breed of unmanned Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs) that have improved aerodynamic properties, can fly over long distances and are more economical to run. Inspired by bats, the wings change shape in response to the forces they experience and have no mechanical parts, making MAVs incorporating them easier to maintain.
Autonomous robots performing a joint task send each other continual updates: "I've passed through a door and am turning 90 degrees right." "After advancing 2 feet I've encountered a wall. I'm turning 90 degrees right." "After advancing 4 feet I've encountered a wall." And so on.
Computers, of course, have no trouble filing this information away until they need it. But such a barrage of data would drive a human being crazy.
New research has identified regions in the United States where bioenergy crops would grow best while minimizing effects on water quantity and quality.
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign used detailed models to examine impacts on water quantity and quality in soils that would occur if existing vegetation was replaced by various bioenergy crops in the name of ethanol production.
Fragrances can be powerful. They can sooth or revitalize, evoke the forest or sea, and remind us of the past. To capture them, manufacturers infuse scents into products from toilet bowl cleaners to luxury perfumes. But once released from a bottle, fragrances evaporate quickly. Now researchers report in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces a new way to encapsulate fragrance molecules to make a product's scent last.
Soilless farming could help developing countries with little arable land and harsh for agriculture climate, such as Qatar, to become self-sufficient in terms of their produce. Relying on advanced hydroponics and multi-story vertical growing, the proposed system uses nutrient-enriched water to produce approximately a hundred times more yield compared to when the crops are grown on a conventional farmland of the same size.
Lithium-ion batteries are a rapidly growing energy storage method due to their high energy density, especially in mobile applications such as personal electronics and electric cars. However, the materials currently used in Li-ion batteries are expensive, many of them, like lithium cobalt oxide (belonging to the EU Critical Raw Materials, CRMs), are difficult to handle and dispose of. Additionally, batteries using these materials have relatively short lifetimes.
The new milk frother you are using to prepare your cappuccino is likely using magnetic gears. Magnetic gears transmit rotary motion like mechanical gears but instead of teeth they use magnetic attraction and repulsion between rotating magnets. Dr Johannes Schoenke, a postdoctoral scholar at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST), published in Physical Review Applied a theory which extends the possibilities and applications for smooth magnetic couplings, which can produce an even motion without any counterforce.
A scientific paper written by video-gamers has been accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal, perhaps the first time since the days of Benjamin Franklin that work led by non-credentialed "citizen scientists" will appear in such a format.
Ask a biofuel researcher to name the single greatest technical barrier to cost-effective ethanol, and you're likely to receive a one-word response: lignin.
Cellulosic ethanol--fuel derived from woody plants and waste biomass--has the potential to become an affordable, renewable transportation fuel that rivals gasoline, but lignin, one of the most ubiquitous components of the plant cell wall, gets in the way.
A new biorefinery process developed by scientists at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has proven to be significantly more effective at producing ethanol from algae than previous research.