Brain

As the 150th anniversary of the formulation of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements looms, a Michigan State University professor probes the table's limits in a recent Nature Physics Perspective.

Next year will mark the 150th anniversary of the formulation of the periodic table created by Dmitry Mendeleev. Accordingly, the United Nations proclaimed 2019 as the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements (IYPT 2019). At 150 years old, the table is still growing. In 2016, four new elements were added to it: nihonium, moscovium, tennessine, and oganesson. Their atomic numbers - the number of protons in the nucleus that determines their chemical properties and place in the periodic table - are 113, 115, 117, and 118, respectively.

It took a decade and worldwide effort to confirm these last four elements. And now scientists wonder: how far can this table go? Some answers can be found in a recent Nature Physics Perspective by Witek Nazarewicz, Hannah Distinguished Professor of Physics at MSU and chief scientist at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams.

All elements with more than 104 protons are labeled as "superheavy", and are part of a vast, totally unknown land that scientists are trying to uncover. It is predicted that atoms with up to 172 protons can physically form a nucleus that is bound together by the nuclear force. That force is what prevents its disintegration, but only for a few fractions of a second.

These lab-made nuclei are very unstable, and spontaneously decay soon after they are formed. For the ones heavier than oganesson, this might be so quick that it prevents them from having enough time to attract and capture an electron to form an atom. They will spend their entire lifetime as congregations of protons and neutrons.

If that is the case, this would challenge the way scientists today define and understand "atoms". They can no longer be described as a central nucleus with electrons orbiting it much like planets orbit the sun.

And as to whether these nuclei can form at all, it is still a mystery.

Scientists are slowly but surely crawling into that region, synthesizing element by element, not knowing what they will look like, or where the end is going to be. The search for element 119 continues at several labs, mainly at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Russia, at GSI in Germany, and RIKEN in Japan.

"Nuclear theory lacks the ability to reliably predict the optimal conditions needed to synthesize them, so you have to make guesses and run fusion experiments until you find something. In this way, you could run for years," said Nazarewicz.

Although the new Facility for Rare Isotope Beams at MSU is not going to produce these superheavy systems, at least within its current design, it might shed light on what reactions could be used, pushing the boundaries of current experimental methods. If element 119 is confirmed, it will add an eighth period to the periodic table. This was captured by the Elemental haiku by Mary Soon Lee: Will the curtain rise?/ Will you open the eighth act?/ Claim the center stage?

Nazarewicz said the discovery might not be too far off: "Soon. Could be now, or in two to three years. We don't know. Experiments are ongoing."

Another exciting question remains. Can superheavy nuclei be produced in space? It is thought that these can be made in neutron star mergers, a stellar collision so powerful that it literally shakes the very fabric of the universe. In stellar environments like this where neutrons are abundant, a nucleus can fuse with more and more neutrons to form a heavier isotope. It would have the same proton number, and therefore is the same element, but heavier. The challenge here is that heavy nuclei are so unstable that they break down long before adding more neutrons and forming these superheavy nuclei. This hinders their production in stars. The hope is that through advanced simulations, scientists will be able to "see" these elusive nuclei through the observed patterns of the synthesized elements.

As experimental capabilities progress, scientists will pursue these heavier elements to add to the remodeled table. In the meantime, they can only wonder what fascinating applications these exotic systems will have.

"We don't know what they look like, and that's the challenge", said Nazarewicz. "But what we have learned so far could possibly mean the end of the periodic table as we know it."

MSU is establishing FRIB as a new scientific user facility for the Office of Nuclear Physics in the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. Under construction on campus and operated by MSU, FRIB will enable scientists to make discoveries about the properties of rare isotopes in order to better understand the physics of nuclei, nuclear astrophysics, fundamental interactions, and applications for society, including in medicine, homeland security and industry.

MINNEAPOLIS - June 4, 2018 - More than 2.5 million Americans are living with Atrial Fibrillation (AFib). AFib is an irregular heartbeat that can lead to blood clots, stroke, heart failure and other heart-related complications.

What doctors and researchers currently understand about treating AFib stems mainly from whether a patient has been diagnosed with the condition or not. University of Minnesota researchers are urging the medical community to take a closer look, specifically at AFib burden.

AFib burden refers to the amount of AFib that an individual has. The goal of the scientific statement published in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation is to increase knowledge and awareness by healthcare professionals of effective, state-of-the-art science related to the causes, prevention, detection, management, and future research needs related to AFib burden.

"We hope to bring awareness to this concept of measuring the AFib burden and then to outline what we know about it," said Lin Yee Chen, MD, MS, tenured associate professor, Department of Medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School, "the hope then is to use that knowledge so more research can be done to fill in those gaps."

AFib is associated with an elevated risk of stroke, and this statement also pushes for more research to refine risk classifications for stroke. Further understanding the relationship between AFib pattern or burden and stroke risk might result in deeper insights into stroke prevention.

"We could see an enormous benefit to our patient population once these standards are applied. And now is the time to do so," said Chen.

There's a good chance you've touched something made out of the polyolefin polymer today. It's often used in polyethylene products like plastic bags or polypropylene products like diapers.

As useful as polyolefins are in society, they continue to multiply as trash in the environment. Scientists estimate plastic bags, for example, will take centuries to degrade.

But now, researchers at Virginia Tech have synthesized a biodegradable alternative to polyolefins using a new catalyst and the polyester polymer, and this breakthrough could eventually have a profound impact on sustainability efforts.

Rong Tong, assistant professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and affiliated faculty member of Macromolecules Innovation Institute (MII), led the team of researchers, whose findings were recently published in the journal Nature Communications.

One of the largest challenges in polymer chemistry is controlling the tacticity or the stereochemistry of the polymer. When multiplying monomer subunits into the macromolecular chain, it's difficult for scientists to replicate a consistent arrangement of side-chain functional groups stemming off the main polymer chain. These side-chain functional groups greatly affect a polymer's physical and chemical properties, such as melting temperature or glass-transition temperature, and regular stereochemistry leads to better properties.

Tong said his group has now found a way to create regular stereochemistry with polyesters.

"There's no method available to do this kind of chemistry," Tong said. "People have done similar work with polylactide before, but we've fundamentally shown that if we control the stereochemistry, the polyesters will have improved physical and chemical properties."

Tong and his postdoc, Quanyou Feng, combined a new photoredox Ni/Ir catalyst -- a surprisingly simple chemical process that uses a household light bulb to start the reaction -- with a stereoselective Zn catalyst to initiate the ring-opening polymerization of the O-carboxyanhydride monomer to create these improved polyesters. The monomers can be conveniently polymerized within just a few hours with trace amounts of catalysts. The resulting material has a high molecular weight, thermal stability and crystallinity, and can degrade in basic water solution.

"If you use a regular catalyst, it doesn't have stereochemistry control, but we found that our catalyst can do that," Tong said. "In our paper, we demonstrate how to design such stereoselective catalysts and how they help with stereochemistry control."

O-carboxyanhydrides are made out of amino acids, which are natural organic compounds, so these polyesters would degrade, unlike the current nondegradable polyolefins. In addition, O-carboxyanhydrides can bring different functional groups to the polyester and diversify the polymer's application. Currently, the FDA has only approved a few polyesters for biomedical application. After finalizing the synthesis, Tong then worked with Guoliang "Greg" Liu, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and fellow affiliated faculty member with MII, to show that the new polymers had improved properties.

"Dr. Tong's lab has outstanding catalyst design and polymerization techniques, and we have excellent characterization and processing skillsets, so it's natural for us to work together," Liu said. "Controlling and proving tacticity is not a trivial process. Using differential scanning calorimetry and nuclear magnetic resonance, we provide strong evidence for the structure and properties that we're going for."

Developing these polyesters into applications is still down the line, but Liu said for now this is a significant advancement for materials research.

"This polyester synthesis that controls the tacticity can provide a new library of polymer materials that we haven't had before," Liu said.

This piece of innovative chemistry has Tong and Liu excited for a future that degradable and green plastics can be produced to replace today's petroleum plastics that persist in landfills and oceans for decades or centuries.

Tong mentioned that this new polymer synthesis technology has been demonstrated only at the academic lab scale. There is still much work to be done to characterize these functional materials and perfect the patent-pending synthesis scale-up process.

"It would be our dream to see these degradable polyesters materialize in the marketplace, for both the plastic industry and biomedical application," Tong said.

Sensory-based food education given to 3-5 year-old children in the kindergarten increases their willingness to choose vegetables, berries and fruit, according to a new study from the University of Eastern Finland. Sensory-based food education offers new tools for promoting healthy dietary habits in early childhood education and care. The findings were published in Public Health Nutrition.

The researchers used the sensory-based food education method Sapere, which makes use of children's natural way of relying on all of the five senses when learning new things: by looking at, smelling, tasting, touching and listening to new things. In the Sapere method, children are given an active role around food, and they are encouraged to share their sensory experiences. Sensory-based food education is well suited to the everyday life of kindergartens, where children eat several meals every day and participate in pedagogically oriented group activities.

Kindergartens have a variety of methods to choose from when delivering food education. For example, they can introduce different vegetables, berries and fruit to children in hands-on sessions, they can involve children in baking and cooking, and they can offer children opportunities for growing their own vegetables in the kindergarten backyard. Food-related themes can also be included in books and games.

"There are several different ways to do this. However, it always starts from sensory-based learning, child-orientation and child engagement. Doing and experiencing things together is also an important aspect," says Researcher, Nutritionist Kaisa Kähkönen from the University of Eastern Finland.

The researchers compared children in different kindergarten groups. Some were offered sensory-based food education, while others weren't. Children were offered a snack buffet containing different vegetables, berries and fruit to choose from, and the researchers took photos of their plates to analyse their willingness to choose and eat these food items.

The findings show that sensory-based food education given in kindergarten increased children's willingness to choose vegetables, berries and fruit - especially among children whose mothers have a lower educational background. On average, children of lower educated parents tend to eat less vegetables, berries and fruit. This is how food education given in the kindergarten can help even out dietary differences between families.

"Another interesting finding is that the Sapere food education method also seems to improve the eating atmosphere in kindergarten groups. This encouraged children who, according to their parents, were picky eaters, to choose a more diverse selection of vegetables, berries and fruit on their plate," Kähkönen explains.

Positive and personal food-related experiences gained in the kindergarten can help modify dietary preferences in a direction that is beneficial for health. Dietary preferences learned in early childhood often stick with a person all the way to adolescence and adulthood.

In a statement published in the European Respiratory Journal, a coalition of respiratory doctors and scientists from six continents have warned of the dangers posed to children and adolescents by electronic cigarettes [1].

They say there is mounting evidence that e-cigarettes damage health and are highly addictive, yet manufacturers are marketing them as "healthier" cigarettes and their popularity among young people is growing.

As a result, they are calling for an immediate ban on flavourings and on marketing e-cigarettes as lower risk alternatives to children and adolescents.

The Forum of International Respiratory Societies [2] is a collaborative of nine organisations from North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia that was created to promote lung health worldwide.

The paper brings together a wide range of research findings on e-cigarettes. It highlights evidence that children and adolescents are highly susceptible to nicotine addiction, and that use of e-cigarettes has risen steeply in this age group to become the most commonly used tobacco-related product among adolescents in some countries.

The authors lay out a set of evidence-based recommendations for protecting youth from nicotine addiction and its harmful effects.

The paper was co-authored by Thomas Ferkol MD, Alexis Hartmann professor of paediatrics and professor of cell biology and physiology at Washington University in St. Louis, USA. He said: "Until recently, the risks of e-cigarettes and their rising popularity with children and adolescents were under-recognised or ignored. We wrote this statement to address growing public health concerns over e-cigarette use among youths.

"Product design, flavours, marketing, and perception of safety and acceptability have increased the appeal of e-cigarettes to young people. These products are 'normalising' smoking and leading to new generations addicted to nicotine."

The authors found growing evidence that e-cigarettes act as a "one-way bridge" to cigarette smoking in adolescents.

Professor Ferkol added: "Some people truly believe e-cigarettes could be used as a smoking cessation technique, but these products also are an entry to nicotine addiction and tobacco use in young people."

Charlotta Pisinger, clinical professor of tobacco control at Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital and University of Copenhagen, Denmark was also a co-author. She said: "Although exposure to potentially harmful ingredients from electronic cigarettes may be lower than traditional cigarettes, this does not mean that e-cigarettes are harmless.

"And when we're talking about children and adolescents who are trying e-cigarettes for the first time, we should not be comparing their use to traditional cigarettes. We should be comparing them to no tobacco use."

The paper puts forward a series of expert recommendations that the authors say will protect this vulnerable group. They state that e-cigarettes should be regulated in the same way as tobacco products and included in smoke-free policies. They say that there should be a ban on sales to youths worldwide, which must be enforced. Advertising e-cigarettes as lower-risk alternatives directed to youths and young adults should cease.

The paper also calls for a ban on flavoured products, because there is evidence that flavourings draw young people to e-cigarettes. There are currently more than 7,500 different flavoured e-cigarettes and refills available. Finally, the authors recommended further research on the health effects of e-cigarettes as well as surveillance of use across different countries.

Regulation of e-cigarettes varies widely around the world. For example, legislation on a minimum age for buying e-cigarettes is non-existent or not enforced in most countries.

Dr Aneesa Vanker, a senior specialist in paediatric pulmonology, at the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, University of Cape Town, South Africa, was also a co-author the paper. She added: "E-cigarettes are largely unregulated, particularly in low and middle-income countries. They are marketed as a smoking cessation tool and a safer alternative to tobacco cigarettes.

"However, there is growing evidence that nicotine has many acute and long-term adverse effects, including addiction. Young people are at particular risk for this.

"We want local, national, and regional decision-makers to recognise the growing public health threat that e-cigarettes pose to children and adolescents. Inhaling something other than air is never good for a child's lungs."

RICHMOND, BC and GUILFORD, CONN., BIOASIS TECHNOLOGIES INC. (TSX.V:BTI; OTCQB:BIOAF), a biopharmaceutical company developing its xB3 TM proprietary platform technology for the delivery of therapeutics across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and the treatment of CNS disorders in areas of high unmet medical-need, including brain cancers and neurodegenerative diseases, today announced the publication of independent research validating the ability of the company's xB3 platform to efficiently deliver antibodies across the blood-brain barrier to the central nervous system in therapeutically relevant doses.

Scientists at MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca, evaluated Bioasis' xB3 platform technology by making two xB3 antibody fusion proteins and measuring systemic pharmacokinetic (PK) and brain exposure in mice; this was followed by a pharmacodynamic (PD) study in a mouse neuropathic pain model. This research shows that the xB3 platform demonstrated a strong PK/PD dose dependent relationship in this pre-clinical neuropathic pain mouse model without compromising peripheral pharmacokinetic properties. The research conducted by Thom, et al., "A peptide derived from melanotransferrin delivers a protein-based interleukin 1 receptor antagonist across the BBB and ameliorates neuropathic pain in a pre-clinical model," was published in the Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism.

The study found that the xB3 fusion protein maintained the systemic pharmacokinetics of its payload and had significantly improved and sustained brain exposure of the payload molecule. The PD study demonstrated dose dependent pre-clinical effect in neuropathic pain model post single dose systemic administration.

The data presented in this publication provide evidence for the utility of xB3 peptides (previously known as MTfpep) as a platform technology for delivery of recombinant and chemically conjugated drugs across the BBB to increase brain exposure. The pharmacokinetic data demonstrate efficient delivery of antibodies across the BBB with peak exposure of over 4% injected dose per gram of brain, compared to peak of 0.5% for payload alone.

The new data from MedImmune further highlights that xB3 peptides do not affect systemic pharmacokinetics of the antibody payload compared to the payload alone. In the pharmacodynamic mouse model of neuropathic pain, the recombinant fusion protein with interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA) demonstrated efficient delivery of therapeutic concentrations of IL-1RA to the CNS and eliciting analgesia in the animal model after a single dose treatment. Systemic administration of IL-1RA itself does not elicit analgesia.

"The results from this research independently validate the utility of our xB3 platform technology to increase delivery of therapeutic compounds across the blood-brain barrier at levels that may help treat a variety of central nervous system diseases. The Medimmune data are consistent with the previous antibody study where our technology successfully delivered Herceptin® (trastuzumab) to the brain, engaged the target areas and reduced brain metastasis by 68%." said Mei Mei Tian, Ph.D., vice president, head of external research, Bioasis.

An international team of researchers, affiliated with UNIST has discovered a novel method for the synthesis of ultrathin semiconductors. This is a unique growth mechanism, which yielded nanoscopic semiconductor ribbons that are only a few atoms thick.

This breakthrough has been jointly conducted by Distinguished Professor Feng Ding and Dr. Wen Zhao from the Center for Multidimensional Carbon Materials (CMCM), within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) at UNIST, in collaboration with the National University of Singapore (NUS), the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), and Shenzhen University.

In the study, the research team has successfully fabricated MoS2 nanoribbons via vapour-liquid-solid (VLS) growth mechanism, a type of chemical vapour deposition (CVD) process.

"Synthesis of vertically elongated structure via VLS growth mechanism."

Chemical vapor deposition or CVD is a generic name for a group of processes whereby a solid material is deposited from a vapor by a chemical reaction occurring on or in the vicinity of a normally heated substrate surface. It is the most widely adopted industrial techniques for producing semiconducting thin films and nanostructures.

"The range of structures that can be controllably synthesized by the current methods is still limited in terms of morphology, spatial selectivity, crystal orientation, layer number and chemical composition," the research team noted. "Therefore, developing versatile growth methods is essential to the realization of highly integrated electronic and photonic devices based on these materials.

"The current CVD-based growth process relies on the inherent dynamics of the precursors to diffuse and self-organize on the substrate surface, which results in crystallites with characteristic triangular or hexagonal shapes," says Dr. Zhao. "This unique growth mechanism of the nanoscopic semiconductor ribbons that are only a few atoms thick is an exciting discovery." In the study, she performed density functional theory based molecular dynamic (DFT-MD) simulations of the MoS2 precipitation process.

The proposed mechanism of VLS growth differs from commonly known CVD technique, as it involves the precursors introduced in the vapour phase form a liquid droplet intermediate before condensing into a solid product.

The team noted that the morphology of the growth product was, however, unlike what is normally expected from a VLS growth, which typically yields cylindrical or tubular structures rather than ribbons. Their observation suggests that the liquid droplet migrates on the substrate surface in a rather ordered manner, leaving behind a track of ultrathin crystal.

"Because the liquid droplet migrates on the substrate surface in a rather ordered manner, the morphology of the growth product yielded cylindrical or tubular structures rather than ribbons." says Dr. Zhao.

This time, however, the horizontal growth of predominantly monolayer MoS2 ribbons was obtained via VLS growth, a unique growth mechanism that has not been reported until now.

Their observation revealed that the VLS growth of monolayer MoS2 is triggered by the reaction between MoO3 and NaCl, which results in the formation of molten Na-Mo-O droplets. These droplets mediate the growth of MoS2 ribbons in the 'crawling mode' when saturated with sulfur. The locally well-defined orientations of the ribbons reveal the regular horizontal motion of the droplets during growth.

"Assisting the growth of MoS2 ribbons, like painting with a an ink droplet."

In order to gain insight into the liquid-solid transformation, Professor Ding's team performed density functional theory based molecular dynamic (DFT-MD) sumulations of the precipitation process. The simulation showed the attachment of molybdenum (Mo) and sulfur (S) to the previously established MoS2.

"It is worth noting that MoS2 is not oxidized despite the presence of large numbers of oxygen atoms," says the research team. "We also observe the nucleation of MoS2 clusters in regions that are rich in Mo and S atoms, further supporting the feasibility of liquid-mediated nucleation and growth of MoS2."

"This study has prompted questions about surface and interface growth of nanomaterials," says Professor Ding. "By identifying a suitable liquid-phase intermediate compound, we believe that it will be possible to realize the direct 1D growth of a range of van der Waals layered materials."

The team anticipates that many other materials can be grown using a similar approach. Their short-term goal is to understand the growth mechanism better and to control the morphology of the ribbons.

"Our work identified many interesting questions about surface and interface growth of nanomaterials," says Professor Goki Eda at the National University of Singapore (NUS), the corresponding author of this study. "We predict that the ability to directly grow complex structures will greatly facilitate the realization of high performance nanoelectronic circuits."

The team noted that their results provide insight into the distinct VLS growth mode of 2D MoS2 and demonstrate the potential of their implementation in nanoelectronic devices. The findings of this study have been published in the prestigious journal, Nature Materials on April 23, 2018.

Diamonds is the strongest naturally occurring material on Earth. It is also renowned for its incomparable properties, such as high stiffness, exceptional thermal conductivity, high chemical resistance, and high optical transparency. Although these remarkable properties of diamond make it highly desirable for many scientific and technological applications, progress has been slow due to its brittleness.

A recent study, affiliated with UNIST has unveiled that brittle diamonds can be bent and stretched elastically when made into ultrafine needles.

This breakthrough has been jointly conducted by Distinguished Professor Feng Ding's team from the Center for Multidimensional Carbon Materials (CMCM), within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) at UNIST, in collaboration with an international team of researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), City University of Hong Kong, and Nanyang Technological University. The results of the study has been reported this week in the prestigious jornal Science.

The team demonstrated that their nanoscale diamond needles could flex and stretch by as much as nine percent without breaking, then return to their original shape. Their discovery completely overturns previous theories that diamonds are brittle. Their results, the research team say, could open up unprecedented possibilities for tuning its optical, optomechanical, magnetic, phononic, and catalytic properties through elastic strain engineering.

"Ultrahigh elasticity of diamond is due to the paucity of internal defects."

Ordinary diamond in bulk form has a limit of well below one percent stretch, according to the researchers. In the study, Professor Ming's group handled the chemical calculation and the analysis of the crystal structure of diamond and ascribed that the ultrahigh elasticity of the diamond nanoneedles is due to the paucity of internal defects and the relatively smooth surface.

"Diamonds, either natural or artificial, have internal defects in their crystal structure," says Professor Ding. "When outside force is applied to these defects, they can crack and eventually break."

In the study, via detailed simulations, Professor Ding determined precisely how much stress and strain the diamond needles could accommodate without breaking. He determined the corresponding maximum local stress was close to the known theoretical limit achievable with a perfect, defect-free diamond. He noted that defect-free diamonds can stretch by as much as 12% without breaking.

"Diamond needles stretched and flexed as much as 9% without any breakage."

The research team from the City University of Hong Kong succeeded in fabricating nanoscale diamond needles by plasma-induced etching of diamond thin films deposited on Si substrates through bias-assisted chemical vapor deposition (CVD). As a result, the team was able to demonstrate ultralarge, fully reversible elastic deformation of nanoscale (~300 nanometers) single-crystalline and polycrystalline diamond needles.

The team measured the bending of the diamond needles, which were grown through a chemical vapor deposition process and then etched to their final shape, by observing them in a scanning electron microscope while pressing down on the needles with a standard nanoindenter diamond tip. They demonstrated experimentally that single-crystalline needles are simultaneously ultrastrong and susceptible to large elastic deformation, with fully reversible mechanical deformability of up to a maximum of 9% of elastic tensile strain.

The research team expects that their findings could lead to performance enhancement in applications, involving bioimaging and biosensing, strain-mediated nanomechanical resonators, drug delivery, data storage, and optomechanical devices, as well as ultrastrength nanostructures. Besides, Professor Ding noted that large elastic deformation in nanoscale diamond needles will be suitable for use in next-generation flexible and foldable displays.

Views on human age need to be revisited. The value of adulthood as a period of certainty has declined for many, which means that this period is being delayed. The processes of personality development vary, and adults are preserving signs of infantilism. HSE University experts, Elena Sabelnikova and Natalia Khmeleva, suggest a new way of looking at the phenomenon of infantilism in their paper Infantilism: Theoretical Construct and Operationalization which avoids a 'judgemental'
approach.

The traditional life periodization by age 'child - young person - adult' is not quite relevant today. Too many things have changed: the pace of life, approaches to education, social roles and institutions, marriage, and professional identity. People's life courses have become less predictable. The beginning of adult life has changed. Finally, the value of adulthood is being questioned, and infantilism is becoming a common phenomenon.

Delayed Self-identity

From a psychological perspective, adulthood implies self-regulation, emotional maturity (rationality, self-control, lack of impulsivity, etc.), responsibility, ability to self-reflect, and the need to work and have stable relationships. Adults strive for success in their professions and in family life. Some psychologists emphasize the importance of the motives of affiliation and achievement. It is important for a person to define his or her civil and social position, lifestyle, etc.

According to Sabelnikova and Khmeleva, infantile personality, on the contrary, is characterized by immature feelings ('childish' reactions, lack of willpower, lack of confidence), external locus of control (other people are blamed), inflated self-concept, low demands on self (accompanied by high demands on society), and egocentrism. 'An infantile person seeks to escape the need to adequately assess objective social reality', the paper's authors added.

In other words, maturity is associated with successful mastering of the key social roles: professional, spousal, and parental. But more and more people are delaying this choice, and valuing it differently. People are spending more time in search of themselves and are taking longer to get an education and choose a partner. As a result, the process of professional and personal identification is taking longer.

Age Boundaries Are Relative

Demographic data show that the age of separation from the parents' family has shifted from 18-20 in older generations (for example, among Russians born in the 1950s) to 23-25 for those born during the 1980s baby boom.

Almost one-third of the generation born between 1980 and 1986 believe that they rushed into independence too early. 'On the one hand, we can assume that 70% of the younger respondents had made a well thought out decision since they are sure they started off on their own at the right time for them', said demographers Alina Dolgova and Ekaterina Mitrofanova. 'However, a fairly large and growing proportion had apparently taken the decision lightly and later regretted it'.

Periodization of ages has varied in different studies. Adulthood has different names: maturity, personal agency stage, middle age, etc. Some researchers, including American psychologists Grace Craig and Don Baucum, suggest talking about 'early adulthood' between 18 and 40. Other scholars, such as American psychologist Virginia Quinn, define the same period as 'young age'. According to Sabelnikova and Khmeleva, this is the main period of self-realization.

Infantilism Factors

Delaying adulthood is a response to the new reality, many scholars believe. Everything is changing, from the set of competencies and jobs (some of them are disappearing while the others are evolving), to relationships.

A number of new 'ways to live' have been discovered. Alternative models of adulthood have evolved. People's life courses have become unpredictable. For example, people earn a degree, work, and then study again and change their profession. People can leave their parents' home, but then come back and extend their 'childhood'. Meanwhile, the range of life opportunities is too wide, which can be disorienting and make it difficult to make a choice.

Educational choices have an 'unknown expiration date' (due to the unclear future of professions) and, according to psychologist Alexandra Bochaver, cause lack of confidence. As a result, young people tend to become escapist and delay important decisions. Instead of choosing a strategy, they limit themselves to tactical solutions in various spheres of life and delay their final ('adult') choices.

Conditions for socialization have changed. Communication has largely gone online, and is mediated by digital technology and devices: gadgets, mobile apps, social media, messengers, etc. But such contacts are superficial, Sabelnikova and Khmeleva believe. Some studies have shown that when live communication is replaced with digital communication, empathy decreases and 'autistic-like behaviour' grows (self-absorption, escaping reality). This leads to emotional immaturity.

The sociocultural environment has also changed, and traditional roles are being devalued. 'The goal "to be happy" is being replaced with the goal "to be successful"', Sabelnikova and Khmeleva write. 'Many values are getting a "not" prefix: not to get married, not to have children, since the old patriarchal values will be an obstacle for contemporary young people who are willing to become successful by all means'.

With all these powerful changes of environment, infantilization looks like a logical phenomenon.

In addition, some types of activities also impact the coming-of-age process. For example, according to Virginia Quinn, long studies (Master's, doctoral, continuing education) somewhat slow the process of growing up. Such people often live with their parents and are not willing to get a job and earn an income.

Peter Pan, Prince, Eternal Boy

Psychologists have studied the signs of infantilism from various perspectives. Jeffrey Arnett, author of the Emerging Adulthood theory (2000), outlined a special age period from 18 to 25. Young people of this age are no longer teenagers, but they are not adults yet. They are only partly independent, since they usually live with parents. Such young people have a lot of opportunities and few responsibilities. Before choosing a partner or a vocation, they can try different options several times.

Carl Gustav Jung provided a psychoanalytical analysis of this phenomenon. Speaking about the 'eternal boy' archetype (puer aeternus), he meant people avoiding adult responsibility.

Jung's peer Marie-Louise von Franz developed these ideas in her book 'Eternal Boy. Puer Aeternus'. She looked at a particular form of neurosis in such people: a 'provisional life'.

A man suffering this neurosis feels that he doesn't exist yet in real life. In his search for a partner, a job, or a vocation he constantly feels that this is not what he wants. The state of 'provisional life' may linger on: an 'eternal boy' starts avoiding living in the present. As a result, he may acquire addictions, anger attacks, and phobias.

A similar phenomenon is kidults (kid+adult), a term that first appeared in The New York Times in an article by journalist Peter Martin during a burst of arcade machine popularity. Kidults are people who preserve their teenage likings (from video games, anime and fantasy, to a responsibility-free lifestyle) until they are 30-35 and older. Psychologists illustrate this type with such characters as Peter Pan and the Little Prince.

Legitimation of Infantilism

Some scholars argue that adulthood is no longer an unconditional value. For example, a study on attitudes among 5th-graders today revealed that they are not willing to grow up. They associate adulthood not only with independence, but also with a lot of responsibilities.
Young adults are in a similar situation. 'The contradictory image of the future... frightens a young person and encourages them to stay 'in childhood', where there were no problems and the life was stable and safe', Sabelnikova and Khmeleva write. It turns out that infantilism in this case is almost a conscious choice.

The researchers believe that infantilism should not be judged. To a certain degree, it can be considered a sign of time diversity in personal development. Lev Vygotsky used to write about similar processes.

'The personality's path to maturity is not homogeneous by type', say Sabelnikov and Khmeleva. Due to time diversity, in infantile people, the emotional and willpower area 'falls behind the general development rates, and intelligence and cognition develop faster than the average in this period'.

'Legitimation' of infantilism can also be related to its assessment as a protective mechanism, a way to overcome the difficulties in life. Nancy McWilliams, a psychoanalyst from the U.S., emphasized that the term 'infantile personality' is disappearing from the official list, which is logical; in modern terms, it's just an alternative life course.

The shape of DNA can be changed with a range of triggers including copper and oxygen - according to new research from the University of East Anglia.

The structure of DNA is widely accepted to exist as a double helix, but different DNA structures also exist. New research published today points to a range of triggers that can manipulate its shape.

Applications for this discovery include nanotechnology - where DNA is used to make tiny machines, and in DNA-based computing - where computers are built from DNA rather than silicon.

Lead researcher Dr Zoe Waller from UEA's School of Pharmacy said: "DNA is a genetic material, and its structure usually looks a bit like a twisted ladder - a double helix.

"But alternative DNA structures exist and are thought to potentially play a role in the development of genetic diseases, such as diabetes or cancer."

"It was previously known that the structure of a piece of DNA could be changed using acid, which causes it to fold up into a shape called an 'i-motif'.

"This system can be used as a switch - the DNA in the two different conditions has completely different shapes so we can recognise this as either 'on' or 'off'. This has been used for DNA nano-machine applications."

Dr Waller's research previously showed that the shape of DNA can also be changed into a second structure called a hairpin by using copper salts. This change can then be reversed using EDTA (Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) - an agent commonly found in shampoo and other household products.

This expanded the capability of DNA into two switches instead of one.

Her new findings show that other triggers, including oxygen and a substance similar to Vitamin C, can also trigger DNA to change its shape.

The team added copper salts to DNA in oxygen free conditions in order to change its shape to an i-motif. By exposing the i-motif to oxygen in the air, it then changed from in i-motif into a hairpin.

The shape can then be changed from a hairpin back to an i-motif by adding sodium ascorbate, which is similar to vitamin C, and back to an unfolded state using a chelating agent.

"This research means that now we can not only change the shape of DNA using a change in pH, we can use copper salts and oxygen to have the same effect," said Dr Waller.

"There are many applications that this research could be used for. The potential changes in shape can be used as on/off switches for logic gates in DNA computing. Our findings could also be used in nanotechnology, or to change the properties of materials such as gels," she added.

Researchers using powerful supercomputers have found a way to generate microwaves with inexpensive silicon, a breakthrough that could dramatically cut costs and improve devices such as sensors in self-driving vehicles.

"Until now, this was considered impossible," said C.R. Selvakumar, an engineering professor at the University of Waterloo who proposed the concept several years ago.

High-frequency microwaves carry signals in a wide range of devices, including the radar units police use to catch speeders and collision-avoidance systems in cars.

The microwaves are typically generated by devices called Gunn diodes, which take advantage of the unique properties of expensive and toxic semiconductor materials such as gallium arsenide.

When voltage is applied to gallium arsenide and then increased, the electrical current running through it also increases - but only to a certain point. Beyond that point, the current decreases, an oddity known as the Gunn effect that results in the emission of microwaves.

Lead researcher Daryoush Shiri, a former Waterloo doctoral student who now works at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, used computational nanotechnology to show that the same effect could be achieved with silicon.

The second-most abundant substance on earth, silicon would be far easier to work with for manufacturing and costs about one-twentieth as much as gallium arsenide.

The new technology involves silicon nanowires so tiny it would take 100,000 of them bundled together to equal the thickness of a human hair.

Complex computer models showed that if silicon nanowires were stretched as voltage was applied to them, the Gunn effect, and therefore the emission of microwaves, could be induced.

"With the advent of new nano-fabrication methods, it is now easy to shape bulk silicon into nanowire forms and use it for this purpose," said Shiri.

Selvakumar said the theoretical work is the first step in a development process that could lead to much cheaper, more flexible devices for the generation of microwaves.

The stretching mechanism could also act as a switch to turn the effect on and off, or vary the frequency of microwaves for a host of new applications that haven't even been imagined yet.

"This is only the beginning," said Selvakumar, a professor of electrical and computer engineering. "Now we will see where it goes, how it will ramify."

Preschoolers can learn a lot from educational television, but younger toddlers may learn more from interactive digital media (such as video chats and touchscreen mobile apps) than from TV and videos alone, which don't require them to interact. That's the conclusion of a new article that also notes that because specific conditions that lead to learning from media are unclear, not all types of interactive media increase learning and not all children learn to the same degree from these media.

The article, a review of studies on the issue by Heather Kirkorian, associate professor of human development and family studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, is published in Child Development Perspectives, a journal of the Society for Research in Child Development.

"Research is just beginning to address how children learn from interactive digital media, but interactivity appears to help young children connect what they see on a screen to their experience in the world," according Kirkorian. "However, some types of interactivity are more beneficial than others, and optimal conditions for learning may vary considerably from person to person."

In her article, Kirkorian summarizes and analyzes research on how toddlers learn from digital media, focusing on how children understand what they see on screens in their early years. She also looks at the extent to which cognitive constraints and the complexity of tasks children must carry out as they watch or interact with media alter the effects of these media on their early learning and development.

We already know that children engage cognitively when they watch TV and can learn from well-designed educational TV programs. However, learning from video isn't the same as learning from direct experience, and until age 2 or 3 years, children appear to have difficulty learning from media that are not interactive. Older preschoolers also have trouble learning from media when they're tested on more difficult tasks. This may be because video is presented in two dimensions. Also, video lacks many cues that support learning; for example, people and characters in videos can't react to a learner's facial expressions or respond to a learner's questions.

Do interactive media support or hinder learning? Kirkorian concludes that interactive media may be more demanding cognitively because children must decide on and generate appropriate motor responses. But interactive media may facilitate learning by promoting a sense of agency, increasing children's engagement through personally relevant responses or guiding children to look at relevant information on the screen. Studies have found that toddlers learned from video chats as well as computer games and touchscreen apps, with the impact depending in part on the extent to which interactive features directed their attention to relevant information.

Furthermore, the degree to which interactivity boosts learning from screens varies considerably, according to Kirkorian, who notes that the reasons for this variability are unclear and may have to do with age-related changes in children's learning strategies or constraints in children's cognition. It may also relate to the inability of some children (especially boys and younger toddlers) to inhibit their behavioral impulses: Toddlers who can't resist the impulse to tap the screen tend to learn more from watching noninteractive videos than from games or apps that require them to interact with the screen in a certain way.

"The extent to which young children learn from screen media depends on, among other things, the intersection between the cognitive demands of a particular learning task and each child's cognitive resources," according to Kirkorian. "For instance, interactive features that guide attention to important information may be more useful than those that divert attention from that information or provide little guidance. However, this may be true only if interacting with the screen doesn't create additional cognitive load. When encountering particularly challenging or novel information, children may learn more from observing noninteractive video than from using interactive media, at least in the short term."

The research group discovered that between the ages of 4 and 7 children are already starting to associate the plant world with the animal world when asked to draw plants. The researchers studied the spontaneous drawings that 162 girls and 166 boys (328 in all) produced during the final years of Pre-primary Education and the first years of Primary Education.

The research on the knowledge that children have about the natural environment comes within the framework of the studies that over the last five years have been analysing, through spontaneous drawings, children's knowledge of the natural environment. In this respect, the researchers point out that the drawings by small children are closely linked to their thoughts and feelings. That is why the study of their representations is regarded as a valuable procedure for understanding their conceptual development better.

The study was conducted at six schools (five in Bizkaia, and one in Burgos). Three schools are located in urban areas with more than 75,000 inhabitants and the rest are located in rural areas with a population of less than 6,000. The distance between the schools does not exceed one hundred kilometres.

The research process

In the classroom, with the help of a puppet, the children are told that the puppet does not know anything about the plant world so it is suggested to them that they could use their drawings to explain to the puppet what plants are. In no more than 15 minutes each schoolchild expressed his/her way of understanding plant reality, first by drawing and then by colouring. Each one was given ten crayons to use. The drawings were produced individually in a room next to the classroom or in a specific place in the same classroom. The children were not given any indication or additional explanation about plants, animals or the interactions between them, either in the initial presentation of the activity or during the individual meetings.

When the drawings were analysed, it emerged that the children correctly associated the animal world with the plant world. For example, they depicted animals eating plants. In other words, before reaching the age of eight, they know and distinguish between living beings, and even between inert objects such as the sun, clouds or vehicles. What is true is that the older they were, the more frequently they drew animals and plants associated with each other. These results show that in the early years of education they are already capable of distinguishing between fundamental biological concepts that pave the way towards understanding natural phenomena. So teaching content on concepts relating to biology or sustainability could also be incorporated into Pre-primary Education and Primary Education.

"By way of conclusion," said José Domingo Villarroel, researcher at the Faculty of Education in Bilbao, "it can be said that the evidence we provide is consistent with the assumption that by the age of eight children start to understand the interdependence between living beings in ecosystems. This circumstance is an opportunity for them to reflect on the ecological connections between living beings, including human beings. It is an educational aim that, without doubt, should exert a significant impact on environmental thinking".

Scientists at the University of Kent have made a significant discovery about how the vitamin content of some plants can be improved to make vegetarian and vegan diets more complete.

Vitamin B12 (known as cobalamin) is an essential dietary component but vegetarians are more prone to B12 deficiency as plants neither make nor require this nutrient.

But now a team, led by Professor Martin Warren at the University's School of Biosciences, has proved that common garden cress can indeed take up cobalamin.

The amount of B12 absorbed by garden cress is dependent on the amount present in the growth medium, and the Kent team was able to confirm B12 uptake by showing that the nutrient ends up in the leaf.

The observation that certain plants are able to absorb B12 is important as such nutrient-enriched plants could help overcome dietary limitations in countries such as India, which have a high proportion of vegetarians and may be significant as a way to address the global challenge of providing a nutrient-complete vegetarian diet, a valuable development as the world becomes increasingly meat-free due to population expansion.

The Kent scientists worked with biology teachers and year 11 and 12 pupils at Sir Roger Manwood's School in Sandwich to investigate the detection and measurement of B12 in garden cress.

The pupils grew garden cress containing increasing concentrations of vitamin B12. After seven days growth, the leaves from the seedlings were removed, washed and analysed.

The seedlings were found to absorb cobalamin from the growth medium and to store it in their leaves. To confirm this initial observation, the scientists at Kent then made a type of vitamin B12 that emits fluorescent light when activated by a laser. This fluorescent B12 was fed to the plants and it was found to accumulate within a specialised part of the leaf cell called a vacuole, providing definitive evidence that some plants can absorb and transport cobalamin.

Vitamin B12 is unique among the vitamins because it is made only by certain bacteria and therefore has to undergo a journey to make its way into more complex multi-cellular organisms. The research described in the paper highlights how this journey can be followed using the fluorescent B12 molecules, which can also be used to help understand why some people are more prone to B12-deficiency.

The discovery also has implications for combating some parasitic infections. Not only did the researchers demonstrate that some plants can absorb vitamin B12, they were also able to use the same technique to follow the movement of fluorescent B12 molecules into worms. These results demonstrate that this is a powerful model to learn about how B12 is absorbed and, as worms must use a different absorption system to mammalian systems, there is the possibility of exploiting this difference to try and treat worm-based parasites such as hook worms.

The research is now published in the journal Cell Chemical Biology. Authors at Kent include Andrew Lawrence, Emi-Nemoto-Smith, Evelyne Deery, Joseph Baker, Susanne Schroeder, David Brown, Jennifer Tullet, Ian Brown and Martin Warren.
doi.org/10.1016/j.chembiol.2018.04.012

Research shows that the more skills children bring with them to kindergarten - in basic math, reading, even friendship and cooperation - the more likely they will succeed in those same areas in school. Hence, "kindergarten readiness" is the goal of many preschool programs, and a motivator for many parents.

Now it's time to add language to that mix of skills, says a new University of Washington-led study. Not only does a child's use of vocabulary and grammar predict future proficiency with the spoken and written word, but it also affects performance in other subject areas.

Language, in other words, supports academic and social success, says Amy Pace, an assistant professor in the UW Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences.

"A lot of other research focuses on math, science and literacy, and they don't even consider that language could be playing a role," she said. "But really, it emerges as a strong predictor across subject areas. Why do kids succeed in math, for example? Part of it could be having a strong math vocabulary."

The study was the first to look at a comprehensive set of school readiness skills and to try to determine which, of all of them, is the most solid predictor of a child's later success. Language -- the ability to fluidly learn words and to string them together into sentences -- was the hands-down winner, said co-author Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, director of the Infant Language Laboratory at Temple University.

For this study, published online April 30 in Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Pace and her colleagues from Temple University, the University of Delaware and the University of North Carolina examined longitudinal data from more than 1,200 children in the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development's Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. That study used several measures of academic and social skills at specific ages and grade levels, including evaluations upon entry to kindergarten and in grades 1, 3 and 5.

While there is considerable research on how children develop specific skills over time, much of that research is focused on patterns of learning within a single subject area, like math or reading. Researchers in the UW study wanted to determine whether there are relationships between skills when considered in combination, and to think about how these combined abilities might predict gains, or growth, above what might be expected based on the skills the child demonstrates when they first enter a kindergarten classroom. The team analyzed academic and behavioral assessments, assigned standardized scores and looked at how scores correlated in grades 1, 3, and 5. Growth curve modeling allowed the team to look at children's levels of performance across time and investigate rates of change at specific times in elementary school.

Researchers found that of the skills and milestones evaluated - social/emotional, attention, health, reading, math and language - only language skills, when a child entered school, predicted his or her performance both within that subject area and most others (math, reading and social skills) from first through fifth grade. Reading ability in kindergarten predicted reading, math and language skills later on; and math proficiency correlated with math and reading performance over time.

People often confuse language with literacy, Pace said. Reading skills include the ability to decode letter and sound combinations to pronounce words, and to comprehend word meanings and contexts. Language is the ability to deploy those words and use complex syntax and grammar to communicate in speech and writing. And that's why it has such potential to affect other areas of development, Pace said. At a time when so much focus is on math and science education, it is language that deserves attention, too.

"It provides a foundation for social interaction. If you're stronger in language, you will be able to communicate with peers and teachers," she said. "Language also relates to executive functioning, the ability to understand and follow through on the four-step directions from the teacher. And it helps solve problems in math and science, because understanding terminology and abstract concepts relies on a knowledge of language."

For example, language ability at school entry not only predicted language proficiency through fifth grade as expected, but it also predicted growth in literacy between grades 1 and 3, and a similar amount of growth between grades 3 and 5. In effect, language gave children a boost to help them learn more than researchers might have predicted based on the children's performance at school entry.

Measuring the impact of one skill on another, in addition to measuring growth in the same skill, provides more of a "whole child" perspective, Pace said. A child who enters school with little exposure to number sense or spatial concepts but with strong social skills may benefit from that emotional buffer. "If we look at just a very narrow slice of a child's ability, it may be predictive of ability in that area, but it's not necessarily a good prognosticator of what's to come overall for that child," she said.

Researchers expected to find that the effects of kindergarten readiness would wear off by third grade, the time when elementary school curriculum transitions from introducing foundational skills to helping students apply those skills as they delve deeper into content areas. But according to the study, children's performance in kindergarten continues to predict their performance in grades three through five. This was consistent for multiple skill areas, including language, math and reading, and suggests that bolstering children's development in those first five years is essential for long-term academic success.

A few findings merit further study, Pace added, especially as they relate to educational policy. For example, children who entered kindergarten with higher levels of skills appeared to make fewer developmental and academic gains than those children who started at lower levels. That is consistent with other research, but, Pace said, it's worth examining how to better serve high-performing students.

The study also represents an opportunity to rethink what skills are considered measures of kindergarten-readiness, she said.

"Language ability at school entry consistently emerges as an important predictor of student outcomes. This may be why the first three to five years are so critical for future academic and social development," Pace said. "It is the child's earliest, high-quality interactions with parents, teachers and caregivers that promote a strong communication foundation - and this foundation goes on to serve as the bedrock for future language and learning."