Tech

Mom's trusty nose may be good, but researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have gone her one better by designing an instrument that quickly and precisely sniffs trace amounts of chemical compounds that indicate poultry spoilage without damaging the product itself.* The process can detect minute amounts of spoilage compounds and can be used by suppliers during all stages of processing, transport and storage.

TRURO, NOVA SCOTIA—Irish potato, one of the world's major food crops, is increasingly grown and processed for use in various products; consider the popularity of consumer favorites like French fries and potato chips. In the closely scrutinized food production industry, products are accepted or rejected on the basis of color and appearance, among other attributes. Quality defects such as after-cooking darkening, or ACD—a change in potato's normal flesh color to gray, blue, purple, or black—can affect the marketability of potatoes for both processing and fresh markets.

Two-dimensional, "sheet-like" nanostructures are commonly employed in biological systems such as cell membranes, and their unique properties have inspired interest in materials such as graphene. Now, Berkeley Lab scientists have made the largest two-dimensional polymer crystal self-assembled in water to date. This entirely new material mirrors the structural complexity of biological systems with the durable architecture needed for membranes or integration into functional devices.

Boston, MA – A new study from researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and Children's Hospital Boston has found that gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and heterosexuals who have ever had a same-sex sex partner are one-and-a-half to two times as likely to experience violent events, especially in childhood, than the general population and have double the risk of experiencing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a consequence of these events.

KAGAWA, JAPAN—Growing tomatoes is not always easy. In many parts of the world summers are too hot to grow tomatoes in greenhouses, even those with intricate cooling systems. In cooler climates where tomatoes are grown year-round in production greenhouses, yield fluctuations are still challenging for producers who need to fulfill orders and predict labor costs. Finding accurate methods for predicting greenhouse tomato yields is at the forefront of growers' concerns.

Current observational tools cannot account for roughly half of the heat that is believed to have built up on Earth in recent years, according to a "Perspectives" article in this week's issue of the journal Science.

Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo., warn that satellite sensors, ocean floats, and other instruments are inadequate to track this "missing" heat, which may be building up in the deep oceans or elsewhere in the climate system.

GAINESVILLE, FL—Strawberries are very fragile and highly susceptible to mechanical injury during commercial production. Growers interested in ways to increase profits and reduce product loss are seeking improved handling and temperature management techniques. Collaborative research from scientists from the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation—Embrapa and the University of Florida contains several findings that show promise to significantly improve commercial strawberry handling.

Rechargeable batteries may soon provide greater energy efficiency not only for road traffic, but also for rail transport. Scientists at the research neutron source FRM II of the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) are taking a closer look at a high performance rechargeable battery for future hybrid locomotives. The focus is on a sodium/iron chloride battery manufactured by General Electric (GE). The study reveals the distribution of chemical substances within the battery during various states of charge.

Since 2007, every new U.S. passport has been outfitted with a computer chip. Embedded in the back cover of the passport, the "e-passport" contains biometric data, electronic fingerprints and pictures of the holder, and a wireless radio frequency identification (RFID) transmitter.

BOULDER--Current observational tools cannot account for roughly half of the heat that is believed to have built up on Earth in recent years, according to a "Perspectives" article in this week's issue of Science. Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) warn in the new study that satellite sensors, ocean floats, and other instruments are inadequate to track this "missing" heat, which may be building up in the deep oceans or elsewhere in the climate system.

Reducing the number of preventable patient injuries in California hospitals from 2001 to 2005 was associated with a corresponding drop in malpractice claims against physicians, according to a study issued today by the RAND Corporation.

Researchers studied both medical malpractice claims and adverse events such as post-surgical infections across California counties and found that changes in the frequency of adverse events were strongly correlated with corresponding changes in the volume of medical malpractice claims.

Eye masks and earplugs could help hospital patients get a better night's sleep. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Critical Care investigated their effect on sleep quality in a simulated intensive care environment.

NEW YORK – A team of investigators from Columbia, Rockefeller and Stanford Universities has identified a new gene involved in hair growth, as reported in a paper in the April 15 issue of Nature. This discovery may affect future research and treatments for male pattern baldness and other forms of hair loss.

The hazy smoke lingering after forest fires contains chemicals that summon the forest back to life — and now are emerging as a potential new generation of agricultural chemicals that could boost food crop production and revitalize barren soil. Those biochemical signaling molecules, which stimulate the plant growth, are the topic of an article in the current issue of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), ACS' weekly newsmagazine.

Solar power in southeastern Ontario has the potential to produce almost the same amount of power as all the nuclear reactors in the United States, according to two studies conducted by the Queen's University Applied Sustainability Research Group located in Kingston, Canada.

These studies, led by Queen's mechanical engineering professor Joshua Pearce, are the first to explore the region's solar energy potential. Professor Pearce was surprised by how many gigawatts could be produced.