Tech

The implementation of state prescription drug monitoring programs was associated with the prevention of approximately one opioid-related overdose death every two hours on average nationwide, according to a new Vanderbilt-led study released June 22 in the journal Health Affairs.

States with the most robust programs saw the greatest reduction in overdose deaths: these states monitored and tracked a greater number of substances with abuse potential and updated their data more frequently (at least weekly).

(Millbrook, NY) A legacy of acid rain has acidified forest soils throughout the northeastern US, lowering the growth rate of trees. In an attempt to mitigate this trend, in 1999 scientists added calcium to an experimental forest in New Hampshire. Tree growth recovered, but a decade later there was a major increase in the nitrogen content of stream water draining the site. So reports a new paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by a team of scientists from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Duke University, and Syracuse University.

URBANA, IL - The use of polyethylene mulch is a common practice in vegetable production, but environmental issues related to the disposal of petroleum-based plastic mulches have producers looking for alternatives. To address environmental concerns, commercial vegetable growers are increasingly interested in using organic mulches derived from agricultural or urban byproducts and waste, paper-based mulches, and biodegradable plastic films and fabrics as alternatives.

FORT PIERCE, FL - The citrus greening disease, huanglongbing (HLB), is a devastating condition that has been reported in 40 countries across the globe. Citrus trees infected with Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas) develop HLB symptoms such as reduced plant height, yellow shoots, blotchy mottled leaves, canopy thinning, and premature abscission of fruits. Citrus fruits severely affected by HLB can be small, lopsided, and poorly colored, with bitter or sour tasting juice.

Americans spent $30.2 billion--$28.3 billion for adults and $1.9 billion for children--out-of-pocket on complementary health approaches, according to a nationwide survey. These approaches include a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products such as herbal supplements, meditation, chiropractic, and yoga. This amount represents 9.2 percent of all out-of-pocket spending by Americans on health care and 1.1 percent of total health care spending.

An international team of scientists has developed a relatively simple mathematical explanation for the rogue ocean waves that can develop seemingly out of nowhere to sink ships and overwhelm oil platforms with walls of water as much as 25 meters high.

To project how much food can be produced in the future, researchers use agricultural models that estimate crop yield, or how much of a crop can be produced in a certain amount of space. These models take into account factors like climate and weather variability, irrigation, fertilizer, and soil type. A new study published in the journal Nature Communications shows that the type of soil used in such a model can often outweigh the effects of weather variability--such as year to year changes in rainfall and temperature.

Alpine forests will be at great risk should weather phenomena such as droughts and torrential rain become more frequent. As a study by the Technical University of Munich (TUM) shows, the mountain forests of the Bavarian Alps have seen a significant reduction in topsoil organic matter over the past three decades. The study authors' recommendation is therefore to preserve, or better still, increase soil humus regardless of climate change by implementing humus-promoting forest management to safeguard the mountain forest's protective function and to mitigate floods.

Irvine, Calif., June 21, 2016 - A new way of recycling millions of tons of plastic garbage into liquid fuel has been devised by researchers from the University of California, Irvine and the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (SIOC) in China.

"Synthetic plastics are a fundamental part of modern life, but our use of them in large volume has created serious environmental problems," said UCI chemist Zhibin Guan. "Our goal through this research was to address the issue of plastic pollution as well as achieving a beneficial outcome of creating a new source of liquid fuel."

Researchers from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona have revealed the latest archaeological discoveries on the origins and consolidation of the first farming societies in Upper Mesopotamia, in Iraqi Kurdistan.

The research is the result of a project conducted by an interdisciplinary team under the leadership of professors Anna Gómez Bach and Miquel Molist, from the UAB Department of Prehistory. The area had been closed off since the 1990s to archaeological research and the UAB is the only research team from Spain participating in the dig.

The Swedish power supply is largely free of carbon emissions. Indeed, it is mainly based on a combination of hydroelectric and nuclear power combined with power exchange with neighbouring Scandinavian countries. A study published in EPJ Plus investigates the possibility of replacing nuclear power with wind power, which is by nature intermittent. According to the study, this, in turn, would finally lead to a reduction in the use of hydroelectricity if the annual consumption remained constant.

A transistor, conceived of in digital terms, has two states: on and off, which can represent the 1s and 0s of binary arithmetic.

But in analog terms, the transistor has an infinite number of states, which could, in principle, represent an infinite range of mathematical values. Digital computing, for all its advantages, leaves most of transistors' informational capacity on the table.

There are several ways to change a molecule, chemically or physically. One way is to heat it; another is to bombard it with light particles, or photons. A lesser known method relies on electron collision, or e-beam technology, which is becoming increasingly popular in industry. In a review outlining new research avenues based on electron scattering, Michael Allan from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland and colleagues explain the subtle intricacies of the extremely brief electron-molecule encounter, in particular with gentle, i.e., very low energy electrons.

SOLOMONS, MD (June 21, 2016)--We all know by now that methane is bad for the environment. It's one of those greenhouse gases that trap heat in the earth's atmosphere and contribute to our warming climate. It's regularly emitted during the production and transport of coal and oil, and sometimes even cows get the blame. However, a new study finds that estuaries like the Chesapeake Bay could be contributing significantly more methane to the atmosphere than once thought.

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 20, 2016 - Scientists in South Korea have made ultra-thin photovoltaics flexible enough to wrap around the average pencil. The bendy solar cells could power wearable electronics like fitness trackers and smart glasses. The researchers report the results in the journal Applied Physics Letters, from AIP Publishing.