Tech

Interactions between health care professionals and the prescription drug and medical device industries are common in the United States, especially in academic medical centers, and may include gifts to medical students such as textbooks and interactions of marketing representatives with students. Such practices have been criticized as potentially conveying biased information and reducing the students' skepticism about potentially misleading claims.

Swedish and Chinese researchers show how a unique nano-alloy composed of palladium nano-islands embedded in tungsten nanoparticles creates a new type of catalysts for highly efficient oxygen reduction, the most important reaction in hydrogen fuel cells. Their results are published in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

LAWRENCE — Few people devote time to pondering the ancient origins of the eel-like lamprey, yet the evolutionary saga of the bloodsucker holds essential clues to the biological roots of humanity.

Today, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published a description of fossilized lamprey larvae that date back to the Lower Cretaceous — at least 65 million years ago.

They're the oldest identified fossils displaying the creature in stages of pre-metamorphosis and metamorphosis.

Washington D.C., October 14, 2014 -- Even as the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics has enshrined light emitting diodes (LEDs) as the single most significant and disruptive energy-efficient lighting solution of today, scientists around the world continue unabated to search for the even-better-bulbs of tomorrow.

Enter carbon electronics.

Scientists from Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore) have developed a new battery that can be recharged up to 70 per cent in only 2 minutes. The battery will also have a longer lifespan of over 20 years.

Expected to be the next big thing in battery technology, this breakthrough has a wide-ranging impact on many industries, especially for electric vehicles which are currently inhibited by long recharge times of over 4 hours and the limited lifespan of batteries.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 13, 2014 — Whether it's a plain cheese, a deep-dish stacked with meats or a thin-crust veggie delight, there's just something about pizza that makes it delicious. There's a lot of chemistry that goes into everything from dough to sauce to toppings to, of course, cheese. There's also a very specific chemical reaction at work on every single slice, no matter what toppings you choose.

New York | Heidelberg, 13 October 2014 Increasing reliance on renewable energies is the way to achieve greater CO2 emission sustainability and energy independence. As such energies are yet only available intermittently and energy cannot be stored easily, most countries aim to combine several energy sources. In a new study in EPJ Plus, French scientists have come up with an open source simulation method to calculate the actual cost of relying on a combination of electricity sources.

The risk of having another stroke is higher if patients, after dilation of their blood vessels in the brain, not only receive clot-inhibiting drugs, but also have small tubes called stents inserted. However, studies have provided no hint of a benefit from stenting, which is also referred to with the abbreviation "PTAS". This is the conclusion reached in the rapid report of the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG), as published on 9 October 2014.

Stents are supposed to prevent restenosis

Developing the cloak of invisibility would be wonderful, but sometimes simply making an object appear to be something else will do the trick, according to Penn State electrical engineers.

"Previous attempts at cloaking using a single metasurface layer were restricted to very small-sized objects," said Zhi Hao Jiang, postdoctoral fellow in electrical engineering, Penn State. "Also, the act of cloaking would prevent an enclosed antenna or sensor from communicating with the outside world."

Stanford University scientists have developed a "smart" lithium-ion battery that gives ample warning before it overheats and bursts into flames.

The new technology is designed for conventional lithium-ion batteries now used in billions of cellphones, laptops and other electronic devices, as well as a growing number of cars and airplanes.

Spintronics is an emerging field of technology where devices work by manipulating the spin of electrons rather than their charge. The field can bring significant advantages to computer technology, combining higher speeds with lower energy consumption. Spintronic circuits need ways to control electron spin without interference from electron charge. Scientists at EPFL, working with Université Paris-Sud and Paul Scherrer Institut, have discovered that a common insulating material behaves as a perfect spintronic conductor because it is not affected by background electron charge.

Concerns over human-insecticide exposure has stimulated the development of alternative bed bug control materials, and many essential oil-based pesticides and detergent insecticides have been developed in recent years. But how well do they work? To find out, researchers from Rutgers University evaluated the efficacy of nine essential oil-based products and two detergents that are labeled and marketed for bed bug control. The results are published in an article in the Journal of Economic Entomology.

NEW YORK, NY (October 9, 2014)—Using an innovative algorithm that analyzes gene regulatory and signaling networks, Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers have found that loss of a gene called KLHL9 is the driving force behind the most aggressive form of glioblastoma, the most common form of brain cancer. The CUMC team demonstrated in mice transplants that these tumors can be suppressed by reintroducing KLHL9 protein, offering a possible strategy for treating this lethal disease. The study was published today in the online issue of Cell.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – A new technique makes it possible to quickly detect the presence of drugs or to monitor certain medical conditions using only a single drop of blood or urine, representing a potential tool for clinicians and law enforcement.

The technique works by extracting minute quantities of target molecules contained in specimens of blood, urine or other biological fluids, and then testing the sample with a mass spectrometer.

ANN ARBOR—An unexpectedly high amount of the climate-changing gas methane, the main component of natural gas, is escaping from the Four Corners region in the U.S. Southwest, according to a new study by the University of Michigan and NASA.