Tech | Page 1228 | Science Codex

Smaller meals more times per day may curb obesity in cats

URBANA, Ill. – Just as with people, feline obesity is most often linked to excessive food intake or not enough physical activity. Attempts to cut back on calories alone often result in failed weight loss or weight regain in both people and their pets.

So how do you encourage your cat to get more exercise?

Researchers from the University of Illinois interested in finding a method to maintain healthy body weight in cats, looked at a previously suggested claim that increased meal frequency could help to increase overall physical activity.

Study examines correctional officer stress

HUNTSVILLE, TX (2/20/14) -- Conflicts between work and family life were the most significant issues that affect work stress and job satisfaction among correctional officers, a new study by the Correctional Management Institute of Texas at Sam Houston State University found.

Spotlighting black chemists and chemical engineers (video)

WASHINGTON, Feb. 20, 2014 — Their research may lead to a new generation of renewable fuels, medical devices and safer home products. The American Chemical Society (ACS) is continuing its celebration of Black History Month with a new video featuring several African-American chemists and chemical engineers doing cutting edge research today. The video is available at http://youtu.be/v0PmKbJNAQI.

From a distance: New technique for repair work

This news release is available in German.

Numerous German companies are operating globally these days: They develop products domestically, but production is done in other countries like China, Brazil or the Czech Republic. If maintenance or repair work is needed, the engineers who had designed the complex production plants frequently have to travel from Germany.

A new laser for a faster Internet

A new laser developed by a research group at Caltech holds the potential to increase by orders of magnitude the rate of data transmission in the optical-fiber network—the backbone of the Internet.

New research blows away claims that aging wind farms are a bad investment

The UK has a target of generating 15 per cent of the nation's energy from renewable resources such as wind farms by 2020. There are currently 4,246 individual wind turbines in the UK across 531 wind farms, generating 7.5 per cent of the nation's electricity.

ORNL microscopy system delivers real-time view of battery electrochemistry

OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Feb. 19, 2014 -- Using a new microscopy method, researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory can image and measure electrochemical processes in batteries in real time and at nanoscale resolution.

Scientists at ORNL used a miniature electrochemical liquid cell that is placed in a transmission electron microscope to study an enigmatic phenomenon in lithium-ion batteries called the solid electrolyte interphase, or SEI, as described in a study published in Chemical Communications.

A step closer to a photonic future

WASHINGTON, Feb. 19–The future of computing may lie not in electrons, but in photons – that is, in microprocessors that use light instead of electrical signals. But these so-called photonic devices are typically built using customized methods that make them difficult and expensive to manufacture.

Making nanoelectronics last longer for medical devices, 'cyborgs'

The debut of cyborgs who are part human and part machine may be a long way off, but researchers say they now may be getting closer. In a study published in ACS' journal Nano Letters, they report development of a coating that makes nanoelectronics much more stable in conditions mimicking those in the human body. The advance could also aid in the development of very small implanted medical devices for monitoring health and disease.

Chemical leak in W.Va. shows gaps in research, policy

The chemical leak that contaminated drinking water in the Charleston, W.Va., area last month put in sharp relief the shortcomings of the policies and research that apply to thousands of chemicals in use today. An article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly magazine of the American Chemical Society, delves into the details of the accident that forced 300,000 residents to live on bottled water for days.

Kinetic battery chargers get a boost

New technology to capture the kinetic energy of our everyday movements, such as walking, and to convert it into electrical energy has come a step closer thanks to research to be published in the International Journal Biomechatronics and Biomedical Robotics.

Better cache management could improve chip performance, cut energy use

Computer chips keep getting faster because transistors keep getting smaller. But the chips themselves are as big as ever, so data moving around the chip, and between chips and main memory, has to travel just as far. As transistors get faster, the cost of moving data becomes, proportionally, a more severe limitation.

UK failing to harness its bioenergy potential

The UK could generate almost half its energy needs from biomass sources, including household waste, agricultural residues and home-grown biofuels by 2050, new research suggests.

Scientists from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at The University of Manchester found that the UK could produce up to 44% of its energy by these means without the need to import.

New study reveals communications potential of graphene

Providing secure wireless connections and improving the efficiency of communication devices could be another application for graphene, as demonstrated by scientists at Queen Mary University of London and the Cambridge Graphene Centre.

Often touted as a wonder material, graphene is a one-atom thick layer of carbon with remarkable, record breaking properties. Until now its ability to absorb electromagnetic radiation – energy from across the radio frequency spectrum – was not known.

Pond-dwelling powerhouse's genome points to its biofuel potential

Duckweed is a tiny floating plant that's been known to drive people daffy. It's one of the smallest and fastest-growing flowering plants that often becomes a hard-to-control weed in ponds and small lakes. But it's also been exploited to clean contaminated water and as a source to produce pharmaceuticals. Now, the genome of Greater Duckweed (Spirodela polyrhiza) has given this miniscule plant's potential as a biofuel source a big boost.