Tech
The use of biomass-derived plastics is one of the prime concerns to establish a sustainable society, which is incorporated as one of the Sustainable Development Goals. However, the use of most of the biomass-derived plastics is limited due to their low heat resistance. Collaborative research between JAIST and U-Tokyo has successfully developed the white-biotechnological conversion from cellulosic biomass into the aromatic polymers having the highest thermodegradation of all the plastics reported ever.
Australian scientists have developed a new type of sensor to measure and correct the distortion of starlight caused by viewing through the Earth's atmosphere, which should make it easier to study the possibility of life on distant planets.
Using artificial intelligence and machine learning, University of Sydney optical scientists have developed a sensor that can neutralise a star's 'twinkle' caused by heat variations in the Earth's atmosphere. This will make the discovery and study of planets in distant solar systems easier from optical telescopes on Earth.
Leesburg, VA, October 21, 2020--According to an open-access article in ARRS' American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR), the use of spectral CT with electron density imaging could improve the assessment of lung lesion extent in patients with early-stage coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Earth's magnetic fields typically switch every 200 to 300 millennia. Yet, the planet has remained steady for more than twice that now, with the last magnetic reversal occurring about 773,000 years ago. A team of researchers based in Japan now has a better understanding of the geophysical events leading up to the switch and how Earth has responded since then.
They published their results on September 1in the Progress in Earth and Planetary Science, a Springer journal.
How has the climate changed in the course of the earth's history? Which climatic processes have influenced the earth and its atmosphere? Paleoclimatology seeks answers to such questions in order to better understand climate changes and to derive forecasts for future climate scenarios. So-called sedimentary archives serve as a basis for this. They are rock deposits whose components and composition provide information about the temperatures and climatic conditions at the time of their formation.
Research from the University of Kent, the Research centre on Interactive Media, Smart systems and Emerging technologies - RISE Ltd and the University of Cyprus has revealed that Virtual Reality (VR) technology can have significant impact on the validity of remote health appointments for those with eating disorders, through a process called Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET).
This paper demonstrates the potential value of Multi-User Virtual Reality (MUVR) remote psychotherapy for those with body shape and weight concerns.
Photodiodes are optical sensors that convert the energy of light into electrical energy. Organic photodiodes (OPDs) respond quickly and have the advantage of being able to realize colors free from color filters because they can control the spectral response of wavelengths. However, most of the color controlling methods reported so far do not fit the current trends of small, thin screens because they thicken the photodiodes to cause light distortion.
Bronze Age pastoralists in what is now southern Russia apparently covered shorter distances than previously thought. It is believed that the Indo-European languages may have originated from this region, and these findings raise new questions about how technical and agricultural innovations spread to Europe. An international research team, with the participation of the University of Basel, has published a paper on this topic.
As part of its foreign policy, Germany hopes to promote energy transitions abroad through international energy partnerships. A new study by the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) analyses these bilateral energy partnerships. Building on its reputation as an energy transition frontrunner, Germany is currently pursuing a soft power strategy aimed at winning over foreign countries to its policy approaches in the energy sector. According to this analysis, Germany's bilateral energy partnerships are the central policy instrument to this end.
AMES, Iowa - New research shows a simple skin test can accurately identify Parkinson's disease, demonstrating for the first time the feasibility of the method. Currently diagnosed by clinical signs and symptoms but only definitively diagnosed at autopsy, Parkinson's disease is commonly misdiagnosed early in the disease course, complicating clinical trials of potential treatments.
There are places that will always be beyond our reach. The Earth's interior is one of them. But we do have ways of gaining an understanding of this uncharted world. Seismic waves, for instance, allow us to put important constraints about the structure of our planet and the physical properties of the materials hidden deep within it. Then there are the volcanic rocks that emerge in some places on the Earth's surface from deep within and provide important clues about the chemical composition of the mantle.
Researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) and Carnegie Mellon University have together developed a new human motion capture system that consists of a single ultra-wide fisheye camera mounted on the user's chest. The simplicity of their system could be conducive to a wide range of applications in the sports, medical and entertainment fields.
Researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) working in collaboration with colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University, the University of St Andrews and the University of New South Wales have developed a wrist-worn device for 3D hand pose estimation. The system consists of a camera that captures images of the back of the hand, and is supported by a neural network called DorsalNet which can accurately recognize dynamic gestures.
Preeclampsia, a pregnancy complication characterized by high blood pressure, occurs in about 7 percent of pregnancies and is a leading cause of maternal mortality and premature birth. The condition can appear in a variety of forms both early and late in pregnancy, making it difficult to test and therefore hard to prevent or treat.