Tech
Imagine a reusable face mask that protects wearers and those around them from SARS-CoV-2, is comfortable enough to wear all day, and stays in place without frequent adjustment. Based on decades of experience with filtration and textile materials, Georgia Institute of Technology researchers have designed a new mask intended to do just that -- and are providing the plans so individuals and manufacturers can make it.
As anyone who has ever straightened their hair knows, water is the enemy. Hair painstakingly straightened by heat will bounce back into curls the minute it touches water. Why? Because hair has shape memory. Its material properties allow it to change shape in response to certain stimuli and return to its original shape in response to others.
If you have any children in your life, imagine for a moment that they don't look anything like their parents, they don't eat anything humans normally eat, and they're active only while adults sleep.
While that might sound like an idea from a work of surreal fiction, it's actually the norm rather than the exception in the animal kingdom. Most animals go through what biologists call a complex life cycle, starting as larvae that often have little, if anything, in common with their parents.
The world's oceans soak up more carbon than most scientific models suggest, according to new research.
Previous estimates of the movement of carbon (known as "flux") between the atmosphere and oceans have not accounted for temperature differences at the water's surface and a few metres below.
The new study, led by the University of Exeter, includes this - and finds significantly higher net flux of carbon into the oceans.
From MasterChef to MKR, the world's best chefs have taught us how to barbeque, grill and panfry a steak to perfection. But while the experts may be seeking that extra flavour, new research from the University of South Australia suggests high-heat caramelization could be bad for our health.
Conducted in partnership with the Gyeongsang National University the study found that consuming red and processed meat increased a protein compound that may increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, and complications in diabetes.
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana - Low-income Louisiana patients enrolled in a tailored obesity intervention program lost much more weight than counterparts receiving usual care. Study results were published this week in The New England Journal of Medicine. This population, who traditionally face the most barriers to weight loss and the highest levels of obesity, found success in a coaching program delivered directly through their primary care clinics.
Electronic devices are becoming smaller, more connected, and more powerful; and they still have one thing in common: they need energy to function. Even miniature implantable medical devices and remote Internet-of-Things sensors need some amount of power to run, making it a challenge to design equally small, efficient, and durable batteries for them.
A research collaboration based at Kumamoto University (Japan) has found that activation of PPARα, a fatty acid receptor that detects fatty acids in cells and regulates physiological functions, causes masculinization of Japanese rice fish (medaka). The discovery of this molecular mechanism is expected to advance the development of new sex control technologies.
Many production facilities (e.g. plastic manufacturers, pharma companies, and others) use nanocatalysts that contain palladium--an expensive component that is not sustainably produced. A chemist from RUDN University found a way to reduce palladium consumption and to make its manufacture more eco-friendly. He developed a catalyst based on a substance that comes from plant waste. Using his invention, manufacturers could cut palladium consumption in half. Moreover, new catalysts can be reused multiple times without any decrease in efficiency.
Between the arrival of pearl divers and war brides - long after Japanese performers toured Australia 150 years ago - an untold chapter of World War Two history has emerged in a new study of wartime art made by almost 5000 prisoners of war in Australia and New Zealand.
Focusing on internment camps set up across Australia and NZ, Canterbury University and Flinders University art historians Richard Bullen and Tets Kimura examine some exquisite Japanese artworks produced during the extended period of war incarceration.
Memristor memory technology is set to revolutionise computers the world over as it is touted as one of the most promising candidates used for next-generation edge computing. This technology is attracting a lot of attention for replacing flash due to its implementations in high-efficient in-memory computing, machine learning and neuromorphic computation. Realising a model to predict the phenomena of memristor memory technology accurately is essential as this will allow engineers to design systems with more efficient behaviors for making a cheaper, faster memory.
A collaboration of researchers based in Kumamoto University, Japan have discovered microdiamonds in the Nishisonogi metamorphic rock formation in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. Microdiamonds in metamorphic rocks are important minerals because they form in continental collision zones and show that the crust has penetrated deeper than 120 km below the surface. This is the second area in the world, after the Italian Alps, that shows microdiamonds can form in metamorphic rock through subduction of oceanic plates.
A study led by researchers from Tasmania, Chile and Germany has furthered our understanding of plant evolution by tracking the origins of electrical signalling components that plants developed to communicate and adapt to life on land.
The research team, including University of Tasmania plant scientist Dr Frances Sussmilch, studied DNA sequences of diverse plant species to map the evolutionary origins of important adaptations.
While 'trolls' have been around almost as long as the Internet, 'Incels' are a more recent and distinctly different cyber sub-culture which warrants more study says a QUT researcher.
QUT behavioural economist Dr Stephen Whyte has co-authored a new paper which examines data collected during the national online Australian Sex Survey in 2016, a research collaboration with adultmatchmaker.com and the Eros Association.
Dye-sensitised solar cells used in low-light conditions could perform more consistently thanks to improved understanding of the role additives play in optimising electrolytes.
Laptops and mobile phones, among other devices, could be charged or powered indoors, away from direct sunlight, using dye-sensitised solar cells (DSCs), which have achieved efficiencies of up to 34% at 1000 lux from a fluorescent lamp.
Copper-based electrolytes containing various combinations of additives have been used to achieve these efficiencies, with varying results to date.