Brain
New research suggests that graphene - made in a specific way- could be used to make more durable hydrogen fuel cells for cars.
In the study, published today in the journal Nanoscale, scientists produced graphene via a special, scalable technique and used it to develop hydrogen fuel cell catalysts. The research team, involving scientists from Queen Mary University of London and University College London (UCL), showed that this new type of graphene-based catalyst was more durable than commercially available catalysts and matched their performance.
A healthy low-calorie diet that contains plant products can help us improve the level of sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) protein production that is known to increase life expectancy. A team of scientists from Krasnoyarsk conducted an experiment to see how buckwheat affected the health of rats. The only known method to optimize the level of this protein is a calorie restriction. But why will healthy people be subjected to calorie restriction without any medical emergency?
What factors influence the spread of invasive animal species in our oceans? This question was the focus for a team of experts from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), Bangor University (Wales, UK), and the University of Greifswald's Zoological Institute and Museum in the context of the DFG-sponsored Research Training Group 2010 RESPONSE (Biological Responses to Novel and Changing Environments). The results of their study have just been released in the journal Ecography (DOI: 10.1111/ecog.04725).
The perceived "whiteness" of Americans of Middle Eastern and North African descent is indirectly tied to discrimination against them, and may feed a "negative cycle" in which public awareness of discrimination leads to more discrimination, according to a Rutgers-led study.
Science has shown that service dogs can benefit some veterans with PTSD. But the exact role service dogs play in the day-to-day lives of veterans - and the helpfulness of the tasks they perform - is less known.
A recent study led by Purdue University's College of Veterinary Medicine shows what trained tasks service dogs perform the most often and which ones are the most helpful to veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. The study found that the task of disrupting episodes of anxiety ranked among the most important and most often used.
America's oldest citizens say they've been through worse, but many older adults are feeling the stress of COVID-19 and prolonged social distancing measures, according to a new study from the University of Georgia.
And most are using a wider range of communication tools to stay in touch.
Study author Kerstin Emerson, a clinical associate professor of gerontology at UGA's Institute of Gerontology, said she's concerned that older adults could be experiencing more exacerbated feelings of loneliness due to social distancing.
AMES, Iowa - Say there's a bomb attack on a military base. A few of the soldiers suffer concussions and other brain injuries. Could some of the injuries be caused by tiny bubbles that form and collapse within the skull during head trauma?
Researchers at Iowa State University, with the support of grants from the Office of Naval Research, are using their expertise with the manufacture of microstructures to study and describe the damage to brain cells caused by the formation and collapse of microbubbles - a process known as cavitation.
An international team led by researchers at Princeton University has uncovered a new class of magnet that exhibits novel quantum effects that extend to room temperature.
Crown-of-thorns starfish are renowned for eating coral and destroying coral reefs--but when juvenile crown-of-thorns first settle in reef environments they start out by eating rock-hard coralline algae. In a new study, Jennifer Wilmes and her colleagues compared the growth between juvenile crown-of-thorns starfish that switch diets early after settlement (within six months) versus those that continue to feed on coralline algae for up to a year.
WASHINGTON, July 21, 2020 -- The production of biodiesel from vegetable oil has been around for more than 150 years, and the approach significantly reduces several pollutants associated with burning fossil fuels. Vegetable oils, however, can be notoriously difficult to use in an engine, providing low power output and release of unique toxic byproducts.
Topological insulators have been an exciting field of research with fundamental interest as well as practical applications such as robust transport of electrons and light, and topological quantum computing. The hallmark of such conventional topological insulators is the presence of conducting boundary modes which have one dimension lower than the insulating bulk system that hosts them - for example a one-dimensional edge mode at the boundary of a two-dimensional system, or a two-dimensional surface state at the boundary of a three-dimensional system.
Topological insulators are a new phase of matter featured by their insulating bulk and perfectly conducting edges. They have been at the forefront of condensed matter physics for the past decade and more recently inspired the emergence of topological phases in many classical-wave systems, such as photonics and acoustics. Up to date, all studies of topological insulators have explored systems in integer dimensions (physically, 2D or 3D) with a well-defined bulk and edges.
The unusual dark greenish and glistening "gel-like" substance in a crater on the far side of the moon has attracted widespread interest following its discovery by the Chang'e-4 rover in July 2019.
A research team led by Prof. DI Kaichang from the Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and their collaborators analyzed the substance in detail by using multiple datasets from the rover's panoramic camera (Pancam), hazard avoidance camera (Hazcam), and the visible and near-infrared spectrometer (VNIS).
Scientists studying brown-throated three-toed sloths, where predators are extinct and food is more accessible, have found that the animals adapt to have a primarily diurnal, or daytime, schedule.
Researchers from Kazan Federal University, Texas A&M University and Institute of Applied Physics (Russian Academy of Sciences) found ways to direct high frequency gamma radiation by means of acoustics.
The paper describes an optical "switch" - a device able to let through or stop gamma quanta by switching the acoustic field. Basically, the mechanism makes iron "transparent" for gamma rays when needed.