Culture
WSU researchers have developed a sustainable wastewater treatment system that relies on electron-producing microbial communities to clean the water.
The work could someday lead to reduced reliance on the energy-intensive processes that are used to move and treat wastewater, which accounts for as much as two percent of the total electrical energy consumption in the United States.
Osaka, Japan - Researchers from the Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research at Osaka University have devised a new method to determine the degree of fibrillation in wood pulp. By taking advantage of the intrinsic optical birefringence of cellulose, they were able to measure the morphology change through optical retardation distribution. This work may lead to clear grading and smart utilization of renewable biomass, cellulose nanofibers.
When the corona pandemic began in March, it fundamentally changed many people's everyday lives. A normal working day, vibrant public life, carefree social contacts - all these things now seem like a memory from another age. In order to find out what effects these restrictions are having on people's emotional well-being, the researchers carried out a survey on how people dealt with the pandemic. "Our analyses showed that most people have been doing relatively well during these times," explains Lara Kröncke from Münster University's Institute of Psychology.
An international team of researchers has developed a new nanomaterial from the silk produced by the Tetranychus lintearius mite. This nanomaterial has the ability to penetrate human cells without damaging them and, therefore, has "promising biomedical properties".
Armed conflict activities increased in five countries during the first wave of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic says new research from the University of Melbourne.
India, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan and the Philippines all saw an escalation of civil wars because conflict parties exploited either state weakness or a lack of international attention due to the pandemic.
"I looked at the countries that had the most palpable records of conflict," said researcher Dr Tobias Ide, a Discovery Early Career Researcher Fellow from the School of Geography.
More than half of the matter in our universe has so far remained hidden from us. However, astrophysicists had a hunch where it might be: In so-called filaments, unfathomably large thread-like structures of hot gas that surround and connect galaxies and galaxy clusters. A team led by the University of Bonn (Germany) has now for the first time observed a gas filament with a length of 50 million light years. Its structure is strikingly similar to the predictions of computer simulations. The observation therefore also confirms our ideas about the origin and evolution of our universe.
Alzheimer's disease is characterized by the presence of amyloid plaques* in the patient's brain. These plaques sequester copper, and contain approximately five times as much as a healthy brain. Two CNRS scientists from the Coordination Chemistry Laboratory recently developed, with their colleagues from the Guangdong University of Technology and Shenzhen University (China), a molecule that regulates the circulation of copper in the brain.
Implicit racial bias refers to the automatic non-conscious behaviours, even if one's explicit attitude is not biased at all. Several studies have shown these prejudices are reduced in white people after being in the body of a black person in virtual reality. Now, a study carried out by researchers of the University of Barcelona shows that when the virtual scenario is affectively negative, implicit bias increases, and even the illusion of owning a virtual body is lessened.
COLUMBUS, Ohio - People may cheer the demise of evil villains in fiction, but the deaths we most remember are the meaningful and sad endings of the characters we loved, research suggests.
In a new study, researchers found that when people were asked to recall the death of a fictional character, they were more likely to mention deaths perceived as "meaningful" than those seen as "pleasurable."
The world is changing in dramatic ways, especially in the High Arctic. Climate change has meant that spring arrives earlier, but winters have become far more treacherous for Arctic animals that overwinter there, with more rain and ice.
So what about birds that don't overwinter in the Arctic, but nest and raise young there? Researchers have spent nearly three decades collecting data on a group of barnacle geese that migrate to the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard to see how the geese respond to environmental changes overall.
Multiple studies have evaluated the incidence of back pain among patients who undergo catheter-based heart procedures while conscious. But the impact of back pain on patients who undergo similar procedures for the brain has not been previously examined. These minimally invasive brain procedures are also typically performed while the patient is awake and require an even longer immobilization period.
Climate change mitigation requires curbing emissions from all sectors, including shipping. The European Union has set ambitious targets to achieve this goal. The European regulation number 757 on Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification of CO2 emissions (EU-MRV) contributes to it by collecting CO2 emission data from all vessels above 5,000 GT calling at ports within the European Economic Area.
Research has shown that gut microbes can influence several aspects of the host's life, including aging. Given the complexity and heterogeneity of the human gut environment, elucidating how a specific microbial species contributes to longevity has been challenging. To explore the influence of bacterial products on the aging process, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and Rice University developed a method that uses light to directly control gene expression and metabolite production from bacteria residing in the gut of the laboratory worm Caenorhabditis elegans.
Cancer treatment isn't just a matter of shrinking or removing a tumor. It also involves preserving or improving the patient's quality of life. Rehabilitation services--such as behavioral therapies to alleviate pain and exercise to reduce fatigue--are a valuable way to do that. But they often aren't included in cancer patients' plans of care.
"Rehabilitation has been an underdog in cancer treatment," said Nicole Stout, a research assistant professor with the West Virginia University School of Public Health and WVU Cancer Institute. "It hasn't been top of mind."
Female COVID-19 patients face less severe disease complications and a lower risk of dying than male patients thanks to hormones and chromosomes that contribute to a stronger immune response, according to new research from a University of Alberta-led team.