Culture
Professor Junichiro Shiomi et al. from The University of Tokyo aimed to reduce the thermal conductivity of semiconductor materials by reducing the internal nanostructure, and successfully minimized thermal conductivity by designing, fabricating, and evaluating the optimal nanostructure-multilayer materials through materials informatics (MI), which combines machine learning and molecular simulation. In 2017, this research group developed a method to design an optimal structure that minimizes or maximizes thermal conductivity via MI based on computational science.
DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke University researchers have developed an AI tool that can turn blurry, unrecognizable pictures of people's faces into eerily convincing computer-generated portraits, in finer detail than ever before.
Previous methods can scale an image of a face up to eight times its original resolution. But the Duke team has come up with a way to take a handful of pixels and create realistic-looking faces with up to 64 times the resolution, 'imagining' features such as fine lines, eyelashes and stubble that weren't there in the first place.
Hamburg/Borstel/Leipzig. The tuberculosis pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis can protect itself better when combined and thus stay alive longer in the air. This was the result of a study by the Leibniz Research Alliance INFECTIONS, which was published in the scientific journal Scientific Reports on Monday.
The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 that originated in China has claimed an estimated 100,000 lives in the United States, while a different sort of pandemic is spreading online against Asian Americans, particularly of Chinese descent. A study published in Frontiers in Communication suggests there is a strong relationship between social media use and prejudice.
New research from The George Institute for Global Health at the University of Oxford has found significant gender bias in research authorship relating to COVID-19, which means that women's views are not equally shaping the response to the pandemic.
Women are under-represented as authors of research papers in many scientific areas [1], particularly in the most senior positions of first and last author, and this research published today in BMJ Global Health finds the trend persisting in publications on COVID-19.
Women make up only a third of all authors who have published research on COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic in January this year, and even fewer of them are senior authors on these papers, suggests an analysis in BMJ Global Health.
Lockdown measures may have further widened existing inequalities by restricting their capacity to commit to research, because of competing demands from home-schooling, parenting, and other caring duties, suggest the researchers.
Aspirin reduces colorectal cancer risk by half in individuals at high genetic risk. Preventive efficacy is prolonged for 10-20 years after treatment with aspirin.
URBANA, Ill. ¬- Traffic accidents are the leading cause of non-natural deaths worldwide. Lower speed limits may help prevent accidents. But speed-reduction policies can be controversial and effects are not well documented.
A new study from University of Illinois shows that speed reductions in São Paulo, Brazil, dramatically reduced fatal accidents and increased travel times only minimally.
As news of the coronavirus swept the nation in March 2020, the risks of COVID-19 infection and infection-fatality were still unclear.
Perhaps as a result, a new study found respondents showed large disagreements between the risks of COVID-19 infection. Yet, those who perceived a higher risk indicated they were more likely to engage in handwashing and other protective behaviors. And participants seemed more willing to act on their risk perceptions as the pandemic progressed and the risks became more real.
For black Americans - particularly men - growing up in better neighborhoods doesn't diminish the likelihood of going to prison nearly as much as it does for whites or Latinos, new Cornell research shows.
"If you're a black male in America, it doesn't matter much if you come from a good neighborhood or a bad neighborhood," said Steven Alvarado, assistant professor of sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences. "Your chances of being incarcerated are similar."
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Researchers who made a knock-in mouse-model of the genetic disorder retinitis pigmentosa 59, or RP59, expected to see retinal degeneration and retinal thinning. As reported in the journal Cells, they surprisingly found none, calling into question the commonly accepted -- though never proved -- mechanism for RP59.
Frailty is the medical term for becoming weaker or experiencing lower levels of activity or energy. Becoming frail as we age increases our risk for poor health, falls, disability, and other serious concerns.
Every time you hear a deep rumble and feel your house shake when a big truck roars by, that's partly because the weight of heavy vehicles causes a slight deflection in the road surface under them. It's enough of a dip to make a difference to the trucks' overall fuel efficiency.
Now, a theoretical study by MIT researchers suggests that small changes in roadway paving practices could reduce that efficiency loss, potentially eliminating a half-percent of the total greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector, at little to no cost.
Interferons and other cytokines produced by the immune system are important defenses against viral infections, but as we have seen in COVID-19, they can also contribute to damaging, potentially life-threatening lung inflammation. Recent evidence suggests that one type of interferon, known as type III interferon or interferon lambda (λ), can fight viral infection while limiting this inflammatory damage. That has led to clinical trials to test type III interferon as a treatment for COVID-19.
Banks and bookstores. Gyms and juice bars. Dental offices and department stores. The Covid-19 crisis has shuttered some kinds of businesses, while others have stayed open. But which places represent the best and worst tradeoffs, in terms of the economic benefits and health risks?