Tech
FRANKFURT/KENT/BOLOGNA/FERRARA. Teeth grow and register information in form of growth lines, akin to tree rings, that can be read through histological techniques. Combining such information with chemical data obtained with a laser-mass spectrometer, in particular strontium concentrations, the scientists were able to show that these Neanderthals introduced solid food in their children's diet at around 5-6 months of age.
Not cultural but physiological
The initial impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the scientific community has been revealed in one of the largest academic surveys ever conducted. Open access academic publisher Frontiers surveyed more than 25,000 members of its scientific research community from 152 countries between May and June this year to assess the initial impact of the virus on them and their work.
Highlights from The Academic Response to COVID-19, released by Frontiers this week, include researchers views on:
The political response
Mitigating future disasters
Buildings around us create a whopping one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions -- that is about ten times more than air traffic worldwide. In Europe alone about 190 million square metres of housing space are built each year, mainly in the cities, and the amount is growing quickly at the rate of nearly one percent a year.
BEER-SHEVA, Israel...November 2, 2020 - A new high-speed amphibious robot inspired by the movements of cockroaches and lizards, developed by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers, swims and runs on top of water at high speeds and crawls on difficult terrain.
'Titanium silicalite-1' (TS-1) is not a new catalyst: It has been almost 40 years since its development and the discovery of its ability to convert propylene into propylene oxide, an important basic chemical in the chemical industry. Now, by combining various methods, a team of scientists from ETH Zurich, the University of Cologne, the Fritz Haber Institute and BASF has unveiled the surprising mechanism of action of this catalyst. From Cologne, the working group of Professor Dr. Albrecht Berkessel at the Department of Chemistry was involved.
In recent years, we've heard a lot about "news bubbles" and "echo chambers," the idea that to validate their own worldviews, liberals read liberal news and conservatives read conservative news. The proliferation of partisan online news sites, the thinking goes, only makes it worse. Numerous studies have supported these ideas. However, they all have one thing in common: They don't take into account the news people read on their mobile devices.
Recent study by Estonian researchers in University of Tartu explains how coronavirus is activated before attacking the cell and what could help to impede that. The study published in Scientific Reports, takes us a step closer to understanding why the spread of SARS-CoV-2 has been so rapid and aggressive. The studied virus activation mechanism is also one potential target for developing drugs for the treatment of COVID-19.
HOUSTON - (Nov. 2, 2020) - Testing for malaria could become as simple as putting on a bandage.
That's the idea behind a platform developed by Rice University engineers who introduced a microneedle patch for rapid diagnostic testing that does not require extracting blood.
The device detailed in the Nature journal Microsystems and Nanoengineering draws upon protein biomarkers contained in dermal interstitial fluid, what people generally recognize as the fluid inside blisters but surrounds all of the cells in skin.
Five years ago, the United Nations committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger by 2030. Since then, however, world hunger has continued to rise. Nearly 9 percent of our global population is now undernourished, according to a 2020 report from the FAO, and climate variability is a leading factor driving us off course.
Follow the unbreakable bouncing phone! A Polytechnique Montréal team recently demonstrated that a fabric designed using additive manufacturing absorbs up to 96% of impact energy - all without breaking. Cell Reports Physical Science journal recently published an article with details about this innovation, which paves the way for the creation of unbreakable plastic coverings.
DURHAM, N.H. - As temperatures begin to drop and fall transitions into winter, snow will soon blanket the northern regions of the United States. But researchers at the University of New Hampshire have found that snow cover is on the decline in this area due to climate change and the shift from winter to spring, known as the vernal window, is getting longer.
Terahertz (THz) waves, located between the millimeter and far-infrared frequency ranges, are an electromagnetic frequency band that is as-yet incompletely recognized and understood. Xiaojun Wu of Beihang University leads a group of researchers actively seeking ways to understand, generate, and control THz radiation. Wu notes that THz waves have great potential for expanding real applications--from imaging to information encryption--but the development of THz science and technology has been hindered by a lack of sufficiently efficient sources.
Alcohol consumption is a common coping response to stress, and historically, it has increased in the United States following catastrophic events, such as terrorist attacks and large-scale natural disasters. Considering COVID-19, experts at McLean Hospital have published a viewpoint article in the Journal of General Internal Medicine that examines potential ways to moderate and reduce rising alcohol consumption in the face of the pandemic.
Get your popcorn. Engineers and virologists have a new way to watch viral infection go down.
Pesticides help farmers increase food production, reduce costly damage to crops, and even prevent the spread of insect-borne diseases, but since the chemicals can also end up in human food, it's essential to ensure that they are safe. For a commonly used pesticide known as glyphosate, concerns exist over how high a level is safe in food as well as the safety of one of its byproducts, known as AMPA.