Tech
This week, the open-access journal PLOS Medicine launches its latest Special Issue, focused on research and commentary about the health of refugees and migrants.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- Earthquakes produce seismic waves with a range of frequencies, from the long, rolling motions that make skyscrapers sway, to the jerky, high-frequency vibrations that cause tremendous damage to houses and other smaller structures. A pair of Brown University geophysicists has a new explanation for how those high-frequency vibrations may be produced.
Ever wish your computer could think like you do or perhaps even understand you?
That future may not be now, but it's one step closer, thanks to a Texas A&M University-led team of scientists and engineers and their recent discovery of a materials-based mimic for the neural signals responsible for transmitting information within the human brain.
Breathing propels everything we do--so its rhythm must be carefully organized by our brain cells, right?
Wrong. Every breath we take arises from a disorderly group of neurons - each like a soloist belting out its song before uniting as a chorus to harmonize on a brand-new melody. Or, in this case, a fresh breath.
That's the gist of a new UCLA study published in this week's online edition of Neuron.
Scientists have created new superconducting compounds of hydrogen and praseodymium, a rare-earth metal, one substance being quite a surprise from the perspective of classical chemistry. The study helped find the optimal metals for room-temperature superconductors. The results were published in Science Advances.
New research shows that crustaceans such as shrimps, lobsters and crabs have more in common with their insect relatives than previously thought - when it comes to the structure of their brains.
Both insects and crustaceans possess mushroom-shaped brain structures known in insects to be required for learning, memory and possibly negotiating complex, three-dimensional environments, according to the study, led by University of Arizona neuroscientist Nicholas Strausfeld.
Eating too much salt can have significant negative health implications, and modern processed food typically contains high levels of salt to improve taste and preservation.
But new processing technology out of Washington State University called microwave assisted thermal sterilization (MATS) could make it possible to reduce sodium while maintaining safety and tastiness.
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is mostly diagnosed in overweight and obese people. However, severe forms of NAFLD can also be detected in rare genetic diseases such as lipodystrophy or in patients with HIV, putting them at a high risk for developing liver failure, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Norbert Stefan and colleagues have now detected a yet unknown cause of NAFLD in lean people.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- A team of researchers has developed a new technique to map the three-dimensional forces that clusters of human cells exert on their surrounding environment. The method could potentially help scientists better understand how tissue forms, how wounds heal or how tumors spread.
Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, Canada, have reported that subpopulations of leukemic cells present at diagnosis can cause relapse in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The findings have implications for current and future therapy. The work recently appeared as an advance online publication in Cancer Discovery.
Magnetic (anti)skyrmions are microscopically small whirls that are found in special classes of magnetic materials. These nano-objects could be used to host digital data by their presence or absence in a sequence along a magnetic stripe. A team of scientists from the Max Planck institutes (MPI) of Microstructure Physics in Halle and for Chemical Physics of Solids in Dresden and the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) has now made the observation that skyrmions and antiskyrmions can coexist bringing about the possibility to expand their capabilities in storage devices.
By incorporating the architecture of city drainage systems and readings from flood gauges into a comprehensive statistical framework, researchers at Texas A&M University can now accurately predict the evolution of floods in extreme situations like hurricanes. With their new approach, the researchers said their algorithm could forecast the flow of flood water in almost real-time, which can then lead to timelier emergency response and planning.
Scientists have identified a sub-atomic particle that could have formed the "dark matter" in the Universe during the Big Bang.
Up to 80% of the Universe could be dark matter, but despite many decades of study, its physical origin has remained an enigma. While it cannot be seen directly, scientists know it exists because of its interaction via gravity with visible matter like stars and planets. Dark matter is composed of particles that do not absorb, reflect or emit light.
The influence of artificial sweeteners on the brain and ultimately metabolism has been hotly debated in recent years. Some studies have found adverse effects on blood sugar and insulin levels, while others have not. In a study publishing March 3 in the journal Cell Metabolism, researchers say the discrepancies in these studies may be due to how the sweeteners are consumed--or, more specifically, what they are consumed with.
A vapour product that contains new-to-world technology has significantly fewer and lower levels of certain toxicants compared to cigarette smoke*, a study has shown.
Scientists at British American Tobacco (BAT) performed a series of chemistry tests designed to look for specific compounds in the vapour from iSwitch, BAT's new vapour product which uses a stainless-steel blade to heat e-liquid. The emissions from iSwitch were compared to those from a reference cigarette (1R6F).