Tech
It has never been safer to fly on commercial airlines, according to a new study by an MIT professor that tracks the continued decrease in passenger fatalities around the globe.
Scientists have examined a key receptor for the first time at high resolution - broadening understanding of how it might function, and opening the door to future improvements in treating conditions such as type 2 diabetes.
Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptors (GLP1R) are found on insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas and neurons in the brain. The receptor encourages the pancreas to release more insulin, stops the liver from producing too much glucose, and reduces appetite. This combination of effects can helps to control blood sugar levels.
Gravity is the unseen force that dominates our entire lives. It's what makes walking uphill so difficult and what makes parts of our body eventually point downhill. It is unyielding, everywhere, and a force that we battle with every time we make a move. But exactly how do people account for this invisible influence while moving through the world?
One of the causes of breast cancer may be inflammation triggered by harmful bacteria say researchers.
Scientists say their idea- as yet unproven - is supported by the available evidence, which is that bacterial induced inflammation is linked to cancer.
The paper in the journal Medical Hypotheses is by Lancaster University medical student Auday Marwaha, Professor Jim Morris from the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust and Dr Rachael Rigby from Lancaster University's Faculty of Health and Medicine.
Using straightforward chemistry and a mix-and-match, modular strategy, researchers have developed a simple approach that could produce over 65,000 different types of complex nanoparticles, each containing up to six different materials and eight segments, with interfaces that could be exploited in electrical or optical applications. These rod-shaped nanoparticles are about 55 nanometers long and 20 nanometers wide--by comparison a human hair is about 100,000 nanometers thick--and many are considered to be among the most complex ever made.
Providing answers about its curious supreme brightness, researchers say the superluminous supernova SN 2006gy - one of the brightest stellar explosions ever studied, and discovered in 2006 - gained its exceptional luster when a normal Type Ia explosion smashed into a surrounding shell of ejected stellar material. Superluminous supernovae (SNe) are as much as 100 times more luminous than normal SNe, far more than can be explained by standard astrophysical mechanisms.
Chemicals have improved our quality of life. But at the same time, they pose a considerable risk for humans and the environment: pesticides, pharmaceuticals and plasticisers enter the environment and the food chain, causing unwanted effects in addition to the desired ones. Despite the legislation in place, risk assessment and monitoring remain insufficient.
We all know we should fly less as a way to reduce our individual and collective effect on the global climate. But transforming that vague understanding into concrete reasons for action can be difficult -- until now.
An international coalition of researchers can now tell you how much damage you're doing to polar bear habitat when you get on a plane. Next time you take a round-trip flight from Oslo to Copenhagen, for example, you've just been responsible for emitting enough CO2 to melt nearly 1 m2 of Arctic summer sea ice.
We all know the rechargeable and efficient lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries sitting in our smartphones, laptops and also in electric cars.
Unfortunately, lithium is a limited resource, so it will be a challenge to satisfy the worlds' growing demand for relatively cheap batteries. Therefore, researchers are now looking for alternatives to the Li-ion battery.
A promising alternative is to replace lithium with the metal sodium - to make Na-ion batteries. Sodium is found in large quantities in seawater and can be easily extracted from it.
A team of researchers at the University of Ottawa has made an important breakthrough that will help better understand the origin and behavior of slow earthquakes, a new type of earthquake discovered by scientists nearly 20 years ago.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- For decades, it's been understood that water repellency is needed for surfaces to shed condensation buildup - like the droplets of water that form in power plant condensers to reduce pressure. New research shows that the necessity of water repellency is unclear and that the slipperiness between the droplets and solid surface appears to be more critical to the clearing of condensation. This development has implications for the costs associated with power generation and technologies like de-icing surfaces for power lines and aircraft.
An international group of scientists, including Skoltech Professor Sergey Rykovanov, has found a way to generate intense "twisted" pulses. The vortices discovered by the scientists will help investigate new materials. The results of their study were published in the prestigious journal, Nature Communications.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Smaller is better when it comes to microchips, researchers said, and by using 3D components on a standardized 2D microchip manufacturing platform, developers can use up to 100 times less chip space. A team of engineers has boosted the performance of its previously developed 3D inductor technology by adding as much as three orders of magnitudes more induction to meet the performance demands of modern electronic devices.
The Cancer Genetics Group of the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute, led by Montse Sánchez-Céspedes, together with Luis Montuenga from CIMA, and Enriqueta Felip from Vall d'Hebron Hospital, has revealed that inactivation of RB1 through intragenic rearrangements is frequent in lung cancer cells from non-smoking patients with EGFR mutations.
Improperly mixed chemicals cause a shocking number of fires, explosions, and injuries in laboratories, businesses, and homes each year.
A new open source computer program called ChemStor developed by engineers at the University of California, Riverside, can prevent these dangerous situations by telling users if it is unsafe to mix certain chemicals.