Tech
Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have synthesised the world's first one-atom-thick amorphous material. Previously thought to be impossible, the discovery of monolayer amorphous carbon (MAC) could finally settle a decades-old debate of exactly how atoms are arranged in amorphous solids, and open up potential applications.
Highlighting female achievements in the workplace makes capable women significantly more likely to want to be the boss, a study shows.
Public feedback about a woman's performance can significantly increase her willingness to lead, even in male-dominated environments, according to the research. The teams led by these women are subsequently more likely to perform well.
PLYMOUTH MEETING, PA [January 8, 2020] -- New research in the January 2020 issue of JNCCN--Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network uses data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) from 2000 to 2017 to examine self-reported drinking habits among people reporting a cancer diagnosis. The researchers found that of 34,080 survey participants, 56.5% were current drinkers, 34.9% exceeded moderate drinking levels, and 21% engaged in binge drinking. This is the first large study to be done on alcohol use in the oncology population.
Earth is doomed -- but not for 5 billion years. Our planet will be roasted as our sun expands and becomes a red giant, but the exoplanet WASP-12b, located 600 light-years away in the constellation Auriga, has less than a thousandth of that time left: a comparatively paltry 3 million years.
A Princeton-led team of astrophysicists has shown that WASP-12b is spiraling in toward its host star, heading toward certain destruction. Their paper appears in the Dec. 27, 2019, issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
January 2, 2020 - Boiling water turns spaghetti from brittle, inedible rods to soft, delectable pasta. A new study models the mechanics behind how noodles deform when they cook. Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, identified three states during a spaghetti strand's evolution: sagging, settling, and curling. When placed in a pot of boiling water, a spaghetti strand will first sag and then settle on the pot's bottom before finally curving in on itself.
Although governments, academia, and organizations all around the world have been emphasizing the crisis concerning the use of fossil fuels for many years, their demand has constantly been on the increase. Now that supply is seriously dwindling, researchers have fervently focused on finding alternative fuels that are cleaner and with the potential for sustainable production.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — A study of seven wastewater treatment plants in the Eastern United States reveals a mixed record when it comes to removing medicines such as antibiotics and antidepressants.
The research points to two treatment methods — granular activated carbon and ozonation — as being particularly promising. Each technique reduced the concentration of a number of pharmaceuticals, including certain antidepressants and antibiotics, in water by more than 95%, the scientists’ analysis found.
STONY BROOK, NY, January 8, 2020 - In a new study published in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine, Adam Singer, MD, et al reported that quickly correcting high potassium levels, a condition known as hyperkalemia, in emergency department patients cut mortality in that population by half.
Have you ever seen a sea star move? To many of us, sea star seem motionless, like a rock on the ocean's floor, but in actuality, they have hundreds of tube feet attached to their underbelly. These feet stretch and contract to attach to rough terrain, hold on to prey and, of course, move.
Viruses subvert or remodel host cells from the inside, relying on the host cellular machinery for fundamental aspects of replication and dispersal. Because viruses are so intimately associated with all aspects of the functioning of the host cell, study of plant viruses has revealed much about the inner workings of plant cells, providing insight into plasmodesmatal connections, cell-cell signaling, secretion, cytoskeletal dynamics and the role of the chloroplast, among others.
Could the division of labor in an anthill be driven by the same social dynamics governing the gap between liberals and conservatives? That was the surprising question tackled by Princeton biologists Chris Tokita and Corina Tarnita.
ITHACA, N.Y. - A Cornell study provides important new insights into a common and deadly type of gastric cancer.
Incidence of this cancer, called gastric squamous-columnar junction (SCJ) cancer, also known as gastroesophageal cancer, rose 2.5 times in the United States between the 1970s and 2000s, while cases of all gastric cancers have decreased by more than 80% since the 1950s. Still, gastric cancers overall are the fifth most common tumors and the third-leading cause of cancer death worldwide.
Since the early 19th century, the average human body temperature in the United States has dropped, according to a study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
"Our temperature's not what people think it is," said Julie Parsonnet, MD, professor of medicine and of health research and policy. "What everybody grew up learning, which is that our normal temperature is 98.6, is wrong."
More than 3,300 people in the mental health population of the Los Angeles County jail are appropriate candidates for diversion into programs where they would receive community-based clinical services rather than incarceration, according to a new RAND Corporation study.
Based on a variety of clinical and legal factors, researchers estimated that about 61% of the individuals in the jail mental health population were appropriate candidates for diversion, 7% were potentially appropriate for diversion and 32% were not appropriate for diversion.
Microplastics (plastic particles under 5 mm) are an abundant type of debris found in salt and freshwater environments. In a Limnology & Oceanography Letters study, researchers demonstrated the transfer of microplastics through the food chain between microscopic prey and larval fish that live in coastal ecosystems. They also found that microplastic ingestion interferes with normal growth in fish larvae.