Tech
The so-called topological insulators are those materials that are insulators in bulk, i.e. do not allow electric currents in its volume, but are conductors on its surface. Unlike the usual conductors, that is, metals, the electric current circulating in a topological insulator does not suffer any loss of energy.
Combining powerful lasers and bright x-rays, Imperial and STFC researchers have demonstrated a technique that will allow new extreme experiments.
The new technique would be able to use a single x-ray flash to capture information about extremely dense and hot matter, such as can be found inside gas giant planets or on the crusts of dead stars.
The same conditions are also found in fusion experiments, which are trying to create a new source of energy that mimics the Sun.
WESTMINSTER, Colorado - December 19, 2019 - Australian growers have made significant inroads against herbicide-resistance weeds in recent years by focusing on harvest-time weed seed controls. One of the most popular strategies is the use of an impact mill that intercepts chaff as it exits the harvester. The mill destroys weed seeds and then deposits the residue on the field for moisture conservation and nutrient cycling.
Imagine swarms of robotic insects moving around us as they perform various tasks. It might sound like science fiction, but it's actually more plausible than you might think.
Researchers at EPFL's School of Engineering have developed a soft robotic insect, propelled at 3 cm per second by artificial muscles.
In the wake of recent disappointments over clinical trials targeting amyloid plaque build-up in Alzheimer's disease, researchers are focusing more attention on misfolded tau protein, another culprit in brain diseases that cause dementia.
New research published in Science Translational Medicine finds that targeting abnormal tau through the suppression of a gene called MSUT2 (mammalian suppressor of tauopathy 2) shows promise.
Tau, like amyloid protein, is another substance that builds up in Alzheimer's disease and damages brain cells.
A new bacterial identification method, called ON-rep-seq, examines selective, strain-specific fragments of the bacterial genome, allowing the generation of results that earlier required DNA sequencing of the entire bacterial genome or tedious approaches like pulsed field gel electrophoresis, which previously has been the golden the standard for strain-level typing of microorganisms. Hence, the method has the potential to change the approach utilized for investigating food-based disease outbreaks by making analysis much less time- and cost consuming.
Estimates used by climate scientists to predict the rate at which the world's ice sheets will melt are still uncertain despite advancements in technology, new research shows.
These ice sheet estimates feed directly into projections of sea-level rise resulting from climate change. They are made by measuring how much material ice sheets are gaining or losing over time, known as mass balance, to assess their long-term health. Snowfall increases the mass of an ice sheet, while ice melting or breaking off causes it to lose mass, and the overall balance between these is crucial.
The aim of the OPS-SAT mission, which is being controlled from ESA's European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, is to carry out low-risk tests on space software directly in the course of flight. Until now, such in-orbit tests have been avoided for reasons of reliability. Now, though, the OPS-SAT "flying laboratory" will validate new operating concepts in orbit. These range from the latest satellite control technologies to intelligent software for space vehicles, including on-board automatic image recognition systems and artificial intelligence.
In a new study, Jennifer Caputo, research scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, found that women who worked consistently during their prime midlife working years had better physical health than non-working women later in life. Working women were also less depressed over the next decades as they entered old age, and even lived longer shows the study recently published in the journal Demography.
Leesburg, VA, December 18, 2019--The use of imaging for the initial evaluation of patients with low back pain in the emergency department (ED) continues to occur at a high rate--one in three new emergency visits for low back pain in the United States--according to an article published ahead-of-print in the February 2020 issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR).
Amid concerns about gluten sensitivity, increasing numbers of people are avoiding wheat. Most have not been diagnosed with a wheat-related medical condition, yet they seem to feel better when they don't eat gluten-containing foods. A possible explanation is that modern varieties of wheat are responsible. But now, researchers reporting in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry have shown that a popular modern variety does not impair gastrointestinal health in mice compared with heirloom wheat.
Pairing graduate students with professionals working in their field resulted in deeper learning and inspired passion for the work, according to new research from the University of Houston.
Researchers in the department of entomology at the University of Illinois have shown how a species of ant uses its abdomen to add speed to its jump, in a recent study published in Integrative Organismal Biology. With a name like Gigantiops destructor, one might expect this ant species to be large or aggressive, but these relatively shy ants common to South America are anything but. Compared to other notable Amazonian ants such as bullet, army and leafcutter ants, Gigantiops are smaller, less confrontational, and often overlooked as one walks through the rainforest.
Saccharin received a bad rap after studies in the 1970s linked consumption of large amounts of the artificial sweetener to bladder cancer in laboratory rats. Later, research revealed that these findings were not relevant to people. And in a complete turnabout, recent studies indicate that saccharin can actually kill human cancer cells. Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Journal of Medicinal Chemistry have made artificial sweetener derivatives that show improved activity against two tumor-associated enzymes.
Boston, MA -- Nearly 40 million people in the U.S. have an anxiety disorder. While treatment options exist, treatment success varies, and many people do not respond to treatment until weeks or months after they begin anti-depressants. Other medications, such as benzodiazepines, can relieve symptoms quickly but can have side effects and risks, especially if taken over a longer term. Better treatment is needed but the search for new therapies has lagged over the decades, in part because of the limitations of preclinical models.