Tech
The world of aerospace increasingly relies on carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites to build the structures of satellites, rockets and jet aircraft.
But the life of those materials is limited by how they handle heat.
Researchers from EPFL and MIT have shown that human mobility is a major factor in the spread of vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue even over short intra-city distances. In a paper published in Scientific Reports, the team compares different mobility models and concludes that having access to mobile phone location data can prove crucial in understanding disease transmission dynamics - and, ultimately, in stopping an outbreak from evolving into an epidemic. Yet, according to the researchers, this kind of information is hard to come by.
Quantum computing has the potential to revolutionize technology, medicine, and science by providing faster and more efficient processors, sensors, and communication devices.
But transferring information and correcting errors within a quantum system remains a challenge to making effective quantum computers.
When cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) transitioned from life on land to life in the sea about 50 million years ago, 85 genes became inactivated in these species, according to a new study. While some of these gene losses were likely neutral, others equipped cetaceans with "superpowers" for surviving in the open ocean, facilitating deep dives and paving the way for a unique new sleeping style.
Imagine trying to paint a forest when all the artist has is a leaf and a piece of bark versus having a living, growing tree as a model. Seeing how the parts fit together can make all the difference.
A new type of vaccine that can be stored at warmer temperatures, removing the need for refrigeration, has been developed for mosquito-borne virus Chikungunya in a major advance in vaccine technology. The findings, published in Science Advances today [Wednesday 25 September], reveal exceptionally promising results for the Chikungunya vaccine candidate, which has been engineered using a synthetic protein scaffold that could revolutionise the way vaccines are designed, produced and stored.
The introduction of minimum unit pricing (MUP) in Scotland appears to have been successful in reducing the amount of alcohol purchased and, by inference, consumption by households, finds a study published by The BMJ today.
The effects were greatest in households who bought the most alcohol, suggesting that the policy "has achieved its ambition to make relatively cheap and strong alcohol less affordable, which in turn should positively impact public health over time," say the researchers.
Delicate wash cycles in washing machines found to release more plastic microfibres than other cycles.
New research led by Newcastle University has shown that it is the volume of water used during the wash cycle, rather than the spinning action of the washing machine, which is the key factor in the release of plastic microfibres from clothes.
Millions of plastic microfibres are shed every time we wash clothes that contain materials such as nylon, polyester and acrylic.
When a cell divides into two daughter cells, it must replicate its DNA according to a very specific scenario. In the presence of some disruptive elements, however, cancer cells are unable to perform this operation optimally; replication then takes place more slowly and less efficiently. This phenomenon is called "replication stress". While known to be linked to the increase in genetic mutations, another phenomenon typical of cancer cells, the exact mechanism at work remained unknown until now.
A web-based calculator that helps middle-aged women predict their risks of conditions that become more likely with age has been developed by public health, medical and computer science experts from throughout the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.
Led by physician John Robbins of UC Davis Health, the team's risk-prediction calculator is unique in that it accounts for multiple health conditions at once, rather than one at a time. It also identifies the changing probability of those conditions over time.
Epileptic seizures can probably not be predicted by changes in brain wave patterns that were previously assumed to be characteristic precursors. This is the conclusion reached by scientists from the University of Bonn in a recent study. The results are now published in the journal "Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science".
For the first time researchers successfully used laser pulses to excite an iron-based compound into a superconducting state. This means it conducted electricity without resistance. The iron compound is a known superconductor at ultralow temperatures, but this method enables superconduction at higher temperatures. It is hoped this kind of research could greatly improve power efficiency in electrical equipment and electronic devices.
In 2016, 417 farmers and farm workers died from a work-related injury in the United States and 312 in Japan, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2018 agricultural safety report. Overturning tractors are the leading cause of death for farmers around the world.
In order to reduce the rate of overturned tractors, researchers in Japan have developed a model for understanding the conditions that lead to a tractor overturning from an unlikely source: They based their model on one used to understand the unpredictability of a bouncing ball.
A hypothetical nuclear process known as neutrinoless double beta decay ought to be among the least likely events in the universe. Now the international EXO-200 collaboration, which includes researchers from the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, has determined just how unlikely it is: In a given volume of a certain xenon isotope, it would take more than 35 trillion trillion years for half of its nuclei to decay through this process - an eternity compared to the age of the universe, which is "only" 13 billion years old.
Emissions of greenhouse gases have a warming effect on the climate, whereas small airborne particles in the atmosphere, aerosols, act as a cooling mechanism. That is the received wisdom in any case. However, new research from Lund University in Sweden can now show that the tiniest aerosols are increasing at the expense of the normal sized and slightly larger aerosols - and it is only the latter that have a cooling effect.