Tech
South American rivers are home to at least three different species of electric eels, including a newly identified species capable of generating a greater electrical discharge than any other known animal, according to a new analysis of 107 fish collected in Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana and Suriname in recent years.
A study of artists who paint with their feet shows that these individuals have finely tuned "toe maps" in their brains, where each toe can be linked with an area of brain activity visualized via fMRI. Although humans have well-defined hand maps, this is the first time that similarly robust toe maps have been identified in people. The findings appear September 10 in the journal Cell Reports and raise questions about how the limbs we use every day come to be represented in the brain.
Bottom Line: An analysis that included data for nearly 1.5 million patients with end-stage kidney disease looked at whether ownership of dialysis facilities was associated with patients' access to kidney transplants. This observational study included patients treated at 6,511 dialysis facilities in the United States from 2000-2016.
WASHINGTON, D.C., September 10, 2019 -- Medical implants of the future may feature reconfigurable electronic platforms that can morph in shape and size dynamically as bodies change or transform to relocate from one area to monitor another within our bodies.
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Toughening the federal standard for arsenic in 2001 has led to fewer violations by the public systems that supply more than 80 percent of the United States' drinking water, research led by Oregon State University shows.
Cold temperatures are not nearly as deadly as heat, with around 2% of all deaths in Australia related to heat, according to new research from the University of Technology Sydney.
The study, published today in the journal Climatic Change, reveals that in warmer regions of Australia up to 9% of deaths were related to heat, with the elderly facing the greatest risk.
Cold weather had a much smaller impact (-0.4% nationwide) except in the coldest climate zone, where 3.6% of deaths could be linked to cold temperatures.
Scientists of Tomsk Polytechnic University jointly with Russian and international colleagues developed the concept for constructing an "optical vacuum cleaner". Due to its optical properties, it can trap nanoparticles from the environment. Currently, there are no effective devices for this task. The research results were published in Scientific Reports (IF:4,525; Q1). In the future, such "vacuum cleaners" can be utilized for air purification during lab-on-a-chip operations and preparation of clean rooms.
Bloodstream infections acquired in UK Intensive Care Units (ICUs) reduced by 80% between 2007 and 2012, according to research funded by the NIHR Guy's and St Thomas' Biomedical Research Centre.
The findings are based on data collected from over 1 million patients admitted to 276 NHS adult ICUs across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins have taken the first step towards trials of vaginal microbiota transplantation (VMT).
Inspired by the success of fecal transplantation, it is hoped that transplants of vaginal fluids from healthy donors will provide the first restorative, curative treatment for bacterial vaginosis.
Adolescents with higher levels of physical activity performed better in school during transition from primary school to lower secondary school than their physically inactive peers, a new study from Finland shows. However, the researchers, from the University of Jyväskylä, found that increased physical activity did not necessarily result in improved academic performance.
WASHINGTON, D.C., September 10, 2019 -- If you've ever looked closely at a 3D sand or sediment dune within a river or coastal area, did you wonder how it formed?
After noticing how the construction of dams significantly alter the hydrodynamics of natural rivers and the resulting downstream riverbed evolution, a group of researchers at Tsinghua University in China decided to apply numerical simulations to help determine what's at play in the relationship of sediment motion and flow conditions. They report their findings in Physics of Fluids, from AIP Publishing.
PITTSBURGH--Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a computer model that can translate text describing physical movements directly into simple computer-generated animations, a first step toward someday generating movies directly from scripts.
Scientists have made tremendous leaps in getting computers to understand natural language, as well as in generating a series of physical poses to create realistic animations. These capabilities might as well exist in separate worlds, however, because the link between natural language and physical poses has been missing.
Semiconductors are substances that have a conductivity between that of conductors and insulators. Due to their unique properties of conducting current only in specific conditions, they can be controlled or modified to suit our needs. Nowhere is the application of semiconductors more extensive or important than in electrical and electronic devices, such as diodes, transistors, solar cells, and integrated circuits.
WASHINGTON, DC – Physicians and health professionals from the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) along with rheumatology patients gathered on Capitol Hill this week for the annual Advocates for Arthritis event to urge lawmakers to take action on a range of policy issues affecting patient access to rheumatology care.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Heart disease remains the most common cause of death in the western world, and cardiac defects are the most prevalent form of birth defect in the United States and Europe. Yet little is known about the proteins and cellular pathways that lead to the formation of the human heart or the roles various proteins and pathways might play in cardiac disease.