Tech
Optical fibres are our global nervous system, transporting terabytes of data across the planet in the blink of an eye.
As that information travels at the speed of light across the globe, the energy of the light waves bouncing around inside the silica and polymer fibres create tiny vibrations that lead to feedback packets of sound or acoustic waves, known as 'phonons'.
This feedback causes light to disperse, a phenomenon known as 'Brillouin scattering'.
Children with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) run a greater risk of psychiatric disorders, according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published in JAMA Pediatrics. The researchers claim that more psychological support and longer follow-up is needed for the children affected and their parents.
It is already known that adults with IBD (Ulcerative Colitis or Crohn's Disease) run an increased risk of psychiatric disorders. Now a new study shows that children with IBD also run a higher risk of mental health problems.
Scientists at Johns Hopkins have successfully created personalized digital replicas of the upper chambers of the heart and used them to guide the precise treatment of patients suffering from persistent irregular heartbeats. These simulations accurately identified where clinicians need to destroy tissue to restore the heart's normal rhythm.
The proof-of-concept study, published in Nature Biomedical Engineering on August 19, is a promising step towards simulation-driven treatments and sets the stage for the team's FDA-approved clinical trial slated to begin this fall.
The valve train is the "respiratory organ" of combustion engines: it manages the aspiration of fresh air and the discharge of exhaust gases, which is referred to as "gas exchange". Today, only mechanically driven camshafts are used in series production for this purpose, often equipped with an additional mechanism, some of which are quite complex. This allows to modify a valve movement pattern given by the camshaft, which is not possible without an increase in friction. At the same time, flexibility is not given to the desired extent.
Researchers believe that stuttering - a potentially lifelong and debilitating speech disorder - stems from problems with the circuits in the brain that control speech, but precisely how and where these problems occur is unknown. Using a mouse model of stuttering, scientists report that a loss of cells in the brain called astrocytes are associated with stuttering. The mice had been engineered with a human gene mutation previously linked to stuttering.
Swine fever, rabies, bird flu - outbreaks of diseases in wildlife populations often also affect farm animals and humans. However, their causes and the dynamics of their spread are often complex and not well understood. A team of scientists led by the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) has now carried out an analysis of long-term data of an outbreak of classical swine fever in wild boars in the German federal state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern that occurred between 1993 and 2000.
New Rochelle, NY, August 19, 2019--A new case study demonstrates the steps being taken by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) to make it easier for small businesses and entrepreneurs to understand its needs and do business with it. The detailed case study, which provides insights on the design, results, and lessons learned from these efforts, is published in New Space: The Journal of Space Entrepreneurship and Innovation, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.
The immune system surveils our body looking for things that don't belong, often bacteria and viruses. While cancer cells are abnormal cells that undergo unregulated cell growth, they are good at evading detection by the immune system. T cell immunotherapy uses the body's own T cells but reprograms them to target cancer cells.
Researchers at Columbia University have developed a way to harness more power from singlet fission to increase the efficiency of solar cells, providing a tool to help push forward the development of next-generation devices.
Leesburg, VA, August 19, 2019--An ahead-of-print article published in the December issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR) provides a much needed overview of gender affirmation surgical therapies encountered in diagnostic imaging, defining normal postsurgical anatomy and describing select complications using a multidisciplinary, multimodality approach.
An international team of Russian and Belgian researchers, including scientists from HSE University, has found out that space travel has a significant impact on the brain: they discovered that cosmonauts demonstrate changes in brain connectivity related to perception and movement.
ANN ARBOR--Some people may believe that if you live in a community with different cultural values, spanking might not be harmful--an assumption that does not appear to be correct, according to a new University of Michigan study.
In the first longitudinal examination of the effects of spanking among the Native American population, U-M researchers say that spanking is just as harmful for them as it is for black and white children. They say it can lead to greater externalizing behavior (e.g., being defiant, hitting others, throwing temper tantrums).
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- A new study reveals why the magma chambers that feed recurrent and often explosive volcanic eruptions tend to reside in a very narrow depth range within the Earth's crust. The findings, published in Nature Geoscience, could help scientists to better understand volcanic processes the world over.
A new, four-minute video explains "5 Cool Technologies Your Tax Dollars are Funding." The science education resource features a selection of recent advances developed to help people stay healthy, get treatment sooner, or have a better quality of life.
The five highlighted technologies are:
1. a painless, non-invasive blood glucose monitoring device to replace testing by a finger-prick,
2. a skin patch that monitors blood pressure continuously using ultrasound, without a cuff,
3. a painless laser scan for breast cancer screening, instead of a mammogram,
High-temperature superconductors, which carry electricity with zero resistance at much higher temperatures than conventional superconducting materials, have generated a lot of excitement since their discovery more than 30 years ago because of their potential for revolutionizing technologies such as maglev trains and long-distance power lines. But scientists still don't understand how they work.