Tech
When you think of a radish, you may think of the small, round, crunchy, red-and-white vegetable that is sliced into salads. You might be surprised to learn that a larger, longer form of this root vegetable is being used in agriculture as a cover crop.
Any solid surface immersed within a plasma, including those in satellite engines and fusion reactors, is surrounded by a layer of electrical charge that determines the interaction between the surface and the plasma. Understanding the nature of this contact, which can affect the performance of the devices, often hinges on understanding how electrical charge is distributed around the surface. Now, recent research by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) indicates a way to more accurately measure these electrical properties.
In a pilot study, researchers from North Carolina State University and Haverford College have used naturally arising acoustic vibrations - or sound waves - to monitor the state of granular materials. This passive approach represents a way to probe disordered or granular materials without disturbing them, and may enable researchers to forecast the failure of these materials.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Purdue researchers have observed a way that the brittle nature of ceramics can be overcome as they sustain heavy loads, leading to more resilient structures such as aircraft engine blade coatings and dental implants.
While inherently strong, most ceramics tend to fracture suddenly when just slightly strained under a load unless exposed to high temperatures. Structural ceramic components also require high temperatures to form in the first place through a lengthy process called sintering, in which a powdered material coalesces into a solid mass.
Charlottesville, VA (May 29, 2018). Researchers from The Sport Science Center at Texas Christian University, Texas Health Sports Medicine, and the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse evaluated the usefulness of biomarker testing in determining the potential extent of brain trauma suffered from repetitive subconcussive head impacts sustained over the course of a college football season.
A new study by Portland State University researchers finds billions of dollars could be saved if the nation's aging dams are removed rather than repaired, but also suggests that better data and analysis is needed on the factors driving dam-removal efforts.
The study, published online in May in the journal River Research and Applications, analyzed the best available national data to compare the trends and characteristics of dams that have been removed with those that remain standing.
ANN ARBOR, MI - For smokers and former smokers, the threat of lung cancer always lurks in the shadows.
To flush it out of the darkness, some decide to get their lungs scanned by a CT machine, which can find a tumor early enough to stop it - or set off a false alarm that turns out to be nothing.
Others may avoid the scans, or don't know they should have one, even though they are the type of person who has the most to gain from screening, according to official recommendations in effect for the last five years.
New research on Google trends data presented at this year's European Congress on Obesity in Vienna, Austria (23-26 May) shows that over time, searches using the terms weight loss have increased, while those using the word obesity have decreased, potentially suggesting a normalisation of obesity in society. The study is by Dr Aditya S. Pawar from the Mayo Clinic Department of Nephrology and Hypertension, Rochester, MN, USA, and colleagues.
New research presented at this year's European Congress on Obesity (ECO) in Vienna, Austria (23-26) May shows that weight reduction following a sleeve gastrectomy (obesity surgery), which reduces the size of the stomach, can rapidly reverse obesity-related hypogonadism in morbidly obese men, restoring normal levels of testosterone and sex drive. The study was conducted by Prof Marco Rossato and colleagues at the University of Padova, Italy.
Glacial retreat in cold, high-altitude ecosystems exposes environments that are extremely sensitive to phosphorus input, new University of Colorado Boulder-led research shows. The finding upends previous ecological assumptions, helps scientists understand plant and microbe responses to climate change and could expand scientists' understanding of the limits to life on Earth.
BEND, Ore. - Chronic diseases like cancer, autoimmune disorders and obesity may ultimately vanquish the efforts of medical intervention unless people change their diet, an Oregon State University biologist argues in a paper published this week.
Matt Orr, assistant professor in the College of Science at OSU-Cascades, describes a "restoration ecology" approach toward patient health - every person is like an ecosystem, he says, and effectively fighting chronic disease requires fostering the communities of symbiotic gut microbes that people need for their health.
LOGAN, UTAH, USA -- Freeways choked with traffic, supermarkets laden with fertilizer-grown stock from distance fields and virtually everything we touch derived from petroleum-based plastics. It's hard to imagine life beyond our fossil-fueled world. Black gold has brought us unprecedented prosperity, but it's also polluted our environment, perhaps irreparably, and it's in finite supply. Now what?
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Imagine being able to power your car partly from the heat that its engine gives off. Or what if you could get a portion of your home's electricity from the heat that a power plant emits? Such energy-efficient scenarios may one day be possible with improvements in thermoelectric materials -- which spontaneously produce electricity when one side of the material is heated.
Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) truly have matured enough to allow for first commercial products in form of small and large displays. In order to compete in further markets and even open new possibilities (automotive lighting, head-mounted-displays, micro displays, etc.), OLEDs need to see further improvements in device lifetime while operating at their best possible efficiency. Currently, intrinsic performance progress is solely driven by material development.
Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) truly have matured enough to allow for first commercial products in the form of small and large displays. In order to compete in further markets and even open new possibilities (automotive lighting, head-mounted-displays, micro displays, etc.), OLEDs need to see further improvements in device lifetime while operating at their best possible efficiency. Currently, intrinsic performance progress is solely driven by material development.