A recent study measured how much artificial sweetener is absorbed into the blood stream by children and adults after drinking a can of diet soda.
Tech
While Australia’s energy market operator continues its investigation into South Australia’s recent state-wide blackout, there are important questions being asked.
For instance, was extreme weather the only cause? Has South Australia replaced fossil fuels with renewables too quickly?
The rapid increase in creative computing is posing new challenges when it comes to patenting an invention. Artificial intelligence is playing an ever larger role in innovation -- with major players such as IBM, Pfizer and Google investing heavily in the field.
A team of physicians and laboratory scientists has taken a key step toward a cure for sickle cell disease, using CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing to fix the mutated gene responsible for the disease in stem cells from the blood of affected patients. For the first time, they have corrected the mutation in a proportion of stem cells that is high enough to produce a substantial benefit in sickle cell patients.
Ever since the 1973 oil embargo, U.S. energy policy has sought to replace petroleum-based transportation fuels with alternatives. One prominent option is using biofuels, such as ethanol in place of gasoline and biodiesel instead of ordinary diesel.
Transportation generates one-fourth of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, so addressing this sector’s impact is crucial for climate protection.
Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have managed to produce the first molecular map of the genes that are active in the various cells of the human pancreas. They have also revealed differences in genetic activity between people with type 2 diabetes and healthy controls. The study, which is published in Cell Metabolism, was conducted in the AstraZeneca and Karolinska Institutet co-run Integrated Cardio Metabolic Centre, and in association with researchers from AstraZeneca.
Researchers have demonstrated the ability to deliver a fully functional copy of the CLN3 gene to stem cells of patients with juvenile NCL, an inherited neurodegenerative disease in which a mutation in the CLN3 gene causes early-onset severe central vision loss. The gene therapy restored production of CLN3 protein in the stem cell-derived retinal neurons, as described in an article in Human Gene Therapy.
In nuclear reactors, energetic neutrons slam into metal atoms that are ordered in a lattice, displacing them with enough force to trigger a cascade of collisions. Laurent Béland,Yuri Osetsky and Roger Stoller, of the Energy Dissipation to Defect Evolution Energy Frontier Research Center at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, modeled radiation damage and discovered that the number of defects ultimately created in a material correlates with atomic displacements that high-pressure shock waves generate early in the collision cascade.
Fluoride salt-cooled high-temperature reactors are a promising design in the next generation of nuclear energy production, and one of the first steps from concept to reality is underway at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Keeping energy-concentrating mirrors at solar thermal power plants free from dirt is both labor and time intensive. Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are working to address the challenge with lab-developed superhydrophobic coating technology.
The Global Medical Holography Market may reach USD 953.9 Million by 2021, at a CAGR of 33.7% from 2016 to 2021, according to a market survey by MarketsandMarkets.
The development of the smart power grid and the smart meter in our homes to accompany it brings several benefits, such as improved delivery and more efficient billing. Conversely, any digital, connected technology also represents a security risk. Writing in the International Journal of Smart Grid and Green Communications, UK researchers explain how a malicious third party that hacked into the metering system could manipulate en masse the data being sent back to the smart grid and perhaps trigger a power generation shortfall.
Around 5.4 million people currently receive treatment for asthma in the UK, of which 1.1 million are children.
To diagnose the condition doctors usually measure a person’s airflow lung capacity, however lung function tests can be inaccurate and do not reflect underlying changes associated with asthma. Other tests, such as blood, urine or sputum analysis can be distressing, particularly for younger patients.
The new test, developed in collaboration with Nottingham City Hospital, is completely painless and offers a one-stop diagnosis suitable for people of all ages.
Visualization was enabled by designing a new artificial magnetic material. The finding means remarkable possibilities to materials research.
Researchers at Aalto University and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have demonstrated that polaron formation also occurs in a system of magnetic charges, and not just in a system of electric charges. Being able to control the transport properties of such charges could enable new devices based on magnetic rather than electric charges, for example computer memories.
Materials researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a technique that allows them to integrate graphene, graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) onto silicon substrates at room temperature by using nanosecond pulsed laser annealing. The advance raises the possibility of creating new electronic devices, and the researchers are already planning to use the technique to create smart biomedical sensors.