Other Sciences News

Researchers Develop Snow-Based Energy Harvester

Snow-TENG: (a) harnessing and sensing biomechanical movements by attaching a snow-TENG to different locations of the human body; (b) measurement of the electrical output from a snow-TENG device that uses a snowfall mode when attached on the (i) shoulder, (ii) wrist, and (iii) knee; (c-i) a photograph of the snow-TENG device assembled and attached to the bottom of a snow boot as a self-powered biomechanical sensor; (c-ii) electrical outputs from the snow-TENG as the wearer performs different movements -- running, jumping, walking, and marching. Image credit: Ahmed et al, doi: 10.1016/j.nanoen.2019.03.032.
Apr 16, 2019 by News Staff

An international team of scientists from the United States, Canada, Egypt and Ireland has developed a snow-based triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) that creates electricity from falling snow. The snow-TENG, described in the journal Nano Energy, can produce a power density of 0.2 mW/m2, and open circuit voltage up to 8 V. The device also works as a self-powered sensor to monitor snowfall rate, accumulation depth, wind direction, and speed in snowy/icy...

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Left: topography of the predominantly contralateral beta oscillatory activity during rest periods predictive of micro-offline learning, indicated by the LME (linear mixed effects) model coefficient. Right: frontoparietal beta activity predicted micro-offline gains throughout the duration of early-learning rest periods. Image credit: Bönstrup et al, doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.02.049.

Study: Human Brain Uses Short Rest Periods to Strengthen Memories

Apr 16, 2019 by News Staff

In a study published in the journal Current Biology, a team of researchers from the United States, Switzerland and Israel found that taking short breaks,...

Coles et al provide the strongest evidence to date that facial expressions can influence our feelings. Image credit: Sasin Tipchai.

Smiling Can Make Us Feel Little Bit Happier, Review Says

Apr 15, 2019 by News Staff

According to a review of previous studies, published in the Psychological Bulletin, emotional facial expressions — such as smiling — can influence...

Denisovans were probably dark-skinned, unlike the pale Neandertals. The picture shows a Neanderthal man. Image credit: Mauro Cutrona.

Two Independent Denisovan Lineages Contributed to Modern Papuan Genomes: Study

Apr 12, 2019 by News Staff

According to a new study published in the journal Cell, modern Papuans carry hundreds of gene variants from two Denisovan lineages — distinct from...

Tilles et al observed a possible new way that lightning forms called fast negative breakdown.

Fast Negative Breakdown Triggers Lightning Flashes, New Observations Show

Apr 12, 2019 by News Staff

A team of scientists from the University of New Hampshire Space Science Center, the Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research, Earth Networks and NASA’s...

An archaic hominin. Image credit: Ninara / CC BY 2.0.

Homo luzonensis: New Species of Ancient Human Discovered

Apr 11, 2019 by News Staff

An early human species with a unique mix of primitive (that is, Australopithecus-like) and derived (that is, Homo sapiens-like) morphological features...

tBHQ, at a dose relevant to human diet, impairs the primary and memory immune responses to influenza infection. Image credit: C. S. Goldsmith & A. Balish / CDC.

Widely-Used Food Additive E319 Impairs Immune Responses to Influenza Infection

Apr 8, 2019 by News Staff

A common food additive called tert-butylhydroquinone (E319) suppresses the immune response the body mounts when fighting the flu; it also reduces the effectiveness...

Harvey & van der Hoeven cracked a maths problem that has stood for almost half a century which will enable computers to multiply huge numbers together much more quickly. Image credit: Gerd Altmann.

Mathematicians Develop New Algorithm for Multiplying Large Numbers

Apr 4, 2019 by News Staff

A team of mathematicians from the University of New South Wales in Australia and the L’École Polytechnique in France has solved a decades-old maths...

Ordinary-looking pajamas are transformed into ‘smart’ ones with five strategically placed sensors that measure heartbeat, respiration and posture. Image credit: Trisha L. Andrew.

Phyjama: Smart Pajama with Self-Powered Sensors Could Help Improve Sleep Patterns

Apr 3, 2019 by News Staff

A team of researchers led by University of Massachusettes Amherst’s Dr. Trisha Andrew has developed ‘smart’ pajamas embedded with self-powered sensors...

Researchers Create and Test New Kind of Airplane Wing

Apr 1, 2019 by News Staff

Assembled from hundreds of tiny identical pieces, the new wing can change shape to control the plane’s flight. The wing design was tested in NASA’s...

Exposure to coffee-related cues increases arousal.

Just Looking at Things that Remind Us of Coffee Can Arouse Our Minds

Apr 1, 2019 by News Staff

Coffee and tea are two beverages commonly-consumed around the world. In Western societies, coffee is associated with greater arousal than tea. According...

In this study, air pollution exposure was associated with increased odds of psychotic experiences in adolescence, which partly explained the association between urban residency and adolescent psychotic experiences. Image credit: Johannes Plenio.

Study Finds Link between Air Pollution and Adolescent Psychotic Experiences

Mar 29, 2019 by News Staff

A new study, published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, provides a potential explanation for why growing up in urban settings is a risk factor for psychosis. In...

Davis et al detected BMAA in the cerebral cortex of stranded dolphins; they also report Alzheimer-like neurodegenerative changes in the brains of dolphins containing BMAA. Image credit: NASA.

Scientists Find Cyanobacterial Neurotoxin and Amyloid Plaques in Brains of Stranded Dolphins

Mar 29, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

High levels of BMAA (β-methylamino-L-alanine), a neurotoxin produced by cyanobacterial blooms, and beta-amyloid plaques, a hallmark in human beings of...

Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages was positively associated with mortality primarily through cardiovascular disease mortality and showed a graded association with dose. Image credit: Raw Pixel.

Sugar-Sweetened Beverages May Be Associated with Increased Risk of Mortality

Mar 27, 2019 by News Staff

Frequently drinking sugar-sweetened beverages (carbonated and noncarbonated soft drinks, fruit drinks, energy drinks, and sports drinks) was associated...

A 3D image of a supercrystal from phase-field simulations. Image credit: L-Q Chen Group, Penn State.

Physicists Create Stable ‘Supercrystals’

Mar 26, 2019 by News Staff

Stimulation with ultrafast light pulses can realize and manipulate states of matter with emergent structural, electronic and magnetic phenomena. According...

Weekend recovery sleep doesn’t prevent weight gain or reduce insulin sensitivity. Image credit: Wok & Apix.

Study: Weekend Snoozes Don’t Fully Make Up for Weekday Sleep Loss

Mar 25, 2019 by Sam Sander Effron

Sleeping in a few extra hours on the weekends might not be enough to combat the self-incurred damage from weekday sleep deprivation. According to a study...

Depiction of the Jarijari (Nyeri Nyeri) people near Merbein engaged in recreational activities, including a type of Aboriginal football, by William Blandowski & Gustav Mützel, 1857.

Hepatitis B DNA Helps Trace History and Movement of First Australians

Mar 21, 2019 by News Staff

It’s widely accepted that continental Sahul, the combined landmass of Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania, was settled very early in human history. But...

Wang et al report a strong, specific human brain response to ecologically-relevant rotations of Earth-strength magnetic fields. Image credit: Gerd Altmann.

First Neuroscientific Evidence that Humans Have Geomagnetic Sense

Mar 19, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of neuroscientists and geoscientists from Caltech, the University of Tokyo, Princeton University and Tokyo Institute of Technology...

Green tea polyphenols have the potential to improve skeletal muscle metabolism in obese mice by improving glucose homeostasis, reducing lipid peroxidation, and increasing rate limiting enzymes of oxidative phosphorylation. Image credit: Andi Ketaren.

Green Tea Consumption Improves Metabolism, Overall Health in Obese Mice: Study

Mar 19, 2019 by News Staff

In a study published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, mice fed a diet of 2% green tea extract fared far better than those that ate a diet without...

Paleolithic edge-to-edge bite (top) and a modern overbite/overjet bite (bottom) and how ‘f’ sounds are produced in a biomechanical model. Image credit: Timea Bodogan / Scott Moisik.

Post-Neolithic Diet-Induced Dental Changes Led to Introduction of ‘F’ and ‘V’ Sounds

Mar 18, 2019 by News Staff

A class of speech sounds that is now present in nearly half of the world’s languages — labiodentals, produced by positioning the lower lip against...

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