Feeling extra sweaty from a summer heat wave? Don't worry -- not all your perspiration has to go to waste. In a paper publishing July 13 in the journal Joule, researchers have developed a new device that harvests energy from the sweat on -- of all places -- your fingertips. To date, the device is the most efficient on-body energy harvester ever invented, producing 300 … [Read more...] about This device harvests power from your sweaty fingertips while you sleep
‘Hydrogel-based flexible brain-machine interface’: The interface is easy to insert into the body when dry, but behaves ‘stealthily’ inside the brain when wet
A KAIST research team and collaborators revealed a newly developed hydrogel-based flexible brain-machine interface. To study the structure of the brain or to identify and treat neurological diseases, it is crucial to develop an interface that can stimulate the brain and detect its signals in real time. However, existing neural interfaces are mechanically and chemically … [Read more...] about ‘Hydrogel-based flexible brain-machine interface’: The interface is easy to insert into the body when dry, but behaves ‘stealthily’ inside the brain when wet
Column: Thanks to the pandemic, we now also have ‘an epidemic of sleep deprivation’
Having trouble sleeping? You’re not alone. Sleep disorders have grown so prevalent since the start of the pandemic, there’s a name for it — “coronasomnia.”That got me wondering, as I yet again tossed and turned for much of the night, if this is going to have long-term consequences for society.Simply put, is this the new normal? Are we now, thanks to the pandemic, a nation of … [Read more...] about Column: Thanks to the pandemic, we now also have ‘an epidemic of sleep deprivation’
Discovery of 10 faces of plasma leads to new insights in fusion and plasma science
Scientists have discovered a novel way to classify magnetized plasmas that could possibly lead to advances in harvesting on Earth the fusion energy that powers the sun and stars. The discovery by theorists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) found that a magnetized plasma has 10 unique phases and the transitions between them might … [Read more...] about Discovery of 10 faces of plasma leads to new insights in fusion and plasma science
Training helps teachers anticipate how students with learning disabilities might solve problems
North Carolina State University researchers found that a four-week training course made a substantial difference in helping special education teachers anticipate different ways students with learning disabilities might solve math problems. The findings suggest that the training would help instructors more quickly identify and respond to a student's needs. Published in the … [Read more...] about Training helps teachers anticipate how students with learning disabilities might solve problems
Mathematicians develop ground-breaking modeling toolkit to predict local COVID-19 impact
A Sussex team -- including university mathematicians -- have created a new modelling toolkit which predicts the impact of COVID-19 at a local level with unprecedented accuracy. The details are published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, and are available for other local authorities to use online, just as the UK looks as though it may head into another wave of … [Read more...] about Mathematicians develop ground-breaking modeling toolkit to predict local COVID-19 impact
MaxDIA: Taking proteomics to the next level
Proteomics produces enormous amounts of data, which can be very complex to analyze and interpret. The free software platform MaxQuant has proven to be invaluable for data analysis of shotgun proteomics over the past decade. Now, Jürgen Cox, group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, and his team present the new version 2.0. It provides an improved computational … [Read more...] about MaxDIA: Taking proteomics to the next level
Artificial intelligence could be new blueprint for precision drug discovery
Writing in the July 12, 2021 online issue of Nature Communications , researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine describe a new approach that uses machine learning to hunt for disease targets and then predicts whether a drug is likely to receive FDA approval. The study findings could measurably change how researchers sift through big data to find … [Read more...] about Artificial intelligence could be new blueprint for precision drug discovery
AI predicts diabetes risk by measuring fat around the heart
A team led by researchers from Queen Mary University of London has developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool that is able to automatically measure the amount of fat around the heart from MRI scan images. Using the new tool, the team was able to show that a larger amount of fat around the heart is associated with significantly greater odds of diabetes, independent of a … [Read more...] about AI predicts diabetes risk by measuring fat around the heart
Seeing with radio waves
Scientists from the Division of Physics at the University of Tsukuba used the quantum effect called "spin-locking" to significantly enhance the resolution when performing radio-frequency imaging of nitrogen-vacancy defects in diamond. This work may lead to faster and more accurate material analysis, as well as a path towards practical quantum computers. Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) … [Read more...] about Seeing with radio waves