New personal exoskeleton unveiled to help wheelchair users walk around freely
From Superinnovators 27/12/23 French company Wandercraft, founded in 2012, has unveiled a battery-powered self-stablising personal exoskeleton that could help 30 million global wheelchair users to walk freely around their town or city. The exoskeleton was unveiled during a live event in New York City on December 13th, 2023 with pre-orders opening in early 2024. This […]
Acoustic monitoring shows surprising resilience of subtropical forests to extreme weather – but climate change looms
From Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) Graduate University 27/12/23 If a tree falls in a forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) have answered this question by remotely recording the soundscapes of Okinawan forests, […]
Reducing oxygen levels for children in intensive care will save lives
From University College London 27/12/23 Reducing oxygen levels in critically ill children on mechanical ventilators in intensive care could save tens of young lives each year, finds a new study led by researchers at UCL and Great Ormond Street Hospital. The study, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research and published in […]
Brazilians create sensor to monitor levels of widely used antibiotic in water and food
From Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo 25/12/23 Researchers at the Center for Development of Functional Materials (CDMF) describe in the Journal of Molecular Liquids the development of a sensor that detects metronidazole in organisms and the environment. Metronidazole is an antibiotic used in human and veterinary medicine. Accumulation of this […]
New research demonstrates beef meals result in higher muscle protein synthesis rates than vegan meals
From Nutrition on Demand 24/12/23 Long-standing research has shown that consuming dietary protein stimulates muscle protein synthesis, which is a critical factor for building and maintaining skeletal muscle mass. Growing evidence has illustrated that animal- and plant-based protein food sources are not created equal in terms of their anabolic properties for triggering muscle growth and […]
Early life gene epimutation may cause breast cancer.
From The University of Bergen 24/12/23 Research reveals that around 20 per cent of all cases of the most severe form of breast cancer may arise from the small group of normal tissue cells carrying an epimutation of a specific gene. Cancer is a major health challenge worldwide, affecting many lives. Despite progress in understanding […]
Fermentation may have driven human brain evolution
From Harvard University 24/12/23 The large, capable human brain is a marvel of evolution, but how it evolved from a smaller primate brain into the creative, complex organ of today is a mystery. Scientists can pinpoint when our evolutionary ancestors evolved larger brains, which roughly tripled in size as human ancestors evolved from the bipedal […]
Magnetization by laser pulse
From Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf 24/12/23 To magnetize an iron nail, one simply has to stroke its surface several times with a bar magnet. Yet, there is a much more unusual method: A team led by the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) discovered some time ago that a certain iron alloy can be magnetized with ultrashort laser pulses. The […]
X-ray method enables micron-resolution imaging of living organisms over long time periods
From Optica 23/12/23 Researchers have developed an X-ray imaging technique that can produce detailed images of living organisms with a much lower X-ray dose than previously possible. The advance enables small organisms or other sensitive samples to be studied at high resolution over much longer periods, which could reveal new insights into a variety of […]
Less ice on the road leads to more salt in the soil, air, and water
From Virginia Tech 23/12/23 When temperatures drop and roads get slick, rock salt is an important safety precaution used by individuals, businesses, and local and state governments to keep walkers, cyclists, and drivers safe. However, according to a new scientific review paper from a team of researchers at Virginia Tech and the University of Maryland, […]