Plant talk: Warning plants of impending pest, weather dangers with light-triggered genes
From University of Cambridge 22/09/23 Imagine if humans could ‘talk’ to plants and warn them of approaching pest attacks or extreme weather. A team of plant scientists at the Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) would like to turn this science fiction into reality using light-based messaging to ‘talk’ to plants. Early lab experiments with tobacco […]
Crumb chronicles: The latest in bread innovations
From American Chemical Society 21/09/23 Whether light and fluffy or thin and flexible, bread holds an important place in many cultures and cuisines. And despite millennia of baking experience, scientists are still striving to improve this staple food. Below are some recent papers published in ACS journals that report insights into the quality, healthfulness, and […]
Shifting shades: Colour-changing eco-paint cools buildings in summer, warms in winter
From American Chemical Society 21/09/23 As summer turns to fall, many people will be turning off the air conditioning and firing up heaters instead. But traditional heating and cooling systems are energy intensive, and because they typically run on fossil fuels, they aren’t sustainable. Now, by mimicking a desert-dwelling chameleon, a team reporting in ACS’ […]
Nature’s squinting: Urban light pollution linked to smaller eyes in birds
From Washington State University 21/09/23 The bright lights of big cities could be causing an evolutionary adaptation for smaller eyes in some birds, a new study indicates. Researchers found that two common songbirds, the Northern Cardinal and Carolina Wren, that live year-round in the urban core of San Antonio, Texas, had eyes about 5% smaller […]
Fire in their tiny feet: Chemical fuel combustion powers bug-sized robots that leap
From Cornell University 21/09/23 Cornell researchers combined soft microactuators with high-energy-density chemical fuel to create an insect-scale quadrupedal robot that is powered by combustion and can outrace, outlift, outflex and outleap its electric-driven competitors. The group’s paper, “Powerful, Soft Combustion Actuators for Insect-Scale Robots,” was published Sept. 14 in Science. The lead author is postdoctoral […]
Mapping affection: Where in the body do we feel love?
From Aalto University 21/09/23 Researchers at Aalto University have made a map of where in the body different types of love are felt and how strongly they are experienced. ‘It was noteworthy, though not very surprising, that the types of love associated with close relationships are similar and are the most strongly experienced,’ says philosopher […]
Sonic aim: Sound-activated cancer drugs to reduce healthy cell collateral damage
From California Institute of Technology 21/09/23 Chemotherapy as a treatment for cancer is one of the major medical success stories of the 20th century, but it’s far from perfect. Anyone who has been through chemotherapy or who has had a friend or loved one go through it will be familiar with its many side effects: […]
Does a brain in a dish have moral rights?
From Cortical Labs 20/09/23 No longer limited to the realm of science fiction, bio-computing is here, so now is the time to start considering how to research and apply this technology responsibly, an international group of experts says. The inventors of DishBrain have partnered with bioethicists and medical researchers to map such a framework to […]
Itching for data: Sensor measures scratching intensity to help improve eczema treatments
From Carnegie Mellon University 20/09/23 Akhil Padmanabha knows about itching. His chronic itching caused by severe eczema was so debilitating that he was hospitalized twice and had to be home-schooled during most of his high school years. Itch so impacted his life that, as an undergraduate, he contemplated becoming a psychologist so he could help […]
Blossoming movement: Dynamic plants inspire artificial actuators
From Tsinghua University Press 20/09/23 Scientists are looking to plant tissues that are capable of motion to inspire the design and fabrication of artificial actuators. These bioinspired actuators hold significant potential in applications, such as soft robotics, prosthetics, and smart biomedical devices. A research team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences has published a perspective […]