Stone tools have been made by humans and their ancestors for millions of years. For archaeologists these rocky remnants - lithic artefacts and flakes - are of key importance. Because of their high preservation potential they are among the most common findings in archaeological excavations. Worldwide, numerical dating of these lithic artefacts, especially when they occur as surface findings, remains a major challenge. Usually, stone tools cannot be dated directly, but only when they are embedded in sediment layers together with, for example, organic material. The age of such organic material can be constrained via the radiocarbon technique. If such datable organic remains are ...

Tested on human blood in the lab, the selective nanocapsules could reduce the side effects of a major blood clot dissolving drug, which include bleeding on the brain. If confirmed with animal tests, the nanocapsules could also make the drug more effective at lower doses. Blood clots, also known as thrombi, are a key cause of strokes and heart attacks which are leading causes of death and ill-health worldwide. They can be treated with a clot dissolving drug called tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) which disrupts clots to clear the blocked blood vessel and re-establish blood ...

Known as nature's own sonar system, echolocation occurs when an animal emits a sound that bounces off objects in the environment, returning echoes that provide information about the surrounding space. While echolocation is well known in whale or bat species, previous research has also indicated that some blind people may use click-based echolocation to judge spaces and improve their navigation skills. Equipped with this knowledge, a team of researchers, led by Dr Lore Thaler, of Durham University, UK, delved into the factors that determine how people learn this skill. Over the course of a 10-week training programme, the team investigated how blindness and age affect learning ...

Atomically thin van der Waals magnets are widely seen as the ultimately compact media for future magnetic data storage and fast data processing. Controlling the magnetic state of these materials in real-time, however, has proven difficult. But now, an international team of researchers led by Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) has managed to use light in order to change the anisotropy of a van der Waals antiferromagnet on demand, paving the way to new, extremely efficient means of data storage. The thin atomic layers that make up van der Waals magnets may seem extremely fragile, but they can be about 200 times stronger ...

In a six-month study of more than 1,000 Americans, R. Kelly Garrett and Robert Bond found that U.S. conservatives were less able to distinguish truth from falsehoods in 20 viral political news stories that appeared online between January and July 2019. Differences in the political orientation of these stories may help explain this observation, the researchers note, writing that "we find that high-profile true political claims tend to promote issues and candidates favored by liberals, while falsehoods tend to be better for conservatives." Two-thirds (65%) of the high-profile true stories were characterized as benefiting the political left, compared with only 10% that were described as benefiting the political right. Among high-profile false stories, 45.8% were perceived to benefit the ...

Individuals at higher risk of developing pancreatic cancer could be identified earlier using machine learning (ML) techniques which would result in a greater number of patients surviving the disease, suggests a new study published in PLOS ONE. The study was led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and funded by the UK charity Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund (PCRF). It used UK electronic health records for more than 1,000 patients aged 15-99 years who were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer between January 2005 and June 2009. The researchers examined numerous symptoms and ...

A team of researchers led by diabetes specialists and biomedical engineers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Cornell University has demonstrated that, using a miniscule device, they can implant insulin-secreting cells into diabetic mice. Once implanted, the cells secrete insulin in response to blood sugar, reversing diabetes without requiring drugs to suppress the immune system. The findings are published June 2 in the journal Science Translational Medicine. "We can take a person's skin or fat cells, make them into stem cells and then grow those stem cells into insulin-secreting cells," said Jeffrey R. Millman, PhD, an associate professor of medicine at Washington ...

A new study reveals that B cells can produce antibodies against the H1N1 influenza virus that also neutralize various other influenza strains, marking a development that could inform research into potential universal flu vaccines. The findings showed that the antibodies targeted two conserved regions of the virus - the cause of the 2009 swine flu pandemic - and that transfers of the antibodies protected mice from lethal infection. The work suggests that vaccines that target the two sites might be able to protect against a broader array of flu strains. Influenza is one of humanity's greatest microbial ...

RICHLAND, Wash.--Scientists have created a cybersecurity technology called Shadow Figment that is designed to lure hackers into an artificial world, then stop them from doing damage by feeding them illusory tidbits of success. The aim is to sequester bad actors by captivating them with an attractive--but imaginary--world. The technology is aimed at protecting physical targets--infrastructure such as buildings, the electric grid, water and sewage systems, and even pipelines. The technology was developed by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The starting point for Shadow Figment is an oft-deployed technology called a honeypot--something attractive to lure an attacker, perhaps a desirable target with the appearance of easy access. But ...

A new study from North Carolina State University found that certain types of messages could influence how people perceive information about the spread of diseases from wildlife to humans. The researchers say the findings, published in the journal Frontiers in Communication, could help scientists, policymakers and others more effectively communicate with diverse audiences about zoonotic diseases and the role of wildlife management in preventing them from spreading to people. Zoonotic diseases are diseases that originate in wildlife and become infectious to people. "If we want to prevent ...

A new global review has found that receiving Opioid Agonist Therapy (OAT) is associated with lower risk of multiple causes of death among people with opioid dependence. The review found that people with opioid dependence were less likely to experience overdose-related, suicide, alcohol-related, cancer, and cardiovascular-related mortality while receiving OAT. Researchers from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) at UNSW Sydney, University of Bristol and several other global institutions reviewed the relationship between OAT and mortality across type of drug, setting and participant groups from over 700,000 participants, which is six times the number of any other previous review. The review found that mortality risk ...

Spiders avoid building webs near European fire ants, their natural predators, by sensing the chemicals they give off in the environment, Simon Fraser University researchers have found. The findings, published recently in Royal Society Open Science, give us a peek inside the enduring struggle between spiders and ants, and could lead to the development of natural repellents for homeowners worried about unwanted eight-legged guests. Many ants prey on spiders, suggesting that web-building spiders may avoid locations near ant colonies or frequented by foraging ...

The future of electronic displays will be thin, flexible and durable. One barrier to this, however, is that one of the most widely used transparent conductors for electronic displays--indium tin oxide (ITO)--doesn't perform as well on larger areas and can crack and break down with wear. Indium is also a rare earth mineral, which is relatively scarce, and the process to create ITO requires high energy consumption and expensive equipment. One emerging alternative is metal "microgrid" conductors. These microgrids can be customized to their application by varying the microgrid width, pitch and thickness, and they can be made with a variety of metals. New research from the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering ...

Researchers have demonstrated "giant flexoelectricity" in soft elastomers that could improve robot movement range and make self-powered pacemakers a real possibility. In a paper published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists from the University of Houston and Air Force Research Laboratory explain how to engineer ostensibly ordinary substances like silicone rubber into an electric powerhouse. What do the following have in common: a self-powered implanted medical device, a soft human-like robot and how we hear sound? The answer as to why these two disparate technologies and biological phenomena ...

SMU Office of Research & Tech Transfer - Whether they are in the technology or oil sector, selling shoes or healthcare products, for many companies, green is the new black. While maximising profit might have been the sole priority for most businesses a decade ago, these days it is common for mission-oriented companies to pursue the 'triple bottom line' of people, planet and profit, particularly through corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts. While such efforts are commendable, some investors remain primarily concerned about whether firms can do well by doing good; in other words, whether CSR actually can increase a company's value. For instance, CSR activities could enhance brand image and improve customer loyalty, or even make it easier to attract and retain talent, leading to ...

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. - A new formula from Army scientists is leading to new insights on how to build an energy-efficient legged teammate for dismounted warfighters. In a recent peer-reviewed PLOS One paper, the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, known as DEVCOM, Army Research Laboratory's Drs. Alexander Kott, Sean Gart and Jason Pusey offer new insights on building autonomous military robotic legged platforms to operate as efficiently as any other ground mobile systems. Its use could lead to potentially important changes to Army vehicle development. Scientists said they may not know exactly why legged, wheeled and tracked ...

BROOKLYN, New York, Wednesday, June 2, 2021 - Perovskite solar cells have progressed in recent years with rapid increases in power conversion efficiency (from 3% in 2006 to 25.5% today), making them more competitive with silicon-based photovoltaic cells. However, a number of challenges remain before they can become a competitive commercial technology. Now a team at the END ...

The organization of the human genome relies on physics of different states of matter - such as liquid and solid - a team of scientists has discovered. The findings, which reveal how the physical nature of the genome changes as cells transform to serve specific functions, point to new ways to potentially better understand disease and to create improved therapies for cancer and genetic disorders. The genome is the library of genetic information essential for life. Each cell contains the entire library, yet it uses only part of this information. Special types of cells, such ...

SMU Office of Research & Tech Transfer - Short selling often gets a bad rap because it is a type of trade that bets against the success of a firm. In essence, short selling allows investors to borrow stock from a broker to sell into the market with the hope of buying the stock back at a cheaper price, thus, profiting on the difference between the sell and buy prices. Because of this practice, short selling is sometimes seen as a controversial tactic. Furthermore, speculative short selling attacks are concerning as it can put downward pressure on ...

The quantum Hall effect traditionally only plays a role in two-dimensional electron systems. Recently, however, a three-dimensional version of the quantum Hall effect was described in the Dirac semimetal ZrTe5. It has been suggested that this version results from a magnetic field-induced Fermi surface instability that transforms the original three-dimensional electron system into a stack of two-dimensional electron systems. Now scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids in Dresden, at the Technical University of Dresden, at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York, at the Helmholtz Center Dresden-Rossendorf, the Max Planck Institute ...

Boulder, Colo., USA: GSA's dynamic online journal, Geosphere, posts articles online regularly. Locations and topics studied this month include the Moine thrust zone in northwestern Scotland; the Eastern California shear zone; implementation of "OpenTopography"; the finite evolution of "mole tracks"; the southern central Andes; the work of International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 351; and the Fairweather fault, Alaska, USA. You can find these articles at https://geosphere.geoscienceworld.org/content/early/recent. Detrital-zircon analyses, provenance, and ...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- As its name suggests, dark matter -- material which makes up about 85% of the mass in the universe -- emits no light, eluding easy detection. Its properties, too, remain fairly obscure. Now, a theoretical particle physicist at the University of California, Riverside, and colleagues have published a research paper in the Journal of High Energy Physics that shows how theories positing the existence a new type of force could help explain dark matter's properties. "We live in an ocean of dark matter, yet we know very little about what it could be," said Flip Tanedo, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy and the paper's senior author. "It is one of the most vexing known unknowns in nature. ...

It's long been known that people living with HIV experience a loss of white matter in their brains. As opposed to "gray matter," which is composed of the cell bodies of neurons, white matter is made up of a fatty substance called myelin that coats neurons, offering protection and helping them transmit signals quickly and efficiently. A reduction in white matter is associated with motor and cognitive impairment. Earlier work by a team from the University of Pennsylvania and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) found that antiretroviral therapy (ART)--the lifesaving suite ...

There is a long-held belief that having your pet sleep on the bed is a bad idea. Aside from taking up space, noisy scratching, or triggering allergies, the most common assertion averred that your furry companion would disrupt your sleep. A new study published in the journal Sleep Health tells a different story. Researchers at Concordia's Pediatric Public Health Psychology Lab (PPHP) found that the sleep quality of the surprisingly high number of children who share a bed with their pets is indistinguishable from those who sleep alone. "Sleeping with your pet does not appear to be disruptive," ...

Do firms respond to tougher competition by searching for completely new technological solutions (exploration), or do they work to defend their position by improving current technologies (exploitation)? Competition from increased import penetration generally results in tight profit margins, low prices, and strong efficiency pressures, immediately affecting firms' bottom lines in the form of reduced profits and increased bankruptcy risk. A firm's R&D strategy is one of the fundamental determinants of success or failure when responding to competitive threats. To ensure both short-term performance and long-term survival, firms have two basic R&D options: explore new knowledge or exploit existing knowledge bases. ...