"Phase transitions" are a central phenomenon in physical sciences. Despite being technical-sounding, they are actually something we all experience in everyday life: ice melting into liquid water, or hot water evaporating as steam. Solid, liquid, and gas are three well known "phases" and, when one turns into another, that is a phase transition. Rare-earth nickelate oxides, also called nickelates, have attracted a lot of interest from researchers because they display an electronic phase transition, which may be exploited in future electronic devices. This particular phase transition consists of turning from a metallic ...

Game theory is known to be a useful tool in the study of Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Multi-Agent interactions. One basic component of these ML and AI systems is the exploration-exploitation trade-off, a fundamental dilemma between taking a risk with new actions in the quest for more information about the environment (exploration) and repeatedly selecting actions that result in the current maximum reward or (exploitation). However, the outcome of the exploration-exploitation process is often unpredictable in practice and ...

The balance of human intestinal microbiota, consisting of hundreds of bacterial species and phages (bacteria viruses), is crucial to good health. A research team, including scientists from the CNRS* and the Institut Pasteur, has characterised the phage-bacterial interaction networks of the microbiota in ten healthy individuals, with unprecedented precision. Scientists detected several hundred bacterial and phage genomes and identified the thousands of interactions that bind them by quantifying the contacts between the DNA molecules of viruses and their hosts. This method has the advantage ...

Researchers have published a study revealing their successful approach to designing much quieter propellers. The Australian research team used machine learning to design their propellers, then 3D printed several of the most promising prototypes for experimental acoustic testing at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation's specialised 'echo-free' chamber. Results now published in Aerospace Research Central show the prototypes made around 15dB less noise than commercially available propellers, validating the team's design methodology. RMIT University aerospace engineer and lead researcher Dr Abdulghani Mohamed said the impressive results were enabled by two key innovations - the numerical algorithms ...

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham have identified a new molecular target that could potentially treat the deadly, aging-related lung disease idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The study, which will be published March 10 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (JEM), suggests that targeting a protein called MDM4 could prevent respiratory failure by initiating a genetic program that removes scar tissue from the lungs. IPF is characterized by the accumulation of scar tissue that stiffens the lungs and makes it difficult for patients to breathe and get sufficient oxygen into their blood. Though the causes of IPF remain unclear, age is a significant risk factor: the disease is ...

Blood pressure measurements in children and adolescents should be taken from both arms after new research showed substantial differences could be seen depending on which arm was used. The study, led by the Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) and published in the Journal of Hypertension, found even a small difference in blood pressure measurements between arms could lead to a wrong diagnosis. MCRI PhD candidate and study lead author Melanie Clarke said this was the first study worldwide to determine the size and frequency of inter-arm blood pressure differences in children and adolescents. The study involved ...

A researcher at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) is the lead author of a study with proposals for "technosignatures" -evidence for the use of technology or industrial activity in other parts of the Universe- for future NASA missions. The article, published in the specialized journal Acta Astronautica, contains the initial conclusions of a meeting of experts in the search for intelligent extraterrestrial life, sponsored by the space agency to gather advice about this topic. In the article, several ideas are presented to search for technosignatures that would indicate the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations, ...

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. However, many women artists - and the stories their works tell - comprise less than 4 per cent of total art sold at auction and fail to attract high selling prices compared to male artists. A world-first international study by researchers at Monash University, Maastricht University (The Netherlands) and Artnet Worldwide, based in New York City, found that a staggering 96.1 per cent (2,572,346) of all artworks sold at auctions worldwide between 2000 and 2017 are attributed to male artists. However, work by female artists are on average 4.4 per cent more ...

When the body detects a pathogen, such as bacteria or viruses, it mounts an immune system response to fight this invader. In some people, the immune system overreacts, resulting in an overactive immune response that causes the body to injure itself, which may prove fatal in some cases. Now, scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have created a compound that could help to reduce this overactivation without impairing the body's entire immune response. An overactive immune system leads to many autoimmune disorders - when the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy ...

Recently, Prof. ZHU Shu from University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of CAS and Prof. Richard A. Flavell from Yale University were invited to publish a review article in Nature Reviews Gastroenterology and Hepatology. They systematically summarized the gastrointestinal manifestations in patients with COVID-19 and explored the possible mechanisms of intestinal symptoms caused by COVID-19 infection. Although the clinical manifestations of COVID-19 are primarily fever, cough, and pulmonary imaging, gastrointestinal symptoms have also ...

At the end of December 2019, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) quickly spread throughout Hubei Province and other parts of China. During the 2020 Spring Festival, public activities were cancelled, people tried their best to stay at home, and human and industrial activities were reduced to a basic or minimum level. However, during this period, severe fog-haze events occurred over the North China Plain. What was the leading factor that caused these severe smog incidents? And what were the individual impacts of meteorological conditions and emission reductions? To evaluate the impacts of meteorological conditions and emission reduction measures on the near-surface PM2.5 (fine particulate matter) during the COVID-19 lockdown, ...

Flexible and adaptive microelectronics is considered an innovation driver for new and more effective biomedical applications. These include, for example, the treatment of damaged nerve bundles, chronic pain, or the control of artificial limbs. For this to work, close contact between electronics and neural tissue is essential for effective electrical and mechanical coupling. In addition, potential applications arise from the production of tiny and flexible surgical tools. An international team led by Prof. Dr. Oliver G. Schmidt, head of the Institute for Integrative Nanosciences at the Leibniz Institute ...

Tokyo, Japan - Scientists from the Institute of Industrial Science at The University of Tokyo demonstrated how the adaptive immune system uses a method similar to reinforcement learning to control the immune reaction to repeat infections. This work may lead to significant improvements in vaccine development and interventions to boost the immune system. In the human body, the adaptive immune system fights germs by remembering previous infections so it can respond quickly if the same pathogens return. This complex process depends on the cooperation of many ...

Recently, the three-dimensional (3D) Dirac points and 3D Dirac semimetals have attracted tremendous attention in the field of topological physics. The 3D Dirac point is a fourfold band crossing in 3D momentum space, which can be view as the degeneracy of two opposite Weyl points. However, the 3D Dirac points can be described by the Z2 topological invariant other than the Chern number. The topological property of 3D Dirac point is not totally the same as Weyl point. Besides, the transition from Dirac points to Weyl points has not been experimentally studied in both photonic and acoustic systems so far. Therefore, the theoretical or experimental breakthrough of 3D Dirac points and the study on their transition is of great ...

As countries around the world race to mitigate global warming by limiting carbon dioxide emissions, an unlikely source could be making climate goals harder to achieve without even deeper cuts in greenhouse gas production: reductions in air pollution. New modeling experiments from Kyushu University in Japan of the long-term effects of reductions in pollutants known as sulfate aerosols predicts further increases in surface air temperature at current and increased carbon dioxide levels because of the loss of an overall cooling effect caused by the light-scattering particles. "Air pollution causes an estimated seven million premature deaths per year worldwide, so action is essential, especially in emerging and developing countries, which tend to be most affected," ...

Heart attack and stroke are the first and second leading causes of death in developed countries, respectively. As the disease often results in sudden death with few special prognostic symptoms, early diagnosis is very important. For this purpose, imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are widely used to identify the narrowing or blockage of blood vessels. In MRI, contrast agents improve the visibility of the structures such as smaller blood vessels within the body. Just as satellites or global positioning systems (GPS) give traffic congestion information, the MRI contrast agents can give accurate information of vascular conditions such as vascular ...

A year ago, infectious disease doctor Christine Johnston was leading a study on the use of hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of people with COVID-19. The trial launched at the end of March, when the disease was putting the world on pause and killing thousands. Hydroxychloroquine showed promise in studies done in test tubes rather than in animals or humans. If the drug worked, it would be cheap, safe, and available. As the trial got going in April, however, hydroxychloroquine was being touted as a treatment without any rigorous evidence. "The world was at a desperate moment and people were jumping to conclusions," ...

During the height of the first COVID-19 lockdown in the UK, women spent more time on unpaid housework and childcare than men, were more likely to reduce working hours, and reported higher levels of psychological distress, according to a new study published last week in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Baowen Xue and Anne McMunn of University College London, UK. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, studies had already shown that women in the UK today spend more time doing unpaid care work than men. In March 2020, childcare facilities and schools in the UK were shut down in response ...

Young people at ultra-high risk of developing psychosis have significantly higher psychotic symptoms if they are an evening person, researchers at Orygen, Australia's centre of excellence in youth mental health, have found. Their research, published last month in the journal Early Intervention in Psychiatry, investigated the link between sleep disturbance, chronotype - whether the young person was a morning or evening person - and psychotic symptoms. Orygen's Dr Jessica Hartmann, who led the study, said the research involved clinical interviews and self-report ...

Psychedelic healing may sound like a fad from the Woodstock era, but it's a field of study that's gaining traction in the medical community as an effective treatment option for a growing number of mental health conditions.   While the study of psychedelics as medicine is inching toward the mainstream, it still remains somewhat controversial. Psychedelics have struggled to shake a "counterculture" perception that was born in the 1960s, a view that had stymied scientific study of them for more than 50 years.   But that perception is slowly changing.   Mounting research suggests ...

A team of researchers from Tohoku University have created a tin monosulfide (SnS) solar cell that boasts attractive performance levels, promoting affordable and clean energy and moving society closer to achieving the UN's sustainable development goals. Their results were published in the journal Solar RRL on February 25, 2021. Current thin film solar cells often use cadmium telluride and copper indium gallium selenide to induce the photovoltaic effect. However, these materials contain rare and toxic elements. In contrast, tin and sulfur are abundant, easy to refine and non-toxic. The key to high efficiency SnS solar cells lies within the p-n homojunction. P-type SnS is easy to fabricate, but the same cannot be said of n-type SnS. The complexity of ...

Photosynthetic organisms harvest light from the sun to produce the energy they need to survive. A new paper published by University of Chicago researchers reveals their secret: exploiting quantum mechanics. "Before this study, the scientific community saw quantum signatures generated in biological systems and asked the question, were these results just a consequence of biology being built from molecules, or did they have a purpose?" said Greg Engel, Professor of Chemistry and senior author on the study. "This is the first time we are seeing biology actively exploiting quantum effects." The scientists studied a type of microorganism called green sulfur bacteria. These bacteria need light to survive, but even small amounts of oxygen can damage their delicate photosynthetic equipment. ...

Durham, NC - Results of a clinical trial released in STEM CELLS Translational Medicine provide evidence that treating patients with an injection of bone marrow cells may lead to a reduction in brain injury after a stroke. The study was conducted by Muhammad E. Haque, Ph.D., Sean I. Savitz, M.D., and colleagues from the Institute for Stroke and Cerebrovascular Disease at The University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston. "Nearly 90 percent of patients who suffer an ischemic stroke - the most common type of stroke - exhibit weakness or paralysis to one side of the body," Dr. Haque said. "Injuries to the corticospinal tract (CST), which is ...

NASA's Perseverance Rover recently made a successful landing on Mars, embarking on a two-year mission to seek signs of ancient life and collect samples. Because Mars is extremely cold -- nighttime temperatures can drop below -112 F -- heaters are required to keep the rover's battery system from freezing. Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Nano Letters have 3D printed porous carbon aerogels for electrodes in ultralow-temperature supercapacitors, reducing heating needs for future space and polar missions. Jennifer Lu, Yat Li and colleagues wanted to develop an energy storage system that could operate at very low temperatures without heating units, which add weight and energy requirements ...

A recent study on spectacular fossil plants preserved in a volcanic ash fall deposit--known as China's "vegetational Pompeii," in Inner Mongolia, China--has resolved a mystery that puzzled palaeontology for over a century: What are Noeggerathiales? The study, published in PNAS on March 8, was led by Prof. WANG Jun from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS) and by Prof. David Dilcher from Indiana University (USA). Researchers from the UK, Czech Republic and Austria were also involved. The researchers confirmed that Noeggerathiales had the spore propagation mode of ferns and the vascular tissue of seed plants. They belonged to a sister group of seed plants, the former gymnosperm. Noeggerathiales ...