When two materials come into contact, charged entities on their surfaces get a little nudge. This is how rubbing a balloon on the skin creates static electricity. Likewise, water flowing over some surfaces can gain or lose charge. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Central Science have harnessed the phenomenon to generate electricity from rain-like droplets moving through a tube. They demonstrate a new kind of flow that makes enough power to light 12 LEDs. “Water that falls through a vertical tube generates a substantial amount of electricity by using a specific pattern of water flow: plug flow,” says Siowling Soh, the study’s corresponding ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study offers clarity on one of the most common questions asked of financial professionals: Is term or permanent life insurance right for me?   Researchers at The Ohio State University conducted a study of how different life insurance product types were related to whether households had adequate financial resources if an income earner died.   They didn’t compare permanent and term life insurance directly, but they calculated how likely households with different life ...

Opaque materials can transmit light when excited by a high-intensity laser beam. This process, known as optical bleaching, induces a nonlinear effect that temporarily alters the properties of a material. Remarkably, when the laser is switched on and off at ultrahigh speeds, the effect can be dynamically controlled, opening new possibilities for advanced optical technologies. Multicolored optical switching is an important phenomenon with potential applications in fields such as telecommunications and optical computing. However, most materials typically exhibit single-color optical nonlinearity under intense laser illumination, ...

Our brain’s remarkable ability to form and store memories has long fascinated scientists, yet most of the microscopic mechanisms behind memory and learning processes remain a mystery. Recent research points to the importance of biochemical reactions occurring at postsynaptic densities—specialized areas where neurons connect and communicate. These tiny junctions between brain cells are now thought to be crucial sites where proteins need to organize in specific ways to facilitate learning and memory formation. More specifically, a 2021 study revealed that memory-related proteins can bind together to form droplet-like structures ...

Plants store carbon in two primary forms: starch and triacylglycerols (TAGs). Starch is mainly stored in chloroplasts in leaves, where it serves as a readily available energy source, while TAGs are stored in seeds for long-term energy storage. Past studies have shown that a carbon trade-off exists between these two storage forms, implying that an increase in the levels of one form often reduces the levels of the other. Interestingly, attempts to increase TAG in leaves have led to a decrease in the levels of starch, suggesting ...

An international team led by the University of Geneva (UNIGE) has discovered the most distant spiral galaxy candidate known to date. This ultra-massive system existed just one billion years after the Big Bang and already shows a remarkably mature structure, with a central old bulge, a large star-forming disk, and well-defined spiral arms. The discovery was made using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and offers important insights into how galaxies can form and evolve so rapidly in the early Universe. The ...

A multidisciplinary clinical team led by Professor Bernat Soria from the Institute of Bioengineering at the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH, Spain) has developed a new method to deliver cell therapies in patients on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a life support system used in cases of severe lung failure. The advance has been published in Stem Cell Research & Therapy (Springer Nature Group). The team has opted not to patent the technique in order to encourage its use in public health systems ...

A new study from University of California San Diego suggests that climate trauma — such as experiencing a devastating wildfire — can have lasting effects on cognitive function. The research, which focused on survivors of the 2018 Camp Fire in Northern California, found that individuals directly exposed to the disaster had difficulty making decisions that prioritize long-term benefits. The findings were recently published in Scientific Reports, part of the Nature portfolio of journals. “Our previous research has shown that survivors of California’s 2018 Camp Fire experience prolonged symptoms ...

Kyoto, Japan -- There's a sensation that you experience -- near a plane taking off or a speaker bank at a concert -- from a sound so total that you feel it in your very being. When this happens, not only do your brain and ears perceive it, but your cells may also. Technically speaking, sound is a simple phenomenon, consisting of compressional mechanical waves transmitted through substances, which exists universally in the non-equilibrated material world. Sound is also a vital source of environmental information for living beings, while its capacity to induce physiological responses at the cell ...

Strawberry fields forever will exist for the in-demand fruit, but the laborers who do the backbreaking work of harvesting them might continue to dwindle. While raised, high-bed cultivation somewhat eases the manual labor, the need for robots to help harvest strawberries, tomatoes, and other such produce is apparent. As a first step, Osaka Metropolitan University Assistant Professor Takuya Fujinaga has developed an algorithm for robots to autonomously drive in two modes: moving to a pre-designated destination and moving alongside ...

By Dr Kelly Dunning The Endangered Species Act (ESA), now 50 years old, was once a rare beacon of bipartisan unity, signed into law by President Richard Nixon with near-unanimous political support. Its purpose was clear: protect imperiled species and enable their recovery using the best available science to do so. Yet, as our case study on the grizzly bear in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem reveals, wildlife management under the ESA has changed, becoming a political battleground where science is increasingly drowned out by partisan ideology, bureaucratic delays, power struggles, and competing political interests. ...

Citronellol, a rose-scented compound commonly found in cosmetics and household products, has long been considered safe. However, a Korean research team has, for the first time, identified its potential to cause neurotoxicity when excessively exposed. A collaborative research team led by Dr. Myung Ae Bae at the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT) and Professors Hae-Chul Park and Suhyun Kim at Korea University has discovered that high concentrations of citronellol can trigger neurological and behavioral toxicity. The study, published in the Journal ...

Most people think of crocodylians as living fossils— stubbornly unchanged, prehistoric relics that have ruled the world’s swampiest corners for millions of years. But their evolutionary history tells a different story, according to new research led by the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) and the University of Utah. Crocodylians are surviving members of a 230-million-year lineage called crocodylomorphs, a group that includes living crocodylians (i.e. crocodiles, alligators and gharials) and their many extinct ...

Images available via link in the notes section University of Oxford researchers have helped overturn the popular theory that water on Earth originated from asteroids bombarding its surface; Scientists have analysed a meteorite analogous to the early Earth to understand the origin of hydrogen on our planet. The research team demonstrated that the material which built our planet was far richer in hydrogen than previously thought. The findings, which support the theory that the formation of habitable conditions on Earth did not rely on asteroids ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A spat between birds at your backyard birdfeeder highlights the sometimes fierce competition for resources that animals face in the natural world, but some ecologically similar species appear to coexist peacefully. A classic study in songbirds by Robert MacArthur, one of the founders of modern ecology, suggested that similar wood warblers — insect-eating, colorful forest songbirds — can live in the same trees because they actually occupy slightly different locations in the tree and presumably eat different insects. Now, a new study is using modern techniques to revisit MacArthur’s ...

In birds, singing behaviours play a critical role in mating and territory defence. Although birdsong can signal individual quality and personality, very few studies have explored the relationship between individual personality and song complexity, and none has investigated this in females, say Flinders University animal behaviour experts. They have examined the relationships between song complexity and two personality traits (exploration and aggressiveness) in wild superb fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus) in Australia, a species in which both sexes learn to produce complex songs. “Regardless of their sex ...

Macaque mothers experience a short period of physical restlessness after the death of an infant, but do not show typical human signs of grief, such as lethargy and appetite loss, finds a new study by UCL anthropologists.    Published in Biology Letters, the researchers found that bereaved macaque mothers spent less time resting (sleep, restful posture, relaxing) than the non-bereaved females in the first two weeks after their infants’ deaths.   Researchers believe this physical restlessness could represent an initial period of ‘protest’ among the bereaved macaque mothers, similar ...

PULLMAN, Wash., -- Scientists have unveiled a new food source designed to sustain honey bee colonies indefinitely without natural pollen. Published April 16 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the research from Washington State University and APIX Biosciences NV in Wingene, Belgium details successful trials where nutritionally stressed colonies, deployed for commercial crop pollination in Washington state, thrived on the new food source. This innovation, which resembles the man-made diets ...

Monitoring blood levels of DNA fragments shed by dying tumor cells may accurately predict skin cancer recurrence, a new study shows. Led by researchers at NYU Langone Health and its Perlmutter Cancer Center, the study showed that approximately 80% of stage III melanoma patients who had detectable levels of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) before they started treatment to suppress their tumors went on to experience recurrence. The researchers also found that the disease returned more than four times faster in this group than in those with no detectable levels of the biomarker, and the higher ...

Certain common genetic changes might make some people with focal epilepsy less responsive to seizure medications, finds a new global study led by researchers at UCL and UTHealth Houston. Focal epilepsy is a condition where seizures start in one part of the brain. It is the most common type of epilepsy. Antiseizure medication is usually prescribed for people with the condition. However, for one in three people with epilepsy (around 20 million individuals worldwide), current antiseizure medications are ineffective. This means ...

A brisk walking pace, and the amount of time spent at this speed, may lower the risk of heart rhythm abnormalities, such as atrial fibrillation, tachycardia (rapid heartbeat), and bradycardia (very slow heartbeat), finds research published online in the journal Heart. The findings were independent of known cardiovascular risk factors, but strongest in women, the under 60s, those who weren’t obese, and those with pre-existing long term conditions. Heart rhythm abnormalities (arrhythmias) are common, note the authors, with atrial fibrillation ...

A single daily preventer dose of inhaled corticosteroid (beclomethasone), taken mid afternoon, may be the best timing for effective asthma control as it suppresses the usual nocturnal worsening of symptoms more effectively than dosing regimens at other times of the day, suggest the results of a small clinical trial published in the journal Thorax. If the findings are confirmed in larger studies, this approach may lead to better clinical outcomes for patients without increasing unwanted steroidal ...

Hypersensitivity to the cold, especially ice cold feet, as well as a feeling of heaviness in the legs, are linked to the presence of varicose veins, finds a large study published in the open access journal Open Heart.  Cold hypersensitivity is often underestimated as a subjective symptom, say the researchers. Varicose veins are usually caused by impaired functioning of the deep or superficial veins, and the perforator veins (short veins that link the superficial and deep venous systems in the legs).  The prevalence of varicose veins ranges from 2% to 30% in adults, with women at higher risk. And symptoms include sensations ...

A team of researchers at UCL and UCLH have identified the key brain regions that are essential for logical thinking and problem solving. The findings, published in Brain, help to increase our understanding of how the human brain supports our ability to comprehend, draw conclusions, and deal with new and novel problems – otherwise known as reasoning skills. To determine which brain areas are necessary for a certain ability, researchers study patients with brain lesions (an area of damage in the brain) caused by stroke or brain tumours. This approach, known ...

Wildflowers growing on land previously used for buildings and factories can accumulate lead, arsenic and other metal contaminants from the soil, which are consumed by pollinators as they feed, a new study has found. The metals have previously been shown to damage the health of pollinators, which ingest them in nectar as they feed, leading to reduced population sizes and death. Even low nectar metal levels can have long-term effects, by affecting bees’ learning and memory - which impacts their foraging ability. Researchers have found that common plants including white clover and bindweed, which ...