Canada's biggest companies often speak of their plans to be more sustainable, but a new study found corporations aren't fully backing up those commitments.   A team of University of Waterloo researchers concluded that corporate investing in communities fell despite an increase in companies committing to the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) over the last decade. Researchers investigated the community investment of Canada's 58 leading private-sector companies as a percentage of their net profit after tax to determine whether introducing SDGs created ...

Polyimide (PI) has emerged as a promising organic photocatalyst owing to its distinct advantages of high visible-light response, facile synthesis, molecularly tunable donor-acceptor structure, and excellent physicochemical stability. However, the synthesis of high-quality PI photoelectrode remains a challenge, and photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting for PI has been less studied.   A research group of Huiyan Zhang and Sheng Chu from Southeast University prepared PI films by a ...

A spider venom molecule being investigated by a University of Queensland team has met critical benchmarks towards becoming a treatment for heart attack and stroke. Associate Professor Nathan Palpant and Professor Glenn King from UQ’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience have previously shown that the drug candidate Hi1a protects cells from the damage caused by heart attack and stroke. Dr Palpant said a subsequent study has put the drug through a series of preclinical tests designed to mimic real-life treatment scenarios. “These tests are a major step towards helping us understand how Hi1a would work ...

Soil nitrogen mineralization (Nmin) is a key process that converts organic N into mineral N that controls soil N availability to plants. However, regional assessments of soil Nmin in cropland and its affecting factors are lacking, especially in relation to variation in elevation. Nitrogen is an essential nutrient for crops but mineral N in soil, the only form that can be absorbed and used by crops, represents only about 1% of total soil N. Although N fertilization is commonly a necessary method for supplying N to crops, N release due to excess N fertilizer in the environment ...

Excessive alcohol intake is strongly associated with alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) which accounts for 25% and 30% of deaths from cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Impairment of Ca2+ influx and Ca2+-mediated signaling in ALD suggests that Ca2+ channels are important in ALD pathological progression.   TRPC (transient receptor potential cation channel protein C) is an evolutionarily conserved non-selective cation channel protein primarily located in the cell membrane with six transmembrane segments. So far four TRPC subfamilies have been identified, categorized into TRPC1, TRPC2, TRPC4/5, and TRPC3/6/7. Among them, TRPC3 is the most well-studied ...

The blueprint for human life lies within the DNA in the nucleus of each of our cells. In human cells, around six and a half feet of this genetic material must be condensed to fit inside the nucleus. DNA condensation is not random. To function properly, the genetic material is highly organized into loop structures that often bring together widely separated sections of the genome critical to the regulation of gene activity. In a new paper published in Nature Communications, USC Stem Cell scientists from the laboratory ...

Niigata, Japan – On September 4, 2022, a geologist Hayato Ueda in Niigata University boarded a submarine vehicle with a pilot Chris May and had a dive into the Japan Trench within the epicenter area of the 2011 Tohoku-oki megaquake, which caused the devastating tsunami disaster. On the 7,500 m deep trench bottom, they found a 26 m high nearly vertical cliff on the eastern slope of a 60 m high ridge. Previous bathymetric surveys from the sea surface have revealed that the ridge did not exist before, and appeared just after the megaquake ...

Video gamers worldwide may be risking irreversible hearing loss and/or tinnitus—persistent ringing/buzzing in the ears—finds a systematic review of the available evidence, published in the open access journal BMJ Public Health.   What evidence there is suggests that the sound levels reported in studies of more than 50,000 people often near, or exceed, permissible safe limits, conclude the researchers.  And given the popularity of these games, greater public health efforts are needed to raise awareness of the potential ...

Men with enlarged breast tissue, not caused by excess weight—a condition formally known as gynaecomastia—may be at heightened risk of an early death before the age of 75, suggests the first study of its kind, published online in the open access journal BMJ Open.   Those with a pre-existing risk factor, such as cancer or circulatory, lung, and gut diseases before diagnosis seem to be most vulnerable, the findings indicate. Enlarged breast tissue in men is usually caused by a hormone imbalance and affects around a third to around two thirds of men, depending on age. It is distinct from what is often dubbed ...

Same-level falls in the workplace are set to rise amid rapid growth in the numbers of older female employees in the workforce, suggests Australian research published online first in the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine. Although workplace falls, overall, are more common among male employees, particularly falls from height, same-level falls are more common in older women, the findings indicate. The prevalence and relative severity of workplace falls mean that better prevention strategies are needed to mitigate these sex-specific risk factors, conclude the researchers. In 2016, an estimated 1.53 million deaths and 76.1 million years of ...

The world smells different for female silkmoths than for males In humans, the sense of smell is similarly developed in men and women, although women have slightly more olfactory neurons and therefore a slightly more sensitive nose. On the whole, however, they perceive the same odors. Male moths, on the other hand, live in a completely different olfactory world to their female counterparts. For example, the antennae of male silkmoths - their "nose" - are highly specialized to detect female sex pheromones, ...

Cultural institutions are censoring research, learning and creativity because of the way they police the reuse of digital copies of out-of-copyright artworks and artefacts, a new study warns. Cultural institutions have created a “mess” by claiming and enforcing new rights over the reproduction images of works in their collections. This allows museums and other organisations to refuse requests for the use of the images in education or research or charge high fees. This impedes free and creative expression and amounts to censorship, according to Dr Andrea Wallace from the University of Exeter Law School. Researchers, educators and others regularly ...

One year ago, Caltech’s Space Solar Power Demonstrator (SSPD-1) launched into space to demonstrate and test three technological innovations that are among those necessary to make space solar power a reality. The spaceborne testbed demonstrated the ability to beam power wirelessly in space; it measured the efficiency, durability, and function of a variety of different types of solar cells in space; and gave a real-world trial of the design of a lightweight deployable structure to deliver and hold the aforementioned solar cells and power transmitters. Now, with ...

The Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation today announced a call for entries for its 2024 Cancer Survivor Scholarships.  The Foundation will award $100,000 to eligible students – including graduating high school seniors, college, vocational and graduate students – to support these students in realizing happy, productive futures. “Beating cancer medically is just one part of creating a healthy, happy life.  Achieving our purpose of ensuring survivors can spread their wings and soar requires ...

Pumping over 100,000 times a day, the heart is a critical muscle needed to deliver oxygen and nutrients to our organs to sustain healthy bodily function. Unfortunately, heart failure affects an estimated 6.2 million people in the U.S. and a staggering 64 million worldwide. Of older patients with heart failure and abnormally thickened hearts, as many as one in five have an underdiagnosed, highly progressive and fatal condition called transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy, or ATTR-CM. The disease, which can be hereditary or develop spontaneously, is defined by an accumulation of misfolded transthyretin ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA — A key chemical reaction — in which the movement of protons between the surface of an electrode and an electrolyte drives an electric current — is a critical step in many energy technologies, including fuel cells and the electrolyzers used to produce hydrogen gas. For the first time, MIT chemists have mapped out in detail how these proton-coupled electron transfers happen at an electrode surface. Their results could help researchers design more efficient fuel cells, batteries, or other energy technologies. “Our advance in this paper was studying and understanding the nature of how these electrons and protons couple ...

Scientists are making significant strides in the development of ultrabroadband white laser sources, covering a wide spectrum from ultraviolet to far infrared. These lasers find applications in diverse fields such as large-scale imaging, femto-chemistry, telecommunications, laser spectroscopy, sensing, and ultrafast sciences. However, the pursuit faces challenges, particularly in the selection of appropriate nonlinear mediums. Traditional solid materials, while efficient, are prone to optical damage under high peak power conditions. Gas mediums, though ...

A discovery from an experiment with magnets and lasers could be a boon to energy-efficient data storage. “We wanted to study the physics of light-magnet interaction,” said Rahul Jangid, who led the data analysis for the project while earning his Ph.D. in materials science and engineering at UC Davis under associate professor Roopali Kukreja. “What happens when you hit a magnetic domain with very short pulses of laser light?” Domains are areas within a magnet that flip from north to south poles. This property is used for ...

What makes a soldier switch sides? That is a really good question. Especially when the soldier is an antibody that is supposed to defend the body against one of the world's most dangerous snake venoms but instead ends up helping the venom kill the body. The question has become topical after a group of DTU researchers slightly changed how they tested an antibody that had previously proven promising as an antidote to snake venom. In the first experiment on mice, the damaging effect on muscle tissue from the venom of Bothrops Asper, ...

Just like a book can’t be judged by its cover, a material can’t always be judged by its surface. But, for an elusive conjectured class of materials, physicists have now shown that the surface previously thought to be “featureless” holds an unmistakable signature that could lead to the first definitive observation. Higher-order topological insulators, or HOTIs, have attracted attention for their ability to conduct electricity along one-dimensional lines on their surfaces, but this property is quite difficult to experimentally distinguish from other ...

Dr. Marcus D. Goncalves Inducted into the American Society for Clinical Investigation Dr. Marcus D. Goncalves, the Ralph L. Nachman, M.D. Research Scholar and an assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at Weill Cornell Medicine, has been elected as a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) for 2024. The ASCI is one of the nation’s oldest nonprofit medical honor societies and focuses on the unique role of physician-scientists in research, clinical care and medical education. It is comprised of more than 3,000 physician-scientists representing ...

Many cancers, including some types of breast cancer, are driven by alterations in the activity of cellular enzymes called kinases. Therapies that directly inhibit these cancer-promoting activities have proven to be effective for patients in which individual driving kinases can be diagnosed.  One major challenge to this therapeutic approach is to accurately quantify tumor kinases in human biopsy samples. Many kinases are not abundantly present and are therefore more difficult to measure accurately. Although currently there are methods to quantify small amounts of kinases, measuring multiple kinases ...

As part of our open science strategy, Canadian Science Publishing (CSP) is pleased to announce our new partnership with OA Switchboard, a mission-driven, community led initiative designed to simplify the sharing of information between stakeholders about open access publications throughout the whole publication journey. “We’re thrilled to partner with the OA Switchboard to improve the visibility of the work we publish,” says Elaine Stott, Chief Executive Officer of CSP. “This initiative enables institutions, consortia and funders to report ...

Sustainable water management is an increasing concern in arid regions around the world, and scientists and regulators are turning to remote sensing tools like OpenET to help track and manage water resources. OpenET uses publicly available data produced by NASA and USGS Landsat and other satellite systems to calculate evapotranspiration (ET), or the amount of water lost to the atmosphere through soil evaporation and plant transpiration, at the level of individual fields. This tool has the potential to revolutionize water management, allowing for field-scale ...

Vanderbilt University Medical Center received a $13 million Department of Defense grant to lead a multisite clinical trial that will evaluate repurposed FDA-approved drugs as treatment options for patients with Rett syndrome.  Affecting 1 in 10,000 females at birth, and males even more rarely, Rett syndrome is a rare genetic neurodevelopmental disorder that affects brain development.  “It robs affected individuals of the ability to use their hands or speak and causes problems with mobility, as well as a number of other issues,” said Jeffrey Neul, Annette Schaffer Eskind Professor, ...