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ScienceDaily: Matter & Energy News |
| Technology’s impact on worker well-being Posted: 28 Oct 2021 02:45 PM PDT In the traditional narrative of the evolving 21st century workplace, technological substitution of human employees is treated as a serious concern, while technological complementarity -- the use of automation and artificial intelligence to complement workers -- is viewed as a good thing. But a new study tells a more nuanced story, demonstrating that the integration of automation and AI in the workplace has mixed, even negative impacts, on worker wellbeing. |
| Unlocking the technology to produce unbreakable screens Posted: 28 Oct 2021 11:37 AM PDT Cracked phone screens could become a thing of the past thanks to breakthrough research The researchers have unlocked the technology to produce next-generation composite glass for lighting LEDs and smartphone, television and computer screens. The findings will enable the manufacture of glass screens that are not only unbreakable but also deliver crystal clear image quality. |
| Stacking the deck: Layers of crystalline nanosheets enable tunable electronic properties Posted: 28 Oct 2021 09:04 AM PDT Researchers have obtained and characterized two-dimensional (2D) boron monosulfide (BS) nanosheets. The bandgap energy of a single BS nanosheet was greater than that of the bulk material from which it came. As additional 2D layers were stacked, the bandgap energy eventually decreased to that of the bulk material. This result reflected the tunable electronic properties of BS nanosheets, which are suitable for electronic devices and photocatalytic applications. |
| New study solves energy storage and supply puzzle Posted: 28 Oct 2021 09:04 AM PDT Researchers have found a simple and affordable method to determine which chemicals and types of metals are best used to store and supply energy, in a breakthrough for any battery-run devices and technologies reliant on the fast and reliable supply of electricity, including smart phones and tablets. |
| Increased cognitive demands offset low-back exoskeleton advantages, research finds Posted: 28 Oct 2021 09:03 AM PDT In manufacturing, work-related lower-back injuries from lifting and handling heavy objects account for approximately $100 billion in medical bills annually in the United States, according to new data. Although novel ergonomic interventions such as industrial exoskeletons have shown promise in reducing the risk of musculoskeletal injuries, new research finds that the cognitive fit (where the wearer has ample mental resources available to accurately operate the exoskeleton while conducting their daily work tasks) of such wearable robotic solutions in the workplace may impose newer risks on workers. |
| Creating a new 'toehold' for RNA therapeutics, cell therapies, and diagnostics Posted: 28 Oct 2021 09:03 AM PDT Synthetic biologists have developed eToeholds -- small versatile devices built into RNA that enable expression of a linked protein-encoding sequence only when a cell-specific or viral RNA is present. eToehold devices open up multiple opportunities for more targeted types of RNA therapy, in vitro cell and tissue engineering approaches, and the sensing of diverse biological threats in humans and other higher organisms. |
| Trapping molecules to find new physics Posted: 28 Oct 2021 09:03 AM PDT The Standard Model of particle physics has been extremely successful in describing how the universe works. However, there are some things that it cannot explain. Physicists have, therefore, been looking for new physics in particle accelerators such as the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Now, a different approach is also being used: in contrast to smashing up matter at high energies, physicists wanted to study molecules that are brought to rest. |
| On-water creation of conducting MOF nanosheets Posted: 28 Oct 2021 06:32 AM PDT Oil and water do not mix, but what happens where oil and water meet? Or where air meets liquid? Unique reactions occur at these interfaces, which a team of researchers based in Japan used to develop the first successful construction of uniform, electrically conductive nanosheets needed for next-generation sensors and energy production technologies. |
| Plant from plastics: Bio-based polymers can be transformed into fertilizer Posted: 28 Oct 2021 06:32 AM PDT Bioplastics can be chemically recycled into nitrogen-rich fertilizers in a facile and environmentally friendly way, as recently demonstrated. Their findings pave the way towards sustainable circular systems that simultaneously address issues such as plastic pollution, petrochemical resource depletion, and world hunger. |
| Industry must prepare now for a new world of green electricity Posted: 27 Oct 2021 06:18 PM PDT Industry must speed up investment in new technologies that allow manufacture of materials using renewable electricity if net zero emissions targets are to be met, research warns. The study cautions that national strategies for replacing fossil fuels with renewables need an integrated approach to energy use and material production -- or risk industry being unable to use electricity produced from renewable sources. |
| Researchers evaluate whether lactate sensors can contribute to sports physiology Posted: 27 Oct 2021 12:07 PM PDT A recent article says that despite a recent history of contradictory -- and incomplete -- evidence, sports physiology is zeroing in on whether lactate sensor technology can improve performance while preventing injury. |
| Scientists create device that uses ‘light tweezers’ to trap and move viruses Posted: 27 Oct 2021 09:21 AM PDT A team of scientists led by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has created a laser-powered device that can trap and move viruses using light. The device, which has the ability to manipulate light to act as 'tweezers', would aid in the development of new approaches to disease diagnosis and the study of viruses, as the device can precisely 'move' a single virus to target a particular part of a cell. |
| Smart sensor equipped chair may help office workers reduce their back pain woes Posted: 27 Oct 2021 09:21 AM PDT The chair identifies sitting behavior associated with worsening low back pain, warning workers so they can get up and move around before the pain worsens. |
| A novel solution to a combinatorial optimization problem in bicycle sharing systems Posted: 27 Oct 2021 09:21 AM PDT Bicycle sharing systems have become an attractive option to alleviate traffic in congested cities. However, rebalancing the number of bikes at each port as time passes is essential, and finding the optimal routing paths for the vehicles in charge of rebalancing constitutes a combinatorial optimization problem. Now, scientists propose an innovative algorithm that can find near-optimal solutions more quickly even for a large number of ports, paving the way for more efficient bicycle sharing systems. |
| Tuneable catalysis: Solving the particle size puzzle Posted: 27 Oct 2021 09:20 AM PDT Chemical reactions can be studied at different levels: At the level of individual atoms and molecules, new compounds can be designed. At the level of tiny particles on the nano and micrometer scale, one can understand how catalyst materials influence chemical reactions. Now it is possible to connect all levels from the microscopic to the macroscopic level in order to describe a technologically important chemical reaction under realistic conditions. |
| A lab in the sky: Physics experiment in Earth’s atmosphere could help improve GPS performance Posted: 27 Oct 2021 09:20 AM PDT The Earth's atmosphere has been used as a 'laboratory' to carry out a physics experiment which could help to improve the performance of GPS. |
| Cat’s meow: Robotic pet boosts mood, behavior and cognition in adults with dementia Posted: 27 Oct 2021 09:20 AM PDT Researchers tested the effectiveness of affordable, interactive robotic pet cats to improve mood, behavior and cognition in older adults with mild to moderate dementia. Mood and behavioral symptoms were measured along with cognition using the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE). Intervention with this robotic cat improved all mood scores over time, with significant improvements in mood and depression. More than half of the participants scored higher on the MMSE post-test than pretest, with slight to moderate improvement in attention/calculation, language, and registration. The robotic cats also provided participants with an alternative way to express themselves. |
| Making Martian rocket biofuel on Mars Posted: 27 Oct 2021 09:20 AM PDT Researchers have developed a concept that would make Martian rocket fuel, on Mars, that could be used to launch future astronauts back to Earth. |
| Flexible device could treat hearing loss without batteries Posted: 27 Oct 2021 09:19 AM PDT Some people are born with hearing loss, while others acquire it with age, infections or long-term noise exposures. In many instances, the tiny hairs in the inner ear's cochlea that allow the brain to recognize electrical pulses as sound are damaged. As a step toward an advanced artificial cochlea, researchers report a conductive membrane, which translated sound waves into matching electrical signals when implanted inside a model ear, without requiring external power. |
| Carbon nanotubes could help electronics withstand outer space’s harsh conditions Posted: 27 Oct 2021 05:54 AM PDT Space missions, such as NASA's Orion that will take astronauts to Mars, are pushing the limits of human exploration. But during their transit, spacecrafts encounter a continuous stream of damaging cosmic radiation, which can harm or even destroy onboard electronics. To extend future missions, researchers show that transistors and circuits with carbon nanotubes can be configured to maintain their electrical properties and memory after being bombarded by high amounts of radiation. |
| Making the strange metal state in high temperature superconductors even stranger Posted: 27 Oct 2021 05:54 AM PDT Researchers have uncovered a striking new behavior of the 'strange metal' state of high temperature superconductors. The discovery represents an important piece of the puzzle for understanding these materials. |
| A new 3D printing frontier: Self-powered wearable devices Posted: 27 Oct 2021 05:53 AM PDT Researchers have created an innovative hybrid printing method -- combining multi-material aerosol jet printing and extrusion printing -- that integrates both functional and structural materials into a single streamlined printing platform. |
| Smart material switches between heating and cooling in minutes Posted: 27 Oct 2021 05:53 AM PDT Engineers have developed smart material technology that, with the flip of a switch, can alternate between harvesting heat from sunlight and allowing an object to cool. The window-like device has no moving parts and could be a boon for HVAC savings, potentially cutting energy usage by nearly 20% in the United States alone. |
| Dynamical scaling of entanglement entropy and surface roughness in random quantum systems Posted: 26 Oct 2021 12:33 PM PDT A team of physicists has demonstrated numerically a dynamical one-parameter scaling called 'Family-Vicsek (FV) scaling,' originally found in surface growth physics, in disordered quantum systems. |
| Using overpasses as shelter from tornado? Posted: 26 Oct 2021 09:43 AM PDT Meteorologists and emergency workers continue to contest the popular thinking that waiting out a tornado under an overpass is safe. According to the National Weather Service, doing so could actually increase the risk of death, in part because the wind from a tornado is thought to accelerate as it flows under the overpass, in what's known as the wind tunnel effect. |
| A new model could help stall shifting sand dunes, protecting infrastructure and ecosystems Posted: 26 Oct 2021 09:43 AM PDT Scientists have used down-scaled laboratory models to show how sand dunes move through a landscape, revealing the conditions that determine whether they will pass through hurdles in their path -- like pipelines or walls -- or get stopped in their tracks. |
| Teaching robots to think like us Posted: 26 Oct 2021 09:42 AM PDT Researchers outline how a robot could be taught to navigate through a maze by electrically stimulating a culture of brain nerve cells connected to the machine. These nerve cells were grown from living cells and acted as the physical reservoir for the computer to construct coherent signals. These findings suggest goal-directed behavior can be generated without any additional learning by sending disturbance signals to an embodied system. |
| Affordable policy which could stop fossil fuels causing global warming Posted: 26 Oct 2021 09:42 AM PDT Imagine a single policy, imposed on one industry, which would, if enforced consistently, stop fossil fuels causing global warming within a generation. The Carbon Takeback Obligation could do just that. It requires fossil fuel extractors and importers to dispose safely and permanently of a rising fraction of the CO2 they generate, with that fraction rising to 100% by the year of net-zero. Critically, this would include carbon dioxide generated by the products they sell. |
| Metal-halide perovskite semiconductors can compete with silicon counterparts for solar cells, LEDs Posted: 26 Oct 2021 09:42 AM PDT Common semiconductor materials for solar cells, such as silicon, must be grown via an expensive process to avoid defects within their crystal structure that affect functionality. But metal-halide perovskite semiconductors are emerging as a cheaper, alternative material class, with excellent and tunable functionality as well as easy processability. |
| New strategy for detecting non-conformist particles called anyons Posted: 26 Oct 2021 06:43 AM PDT By observing how strange particles called anyons dissipate heat, researchers have shown that they can probe the properties of these particles in systems that could be relevant for topological quantum computing. |
| ‘Nanozyme’ therapy prevents harmful dental plaque build-up Posted: 25 Oct 2021 02:21 PM PDT FDA-approved iron oxide nanoparticles, delivered in a mouth rinse, can suppress the growth of dental plaque and kill bacteria responsible for tooth decay, according to a new study. The nanoparticles act as enzymes to activate hydrogen peroxide in a way that precisely targets harmful microbes and spares normal tissue. |
| Urban areas across the US are undercounting greenhouse gas emissions Posted: 25 Oct 2021 02:21 PM PDT Methane emissions from the distribution and use of natural gas across U.S. cities are 2 to 10 times higher than recent estimates from the Environmental Protect Agency, according to a new study. In Boston, methane emissions from the natural gas system are six times higher than recent estimates by the Massachusetts DEP and have not significantly changed in eight years, despite legislation aimed at repairing leaks in natural gas pipelines. |
| Nature-inspired coatings could power tiny chemistry labs for medical testing and more Posted: 22 Oct 2021 02:15 PM PDT Researchers develop polymer coating that enables low surface tension liquids to be transported over distances 15 times longer than currently possible, without losing any of the liquid. |
| Innovative design of titanium alloy with exciting properties through 3D printing Posted: 22 Oct 2021 09:37 AM PDT Scientists have successfully developed a super-strong, highly ductile and super-light titanium-based alloy using additive manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing. Their findings open up a new pathway to design alloys with unprecedented structures and properties for various structural applications. |
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