A San Diego State University study found some parents who smoke at home can be nudged outdoors with a combination of coaching, lights and sound. “Project Fresh Air” installed equipment in nearly 300 homes that flashed a warning light and emitted a tone whenever air monitors detected secondhand smoke. The result was an apparent near-20…
Cities could ease congestion and improve safety during snowstorms by tweaking the timing of traffic lights to take road conditions into account. Researchers at the University of Waterloo collected data and ran computer simulations to determine that adjusting the signals at intersections in bad weather could reduce delays by up to 20 per cent. “We…
NIH/Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. “Life-threatening birth complication rate increasing across US racial, ethnic groups: Analysis suggests need for more research to identify causes.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 5 March 2019. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190305092834.htm>. NIH/Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2019, March 5). Life-threatening birth complication rate increasing…
With supercomputers, scientists find promising new materials for solar cells. Finding the best light-harvesting chemicals for use in solar cells can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. Over the years, researchers have developed and tested thousands of different dyes and pigments to see how they absorb sunlight and convert it to electricity.…
Energy The use of solar and wind energy must be doubled to meet the world’s demand for clean energy over the next 30 years. Catalysts that can ensure the storage of solar and wind energy in fuels and chemicals will therefore play an increasingly important role. The catalysts that are used today are, however, often…
For the first time researchers have demonstrated a new way to perform functions essential to future computation three orders of magnitude faster than current commercial devices. The team lead by Associate Professor Shinobu Ohya, created a nanoscale spintronic semiconductor device that can partially switch between specific magnetic states trillions of times a second (terahertz —…
Since the arrival of British settlers over 230 years ago, most Australians have assumed dingoes are a breed of wild dog. But 20 leading researchers have confirmed in a new study that the dingo is actually a unique, Australian species in its own right. Following previous analyses of dingo skull and skin specimens to come…
The rotation of stars in galaxies such as our Milky Way is puzzling. The orbital speeds of stars should decrease with their distance from the center of the galaxy, but in fact stars in the middle and outer regions of galaxies have the same rotational speed. This may be due to the gravitational effect of…
Vaccinations are the world’s frontline defence against infectious diseases yet despite decades of interventions, unsafe injection practices continue to expose billions of people to serious infection and disease. Now, new technology from the University of South Australia is revolutionising safe vaccination practices through antibacterial, silver-loaded dissolvable microneedle patches, which not only sterilise the injection site…
A City of Hope scientist and his colleagues have developed a user-friendly approach to creating “theranostics” — therapy combined with diagnostics — that target specific tumors and diseases. Key to the process are molecules called metallocorroles, which serve as versatile platforms for the development of drugs and imaging agents. City of Hope’s John Termini, Ph.D.,…