The Bionics Products Blog.: 01/29/21

Friday, 29 January 2021

How heatwaves and drought combine to produce the perfect firestorm

Long heatwaves during entrenched drought often trigger fears of bushfire. It's easy to imagine rolling days of hot, dry weather desiccating leaves, bark and twigs, transforming them into a potent fuel.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-01-heatwaves-drought-combine-firestorm.html

It's elemental: Ultra-trace detector tests gold purity

Unless radon gas is discovered in a home inspection, most people remain blissfully unaware that rocks like granite, metal ores, and some soils contain naturally occurring sources of radiation. In most cases, low levels of radiation are not a health concern. But some scientists and engineers are concerned about even trace levels of radiation, which can wreak havoc on sensitive equipment. The semiconductor industry, for instance, spends billions each year to source and "scrub" ultra-trace levels of radioactive materials from microchips, transistors and sensitive sensors.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-01-elemental-ultra-trace-detector-gold-purity.html

Solvation-driven electrochemical actuation

In a new study led by Institute Professor Maurizio Porfiri at NYU Tandon, researchers showed a novel principle of actuation—to transform electrical energy into motion. This actuation mechanism is based on solvation, the interaction between solute and solvent molecules in a solution. This phenomenon is particular important in water, as its molecules are polar: oxygen attracts electrons more than hydrogen, such that oxygen has a slightly negative charge and hydrogen a slightly positive one. Thus, water molecules are attracted by charged ions in solution, forming shells around them. This microscopic phenomenon plays a critical role in the properties of solutions and in essential biological processes such as protein folding, but prior to this study there was no evidence of potential macroscopic mechanical consequences of solvation.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-01-solvation-driven-electrochemical-actuation.html

Constructing the first version of the Japanese reference genome

The Japanese now have their own reference genome thanks to researchers at Tohoku University who completed and released the first Japanese reference genome (JG1).

source https://phys.org/news/2021-01-version-japanese-genome.html

Ancient rivers reveal multiple Sahara Desert greenings

Large parts of the Sahara Desert were green thousands of years ago, evidenced by prehistoric engravings in the desert of giraffes, crocodiles and a stone-age cave painting of humans swimming. Recently, more detailed insights were gained from a combination of sediment cores extracted from the Mediterranean Sea and results from climate computer modeling, which an international research team, including University of Hawai'i at Mānoa oceanography researcher Tobias Friedrich, examined for the first time.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-01-ancient-rivers-reveal-multiple-sahara.html

Study reveals new clues about Mt. Everest's deadliest avalanche

On the afternoon of April 15, 2015, an earthquake rocked the Himalayas, causing widespread death and damage across Nepal, India and Tibet. The magnitude 7.8 quake—the strongest ever recorded in the region—rattled glaciers and ice falls along a ridge just to the west of Mount Everest, sending an avalanche of ice and snow hurtling towards the base camp below. When the snow settled, 15 were dead and scores more were injured in what would become the deadliest day on the world's highest mountain.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-01-reveals-clues-mt-everest-deadliest.html

Unfrozen water content affects thermal-hydro-mechanical characteristics of frozen soil

The content of unfrozen water in frozen soil affects the freeze-thaw cycle, hydrological cycle, water and energy exchange between land and air, vegetation growth and structural strength of soil in cold regions. Currently, theoretical explanations for the presence of unfrozen water include capillarity action, surface effect, adsorption forces and the electrical double layer.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-01-unfrozen-content-affects-thermal-hydro-mechanical-characteristics.html

Ecological mechanism behind dredging revealed to mitigate lake cyanobacterial blooms

Cyanobacterial blooms caused by water eutrophication have become a global environmental problem. Dredging, alternatively known as removal of sediment, has been reported as an effective approach for mitigating cyanobacterial blooms, and plays important roles in enhancing water quality of urban lakes. However, the research on the ecological mechanisms behind dredging is not deep enough.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-01-ecological-mechanism-dredging-revealed-mitigate.html

ExoMars orbiter's 20,000th image

The CaSSIS camera onboard the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter has captured its 20,000th image of Mars.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-01-exomars-orbiter-20000th-image.html

NASA's MAVEN continues to advance Mars science and telecommunications relay efforts

With a suite of new national and international spacecraft primed to explore the Red Planet after their arrival next month, NASA's MAVEN mission is ready to provide support and continue its study of the Martian atmosphere.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-01-nasa-maven-advance-mars-science.html

Machine learning to predict the performance of organic solar cells

Imagine looking for the optimal configuration to build an organic solar cell made from different polymers. How would you start? Does the active layer need to be very thick, or very thin? Does it need a large or a small amount of each polymer?

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-01-machine-solar-cells.html

Potent trivalent inhibitors of thrombin from anticoagulation peptides in insect saliva

Thrombosis, the clogging of blood vessels, is a major cause of heart attacks and embolism. Scientists have now engineered the first inhibitors of thrombin, a protease promoting thrombosis, that is three-fold efficient. In a study published in the journal Angewandte Chemie, the authors demonstrate that attacking three sites of the thrombin molecule is more efficient than attacking only two sites, which is the mode of action of many natural agents.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-01-potent-trivalent-inhibitors-thrombin-anticoagulation.html

Human activity caused the long-term growth of greenhouse gas methane

Methane (CH4) is the second most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide (CO2). Its concentration in the atmosphere has increased more than twice since the preindustrial era due to enhanced emissions from human activities. While the global warming potential of CH4 is 86 times as large as that of CO2 over 20 years, it remains in the atmosphere for about 10 years, a much briefer span than CO2, which can remain in the atmosphere for centuries. It is therefore expected that emission control of CH4 could have beneficial effects over a relatively short time period and contribute quickly to the Paris Agreement target to limit the global warming well below 2 degrees.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-01-human-long-term-growth-greenhouse-gas.html

Threads that sense how and when you move? New technology makes it possible

Engineers at Tufts University have created and demonstrated flexible thread-based sensors that can measure movement of the neck, providing data on the direction, angle of rotation and degree of displacement of the head. The discovery raises the potential for thin, inconspicuous tatoo-like patches that could, according to the Tufts team, measure athletic performance, monitor worker or driver fatigue, assist with physical therapy, enhance virtual reality games and systems, and improve computer generated imagery in cinematography. The technology, described today in Scientific Reports, adds to a growing number of thread-based sensors developed by Tufts engineers that can be woven into textiles, measuring gases and chemicals in the environment or metabolites in sweat.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-01-threads-technology.html

Forty years of coral spawning captured in one place for the first time

Efforts to understand when corals reproduce have been given a boost thanks to a new resource that gives scientists open access to more than forty years' worth of information about coral spawning.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-01-forty-years-coral-spawning-captured.html

Reddit users say GameStop rocket is revenge of the masses

For some Reddit users, GameStop's dizzying rocket ride on Wall Street is a case of the masses rebelling against one-percenters hoarding the world's wealth.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-01-reddit-users-gamestop-rocket-revenge.html

Google bombards Australian search users as PR campaign intensifies

US tech giant Google stepped up its public relations campaign against Australian regulation Friday, presenting all search users Down Under with a "proposal" to water down planned rules.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-01-google-bombards-australian-users-pr.html

Miami Heat opens doors to fans thanks to COVID-sniffing dogs

Miami Heat fans were able to watch a basketball game in person for the first time since the pandemic shut down the NBA last March—in part thanks to dogs trained to detect COVID infections.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-01-miami-doors-fans-covid-sniffing-dogs.html

Sales of smartphones made by Chinese telecom giant Huawei plunged in the latest quarter of 2020 as they were hit by US sanctions on its suppliers, research firm Canalys said on Friday.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-01-huawei-smartphone-sales-plunge-sanctions.html

Disabled teachers being 'sidelined' in drive for more inclusive schools

One of the first academic studies to examine the working lives of disabled teachers in England has called for 'urgent change' after finding evidence of significant workplace discrimination and barriers to their career progression.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-01-disabled-teachers-sidelined-inclusive-schools.html

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