Science & TechnologyS


Info

Silver and chemicals found in wine and chocolate used to create antimicrobial textile coating


The University of Tokyo
Tue, 08 Feb 2022 18:25 UTC
Silver Coating
© 2022 Ejima et al.Ag/TA coating. Despite their ability to neutralize pathogens, polyphenols and silver are considered to be extremely safe. Polyphenols are in many kinds of foods consumed daily, and silver does not interact with the human body. So Ag/TA coating could be done by anyone, not just in tightly controlled industrial settings.
For the first time, researchers have found a cost-effective and convenient way to apply a silver-based antimicrobial clear coating to new or existing textiles. Their method uses polyphenols, commonly found in food items notorious for staining clothes such as wine and chocolate. A range of textile types can be treated by the researchers' method, and items can be washed multiple times without losing the antimicrobial and therefore anti-odor property.

It may be winter for half the world right now, but before too long the warm weather will return, bringing with it beach trips, ice cream, insect bites, and of course, sweat. There are many kinds of products that can be worn or applied to the body which aim to reduce body odor, but these often come with a compromise such as expense, breathability, limited choice, or something else. Some of these make use of silver, which is well known for its antimicrobial properties, but can be difficult to apply to things like clothes in an easy and efficient way.

A team led by researchers from the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Engineering has pioneered a way to apply an antimicrobial silver coating to textiles that is cost effective, simple and has some useful implications too. They essentially used a compound known as a polyphenol, tannic acid (TA) specifically, to bind silver (Ag) to fabrics. Polyphenols are found in chocolate and red wine amongst other things, and are responsible for their infamous ability to stain clothing and tablecloths. Fortunately, the researchers' coating, called Ag/TA, is completely clear so it doesn't discolor textiles, but best of all, it can survive being washed.
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Jupiter

Electromagnetic 'tug-of-war' lights up Jupiter's upper atmosphere


University of Leicester
Thu, 03 Feb 2022 21:16 UTC
Jupiter Aurorae
© NASA, ESA, and J. Nichols (University of Leicester)Composite image of two different Hubble observations. The aurorae were photographed during a series of Hubble Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph far-ultraviolet-light observations taking place as NASA’s Juno spacecraft approaches and enters into orbit around Jupiter. The full-color disk of Jupiter in this image was separately photographed at a different time by Hubble’s Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program, a long-term Hubble project that annually captures global maps of the outer planets.
New Leicester space research has revealed, for the first time, a complex 'tug-of-war' lights up aurorae in Jupiter's upper atmosphere, using a combination of data from NASA's Juno probe and the Hubble Space Telescope.

The study, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, describes the delicate current cycle driven by Jupiter's rapid rotation and the release of sulphur and oxygen from volcanoes on its moon, Io.

Researchers from the University of Leicester's School of Physics and Astronomy used data from Juno's Magnetic Field Investigation (MAG), which measures Jupiter's magnetic field from orbit around the gas giant, and observations from the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph carried by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Their research provides the strongest evidence yet that Jupiter's powerful aurorae are associated with an electric current system that acts as part of a tug-of-war with material in the magnetosphere, the region dominated by the planet's enormous magnetic field.

Dr Jonathan Nichols is a Reader in Planetary Auroras at the University of Leicester and corresponding author for the study. He said: "We've had theories linking these electric currents and Jupiter's powerful auroras for over two decades now, and it was so exciting to be able to finally test them by looking for this relationship in the data. And when we plotted one against the other I nearly fell off my chair when I saw just how clear the connection is.
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Health

Chimpanzees observed treating wounds of others using crushed insects


The Guardian
Tue, 08 Feb 2022 05:03 UTC
chimpanzee
© Tobias Deschner/AFP/Getty ImagesThe project began in Gabon in 2019, when an adult female chimpanzee named Suzee was observed inspecting a wound on the foot of her adolescent son.
For humans, the first instinct would be to disinfect it and then cover it with a bandage.

But chimpanzees have invented a more creative method: catching insects and applying them directly to the open wound.

Scientists observed this behaviour in chimpanzees in the west African nation of Gabon, noticing that the apes not only use insects to treat their own wounds, but also those of their peers.

The research, published Monday in the journal Current Biology, marks an important contribution to ongoing scientific debate about the ability of chimpanzees - and of animals in general - to selflessly help others.

Comment: Numerous recent studies reveal that there's still a wealth of discoveries yet to be made about the animal kingdom: And check out SOTT radio's: The Truth Perspective: Are Cells the Intelligent Designers? Why Creationists and Darwinists Are Both Wrong

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Bizarro Earth

Hidden magnitude-8.2 earthquake source of mysterious 2021 global tsunami


Phys.org
Tue, 08 Feb 2022 19:49 UTC
Hidden Earthquake
© Zhe Jia and AGUA magnitude 8.2 earthquake was “hidden” within a magnitude 7.5 earthquake in 2021, sending a mysterious tsunami around the world, according to a new study in Geophysical Research Letters.
Scientists have uncovered the source of a mysterious 2021 tsunami that sent waves around the globe.

In August 2021, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake hit near the South Sandwich Islands, creating a tsunami that rippled around the globe. The epicenter was 47 kilometers below the Earth's surface — too deep to initiate a tsunami — and the rupture was nearly 400 kilometers long, which should have generated a much larger earthquake.

Seismologists were puzzled and sought to understand what really happened that day in the remote South Atlantic.

A new study revealed the quake wasn't a single event, but five, a series of sub-quakes spread out over several minutes. The third sub-quake was a shallower, slower magnitude 8.2 quake that hit just 15 kilometers below the surface. That unusual, "hidden" earthquake was likely the trigger of the worldwide tsunami.

The study was published in the AGU journal Geophysical Research Letters, which publishes short-format, high-impact papers with implications that span the Earth and space sciences.

Because the South Sandwich Islands earthquake was complex, with multiple sub-quakes, its seismic signal was difficult to interpret, according to lead study author Zhe Jia, a seismologist at the California Institute of Technology. The magnitude 8.2 quake was hidden within the tangle of seismic waves, which interfered with each other over the course of the event. The hidden quake's signal wasn't clear until Jia filtered the waves using a much longer period, up to 500 seconds. Only then did the 200-second-long quake, which Jia said accounted for over 70% of the energy released during the earthquake, become clear.

"The third event is special because it was huge, and it was silent," Jia said. "In the data we normally look at [for earthquake monitoring], it was almost invisible."
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Health

World 1st: Hope for paralyzed as Israeli lab spinal cords restore mice mobility

Nathan Jeffay
The Times of Israel
Mon, 07 Feb 2022 10:00 UTC
spinal cord
© iStock3-D illustration concept of Spinal Cord
Tech got 12 out of 15 mice in study moving well; human trial expected in less than 3 years, aiming to 'offer all paralyzed people hope that they may walk again'.

Israeli scientists have made paralyzed mice walk by giving them spinal cord implants, and say they are less than three years away from doing the same for humans in clinical trials.

The world-first experiment took place at Tel Aviv University, where a large team engineered spinal cord tissue from human cells, and implanted them into 15 mice with long-term paralysis. Twelve of the mice then walked normally, the scientists revealed on Monday in newly peer-reviewed research published in the journal Advanced Science.

"If this works in humans, and we believe that it will, it can offer all paralyzed people hope that they may walk again," Prof. Tal Dvir's research team at the Sagol Center for Regenerative Biotechnology told The Times of Israel, adding that discussions regarding clinical trials have been opened with America's Food and Drug Administration.

He said that while all his mice received spinal implants from cells of three people, if the innovation is deployed in humans, the plan is to grow a unique spine for each patient using cells from their own body.
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Blue Planet

'Supermountains' stretching across entire supercontinents controlled the evolution of life on Earth


SciTech Daily
Mon, 07 Feb 2022 19:42 UTC
himalayan mountain
Rapid erosion of supermountains released large amounts of nutrients, which were eventually carried into the oceans.
Giant mountain ranges at least as high as the Himalayas and stretching up to 8,000 kilometers across entire supercontinents played a crucial role in the evolution of early life on Earth, according to a new study by researchers at The Australian National University.

The researchers tracked the formation of these supermountains throughout Earth's history using traces of zircon with low lutetium content — a combination of mineral and rare earth element only found in the roots of high mountains where they form under intense pressure.

The study found the most giant of these supermountains only formed twice in Earth's history — the first between 2,000 and 1,800 million years ago and the second between 650 and 500 million years ago. Both mountain ranges rose during periods of supercontinent formation.

Lead author, ANU PhD candidate Ziyi Zhu, said there are links between these two instances of supermountains and the two most important periods of evolution in Earth's history.
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Info

A 'treasure map' to find meteorites in Antarctica


Delft University of Technology
Sat, 22 Jan 2022 17:54 UTC
A Dutch-Belgian team of scientists have used machine learning to create the first-ever 'treasure map' that shows where in Antarctica meteorites are likely to be found.
Finding Meteorite
© Delft University of Technology
Meteorites are samples from space that can be found as stone-like material on the surface of the Earth. Once recovered, meteorites provide crucial information on the formation and evolution of our Solar System. Which in turn is important for research into the origins of our planet, and of life on Earth.

The scientists' new calculations suggest that more than 300,000 meteorites are still present, with enormous scientific potential, but until now they have been difficult to find. "We found several never-visited meteorite-rich areas that are relatively close to research stations," said Stef Lhermitte, who was involved in the study along with assistant professor David Tax from TU Delft.
Collecting meteorites in Antarctica.
© Delft University of TechnologyCollecting meteorites in Antarctica.
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Laptop

How realistic is the prospect of a 'quantum apocalypse'?

Norman Lewis
RT
Mon, 07 Feb 2022 11:40 UTC
fractal-like graphic quantum
© Getty Images / Pobytov
A new generation of fear entrepreneurs in the IT industry are promoting anxieties and fatalism about the threat quantum computing poses to the future of encrypted data, cyber-security and our way of life.

You can't make this stuff up. Just when we can breathe a sigh of relief as we appear to have overcome the Covid pandemic, 'the quantum apocalypse' draws us back into new anxiety about life on Earth - just like Al Pacino in 'The Godfather' trying to escape his criminal past, but being pulled back in.

However, this is not a Hollywood movie. It is a real thing. And just like the doomsday predictions of environmentalists, 'the quantum apocalypse' is being presented as a real existential threat to life as we know it.

Comment: See also:

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Galaxy

Astronomers discover the first-ever 'wandering' black hole in our galaxy

Michelle Starr
Science Alert
Fri, 04 Feb 2022 18:45 UTC
microlensing black hole wandering galaxy
© Sahu et al., arXiv, 2022The microlensing event MOA-11-191/OGLE-11-0462 as observed by Hubble.
Like an ancient cardigan, the Milky Way should be absolutely riddled with black holes.

According to our best estimates, there should be as many as 10 million to 1 billion stellar-mass black holes out there, drifting peacefully and quietly through the galaxy. There's just one problem when it comes to counting them: Unless they manage to snare some passing material in their gravitational field, they're basically invisible.

Invisible doesn't mean undetectable, however. For the first time, an international team of scientists has managed to detect a lone, quiescent black hole just under 5,200 light-years away. Their discovery, yet to be peer-reviewed, has been uploaded to preprint server arXiv.

How did they do it? Well, since we don't currently (and may never) have the tools to probe a black hole directly, we have to observe its effects on the space around it. For a quiescent black hole, that effect is gravitational. And because a black hole's gravitational field is so extreme, it warps and twists any light that might travel through it.

Comment: The research on black holes has been turning up many exciting discoveries:

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Brain

Non-invasive method to deliver drugs to the brain


Medical Xpress
Fri, 04 Feb 2022 00:00 UTC
Diagrams
© DOI/10/16/j.jconrel.2021.12.005
In a new study researchers from the School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, in collaboration with the Noninvasive Surgery & Biopsy Laboratory led by Dr. James Choi at Imperial College London, have found that applying rapid short pulses (RaSP) of ultrasound can non-invasively deliver liposomes to the brain, across the blood-brain barrier. This is a specialized barrier between the brain and blood which restricts the entry of molecules to the brain, including over 90 percent of drugs. Their results were published in the Journal of Controlled Release.

There are currently no non-invasive ways to minimize the damage to the blood-brain barrier and there is a big demand for methods to deliver large macromolecules to the brain safely to treat brain diseases.

Liposomal nanomedicines carry high concentrations of drugs and target drug release at the sites of inflammation and infection, in particular to deliver multiple drugs that cannot cross the brain and treat neurodegenerative diseases as well as brain tumors.

Liposomes are important for multiple treatments as they have shown promise in cancer, inflammation and infection treatment by delivering high concentrations of drugs. Clinically approved liposome formulations include Pfizer/BioNTech's BNT162b2 COVID vaccine.
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