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Summary: Boosting omega-3 fatty acid intake helps to preserve brain health and improve cognition in middle age, a new study reports. For those with the Alzheimer’s associated APOE4 gene, omega-3 fatty acid intake was associated with greater hippocampal volume and less small vessel disease.

Source: UT San Antonio.

Eating cold-water fish and other sources of omega-3 fatty acids may preserve brain health and enhance cognition in middle age, new evidence indicates.

Research could help protect satellites and astronauts from the solar wind.

A multidisciplinary team from two Johns Hopkins University institutions, including neurotoxicologists and virologists from the Bloomberg School of Public Health and infectious disease specialists from the school of medicine, has found that organoids (tiny tissue cultures made from human cells that simulate whole organs) known as “mini-brains” can be infected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19.

The results, which suggest that the virus can infect human brain cells, were published online June 26, 2020, in the journal ALTEX: Alternatives to Animal Experimentation.

Early reports from Wuhan, China, the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic, have suggested that 36% of patients with the disease show neurological symptoms, but it has been unclear whether or not the virus infects human brain cells. In their study, the Johns Hopkins researchers demonstrated that certain human neurons express a receptor, ACE2, which is the same one that the SARS-CoV-2 virus uses to enter the lungs. Therefore, they surmised, ACE2 also might provide access to the brain.

That’s because as a white dwarf draws material away from its hydrogen-burning partner, the stolen gas follows the star’s magnetic field lines in a big, curving arc toward its new home. And in the process, it drains energy from the stars’ whirling dance (so do the gravitational waves produced by their rotation). When that happens, both stars fall toward the shared center of gravity they’re orbiting. Closer orbits also mean shorter orbits, so it takes the stars less time to complete a single lap.

And the closer the stars get, the stronger the gravitational waves they produce, which drains away more energy, so they fall even closer together. By the time they’re close enough to complete an orbit in just a handful of minutes, the donor star has usually run out of hydrogen. That’s why the really close, fast-orbiting cataclysmic binaries tend to be a white dwarf and a helium-burning star.

The plant was developed by the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics (IET) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and can generate more than 132 million kWh of electricity annually. This will see 40,000–60,000 households equipped with power during peak electricity consumption. From an environmental perspective, it also offers promising results, saving 42,000 tons of standard coal and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 109,000 tons annually, stated IET.

What is CAES?

Continue reading “The world’s largest advanced compressed air energy storage is ready for commercial operation” »

The new system uses molten salts instead of traditional fuel rods.

The world is rethinking nuclear power plants in the face of climate change. Your average plant produces 8,000 times more power than fossil fuels and is environmentally friendly. There’s one massive caveat, though, in the form of nuclear disasters, such as the 1986 Chernobyl incident and the 2011 Fukushima disaster.

Now, professor Matthew Memmott and colleagues from Bingham Young University (BYU) announced that they designed a new molten salt micro-reactor system that allows for safer nuclear energy production. As per a press release, it may also solve a number of other key issues related to nuclear energy production.

Continue reading “Engineers created a safe micro-nuclear reactor that fits in the back of a truck” »

The 40-square-meter hydroponic farm cultivates lettuce under LED lighting without using pesticides.

In an effort to provide passengers with amenities beyond transportation, Taiwan has chosen an unusual location for vertical farming, an underground metro station.

Nanjing Fuxing station in Taipei cultivates vegetables in a technologically advanced setting that assures precisely controlled humidity, temperatures, and other elements promoted as a method of cultivating unpolluted and healthy plants, Taiwan News reported on Wednesday.

Continue reading “Taiwan is turning unused metro stations into vertical farms” »

The massive launch system will carry a mysterious U.S. Space Force payload to a high-altitude geosynchronous orbit.

It’s been a while since SpaceX launched Falcon Heavy to orbit. A string of payload delays has stopped the heavy-duty rocket from hitting the launch pad since the summer of 2019.

Continue reading “It’s been three years, but SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy might finally launch again this month” »

This could help us understand diseases better.

Researchers at the University of Utah have developed seed-sized brain organoids that can not only organize themselves but also provide us insights into the causes of autism, a press release said.

Organoids, tiny clusters of tissue derived from stem cells, allow researchers to replicate the complex organs outside the body while also controlling conditions around them… More.

Continue reading “US researchers grow brain organoids in a lab, just like they would develop in the fetus” »