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Cambridge scientists have identified a key signal that the fetus uses to control its supply of nutrients from the placenta, revealing a tug-of-war between genes inherited from the father and from the mother. The study, carried out in mice, could help explain why some babies grow poorly in the womb.

As the fetus grows, it needs to communicate its increasing needs for food to the mother. It receives its nourishment via blood vessels in the placenta, a specialised organ that contains cells from both baby and mother.

Between 10% and 15% of babies grow poorly in the womb, often showing reduced growth of blood vessels in the placenta. In humans, these blood vessels expand dramatically between mid and late gestation, reaching a total length of approximately 320 kilometres at term.

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The growing interest in deep-space exploration has sparked the need for powerful long-lived rocket systems to drive spacecraft through the cosmos. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have now developed a tiny modified version of a plasma-based propulsion system called a Hall thruster that both increases the lifetime of the rocket and produces high power.

The miniaturized system powered by plasma—the state of matter composed of free-floating electrons and , or ions—measures little more than an inch in diameter and eliminates the walls around the plasma propellent to create innovative thruster configurations. Among these innovations are the cylindrical Hall thruster, first proposed and studied at PPPL, and a fully wall-less Hall thruster. Both configurations reduce channel erosion caused by plasma-wall interactions that limit the thruster lifetime—a key problem for conventional annular, or ring-shaped, Hall thrusters and especially for miniaturized low-power thrusters for applications on small satellites.

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Circa 2020

What do you get when you place a thin film of perovskite material used in solar cells on top of a magnetic substrate? More efficient hard drive technology. EPFL physicist László Forró and his team pave the way for the future of data storage.

“The key was to get the technology to work at room temperature,” explains László Forró, EPFL physicist. “We had already known that it was possible to rewrite magnetic spin using light, but you’d have to cool the apparatus to—180 degrees Kelvin.”

Forró, along with his colleagues Bálint Náfrádi and Endre Horváth, succeeded at tuning one ferromagnet at room temperature with , a proof of concept that establishes the foundations of a new generation of hard drives that will be physically smaller, faster, and cheaper, requiring less energy compared to today’s commercial hard drives. The results are published in PNAS.

Continue reading “Introducing the light-operated hard drives of tomorrow” | >

Sunny way.

A ‘bike highway’ running between Daejon and Sejong in South Korea is a sight —or rather, a concept —, you surely haven’t thought of before: It stretches for 20 miles (32 km), and it not only shields cyclists from the sun but also generates power at the same time.

It’s true that a bicycle lane in the center of a highway is an unusual location for one, especially with three lanes of traffic on either side of it, yet it works. Much like the $3.7 million SolaRoad in the Netherlands, a 230-foot road replaced by solar panels, which powers the highway’s lighting system, this bike highway is a win for green energy. Its lanes produce more than enough electricity to power the lighting of the highway and the electric vehicle charging stations, according to Fast Company.

Continue reading “South Korean 20-Mile Solar ‘Bike Highway’ Generates Electricity” | >

Hyundai announced that it is shutting down its internal combustion engine development team as the automaker focuses on electric cars.

For 40 years the Korean automaker has been developing internal combustion engines to use in its vehicle lineup, but no more.

The Korea Economic Daily reports that Hyundai’s new R&D chief Park Chung-kook confirmed in an email to employees that they are shutting down new engine development:

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Been saying this for years!

A summary of decades of research on a rather ‘out-there’ idea involving viruses from space raises questions on just how scientific we can be when it comes to speculating on the history of life on Earth.

It’s easy to throw around words like crackpot, rogue, and maverick in describing the scientific fringe, but then papers like this one, from 2018, come along and leave us blinking owlishly, unsure of where to even begin.

Continue reading “A Weird Paper Tests The Limits of Science” | >

A recent study published in Nutrients1 found that a patented complex of bonded arginine silicate called Nitrosigine (from Nutrition 21, based in Harrison, NY) supported cognitive health and memory. In the randomized, double-blind, crossover study, 19 young adults either consumed the arginine silicate or placebo. Participants completed the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) and two digital cognitive assessments before consuming the supplement, then completed the same battery of tests an hour after consumption.

Results showed that those taking the supplement saw significantly improved RBANS and immediate memory scores by 11% and 27%, respectively, compared to placebo. Nitrosigine has been linked to increased nitric oxide availability, which is associated with enhanced vasodilation, blood flow, exercise performance, and mental acuity.

“The results of this study further aligned with previous findings that show how administering Nitrosigine can improve mental focus, memory, and acuity due to an increase in NO levels,” said Danielle Greenberg, PhD, FACN, vice president, scientific affairs, Nutrition21, in a press release. “Therefore, consuming products made with Nitrosigine can help those looking to get in the zone and maximize their performance during a workout, while taking a test, or when performing other tasks of a similar nature.”

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