Scientists have developed a way to generate tiny amounts of solar energy at night. It’s true potential could be in space.
Get the latest international news and world events from around the world.
Laser speed in 3D printing tunes atomic structure of high-entropy alloys
Next-generation technology requires next-generation materials that can be tailored to exact mission requirements. Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, has already revolutionized industries like aerospace engineering by enabling previously unthinkable component designs. However, this technique has been largely limited to pre-existing metallic alloys. This is due to the inherent complexity of the process that leads to far-from-equilibrium microstructures and results in mechanical properties that are hard to predict.
New research on alloy microstructures
In a new study, scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and their collaborators demonstrate a method to overcome the challenges of the traditional additive manufacturing process. By adjusting the speed of the laser in a compositionally complex alloy (also called high-entropy alloy), the team discovered a method to guide how the atoms settle as the metal solidifies, controlling the material’s properties directly at the atomic scale.
Brain neurons process salience, valence and value separately to understand what is important—and what isn’t
The sound of a fire alarm tells us to get out quickly to not get hurt, while the sight of a gas station sign can signal a chance to refuel. In everyday life, we learn to link cues we sense with what they mean, helping us avoid danger or find what we need. But how does the brain sort and prioritize all these cues and their significance to quickly guide our reactions to what we see, hear, feel and sense?
Following new research in mice, scientists hope to be closer to answering this question.
“A sensory cue, like the sound of an alarm, can be more or less attention-grabbing, feel positive or negative, and feel more or less important or motivating for us to act, depending on what outcome we associate with it. These aspects help define the significance we assign to environmental stimuli and are key to driving behavior and decision-making. But how the brain organizes this information to guide appropriate behaviors remains unclear,” explains Assistant Professor Daniel Jercog from the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Copenhagen.
Patients with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome show increased reliance on vision in reaching-to-grasp: a study of in-flight grasp kinematics in compressive nerve injury
Reach for this new ArticleinPress!(Michela Paroli et al. Bangor University)
The fluid efficiency of everyday hand actions such as reaching-to-grasp is underpinned by finely calibrated, anticipatory, in-flight control of the hand. Peripheral nerve dysfunction could affect this control. We used Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS), a compressive neuropathy of the median nerve, as a model of nerve dysfunction. Whether CTS affects in-flight aspects of reaching-to-grasp is unknown. We compared kinematics of movements in CTS and healthy controls, using motion capture. We varied object properties to determine whether anticipatory signatures of reaching-to-grasp are preserved in CTS. We also examined the effect of removing visual feedback at movement onset. This manipulation forces greater reliance on non-visual control signals, which should highlight impairments due to CTS, while indexing how much movements rely on vision.
Shingles Vaccine Linked to Slower Biological Aging, Study Finds
Vaccines may do far more than prevent infections.
The way that some inoculations train your immune system could also reduce the risk of cancer, stroke, or heart attacks, and possibly guard against dementia.
New evidence shows that the shingles vaccine is linked to slower aging, with benefits that can last for several years after vaccination.
Scientists Are 3D Printing Organ Tissue That Could Help End the Transplant Crisis
Researching are throwing lots of ideas at the wall to see what sticks, but the U.S. just put some serious cash behind the idea of 3D bioprinting.
Key protein can restore aging neural stem cells’ ability to regenerate
Researchers at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine), have found that a key protein can help to regenerate neural stem cells, which may improve aging-associated decline in neuronal production of an aging brain.
Published in Science Advances, the study identified a transcription factor in the brain, cyclin D-binding myb-like transcription factor 1 (DMTF1), as a critical driver of neural stem cell function during the aging process. Transcription factors are proteins that regulate genes to ensure that they are expressed correctly in the intended cells.
The study, led by Assistant Professor Ong Sek Tong Derrick and first author Dr. Liang Yajing, both from the Department of Physiology and the Healthy Longevity Translational Research Program at NUS Medicine, sought to identify biological factors that influence the degeneration of neural stem cell function often associated with aging, and guide the development of therapeutic approaches to mitigate the adverse effects of neurological aging.
