Reconfigurable metasurfaces provide nanoscale light control: Technique inspired by the art of paper cutting used to make metasurfaces that could benefit optical displays and information encoding
Researchers have designed electromechanically reconfigurable ultrathin optical elements that can be controlled and programmed on a pixel-by-pixel level. These versatile metasurfaces could offer a new chip-based way to achieve nanoscale control of light, which could lead to better optical displays, information encoding and digital light processing. “Metasurfaces are ultrathin and compact optical elements that can […]
Great White Is Missing ‘Unusual’ Amount Of Teeth: ‘Anyone Know A Good Dentist?’
If there’s a dentist out there willing to treat an apex predator underwater, have we got a gig for you. A recent cage-diving expedition around Mexico’s Guadalupe Island revealed a great white shark with a crazy amount of teeth missing. (See the photo below.) Now, great whites often lose teeth when they hunt, but replacements […]
Our Patients Are Resilient
Patient name and other descriptors have been changed to protect privacy. Sara is a 14-year-old patient of mine. I am a clinical psychologist, and I have been treating her for about 15 months. Sara has been struggling with trauma and associated psychiatric symptoms since the coronavirus ravaged her family. This is the story of Sara’s […]
Insect protein has great potential to reduce the carbon footprint of European consumers
Researchers at the University of Helsinki and LUT University, Finland, have analysed the extent to which insect protein could help to reduce global warming associated with food consumption in Europe. They have especially focused on insect protein use and soybean-protein use in the production of broilers. The results support previous research suggesting that insect protein […]
Metabolic changes in plasma and immune cells associated with COVID-19 severity, can predict patient survival
COVID-19 patients have differing immune responses that lead to disease outcomes ranging from asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection to death. After examining the blood samples from nearly 200 COVID-19 patients, researchers have uncovered underlying metabolic changes that regulate how immune cells react to the disease. These changes are associated with disease severity and could be used to […]
Researchers use artificial intelligence to predict which COVID-19 patients will need a ventilator to breathe
Researchers at Case Western Reserve University have developed an online tool to help medical staff quickly determine which COVID-19 patients will need help breathing with a ventilator. The tool, developed through analysis of CT scans from nearly 900 COVID-19 patients diagnosed in 2020, was able to predict ventilator need with 84% accuracy. “That could be […]
Warming Atlantic drives right whales towards extinction
Warming oceans have driven the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale population from its traditional and protected habitat, exposing the animals to more lethal ship strikes, disastrous commercial fishing entanglements and greatly reduced calving rates. Without improving its management, the right whale populations will decline and potentially become extinct in the coming decades, according to […]
Double vaccination halves risk of long COVID, study finds
Adults who have received a double vaccination are 49% less likely to have Long COVID should they contract a COVID-19 infection, a new study finds. Researchers at King’s College London analysed data from participants logging their symptoms, tests and vaccines on the UK ZOE COVID Symptom Study app between 8th December 2020 and 4 July […]
ADT Options for Prostate Cancer Come Out Even for Heart Safety
Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) options for prostate cancer seemed to have a similar impact on the risk of cardiovascular events among people with documented heart disease, according to results from the PRONOUNCE trial, although the study was terminated early due to slow accrual. In 545 men, there was no statistically significant difference in the rate […]
Watercooler parts could be a source of organophosphate ester exposure
Watercoolers have become a staple in homes, offices and schools, but their tanks and parts are made of materials that could release unwanted or potentially harmful compounds into drinking water. In a preliminary study, researchers in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology Letters report that organophosphate esters (OPEs) were found in water dispensed from these systems, […]