217 articles from THURSDAY 3.10.2019

Domestic violence: Impact of educational sabotage

A new study focuses on an overlooked form of psychological abuse -- educational sabotage. Educational sabotage is a form of coercive control that directly affects a survivor's efforts to obtain educational credentials. Tactics include disruption of financial aid or academic efforts, physical violence and inducing guilt related to academic efforts.

Addictive de-vices: How we can unplug from this 21st century epidemic

We spend our days looking at them, talking to them, and touching them. They increasingly consume our time, attention and money. We are addicted to our digital devices -- or, more precisely, the digital experiences they give us. A study analyzed the growing problem with digital addiction and how marketers as well as app developers contribute to this 21st-century phenomenon.

Exoplanets to medical tests: Tiny frequency devices open up new applications

Accurately measuring frequencies of light is required for timekeeping and many science experiments and technologies. Frequency combs, invented in 2000, are used to complete these measurements. However, most of them are large and cumbersome. In 2009, researchers developed a way to make much smaller combs, but they came with their own challenges. New research finds that a novel way of generating...

Printed electronics open way for electrified tattoos and personalized biosensors

Electrical engineers have devised a fully print-in-place technique for printable electronics that is gentle enough to work on delicate surfaces ranging from paper to human skin. This can be accomplished without additional steps to bake, wash or powder-coat materials. The advance could enable technologies such as high-adhesion, embedded electronic tattoos and bandages with patient-specific...

Golden ratio observed in human skulls

The Golden Ratio, described by Leonardo da Vinci and Luca Pacioli as the Divine Proportion, is an infinite number often found in nature, art and mathematics. It's a pattern in pinecones, seashells, galaxies and hurricanes.

Keeping cool with quantum wells

A research team has invented a semiconductor quantum well system that can efficiently cool electronic devices using established fabrication methods. This work can allow for smaller and faster smart devices that consume less power.

A tool to understand how ecosystems are responding to a changing climate

As climate change accelerates, recording shifts in plant flowering times is critical to understanding how changes in climate will impact ecosystem interactions. To help measure these shifts, researchers have introduced a new quantitative measure of phenological status, called the 'phenological index,' that improves scoring of developmental stage in herbarium specimens, and predicts a higher degree...

Potential drug to treat heart attacks

Administered within hours of an attack, the potential drug would prevent scarring that can lead to heart failure. For the study, the researcher used a drug that targets a key component of the cellular clock mechanism. The medication disrupts expression of genes that trigger adverse immune responses after a heart attack. When mice were given the drug after a heart attack, they were found to have...

Trump administration's war on science has hit 'crisis point', experts warn

Nonpartisan taskforce of ex-government officials reports ‘almost weekly violations’ of norms meant to safeguard objective researchThe treatment of science by the Trump administration has hit a “crisis point” where research findings are manipulated for political gain, special interests are given improper influence and scientists are targeted for ideological reasons, a nonpartisan taskforce...

Ocean cleanup device successfully collects plastic for first time

Floating boom finally retains debris from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, creator saysA huge floating device designed by Dutch scientists to clean up an island of rubbish in the Pacific Ocean that is three times the size of France has successfully picked up plastic from the high seas for the first time.Boyan Slat, the creator of the Ocean Cleanup project, tweeted that the 600 metre-long (2,000ft)...

Tires and clothes major sources of Bay Area microplastics: study

Research has revealed the presence of trillions of microparticles from clothes, plastic wrap and possibly tires in the San Francisco Bay, according to a study released Wednesday. Microplastics measure less than 5 millimeters and are often invisible to the naked eye -- but the term microparticles is used when the chemical composition is not clear. Teams from the San Francisco Estuary Institute...