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Submission + - Sketchable, stretchable circuits

Submitted by JMarshall
JMarshall writes: A new, elastic silver ink allows stretchy circuits to be drawn using a regular pen. Unlike previous inks, which have been made with silver nanoparticles and are prone to clog pens over time, this ink begins as a silver salt mixed with adhesive rubber. After writing, the ink is brushed with a formaldehyde and sodium hydroxide solution that reduces the silver ions to conductive silver nanoparticles. Researchers strung 14 LED lights together using the ink. The lights stayed lit even through stretching and bending the rubber sheet the circuit was drawn on.

Submission + - Pesticides Turn Bumblebees Into Poor Pollinators (acs.org)

Submitted by MTorrice
MTorrice writes: Neonicotinoid pesticides have been blamed for declines in bee populations worldwide. The chemicals don’t kill bees, instead neonicotinoids impair the insects’ abilities to learn, navigate, forage for nectar, and reproduce, according to studies published over the past several years.

Now, researchers report that bees exposed to the pesticides also become less effective pollinators for crops.

The study is the first to demonstrate that neonicotinoids can decrease the quality of a food crop by affecting bee pollination. About 30% of our food comes from crops, including fruits, nuts, seeds, and oils, that depend on insect pollinators, according to Dara A. Stanley of Royal Holloway, University of London, who led the new study. “Basically,” she says, “you can’t have a balanced diet without insect pollination.”

Submission + - A Fresh Take on Fake Meat

Submitted by JMarshall
JMarshall writes: Impossible Foods, a Silicon Valley food start-up started by a Stanford professor who quit his job, just raised $108 million to pursue a plant-based burger that truly tastes like meat. This article explains how Impossible Foods and other startups and researchers are tackling the tricky chemical and engineering challenge of making fake meat that tastes real.

Submission + - Endocannabinoids Contribute to Runner's High (acs.org)

Submitted by MTorrice
MTorrice writes: After a nice long bout of aerobic exercise, some people experience what’s known as a “runner’s high”: a feeling of euphoria coupled with reduced anxiety and a lessened ability to feel pain. For decades, scientists have associated this phenomenon with an increased level in the blood of -endorphins, opioid peptides thought to elevate mood.

Now, German researchers have shown the brain’s endocannabinoid system—the same one affected by marijuana’s 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)—may also play a role in producing runner’s high, at least in mice.

Submission + - Dormant Virus Wakes Up In Some Patients With Lou Gehrig's Disease (acs.org)

Submitted by MTorrice
MTorrice writes: Our chromosomes hold a partial record of prehistoric viral infections: About 8% of our genomes come from DNA that viruses incorporated into the cells of our ancestors. Over many millennia, these viral genes have accumulated mutations rendering them mostly dormant.

But one of these viruses can reawaken in some patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a progressive muscle wasting disease commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. A new study demonstrates that this so-called endogenous retrovirus can damage neurons, possibly contributing to the neurodegeneration seen in the disease.

The findings raise the possibility that antiretroviral drugs, similar to those used to treat HIV, could slow the progression of ALS in some patients.

Submission + - Stem Cell-Derived Brain Mimics Predict Chemical Toxicity (acs.org)

Submitted by MTorrice
MTorrice writes: Scientists in Wisconsin have succeeded in growing three-dimensional brainlike tissue structures derived from human embryonic stem cells. Unlike previous miniature model brains, the new structures can be easily reproduced and they contain vascular cells and microglia, a type of immune cell.

These brain mimics may provide a fast, low cost way to screen drugs and chemicals for their ability to disrupt human brain development, the team reports. Current toxicity screening tests use multiple generations of rats and cost about $1 million to test one chemical.

Comment Re:Are prions a life form? (Score 1) 53

by MTorrice (#50459035) Attached to: Another Neurodegenerative Disease Linked To a Prion
But prions don't actually reproduce--they already exist in our brains. All mammals have prion proteins in their brain. The propagation starts when one of these normally folded one misfolds, or a misfolded one gets into the brain from some other source. Then it causes the existing proteins to misfold. No new molecules are created in this process. In fact, a disease form of a prion is the exact same molecule as a healthy form. It's just a change in shape. Viruses don't hit on all the hallmarks of life, and prions hit even fewer.

Comment Re:Don't Prions come from eating Meat? (Score 1) 53

by MTorrice (#50458429) Attached to: Another Neurodegenerative Disease Linked To a Prion
Remember: We all have proteins that can act like prions. The prion protein responsible for mad cow disease is in the brains of all cows, and a version is in all people. It's a misfolded form of the protein that causes disease. And most people with prion diseases don't get it from eating meat. Only about 1% of prion diseases come from infections--eating animal meat with misfolded prions, for example. Up to 20% of people with diseases have genetic mutations that cause the misfolding. But about 80% of the cases are just sporadic misfolding of unknown cause. Also prion diseases are super rare--about 1 case in a million people. So prions in meat is a pretty low risk situation. What this study is showing is that classical prion proteins aren't the only ones that misfold and then get other proteins to misfold with them, causing disease in the process. Basically, what this group is saying is that "prion" is a much broader concept in biology--that many proteins beyond the mad cow ones can act like that.

Comment Re:Prions are for mad cows. (Score 1) 53

by MTorrice (#50458161) Attached to: Another Neurodegenerative Disease Linked To a Prion
Right now there are no drugs that stop or even slow Alzheimer's or Parkinson's. And that's not for a lack of trying. There have been several notable failures recently--drugs that went to clinical trials and showed no effects in patients. These drugs were designed before this idea that all these diseases were due to prionlike mechanisms started to pick up steam in the field. So now that there have been some fairly big papers suggesting that prionlike proteins are the cause, people can start looking at new designs for drugs that would stop prionlike propagation. Basically, people have already been doing that for classical prion diseases--making molecules that stop those proteins from aggregating into fibrils. So now drug makers could take all that's been learned with those molecules and apply them to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

Submission + - Another Neurodegenerative Disease Linked To A Prion (acs.org)

Submitted by MTorrice
MTorrice writes: A new study concludes that a brain protein causes the rare, Parkinson’s-like disease called multiple systems atrophy (MSA) by acting like a prion, the misbehaving type of protein infamously linked to mad cow disease. The researchers say the results are the most definitive demonstration to date that proteins involved in many neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, exhibit prionlike behavior: They can misfold into shapes that then coax others to do the same, leading to protein aggregation that forms neurotoxic clumps. If these other diseases are caused by prionlike proteins, then scientists could develop treatments that slow or stop disease progression by designing molecules that block prion propagation.

Submission + - Transparent Paper Produces Power With Just A Touch (acs.org)

Submitted by ckwu
ckwu writes: A new transparent-paper device can generate electrical power from a user’s touch. The paper energy-harvester could be used to make disposable, self-powered touch screens that fold; interactive light-up books; touch-sensitive skin for prosthetics; and security systems for art and documents, according to the researchers. The device is made out of nanopaper, a tangled mat made of nanometers-wide cellulose fibers that is transparent and smooth like plastic. The researchers deposit carbon nanotubes on the nanopaper to make a pair of electrodes, and then sandwich a polyethylene film in between. The generator works via electrostatic induction. Pressing one side of the device causes a change in the charge balance between the nanotube electrodes, resulting in a flow of current through the device. Releasing the pressure causes electrons to flow back, so repeated pressing and releasing creates continuous current. The researchers demonstrated that the generator could produce enough power when pressed to light up a small liquid-crystal display.

Submission + - Airplane Coatings Help Recoup Fuel Efficiency Lost To Bug Splatter (acs.org)

Submitted by MTorrice
MTorrice writes: When bugs explode against the wings of oncoming airplanes, they create a sticky problem for aerospace engineers. Their blood, or hemolymph, clings to an airplane’s wings, disrupting the smooth airflow over them and sapping the aircraft’s fuel efficiency. NASA scientists are now developing coatings that help aircraft shed or repel bug guts during flight. After screening nearly 200 different coating formulations, the NASA researchers recently flight-tested a handful of promising candidates, showing that they could reduce the amount of insect insides stuck to the wings by up to 40%. With further optimization, such coatings could allow planes to use 5% less fuel.

Submission + - An extra-large nanocage molecule for quantum computing

Submitted by JMarshall
JMarshall writes: Researchers have built a molecular nanocage 8 nm across that represents a step toward quantum computing.
It is difficult to make uniform nanoparticles more than 4 nm across, but new work solves this problem. Researchers made eight-membered metal rings from chromium and nickel that can act like a qubits in quantum computing. More connected rings means greater quantum computing capacity, so the team worked to combine many rings into one molecule. They managed to pull 24 rings together into an 8-nm sphere, secured by palladium ions at the core. The molecule had a surprisingly good phase memory, an indication of the molecule’s quantum computing potential. The researchers say building a molecule with 70-100 rings would allow them to do “some serious stuff” in quantum computing.

Submission + - Metamaterial Forms Near-Perfect Mirror

Submitted by JMarshall
JMarshall writes: Researchers have made near-perfect reflectors out of a silicon metamaterial. These reflectors could offer a simpler, less expensive way to make high-performance mirrors for lasers or telescopes.

Metamaterials typically use nanoscale patterning to create unusual properties not present in the bulk material. In this new method, researchers used off-the-shelf, nanosized polystyrene beads and allowed them to self-assemble into a monolayer with a hexagonal pattern. Using the monolayer as a photolithographic mask, the researchers etched an array of silicon cylinders, each a few hundred nanometers across, onto a wafer. The cylinders act like tiny resonators for a particular light frequency—analogous to the way a given sound frequency will make a tuning fork hum. The array reflected 99.7 % of incident light at their peak wavelength. These simple metamaterial mirrors might one day replace current high-performance reflectors, which are somewhat costly to make.

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