Wednesday 19 June 2019

Captive beluga whales make epic journey from China to Iceland sanctuary

Two beluga whales from a Shanghai aquarium arrived in Iceland on Wednesday to live out their days in a unique marine sanctuary that conservationists hope will become a model for rehoming some 3,000 of the creatures currently in captivity.

* This article was originally published here

Special nanotubes could improve solar power and imaging technology

Physicists have discovered a novel kind of nanotube that generates current in the presence of light. Devices such as optical sensors and infrared imaging chips are likely applications, which could be useful in fields such as automated transport and astronomy. In future, if the effect can be magnified and the technology scaled up, it could lead to high-efficiency solar power devices.

* This article was originally published here

Skinflow: A soft robotic skin based on liquid transmission

Researchers at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory and the University of Bristol have recently developed a new soft robotic skin-like sensor that is based on fluidic transmission. This sensor, presented at the second IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), could have interesting applications in a variety of fields, ranging from robotics to virtual reality (VR).

* This article was originally published here

Researchers use biological evolution to inspire machine learning

As Charles Darwin wrote in at the end of his seminal 1859 book On the Origin of the Species, "whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved." Scientists have since long believed that the diversity and range of forms of life on Earth provide evidence that biological evolution spontaneously innovates in an open-ended way, constantly inventing new things. However, attempts to construct artificial simulations of evolutionary systems tend to run into limits in the complexity and novelty which they can produce. This is sometimes referred to as "the problem of open-endedness." Because of this difficulty, to date, scientists can't easily make artificial systems capable of exhibiting the richness and diversity of biological systems.

* This article was originally published here

Synthetic joint lubricant holds promise for osteoarthritis

A new type of treatment for osteoarthritis, currently in canine clinical trials, shows promise for eventual use in humans.

* This article was originally published here

New study highlights need for ethnic and ancestral diversity in genomic research

A new multicenter analysis led by researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and other institutions found the inclusion of diverse, multiethnic populations in large-scale genomic studies is critical for reducing health disparities and accurately representing genetics-related disease risks in all populations. The results appear in the June 19 issue of the journal Nature.

* This article was originally published here

Why tiny microbes may be a big factor in how climate change unfolds

Climate change is about big things: melting ice sheets, rising seas, the feverish temperature of the planet.

* This article was originally published here

Creating 3-D images with regular ink

This month, 5,000 distinctive cans of Fuzzy Logic beer will appear on local shelves as part of Massachusetts-based Portico Brewing's attempt to stand out in the aesthetically competitive world of craft beer.

* This article was originally published here

Long hours at the office could be killing you

UK employees have the longest working week compared to other workers in the European Union. But, despite the long hours, recent studies have shown this does not make the UK a more productive nation.

* This article was originally published here

Many parents struggle for years to adjust after learning a child's sexual orientation

Two years after their child "comes out" as lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB), many parents still say that it is moderately or very hard for them to adjust to the news, according to a study published today. Those responses are the same, on average, as parents who have recently learned about their child's sexual orientation, a finding that suggests most parents struggle with such news for several years.

* This article was originally published here

Tiny houses entice budget-conscious Americans

In a country that nearly always believes bigger is better—think supersize fries, giant cars and 10-gallon hats—more and more Americans are downsizing their living quarters.

* This article was originally published here

Study reveals new genetic link to heart disease

A collaboration involving the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the German Heart Center Munich, AstraZeneca, and Karolinska Institutet in Sweden has demonstrated that more than 30 percent of heart disease risk stems from genetic factors, much more than was previously understood. The study findings, published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, introduce the biology of gene networks as a means to better understand the heritability and genetic underpinnings of heart disease.

* This article was originally published here

Does the gas in galaxy clusters flow like honey?

We have seen intricate patterns that milk makes in coffee and much smoother ones that honey makes when stirred with a spoon. Which of these cases best describes the behavior of the hot gas in galaxy clusters? By answering this question, a new study using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has deepened our understanding of galaxy clusters, the largest structures in the Universe held together by gravity.

* This article was originally published here

New insight from Great Barrier Reef coral provides correction factor to climate records

Newly developed geological techniques help uncover the most accurate and high-resolution climate records to date, according to a new study. The research finds that the standard practice of using modern and fossil coral to measure sea-surface temperatures may not be as straightforward as originally thought. By combining high-resolution microscopic techniques and geochemical modeling, researchers are using the formational history of Porites coral skeletons to fine-tune the records used to make global climate predictions.

* This article was originally published here