Tuesday, 18 June 2019

Students restore motion to five-year-old boy's arms

His arms paralyzed by a rare virus three years ago, Max Ng has struggled to push, pull and poke his way through the world with the gleeful ease that most 5 year olds enjoy.

* This article was originally published here

US preschoolers less pudgy in latest sign of falling obesity

Preschoolers on government food aid have grown a little less pudgy, a U.S. study found, offering fresh evidence that previous signs of declining obesity rates weren't a fluke.

* This article was originally published here

Empirical energy consumption model quantifies Bitcoin's carbon footprint

Researchers have conducted the first analysis of Bitcoin power consumption based on empirical data from IPO filings and localization of IP addresses. They found that the cryptocurrency's carbon emissions measure up to those of Kansas City—or a small nation. The study, published June 12 in the journal Joule, suggests that cryptocurrencies contribute to global carbon emissions, an issue that must be considered in climate change mitigation efforts.

* This article was originally published here

'Self-healing' polymer brings perovskite solar tech closer to market

A protective layer of epoxy resin helps prevent the leakage of pollutants from perovskite solar cells (PSCs), according to scientists from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST). Adding a "self-healing" polymer to the top of a PSC can radically reduce how much lead it discharges into the environment. This gives a strong boost to prospects for commercializing the technology.

* This article was originally published here

Good physical fitness in middle age linked to lower chronic lung disease risk

Good heart and lung (cardiorespiratory) fitness in middle age is associated with a lower long term risk of chronic lung disease (COPD), suggests Danish research published online in the journal Thorax.

* This article was originally published here

Samsung patent talk reveals smartphone designs on rollable

Samsung watchers are buzzing around over a discovered patent filing with the World Intellectual Property Office. Topic in hand: a design for some kind of rollable device.

* This article was originally published here

Wearable device reveals how seals prepare for diving

A wearable non-invasive device based on near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) can be used to investigate blood volume and oxygenation patterns in freely diving marine mammals, according to a study publishing June 18 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by J. Chris McKnight of the University of St. Andrews, and colleagues. The results provide new insights into how voluntarily diving seals distribute blood and manage the oxygen supply to their brains and blubber, yielding important information about the basic physiological patterns associated with diving.

* This article was originally published here

The hunt for hot nuclear matter

In particle physics, a jet is a shower of collimated particles generated by a highly energetic quark or gluon. In a lead-lead collision, jets must traverse through quark gluon plasma, altering their energy, track and consistency.

* This article was originally published here

Witnessing uncivil behavior

Suppose you're at a nice restaurant celebrating your anniversary. When a customer at a nearby table complains that it's taking too long to get his meal, you and your spouse overhear the server's brusque response. Would the server's behavior prompt you to leave a smaller tip for your own meal?

* This article was originally published here