The cardiac pacemaker of the future could be powered by the heart itself, according to researchers at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. During the AIP Publishing Horizons—Energy Storage and Conversion virtual conference, running today through Aug. 6, Yi Zhiran, from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, is presenting research on a way for a batteryless pacemaker to harvest kinetic energy from the heart to power the lifesaving device. Current cardiac pacemakers use a battery power supply and leads to keep hearts beating regularly. Yi and...
Shares in two of China's biggest online gaming firms have slipped after a state media outlet called them "electronic drugs", the BBC reports. Tencent and NetEase shares fell more than 10% in early Hong Kong trading before regaining some of those losses. In recent months, Chinese authorities have announced a series of measures to tighten their grip on technology and private education companies. An article published by the state-run Economic Information Daily said many teenagers had become...
Hundreds of thousands of people around the world die early every year because of exposure to air pollution caused by use of chemical products and fuels, including paints, pesticides, charcoal, and gases from vehicle tailpipes, according to a study out of the University of Colorado at Boulder. Led by former CIRES postdoctoral researcher Benjamin Nault and CIRES Fellow Jose-Luis Jimenez, the study determined that air pollution caused by "anthropogenic secondary organic aerosol" causes 340,000-900,000 premature deaths...
As more renewable generation from such sources as wind, solar, and hydro enters the grid, the effectiveness of these technologies will increasingly rely on the development of long-duration energy storage solutions that support variability in electric power generation. Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have developed a Storage Financial Analysis Scenario Tool (StoreFAST) model to evaluate the levelized cost of energy (LCOE), also known as the levelized cost of storage (LCOS). This model can identify potential long-duration...
A dramatic triplet of galaxies takes centre stage in an image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, which captures a three-way gravitational tug-of-war between interacting galaxies, reports Phys.org. This system – known as Arp 195 – is featured in the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies. The schedule for Hubble observations is calculated using a computer algorithm that allows the spacecraft to occasionally gather bonus snapshots of data between longer observations. The image of the clashing galaxy triplets in...
Biologist Sara Weinstein, a Smithsonian-Mpala postdoctoral fellow at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, and her colleagues saw African crested rats in Kenya chewing poisonous tree bark, and combing the toxin into specialized hairs on their coats, reports CBC's Quirks & Quarks. Their study confirmed an older hypothesis that the rats are sequestering toxins from the bark of a tree for defence against predators. At first glance, the African crested rat looks like a cute, furry,...
The world's first commercial fully re-programmable satellite lifted off from French Guiana today on board an Ariane 5 rocket, ushering in a new era of more flexible communications, Phys.org reports. Unlike conventional models that are designed and "hard-wired" on Earth and cannot be repurposed once in orbit, the Eutelsat Quantum allows users to tailor the communications to their needs – almost in real time. The satellite was placed in orbit about 36 minutes after launch. Because it can...
Research from the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science explores how to help non-experts effectively, efficiently and ethically use machine-learning algorithms to better enable industries beyond the computing field to harness the power of artificial intelligence, Tech Xplore reports. "We don't know much about how nonexperts in machine learning come to learn algorithmic tools," said Swati Mishra, a PhD student in the field of information science. "The reason is that there's a hype that's developed...
A University of Kentucky College of Medicine study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry provides foundational information about SARS-CoV-2's spike protein, Phys.org reports. The spike protein is found on the surface of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and is responsible for its entry into host cells. Because of this function, it is the focus of most COVID-19 vaccines including the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines. "The spike protein represents one of the most important therapeutic targets for COVID-19,"...
No, women are not required to wear bikinis to play beach volleyball at the Olympics. And the camera lingering on players' glutes as they make hand signals to teammates is not a problem for most players, CBC reports. "I have always felt like when you get somebody drawn in, however you get them into beach volleyball, they fall in love with the sport," said American April Ross, a three-time Olympian. "So, hopefully that happens also." Beach...
