Welcome to the “Phys.org” update from Hawaii Science Digest. Views expressed in this science and technology news summary are those of the reporters and correspondents. Content provided by “Phys.org.” Accessed on 17 May 2019, 1605 UTC.
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Earliest evidence of the cooking and eating of starch
New discoveries made at the Klasies River Cave in South Africa’s southern Cape, where charred food remains from hearths were found, provide the first archaeological evidence that anatomically modern humans were roasting and …
36 MINUTES AGO
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Extraordinarily transparent compact metallic metamaterials
In materials science, achromatic optical components can be designed with high transparency and low dispersion. Materials scientists have shown that although metals are highly opaque, densely packed arrays of metallic nanoparticles …
2 HOURS AGO
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Researchers unravel mechanisms that control cell size
Working with bacteria, a multidisciplinary team at the University of California San Diego has provided new insight into a longstanding question in science: …
CELL & MICROBIOLOGY
1 HOUR AGO
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Sedimentary, dear Johnson: Is NASA looking at the wrong rocks for clues to Martian life?
In 2020, NASA and European-Russian missions will look for evidence of past life on Mars. But while volcanic, igneous rock predominates on the Red Planet, …
SPACE EXPLORATION
1 HOUR AGO
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New computer program can help crack precision medicine
Researchers from ANU have helped develop a new computer program to find out a person’s genetic make-up, bringing us a step closer to an era of precision …
BIOTECHNOLOGY
2 HOURS AGO
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A social perception scheme for behavior planning of autonomous cars
To navigate dynamic environments, autonomous vehicles (AVs) should be able to process all information available to them and use it to generate effective driving strategies. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, …
Could hypnotherapy be alternative to opioids for pain?
(HealthDay)—Hypnosis might sound like a magic trick to some, but the therapy can be an effective pain reliever, a new review shows.
MEDICATIONS
36 MINUTES AGO
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Cancer drug could be repurposed to provide treatment for brain aneurysms
An important class of drug used to treat cancer patients could be used to treat brain aneurysms, according to new research published this week.
GENETICS
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For many HIV+ women, daily survival takes precedence over viral suppression
According to scientists who study women infected with HIV, statistics often paint an impressionist view of the lives of these women that misses the granular detail that tells the real story. The imprecise big picture is that …
HIV & AIDS
51 MINUTES AGO
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Tobacco and e-cigarette promotions spark teens’ use of nicotine products, study finds
Owning items that promote e-cigarettes and other alternative tobacco products doubles the likelihood that a young person will try these products, a new study led by the Stanford University School of Medicine has found. The …
HEALTH
51 MINUTES AGO
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Study finds narrowing gender gap in youth suicides
New research from Nationwide Children’s Hospital finds a disproportionate increase in youth suicide rates for females relative to males, particularly in younger youth aged 10-14 years. The report, which describes youth suicide …
PSYCHOLOGY & PSYCHIATRY
51 MINUTES AGO
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Identifying the molecular structure of one of Alzheimer’s stickier culprits
In a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from the University of Colorado Denver and Binghamton University are the first to map the molecular structure and dynamics of an aggressive …
ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE & DEMENTIA
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Imagine: Our attitudes can change solely by the power of imagination
Sometimes in life there are special places that seem to stand out to us—a school playground, perhaps an old church, or that inconspicuous street corner where you were kissed for the first time. Before the kiss you had never …
PSYCHOLOGY & PSYCHIATRY
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Instant Access to Over 600 Multiphysics Papers and Presentations
Browse this collection of multiphysics simulation papers and presentations featuring ground-breaking applications from research, engineering, and industry.
Be an ACS Industry Insider
Sign-up and get free, monthly access to articles that cover exciting, cutting edge discoveries in Energy, Environmental Science and Agriculture.
Medical Xpress
Study finds narrowing gender gap in youth suicides
What to do when your child throws a fit
Americans increasingly open about mental health
Guidelines updated for TB screening, treatment in health care workers
Identifying the molecular structure of one of Alzheimer’s stickier culprits
Imagine: Our attitudes can change solely by the power of imagination
Adult-onset IBD linked to higher mortality
Research looks to halt stress-induced seizures
Why onlookers often don’t report sexual harassment
Some women with psychotic disorders are more vulnerable around the time of menstruation
Tech Xplore
A social perception scheme for behavior planning of autonomous cars
Virtual reality game simulates experiences with race
Study aims to improve capturing wind power for energy production
A new era in 3-D printing
German startup to offer electric air taxis ‘by 2025’
New machine learning algorithm can predict age and gender from just your Twitter profile
To win online debates, social networks worth a thousand words
Eyes in the sky project will show power plant pollution marks
Framework improves ‘continual learning’ for artificial intelligence
Augmented reality affects people’s behavior in the real world
Machine learning reduces language barriers in global trade, research shows
Imagine Apple’s App Store with no walled garden
Review: Edifier headphones and earbuds give you great sound, no wires
‘Foldable’ PC? Lenovo ThinkPad laptop screen bends in half like a book
Bullet train champion in Japan will debut in 2030, now being tested
NIST team demonstrates heart of next-generation chip-scale atomic clock
Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and partners have demonstrated an experimental, next-generation atomic clock—ticking at high “optical” frequencies—that is much smaller than usual, …
OPTICS & PHOTONICS
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Groundbreaking genetic discovery shows why Lupus develops
In a world first, researchers from The Australian National University (ANU) have shown previously ignored rare genetic mutations are a major cause of lupus.
GENETICS
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Owning a dog is influenced by genetic make-up
A team of Swedish and British scientists have studied the heritability of dog ownership using information from 35,035 twin pairs from the Swedish Twin Registry. The new study suggests that genetic variation explains more …
GENETICS
6 HOURS AGO
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Climate a driver of language diversity
A region’s climate has a greater impact than landscape on how many languages are spoken there, new research from The Australian National University (ANU) shows.
SOCIAL SCIENCES
2 HOURS AGO
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When an aircraft landing system is made to enter the spoofing zone
Just what the airplane passenger who is always skittish does not want to hear: Radio navigation on planes for landing purposes is not secure; signals can be hacked.
New findings could lead to improved vaccinations against sexually transmitted infections
In a study published today in the Nature Communications, researchers from King’s College London have shown how skin vaccination can generate protective CD8 T-cells that are recruited to the genital tissues and could be used …
MEDICAL RESEARCH
6 HOURS AGO
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Scientists find ‘molecular destruction code’ for enzyme involved in cholesterol production
A team of UNSW scientists at the School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences led by Professor Andrew Brown have shown how a key enzyme that contributes to cholesterol production can be regulated—and destroyed—using …
BIOCHEMISTRY
3 HOURS AGO
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Record-shattering underwater sound
A team of researchers has produced a record-shattering underwater sound with an intensity that eclipses that of a rocket launch. The intensity was equivalent to directing the electrical power of an entire city onto a single …
GENERAL PHYSICS
3 HOURS AGO
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Virtual reality game simulates experiences with race
Video games that use virtual reality to create immersive experiences have become increasingly popular for entertainment and for research. However, the representation of race in these simulations is often shallow—and fails …
COMPUTER SCIENCES
3 HOURS AGO
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Magnetic nanoparticles ease removal of microcontaminants from wastewater
Microcontaminants place a considerable burden on our water courses, but removing them from wastewater requires considerable technical resources. Now, ETH researchers have developed an approach that allows the efficient removal …
NANOMATERIALS
3 HOURS AGO
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Researchers develop novel framework for tracking developments in optical sensors
Plasmonics and photonics have been drawing attention in both academia and industry due to their use in an extensive range of applications, one of which includes optical sensing. The development of optical sensing technology …
Museum volunteers discover new species of extinct heron at North Florida fossil site
When the bones of an ancient heron were unearthed at a North Florida fossil site, the find wasn’t made by researchers but by two Florida Museum of Natural History volunteers.
Ernst Haeckel: Pioneer of modern science
“By ecology, we understand the whole science of the organism’s relationship with the surrounding outside world, which includes in a broader sense all ‘existential conditions’. These are partly organic and partly inorganic …
Human capital benefits of military boost economy by billions
A recent study from North Carolina State University finds that U.S. government spending on military personnel has a positive impact on the nation’s human capital—essentially improving the American workforce. Using a new …
Changes in subsistence hunting threaten local food security
Scientists with the Universidad San Francisco de Quito and WCS Ecuador Program publishing in the journal BioTropica say that subsistence hunting in Neotropical rain forests—the mainstay of local people as a source of protein …
‘Brand Me’ presentations increase students’ confidence and enhance their employability
The University of Portsmouth is helping its students build a strong personal brand to increase their confidence and enhance their employability.
What’s behind the belief in a soulmate?
The United States appears to be in a romantic slump. Marriage rates have plummeted over the last decade. And compared to previous generations, young single people today are perhaps spending more time on social media than …
Cyber attacks are rewriting the ‘rules’ of modern warfare—and we aren’t prepared for the consequences
Governments are becoming ever more reliant on digital technology, making them more vulnerable to cyber attacks. In 2007, Estonia was attacked by pro-Russian hackers who crippled government servers, causing havoc. Cyber attacks …
Making the best of sparse information
New findings reported by LMU researchers challenge a generally accepted model of echolocation in bats. They demonstrate that bats require far less spatial information than previously thought to navigate effectively.
Earthquake in 2009 intensified American Samoa’s rising sea levels
The 2009, magnitude-8.1 Samoa earthquake dealt a great deal of damage to the Samoan Islands: Tsunami waves as high as 14 meters (46 feet) wiped out multiple villages, claiming nearly 200 lives and severely damaging water …
Mission control ‘saves science’
Every minute, ESA’s Earth observation satellites gather dozens of gigabytes of data about our planet—enough information to fill the pages on a 100-metre long bookshelf. Flying in low-Earth orbits, these spacecraft are continuously …
Healthcare, social media and a web of moral issues
“Ethics asks what we owe to one another and how we should treat one another. The internet has changed the landscape in which we, as humans, relate, and ethicists need to keep pace,” explains Assistant Professor of Philosophy …
Engineered microbial production of grape flavoring
Researchers report a microbial method for producing an artificial grape flavor. Methyl anthranilate (MANT) is a common grape flavoring and odorant compound currently produced through a petroleum-based process that uses large …
Ocean twilight zone scientists tackle the challenge of bringing light into darkness
Oceanographers studying creatures in the ocean twilight zone are facing an optical dilemma. They need to observe the fish in order to study them, but at ocean depths of 200 meters and beyond, there’s very little natural light …
A more efficient way to cleave pendant olefins from terpenes and similar compounds
A team of chemists at the University of California has found a more efficient way to separate olefins from terpenes and similar compounds. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes the new approach …
Scientists propose rethinking ‘endangered species’ definition to save slow-breeding giants
Conservation decisions based on population counts may fail to protect large, slow-breeding animals from irrevocable decline, according to new research coinciding with Endangered Species Day.
ECOLOGY
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Single molecule magnet used as a scanning magnetometer
A team of researchers from the University of California and Fudan University has developed a way to use a single molecule magnet as a scanning magnetometer. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group outlines …
How one fern can soak up so much arsenic—and not die
Arsenic-contaminated soil and groundwater pose risks to millions of Americans and hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Cleaning up the toxic metal is a laborious and expensive process, with some remediations of arsenic …
PLANTS & ANIMALS
3 HOURS AGO
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Researchers dish the dirt on soil microbes
Soil microbes are wild, unpampered and uncultured.
CELL & MICROBIOLOGY
3 HOURS AGO
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Study aims to improve capturing wind power for energy production
Scientists have released the first of several reports outlining major results that could help wind industry officials manage wind power facilities more efficiently and increase renewable energy production.
ENERGY & GREEN TECH
3 HOURS AGO
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Adult-onset IBD linked to higher mortality
While the onset of inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease) in adulthood is tied to a higher mortality, the actual number of deaths has been falling, a Swedish study from Karolinska Institutet published …
DISEASES, CONDITIONS, SYNDROMES
2 HOURS AGO
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A ‘high-heeled’ dinosaur that walked on its tiptoes
A 24-tonne dinosaur may have walked in a ‘high-heeled’ fashion, according to University of Queensland research.
ARCHAEOLOGY & FOSSILS
4 HOURS AGO
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‘Ant bridge’-inspired nanoparticle assembly fixes broken electrical circuits
Colonies of social insects are capable of self-organizing and accomplishing complex tasks through individual interactions. For example, to march across large gaps, ants grip the bodies of each other, forming a living bridge …
NANOMATERIALS
4 HOURS AGO
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Research reveals insulin-producing beta cells may change function in diabetes
A revolutionary new study using only materials derived from humans has revealed that insulin-producing beta cells can change their function in diabetes—and that this change may be reversible.
GENETICS
8 HOURS AGO
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Germany green-lights e-scooters on roads, not pavements
Germany on Friday authorised battery-powered scooters on its streets and cycle paths but banned them from pavements to protect pedestrians as the two-wheeled craze continues to spread across Europe.
China creates app to recognize Pandas
China has developed an app that allows conservationists to identify individual pandas using facial recognition technology, state-run Xinhua news agency reported Friday.
Alibaba faces consumer complaints in Europe
Six European consumer rights associations said Friday they have asked national authorities to look into illegal practices by firms using the AliExpress site of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.
Hydropower dams can harm coastal areas far downstream
Thousands of hydroelectric dams are under construction around the world, mainly in developing countries. These enormous structures are one of the world’s largest sources of renewable energy, but they also cause environmental …
Why decarbonizing marine transportation might not be smooth sailing
About 60,000 merchant ships sail the world’s oceans, including container ships, oil tankers and dry bulk carriers loaded with everything from grain to coal. Most operate on carbon-rich fuels such as heavy diesel, and their …
Selective application of contraceptives may be most effective pest control
Since the mid-20th century, the global human population has grown from 2.5 billion to 7.7 billion, according to the most recent United Nations estimate. Much of this growth was due to the unprecedented agricultural expansion …
How Japan’s renewables-powered Olympics could kick off a global race for clean energy
Japan is aiming to host the first Olympic Games powered solely by renewable sources. If successful, this could help the country carve a new niche in the global order as a champion of climate action and environmental protection …
Why is the Pentagon interested in UFOs?
U.S. Navy pilots and sailors won’t be considered crazy for reporting unidentified flying objects, under new rules meant to encourage them to keep track of what they see. Yet just a few years ago, the Pentagon reportedly shut …
Cell polarity: An aurora over the pole
Even before the fertilised egg or zygote can start dividing into daughter cells that form the future tissues and organs during the development of a multicellular organism, the symmetrical zygote needs to become asymmetrical …
Development of a displacement sensor to measure gravity of smallest source mass ever
One of the most unknown phenomena in modern physics is gravity. Its measurement and laws remain somewhat of an enigma. Researchers at Tohoku University have revealed important information about a new aspect of the nature …
Laser of sound promises to measure extremely tiny phenomena
Most people are familiar with optical lasers through their experience with laser pointers. But what about a laser made from sound waves?
Wild wheat relative genes to aid in battle against trio of pests
Wheat curl mite, greenbug and Hessian fly have long been troublemaker pests for Texas wheat, but a team of Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists is ready to go high tech to help control them.
AI-powered ‘knowledge engine’ a game-changer for antibiotic resistance
A groundbreaking project to tackle one of the world’s most pressing and complex health challenges—antimicrobial resistance (AMR)—has secured a $1 million boost. UTS will lead a consortium of 26 researchers from 14 organisations …
Study reveals role of neonatal brain cells in early bonding in mammals
What drives the social bond between offspring and caregivers in the first few days of life? A Yale-led team of researchers has found clues in specific neurons in the brains of neonatal mice that are associated with feeding.