This finding was further supported by metallographic analysis of an iron chisel from the same time period and region (Rocha do Vigio, Portugal, ca. 900 BCE), which revealed that it had the required carbon content to be classified as proper steel. The result was also confirmed experimentally by undertaking trials with chisels made of various materials: only the chisel made of tempered steel was suitably capable of engraving the stone....

The demo was the first of its kind to achieve high power transfer across an 11-inch air gap between the truck and a charging pad. Specially designed electromagnetic coils and power electronic converters transferred electricity from the grid to the vehicle battery terminals at more than 92% efficiency. At a 20-kilowatt level, it would take about three hours to charge the vehicle’s battery packs; conventional wired charging takes between five and six hours....

In the early 19th century in North America, parasitic infections were quite common in urban areas due in part to population growth and urbanization. Prior research has found that poor sanitation, unsanitary privy (outhouse) conditions, and increased contact with domestic animals, contributed to the prevalence of parasitic disease in urban areas. A new study examining fecal samples from a privy on Dartmouth’s campus illustrates how rural wealthy elites in New England also had intestinal parasitic infections....

You might be surprised to learn that over a third of adults in the United States don’t get enough vitamin D.[1] In fact, vitamin D deficiency is the most common medical condition in the world[2] and is especially likely to occur in the winter months when people don’t get enough sunlight. This is because ultraviolet sunlight absorbed through your skin triggers vitamin D production[3] and that’s why it’s sometimes referred to as “the sunshine vitamin....

Now, a team of researchers from the Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a gold-based hybrid material by modifying gold nanoparticles with a macrocyclic compound called cucurbit[6]uril (CB[6]) that allows for more efficient CO2RR than previously possible. The results were recently published in the journal Nano Research. “With this work, we hoped to solve the problem of environmental pollution and energy shortage through electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide to value-added products,” said corresponding author Minna Cao of the State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences....

Northwestern University’s Yonggang Huang and the University of Illinois’ John A. Rogers are the first to demonstrate a stretchable lithium-ion battery — a flexible device capable of powering their innovative stretchable electronics. No longer needing to be connected by a cord to an electrical outlet, the stretchable electronic devices now could be used anywhere, including inside the human body. The implantable electronics could monitor anything from brain waves to heart activity, succeeding where flat, rigid batteries would fail....

High-density polyethylene (HDPE) is a particularly strong and durable material. It owes its thermoplastic properties to the internal structure of its molecular chains, which are arranged in a crystalline manner with added attraction due to van der Waals forces. The molecular chains are also pure hydrocarbons. The combination of crystallinity and hydrocarbon content means microorganisms, which might be able to degrade the plastic, cannot access the chains to break them up....

The intermittent light emitted by pulsars, the most precise timekeepers in the universe, allows scientists to verify Einstein’s theory of relativity, especially when these objects are paired up with another neutron star or white dwarf that interferes with their gravity. However, this theory could be analyzed much more effectively if a pulsar with a black hole were found, except in two particular cases, according to researchers from Spain and India....

Millions of light-years away in a remote galaxy, a star is being torn apart by the immense gravitational pull of a supermassive black hole. The destruction of the star results in a stream of debris that falls back onto the black hole, forming an accretion disk – a bright and hot disk of material that swirls around the black hole. The process of a star being destroyed by a supermassive black hole and fueling a bright accretion flare is known as a tidal disruption event (TDE)....

The Lancet Psychiatry study found that an additional 60 minutes of light activity (such as walking or doing chores) daily at age 12 was associated with a 10% reduction in depressive symptoms at age 18. “Our findings show that young people who are inactive for large proportions of the day throughout adolescence face a greater risk of depression by age 18. We found that it’s not just more intense forms of activity that are good for our mental health, but any degree of physical activity that can reduce the time we spend sitting down is likely to be beneficial,” said the study’s lead author, Ph....

The results should aid development of new types of antivirals and provide mechanistic insights into the virus life cycle. “The rapidly advancing ability to visualize such crucial structures is game-changing,” says Paul Ahlquist, director of the John W. and Jeanne M. Rowe Center for Virology Research at the Morgridge Institute and professor of oncology and molecular virology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Other authors of the study included Nuruddin Unchwaniwala, Hong Zhan, Janice Pennington, Mark Horswill and Johan den Boon....

The advantages of non-native species are less well known, and biologist Dov Sax from Brown University thinks that has to change. Sax and two co-authors pointed out that the majority of research on non-native species concentrates on their detrimental effects in a review article that was recently published in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution. They said that long-standing prejudices against non-native species in the scientific literature had muddled the scientific process and made it more difficult for the public to understand....

Researchers in Italy have melded the emerging science of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) with deep learning — a discipline within artificial intelligence — to achieve a system of market forecasting with the potential for greater gains and fewer losses than previous attempts to use AI methods to manage stock portfolios. The team, led by Prof. Silvio Barra at the University of Cagliari, published their findings on IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica....

Researchers have created a system utilizing microvesicles that originate from the surface of Euglena gracilis cells. These microvesicles contain β-glucan, a carbohydrate with the capability to regulate the immune system, promote regeneration, and exhibit antioxidant properties. In laboratory experiments, these microvesicles promoted the proliferation and migration of skin cells, increasing both collagen synthesis and the expression of proliferation-associated proteins. A wound healing test also generated promising results. “This technique is expected to be applied to other cells, thereby enabling the design of new types of extracellular vesicles that are applicable for skin treatments and care in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries,” the authors wrote....

The research was recently published in the journal Nature Communications. The bioluminescent waves that may sometimes be seen at San Diego’s beaches during red tide events served as the researchers’ inspiration for these gadgets. The senior author of the research, Shengqiang Cai, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, was intrigued to find out more about what creates this stunning display while watching the glowing blue waves with his family one spring night....

The fact that plastics do not break down, and therefore accumulate in our ecosystems, is one of our major environmental problems. But at Chalmers, a research group led by Henrik Thunman, Professor of Energy Technology, sees the resilience of plastic as an asset. The fact that it does not degrade makes it possible for circular usage, creating a true value for used plastic, and therefore an economic impetus to collect it....

A University of Washington team looked at very old samples of these small meteorites to show that the grains could have reacted with carbon dioxide on their journey to Earth. Previous work suggested the meteorites ran into oxygen, contradicting theories and evidence that the Earth’s early atmosphere was virtually devoid of oxygen. The new study was published this week in the open-access journal Science Advances. “Our finding that the atmosphere these micrometeorites encountered was high in carbon dioxide is consistent with what the atmosphere was thought to look like on the early Earth,” said first author Owen Lehmer, a UW doctoral student in Earth and space sciences....

Two recently published studies from Kansas State University researchers and collaborators have led to two important findings related to the COVID-19 pandemic: Domestic cats can be asymptomatic carriers of SARS-CoV-2, but pigs are unlikely to be significant carriers of the virus. SARS-CoV-2 is the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19. “Other research has shown that COVID-19-infected human patients are transmitting SARS-CoV-2 to cats; this includes domestic cats and even large cats, such as lions and tigers,” said Jürgen A....

Over the previous few days, the reconfiguration has been conducted successfully several times, and so the team is investigating the cause of the loss of signal this time. The team resolved the issue with a reconfiguration on the ground side. Engineers are examining data from the event to help determine what happened, and the command and data handling officer will be downlinking data recorded onboard Orion during the outage to include in that assessment....

What makes an image memorable? Ask a computer. From the “Mona Lisa” to the “Girl with a Pearl Earring,” some images linger in the mind long after others have faded. Ask an artist why, and you might hear some generally-accepted principles for making memorable art. Now there’s an easier way to learn: ask an artificial intelligence model to draw an example. A new study using machine learning to generate images ranging from a memorable cheeseburger to a forgettable cup of coffee shows in close detail what makes a portrait or scene stand out....