Engineers from MIT are seeking to redesign concrete by using bones and shells as blueprints for a stronger, more durable concrete. In a paper published online in the journal Construction and Building Materials, the team contrasts cement paste — concrete’s binding ingredient — with the structure and properties of natural materials such as bones, shells, and deep-sea sponges. As the researchers observed, these biological materials are exceptionally strong and durable, thanks in part to their precise assembly of structures at multiple length scales, from the molecular to the macro, or visible, level....

Lancaster scientists have demonstrated that other physicists’ recent “discovery” of the field effect in superconductors is nothing but hot electrons after all. A team of scientists in the Lancaster Physics Department has found new and compelling evidence that the observation of the field effect in superconducting metals by another group can be explained by a simple mechanism involving the injection of the electrons, without the need for novel physics. Dr....

Traditionally, artificial intelligence stems from human brain dynamics. However, brain learning is restricted in a number of significant aspects compared to deep learning (DL). First, efficient DL wiring structures (architectures) consist of many tens of feedforward (consecutive) layers, whereas brain dynamics consist of only a few feedforward layers. Second, DL architectures typically consist of many consecutive filter layers, which are essential to identify one of the input classes. If the input is a car, for example, the first filter identifies wheels, the second one identifies doors, the third one lights and after many additional filters it becomes clear that the input object is, indeed, a car....

There is a clear, unambiguous signal in the cosmos which could eliminate inflation as a possibility says a group of astrophysicists from the University of Cambridge, the University of Trento, and Harvard University. Published on November 3 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, their paper argues that this signal – known as the cosmic graviton background (CGB) – can feasibly be detected, although it will be a massive technical and scientific challenge....

New research published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society indicates that cancer survivors, especially older individuals, are more likely to experience accelerated functional decline as they age, compared with those without a history of cancer. Between 2006 to 2019, 1728 men and women (aged 22 to 100 years) were evaluated, with 359 of these adults reporting a history of cancer. Among all participants, a history of cancer was associated with a 1....

This newly released composite image from NASA’s Cassini Spacecraft shows an infrared view of Saturn’s moon Titan. This new image was acquired during the mission’s “T-114” flyby on November 13, 2015. The spacecraft’s visual and infrared mapping spectrometer (VIMS) instrument made these observations, in which blue represents wavelengths centered at 1.3 microns, green represents 2.0 microns, and red represents 5.0 microns. A view at visible wavelengths (centered around 0.5 microns) would show only Titan’s hazy atmosphere (as in PIA14909)....

Taken this past summer, this Cassini image shows Saturn’s moon Tethys through several of Saturn’s rings. Like a drop of dew hanging on a leaf, Tethys appears to be stuck to the A and F rings from this perspective. Tethys (660 miles, or 1,062 kilometers across), like the ring particles, is composed primarily of ice. The gap in the A ring through which Tethys is visible is the Keeler gap, which is kept clear by the small moon Daphnis (not visible here)....

An analysis of gravity and topography data from Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, has revealed unexpected features of the moon’s outer ice shell. The best explanation for the findings, the authors said, is that Titan’s ice shell is rigid and that relatively small topographic features on the surface are associated with large roots extending into the underlying ocean. The study is published in the August 29 issue of the journal Nature....

At 8 a.m. EDT on September 15, NOAA’s National Hurricane Center (NHC) cautioned, “Historic flooding is possible from Sally with extreme life-threatening flash flooding likely through Wednesday [September 16] along portions of the northern Gulf Coast.” Forecasters are using NASA’s infrared and water vapor data to analyze the rainfall potential from Sally. Warnings and Watches in Effect on September 15 NHC issued a Storm Surge Warning for the mouth of the Mississippi River to the Okaloosa/Walton County Line, Florida and for Mobile Bay....

The LHCb collaboration at CERN today submitted a paper to Physical Review Letters on the first observation of matter-antimatter asymmetry in the decays of the particle known as the B0s. It is only the fourth subatomic particle known to exhibit such behavior. Matter and antimatter are thought to have existed in equal amounts at the beginning of the universe, but today the universe appears to be composed essentially of matter....

What is Chamomile? Chamomile is a daisy-like flower native to Europe, Africa, Asia, and North America. Chamomile is known to have been used as medicine from as early as 500 BC. It was prescribed for fever in the medieval age and is used as a remedy for colic in babies to this day.[1] Chamomile flowers must be steeped instead of boiled to make tea, to preserve its antioxidants. You can also take chamomile powder in capsule form or drink a chamomile tincture....

Supermassive black holes containing millions or even billions of solar-masses of material are found at the nuclei of galaxies. Our Milky Way, for example, has a nucleus with a black hole with about four million solar masses of material. Around the black hole, according to theories, is a torus of dust and gas, and when material falls toward the black hole (a process called accretion) the inner edge of the disk can be heated to millions of degrees....

In some ways, star clusters are like giant families with thousands of stellar siblings. These stars come from the same origins – a common cloud of gas and dust – and are bound to one another by gravity. Astronomers think that our Sun was born in a star cluster about 4.6 billion years ago that quickly dispersed. By studying young star clusters, astronomers hope to learn more about how stars – including our Sun – are born....

For many years scientists tinkered to find a perfect replacement for the damaged or dysplastic inner ear. Cochlear implants receive a sound, convert it into electrical stimuli and send these impulses directly to the auditory nerve, thereby giving deaf children the chance to connect to the world of sounds and noises. It has so far been assumed that these children reach the language level of hearing children much later. Previous studies showed that from the moment of having the device implanted, children need longer to attain the important steps of learning their mother tongue—for instance, being able to distinguish the rhythm of their mother tongue from that of another language....

China has made remarkable gains in reducing the number of women who die during childbirth and boosting child survival rates over the past 70 years, according to new review. The Lancet report brought together China’s health research institutions alongside its international colleagues from Australia, the UK, and the US to review the country’s progress in maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health and nutrition since 1949. Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) Professor George Patton, one of the international researchers, said over the past 70 years China had made a remarkable transition from where the survival of women and children was the priority to one where children and adolescents now have similar health profiles to young Australians....

Phase 2 randomized controlled trial of a recombinant adenovirus type-5-vectored COVID-19 vaccine (Ad5-vectored COVID-19 vaccine) was conducted in China in April 2020 and involved more than 500 peopleThe primary objective of the study was to evaluate the immune response and safety of the vaccine, and to determine the most suitable dose for a phase 3 trialPhase 3 trials are needed to confirm whether the vaccine candidate effectively protects against SARS-CoV-2 infection...

It is unlikely that a cancer-causing chemical inside your car can be dusted or wiped way, according to new UC Riverside research. This finding has now been published in the journal Environmental Research. It follows on the heels of a related study showing the longer your commute, the more you’re exposed to this chemical. TDCIPP, or chlorinated tris, is a chemical flame retardant widely used in automobile seat foam. In addition to being on California’s Prop....

The American Medical Association recommends that moderate tea or coffee drinking will likely have no ill effect on health, as long as people live a healthy lifestyle. Now recent research has shown that drinking coffee can actually have some benefits. Researchers think that some of the benefits of drinking coffee range from preventing Alzheimer’s disease[1] to protecting the liver.[2] Most recently, findings support that coffee appears to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes....

Sex hormones drive major physiologic changes throughout adolescence. Acne, a skin condition caused by the plugging of hair follicles with oil and dead skin cells, is one of the most common, and often distressing, experiences during adolescence. For some people whose acne is resistant to topical therapies, systemic antibiotics are used to help to alleviate symptoms and clear up the skin. Treating acne with systemic antibiotics, such as minocycline, frequently necessitates long-term usage — sometimes up to two years; however, the long-term effects of antibiotic use remain unclear....

Researchers have been trying to use proteins that control only parts of a synthetic circuit and that don’t hinder others. Christopher Voigt and his team have developed circuit components that don’t interfere with each other, allowing them to produce the most complex synthetic circuit ever built. The scientists published their findings in the journal Nature. The circuit they designed integrates four sensors for different molecules, and such circuits could be used inside of cells to precisely monitor their environments....