Researchers have developed a fully biobased hair conditioner using lignin gel emulsions, offering a sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative to conventional haircare products. …read more
Rapid, localized heat management is essential for electronic devices and could have applications ranging from wearable materials to burn treatment. While so-called thermoelectric materials convert temperature differences to electrical voltage and vice versa, their efficiency is often limited, and their production is costly and wasteful. Researchers have now used a 3D printing technique to fabricate high-performance thermoelectric materials, reducing production costs significantly. …read more
Meeting the minimum requirement for vitamin B12, needed to make DNA, red blood cells and nerve tissue, may not actually be enough — particularly if you are older. It may even put you at risk for cognitive impairment. …read more
For years, scientific divers at a research station in the Mediterranean Sea had a problem: at some point in every field season, local fish would follow them and steal food intended as experimental rewards. Intriguingly these wild fish appeared to recognize the specific diver who had previously carried food, choosing to follow only them while ignoring other divers. To find out if that was true, a team conducted a series of experiments while wearing a range of diving gear, finding that fish in the wild can discriminate among humans based on external visual cues. …read more
Researchers tested a strategy for developing single-atom catalysts that may help us develop more efficient methods for water purification. …read more
New esearch shows Aotearoa has been increasingly accepting new bird species from around the world since the start of the Ice Age, offering clues into future migration patterns. …read more
It may be the smallest, shortest chorus dance ever recorded. An international team of researchers observed how electrons, excited by ultrafast light pulses, danced in unison around a particle less than a nanometer in diameter. Researchers measured this dance with unprecedented precision, achieving the first measurement of its kind at the sub-nanometer scale. The synchronized dance of electrons, known as plasmonic resonance, can confine light for brief periods of time. That light-trapping ability has been applied in a wide range of areas, from turning light into chemical energy to improving light-sensitive gadgets and even converting sunlight into electricity. While they’ve been studied extensively in systems from several centimeters across to those just 10 nanometers wide, this is the first time researchers were able to break the field’s ‘nanometer barrier.’ …read more
A newly identified part of a brain circuit mixes sensory information, memories, and emotions to tell whether things are familiar or new, and important or just ‘background noise.’ …read more
Targets for universal access, national roadmaps and more affordable and accessible care are vital to help fill the medical oxygen gap affecting more than half of the world’s population, according to a new global report. …read more
In a surprising discovery, scientists have found that the heart possesses ‘sweet taste’ receptors, similar to those on our tongues, and that stimulating these receptors with sweet substances can modulate the heartbeat. This research opens new avenues for understanding heart function and potentially for developing novel treatments for heart failure. …read more
