Articles
We need to fix how we think about ergonomics
Ergonomics is a crucial but misunderstood aspect of workplace safety. Companies generally approach ergonomics aiming for legal compliance, but Anca Mocan thinks we need a different approach. Ergonomics can be as basic as workplace training and as complex as robotic automation. Mocan has created a grading system for understanding ergonomic solutions, to keep managers better informed, so that they can improve […]
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Candida auris: The path of yeast resistance
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria have gained a lot of attention in recent years, but there’s another budding ‘villain’ that demands a spotlight and it comes in the form of a yeast. Candida auris debuted on the public health scene in 2009 after it was isolated from a Japanese patient’s ear canal. Since then, the multidrug-resistant fungus has become a “major healthcare threat, […]
Taxonomy of affective curriculum for gifted learners: A framework for providing social–emotional learning to gifted children
As the demand for adequate social–emotional learning grows globally, in the United States there has been an emphasis on the power of affective education. Dr Derek Cavilla, from the University of Central Florida, has developed a framework called Cavilla’s Taxonomy of Affective Curriculum for Gifted Learners, which aims to help gifted learners achieve their potential through the power of social–emotional […]
Mitonucleons: A new chapter in the story of mitochondria?
Mitonucleons are a newly recognised type of mitochondrial superstructure. Consisting of multiple mitochondria enveloping chromatin, mitonucleons appear to be responsible for the development of unusual structures called spheroids. Dr Honoree Fleming of Castleton State College, Vermont, USA, has identified mitonucleons in human endometrial cells in vitro. Using microscopy, Dr Fleming has also observed mysterious structures called tubules, which appear to […]
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Tumorigenesis: Revealing cancer’s origins
Despite huge amounts of research, many aspects of cancer remain mysterious. One of these is the process of tumorigenesis – the very earliest stages of tumour development. John Evans, Emeritus Professor at the University of Otago, New Zealand, has drawn together a wealth of evidence to suggest that the extracellular matrix, the network of proteins and carbohydrates that surrounds cells, […]
Design of Experiments: New research design could lead to better crops
As the world’s population continues to grow, new ways to ensure the future food supply are needed. Many crops undergo genetic transformation – a process where new genes are introduced into a plant cell, which are then grown into a mature plant. One way to hasten crop improvement is to optimise the transformation process. With this aim, Uyen Cao Chu of […]
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The future of product creation is open and community-based
Professor Roland Jochem from the Technische Universität Berlin is coordinating the European research and innovation project OPENNEXT, a project that is enabling small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) across Europe to engage in communities with consumers and makers, in order to fundamentally change how products are designed, produced, and distributed. Product creation is inaccessible to most people, but open source […]
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Couples bickering: Disaffiliation and discord in Chinese conversation
In “Couples Bickering”, Guodong Yu, Yaxin Wu and Paul Drew use conversation analysis on candid, everyday conversations in Mandarin from China in order to understand communication and social action. Using the relationships in interaction of arguments and conflicts found in conversations between couples, they show how there are many linguistic and grammatical ways that conflict can be limited to bickering, […]
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The science of singing: When speech and music combine
Speech and music unite in the form of song. Human speech and music both use the characteristics of pitch, loudness, duration and timbre to communicate with the audience. In a series of diverse studies, Professor Jaan Ross of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre and his colleagues have investigated how speech and music combine in the form of song. […]
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Cradle-to-Cradle principles change how products are designed
Industry from the very beginning has treated natural resources as essentially infinite, and the world’s capacity to accommodate waste with the same regard. As the economy becomes global, we now understand this is not true – so the way we make products also should change. EPEA Switzerland has developed ‘Reference Model Cradle-to-Cradle Design Innovations’. Their reference model works for every product […]
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