Articles Archives

Earth & Environment

Transdisciplinary field science based on Land-Surface Management (LSM)

Land-Surface Management (LSM) technology, which is based on transdisciplinary field science, offers a solution for ‘Earth Regeneration’. The general principle behind LSM technology aims to control and manage three basic elements of our land surface – water, oxygen, and nutrients – even in different eco-types such wetland or dryland. On a global scale, there are large areas of inferior soil […]

Health & Medicine

Genetic evidence implicates respiratory muscle dysfunction in SIDS

The SIDS-Critical Diaphragm Failure (SIDS-CDF) hypothesis posits that all SIDS risk factors either increase the workload of the diaphragm or reduce its force-generating capacity, and that while SIDS has many contributing factors, it has one cause, namely the failure of the vital respiratory pump. Several SIDS risk factors can impair diaphragm function, but especially noteworthy are the prone sleeping position […]

Health & Medicine

Electrical eye activity reveals early sight damage in alcohol addicts

People addicted to alcohol often suffer loss of vision through damage to the light receptors and nerves in the eyes. Scientists have previously shown interest in measuring the electric currents in the brain related to vision, but the information gathered has not yet made an impact on preventing further sight loss. Professor Haolin Zhang at the Beijing University of Technology, […]

Arts & Humanities

The evolution of IP, competition, and healthcare law in line with lightning-speed innovation

In a series of recently published articles, Takanori Abe, attorney and guest professor at Osaka University in Japan, considers some of the complex intellectual property challenges arising in line with fast-paced technological innovation. These include rights relating to the manufacture and sale of medical products as well as questions of ownership of technological features that have become integrated into products […]

Health & Medicine

Stem cell therapy brings new life to musculoskeletal regeneration

Researchers Dr Khay-Yong Saw, Dr Caroline Jee, Ms Amal Dawam, and Ms Alisha Ramlan from the Kuala Lumpur Sports Medicine Centre, Malaysia, and Dr Adam Anz, Andrews Institute, Florida, USA, recently showed how stem cell therapy can be used as a pioneering treatment in articular regeneration of the knee. There is potential to apply this technology to other musculoskeletal damage […]

Engineering & Technology

Two-photon polymerization for advanced sensor manufacturing

Sensors built from microscopic optical components could offer numerous benefits, but so far their reach has been limited by shortcomings in 3D manufacturing techniques on non-conventional platforms. In their research, Dr Hengky Chandrahalim, Capt Jeremiah Williams, and colleagues at the US Air Force Institute of Technology, have overcome this challenge through the technique of ‘two-photon polymerization’, which allows them to […]

Physical Sciences

Imaging the dynamical hydration sphere of alkali metal ions

Alkali metal ions – lithium ion (Li+), sodium ion (Na+), potassium ion (K+), rubidium ion (Rb+), and caesium ion (Cs+) – play crucial roles in a variety of solution processes, but so far tracking their diffusive motion in water has been problematic. Professor Kikuko Hayamizu and her collaborators at Tsukuba University, Japan, have applied a technique based on nuclear magnetic […]

Health & Medicine

How medical schools can evolve to tackle gun violence

Despite the shocking levels of gun violence in the USA and in the Americas, medical practitioners are taught little more than dealing with the direct biologic outcomes of bullets. Like other public health burdens, each tragic event results from the interplay of complex behavioural health, environmental, and social issues. Understanding gun violence as a disease requires examining these complex issues […]

Physical Sciences

Modelling and analysis of flows of viscoelastic fluids: Beyond the Navier–Stokes equations

The Navier–Stokes equations are important for science and engineering, since they describe the motion of fluids. For instance, they are used to model blood flow within arteries, an ocean’s currents, and dynamics of air around aeroplanes. A century ago, theoretical physicists and mathematicians made advances in the use of Navier–Stokes equations. Instead of considering these partial differential equations as a […]

Physical Sciences

Waste into starting materials: Solvent-based recycling for the polymer industry

Polymer manufacturing is an essential business, but it poses a number of challenges from an environmental perspective. Many chemical processes are energy intensive as they require high temperatures or pressure to occur. Finding ways of reusing and recycling waste into valuable components is therefore incredibly important. At APK AG in Germany, the team around Dominik Triebert and Hagen Hanel has […]