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Bioengineering: Bacteria Use Magnetic Particles To Create A Natural Battery

Bioengineering: Bacteria Use Magnetic Particles To Create A Natural Battery

New research shows bacteria can use tiny magnetic particles to effectively create a 'natural battery.' The bacteria can load electrons onto and discharge electrons from microscopic particles of magnetite. This discovery holds out the potential of using this mechanism to help clean up environmental pollution, and other bioengineering applications. 
Researchers from the University of Tübingen, the University of Manchester, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, USA, incubated the soil and water dwelling purple bacteria Rhodopseudomonas palustris with magnetite and controlled the amount of light the cultures were exposed to.

Micro-Climate: Deforestation Blamed For Changes In Local Climate And Food Production

Micro-Climate: Deforestation Blamed For Changes In Local Climate And Food Production

Deforestation could impact global food production by triggering changes in local climate, according to research on albedo (the amount of the sun's radiation reflected from Earth's surface) and evapotranspiration (the transport of water into the atmosphere from soil, vegetation, and other surfaces) as the primary drivers of changes in local temperature.

Direct Brain Interface Allows Blind Rats To 'See'

Direct Brain Interface Allows Blind Rats To 'See'

A microstimulator and geomagnetic compass attached to the brains of blind rats allows them to spontaneously learn to use new information about their location and navigate through a maze nearly as well as normally sighted rats. The findings show the incredible flexibility of the mammalian brain but also suggest that a similar kind of neuroprosthesis could help blind people walk freely through the world.

Nature Beats Nurture When It Comes To Taking Tests

Nature Beats Nurture When It Comes To Taking Tests

In a study of more than 6,500 pairs of twins, researchers found that more than half of the differences between pupils performance on the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) can be explained by differences in genetics.The research found that although IQ showed the strongest relationship with exam scores other genetically influenced traits such as personality and behavior also explained individual differences in achievement. Intelligence accounted for more of the heritability of GCSE results than any other single domain but the joint contribution of pupils' self-belief, health, behavior problems, personality, well-being, and perceptions of home and school, collectively accounted for the same amount again.

Journals And Publication Pollution Denialism

Journals And Publication Pollution Denialism

The scientific community is facing a 'pollution problem' in academic publishing, one that poses a serious threat to the "trustworthiness, utility, and value of science and medicine," according to Arthur L. Caplan, PhD, director of the Division of Medical Ethics in the Department of Population Health at NYU Langone Medical Center.

$1 Test Outperforms PSA Screen For Prostate Cancer

$1 Test Outperforms PSA Screen For Prostate Cancer

A
prostate cancer
test using
gold nanoparticles
costs less than a $1 and yields results in minutes - results show it to be more sensitive and more exact than the current standard test for early-stage prostate cancer, the less precise PSA test that's now used. 

Natural GMO: Rice Borrows Stronger Defense From Other Plants

Natural GMO: Rice Borrows Stronger Defense From Other Plants

Rice is well-equipped with an effective immune system that enables it to detect and fend off disease-causing microbes but sometimes nature needs a hand. A new study shows that rice immunity gets boosted when the plant receives a receptor protein from a completely different plant species, a result which may help increase health and productivity of rice, the staple food for half of the world's population, at least in countries that don't ban food science.

Darwin's ‘Strangest Animals Ever Discovered’ Solved

Darwin's ‘Strangest Animals Ever Discovered’ Solved

An evolutionary puzzle has baffled palaeontologists for more than 180 years - the origins of Toxodon platensis and Macrauchenia patachonica, South American ungulates (hooved animals) described by Charles Darwin as the ‘strangest animals ever discovered’.Previous attempts by scientists to pinpoint the origin of the animals using morphology-based and DNA analysis of fossils had failed but a new study presents evidence that the animals were related to mammals like horses, rather than elephants and other African species as some taxonomists have maintained.

Would You Kill Hitler As A Child? The Reason Men And Women Have Different Answers

Would You Kill Hitler As A Child? The Reason Men And Women Have Different Answers

When it comes to ethical dilemmas, men are typically more willing to accept harmful actions for the sake of the greater good than women. Why is that?The classic example is traveling back in time to kill Adolf Hitler as a child - the child had not yet done anything wrong but he is going to be responsible for nearly as many deaths as Stalin and Mao, over 10 million people, so wouldn't it be better to eliminated him, or all three of them? A more topical example is the terrorist attacks in France and across the mid-east. Would it be better to torture a terrorist to find hidden explosives that could kill many people at a local café?

Paracetamol Ineffective For Lower Back Pain And Osteoarthritis

Paracetamol Ineffective For Lower Back Pain And Osteoarthritis

Low back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide, and osteoarthritis of the hip or knee is the 11th highest contributor to global disability.  A new study found paracetamol is ineffective in reducing pain, disability or improving quality of life for patients who suffer from low back pain or osteoarthritis of the hip or knee, and its use may affect the liver.
Paracetamol is currently recommended by most international clinical guidelines as a first line treatment for low back pain and osteoarthritis but it is no better at treating low back pain than a placebo and its effect on osteoarthritis of the hip or knee is too small to be clinically worthwhile, the study concludes.