Saturday 8 June 2019

Mississippi seeks seafood disaster amid spillway complaints

Mississippi's governor wants the federal government to declare a fisheries disaster as freshwater from a Mississippi River spillway gushes into what's normally a partly salty estuary, killing countless oysters and crabs.

* This article was originally published here

Manipulating electron spin using artificial molecular motors

Artificial molecular switches and machines have undergone rapid advances over the past several decades. Particularly, artificial molecular motors are highly attractive from the viewpoint of chirality switching during rotational steps. Now, researchers fabricated an electron's spin-filtering device that can switch the spin polarization direction by light irradiation or thermal treatment. The present results are beneficial to the development of solid-state functionalities emerging from nanosized motions of molecular switches.

* This article was originally published here

New approach optimizes use of future wave electricity generators during disaster

When hurricanes strike, loss of electricity ranks as one of the top concerns for relief workers. Blackouts lasting a week or more can hamper recovery efforts, shutter hospitals, threaten public health and disrupt transportation. The monthslong effort to restore power to Puerto Rico following the 2017 hurricane season has led to renewed interest in finding innovative ways to get affected power grids back online.

* This article was originally published here

How your phone can interrupt the good vibes of a summer music festival

For many communities, summertime is festival season. Festivals allow us to escape our everyday lives. Whether it is time spent listening to music outside with our friends or trying out food trucks on date night, community events are a valued part of social life.

* This article was originally published here

Hundreds of young kids drown in pools each year—keep yours safe

(HealthDay)—Summer at the nation's swimming pools and hot tubs means fun for kids, but danger, too.

* This article was originally published here

FDA targets vaping 'influencers' for online promotions

U.S. regulators moved to discipline vaping companies for inappropriately promoting their flavored nicotine formulas through so-called influencers on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites.

* This article was originally published here

Model explores how statins alter multiple sclerosis outcomes

(HealthDay)—Simvastatin's beneficial effects on clinical outcomes and brain atrophy in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) are largely independent of cholesterol levels, according to a post hoc study published in the May 28 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

* This article was originally published here

How to speed up the discovery of new solar cell materials

A broad class of materials called perovskites is considered one of the most promising avenues for developing new, more efficient solar cells. But the virtually limitless number of possible combinations of these materials' constituent elements makes the search for promising new perovskites slow and painstaking.

* This article was originally published here

Trial finds vitamin D does not prevent type 2 diabetes in people at high risk

Taking a daily vitamin D supplement does not prevent type 2 diabetes in adults at high risk, according to results from a study funded by National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health. The Vitamin D and Type 2 Diabetes (D2d) study enrolled 2,423 adults and was conducted at 22 sites across the United States. These findings were published June 7 in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the 79th Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association in San Francisco.

* This article was originally published here

New core-shell catalyst for ethanol fuel cells

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and the University of Arkansas have developed a highly efficient catalyst for extracting electrical energy from ethanol, an easy-to-store liquid fuel that can be generated from renewable resources. The catalyst, described in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, steers the electro-oxidation of ethanol down an ideal chemical pathway that releases the liquid fuel's full potential of stored energy.

* This article was originally published here

Floating power plants

Paper, tin cans, glass—the world recycles as much as possible. So why not declare the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) a recycling product as well? Liquid fuels based on carbon will continue to play an important role in the future—despite international efforts to reduce them. So it seems sensible to recover the CO2 exhaust from the environment and use it again.

* This article was originally published here