SCI-ART LAB

Science, Art, Litt, Science based Art & Science Communication

Information

Science Simplified!

                       JAI VIGNAN

All about Science - to remove misconceptions and encourage scientific temper

Communicating science to the common people

'To make  them see the world differently through the beautiful lense of  science'

Members: 22
Latest Activity: 23 minutes ago

         WE LOVE SCIENCE HERE BECAUSE IT IS A MANY SPLENDOURED THING

     THIS  IS A WAR ZONE WHERE SCIENCE FIGHTS WITH NONSENSE AND WINS                                               

“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”             

                    "Being a scientist is a state of mind, not a profession!"

                  "Science, when it's done right, can yield amazing things".

         The Reach of Scientific Research From Labs to Laymen

The aim of science is not only to open a door to infinite knowledge and                                     wisdom but to set a limit to infinite error.

"Knowledge is a Superpower but the irony is you cannot get enough of it with ever increasing data base unless you try to keep up with it constantly and in the right way!" The best education comes from learning from people who know what they are exactly talking about.

Science is this glorious adventure into the unknown, the opportunity to discover things that nobody knew before. And that’s just an experience that’s not to be missed. But it’s also a motivated effort to try to help humankind. And maybe that’s just by increasing human knowledge—because that’s a way to make us a nobler species.

If you are scientifically literate the world looks very different to you.

We do science and science communication not because they are easy but because they are difficult!

“Science is not a subject you studied in school. It’s life. We 're brought into existence by it!"

 Links to some important articles :

1. Interactive science series...

a. how-to-do-research-and-write-research-papers-part 13

b. Some Qs people asked me on science and my replies to them...

Part 6part-10part-11part-12, part 14  ,  part- 8

part- 1part-2part-4part-5part-16part-17part-18 , part-19 , part-20

part-21 , part-22part-23part-24part-25part-26part-27 , part-28

part-29part-30part-31part-32part-33part-34part-35part-36part-37,

 part-38part-40part-41part-42part-43part-44part-45part-46part-47

Part 48 part49Critical thinking -part 50 , part -51part-52part-53

part-54part-55part-57part-58part-59part-60part-61part-62part-63

part 64, part-65part-66part-67part-68part 69part-70 part-71part-73 ...

.......306

BP variations during pregnancy part-72

who is responsible for the gender of  their children - a man or a woman -part-56

c. some-questions-people-asked-me-on-science-based-on-my-art-and-poems -part-7

d. science-s-rules-are-unyielding-they-will-not-be-bent-for-anybody-part-3-

e. debate-between-scientists-and-people-who-practice-and-propagate-pseudo-science - part -9

f. why astrology is pseudo-science part 15

g. How Science is demolishing patriarchal ideas - part-39

2. in-defence-of-mangalyaan-why-even-developing-countries-like-india need space research programmes

3. Science communication series:

a. science-communication - part 1

b. how-scienitsts-should-communicate-with-laymen - part 2

c. main-challenges-of-science-communication-and-how-to-overcome-them - part 3

d. the-importance-of-science-communication-through-art- part 4

e. why-science-communication-is-geting worse - part  5

f. why-science-journalism-is-not-taken-seriously-in-this-part-of-the-world - part 6

g. blogs-the-best-bet-to-communicate-science-by-scientists- part 7

h. why-it-is-difficult-for-scientists-to-debate-controversial-issues - part 8

i. science-writers-and-communicators-where-are-you - part 9

j. shooting-the-messengers-for-a-different-reason-for-conveying-the- part 10

k. why-is-science-journalism-different-from-other-forms-of-journalism - part 11

l.  golden-rules-of-science-communication- Part 12

m. science-writers-should-develop-a-broader-view-to-put-things-in-th - part 13

n. an-informed-patient-is-the-most-cooperative-one -part 14

o. the-risks-scientists-will-have-to-face-while-communicating-science - part 15

p. the-most-difficult-part-of-science-communication - part 16

q. clarity-on-who-you-are-writing-for-is-important-before-sitting-to write a science story - part 17

r. science-communicators-get-thick-skinned-to-communicate-science-without-any-bias - part 18

s. is-post-truth-another-name-for-science-communication-failure?

t. why-is-it-difficult-for-scientists-to-have-high-eqs

u. art-and-literature-as-effective-aids-in-science-communication-and teaching

v.* some-qs-people-asked-me-on-science communication-and-my-replies-to-them

 ** qs-people-asked-me-on-science-and-my-replies-to-them-part-173

w. why-motivated-perception-influences-your-understanding-of-science

x. science-communication-in-uncertain-times

y. sci-com: why-keep-a-dog-and-bark-yourself

z. How to deal with sci com dilemmas?

 A+. sci-com-what-makes-a-story-news-worthy-in-science

 B+. is-a-perfect-language-important-in-writing-science-stories

C+. sci-com-how-much-entertainment-is-too-much-while-communicating-sc

D+. sci-com-why-can-t-everybody-understand-science-in-the-same-way

E+. how-to-successfully-negotiate-the-science-communication-maze

4. Health related topics:

a. why-antibiotic-resistance-is-increasing-and-how-scientists-are-tr

b. what-might-happen-when-you-take-lots-of-medicines

c. know-your-cesarean-facts-ladies

d. right-facts-about-menstruation

e. answer-to-the-question-why-on-big-c

f. how-scientists-are-identifying-new-preventive-measures-and-cures-

g. what-if-little-creatures-high-jack-your-brain-and-try-to-control-

h. who-knows-better?

i. mycotoxicoses

j. immunotherapy

k. can-rust-from-old-drinking-water-pipes-cause-health-problems

l. pvc-and-cpvc-pipes-should-not-be-used-for-drinking-water-supply

m. melioidosis

n.vaccine-woes

o. desensitization-and-transplant-success-story

p. do-you-think-the-medicines-you-are-taking-are-perfectly-alright-then revisit your position!

q. swine-flu-the-difficlulties-we-still-face-while-tackling-the-outb

r. dump-this-useless-information-into-a-garbage-bin-if-you-really-care about evidence based medicine

s. don-t-ignore-these-head-injuries

t. the-detoxification-scam

u. allergic- agony-caused-by-caterpillars-and-moths

General science: 

a.why-do-water-bodies-suddenly-change-colour

b. don-t-knock-down-your-own-life-line

c. the-most-menacing-animal-in-the-world

d. how-exo-planets-are-detected

e. the-importance-of-earth-s-magnetic-field

f. saving-tigers-from-extinction-is-still-a-travail

g. the-importance-of-snakes-in-our-eco-systems

h. understanding-reverse-osmosis

i. the-importance-of-microbiomes

j. crispr-cas9-gene-editing-technique-a-boon-to-fixing-defective-gen

k. biomimicry-a-solution-to-some-of-our-problems

5. the-dilemmas-scientists-face

6. why-we-get-contradictory-reports-in-science

7. be-alert-pseudo-science-and-anti-science-are-on-prowl

8. science-will-answer-your-questions-and-solve-your-problems

9. how-science-debunks-baseless-beliefs

10. climate-science-and-its-relevance

11. the-road-to-a-healthy-life

12. relative-truth-about-gm-crops-and-foods

13. intuition-based-work-is-bad-science

14. how-science-explains-near-death-experiences

15. just-studies-are-different-from-thorough-scientific-research

16. lab-scientists-versus-internet-scientists

17. can-you-challenge-science?

18. the-myth-of-ritual-working

19.science-and-superstitions-how-rational-thinking-can-make-you-work-better

20. comets-are-not-harmful-or-bad-omens-so-enjoy-the-clestial-shows

21. explanation-of-mysterious-lights-during-earthquakes

22. science-can-tell-what-constitutes-the-beauty-of-a-rose

23. what-lessons-can-science-learn-from-tragedies-like-these

24. the-specific-traits-of-a-scientific-mind

25. science-and-the-paranormal

26. are-these-inventions-and-discoveries-really-accidental-and-intuitive like the journalists say?

27. how-the-brain-of-a-polymath-copes-with-all-the-things-it-does

28. how-to-make-scientific-research-in-india-a-success-story

29. getting-rid-of-plastic-the-natural-way

30. why-some-interesting-things-happen-in-nature

31. real-life-stories-that-proves-how-science-helps-you

32. Science and trust series:

a. how-to-trust-science-stories-a-guide-for-common-man

b. trust-in-science-what-makes-people-waver

c. standing-up-for-science-showing-reasons-why-science-should-be-trusted

You will find the entire list of discussions here: http://kkartlab.in/group/some-science/forum

( Please go through the comments section below to find scientific research  reports posted on a daily basis and watch videos based on science)

Get interactive...

Please contact us if you want us to add any information or scientific explanation on any topic that interests you. We will try our level best to give you the right information.

Our mail ID: kkartlabin@gmail.com

Discussion Forum

The Parallax Effect

Started by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa. Last reply by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 44 minutes ago. 1 Reply

Q: Why an airplane flying in the sky  appears to be stationary at the same time while we are traveling in a vehicle?Krishna: Yes, when  you are travelling in a car and suddenly look out the window…Continue

What is a three body problem?

Started by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa. Last reply by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa yesterday. 1 Reply

Q: What is a three body problem?Krishna: I don't know about  science fiction or movies that are made based on the theme, but I will tell you what it is based on science.  Systems with two objects…Continue

Your Biological Age Can Be Different From Your Actual (Chronological)Age!

Started by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa. Last reply by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa yesterday. 6 Replies

Recently I have seen an old lady teasing an young girl who became breathless after climbing up a few steps.  "Look I am 78. But still I can climb steps with ease. I can go anywhere I want without any…Continue

How Soil Microorganisms Can Combat Desertification

Started by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa. Last reply by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa yesterday. 1 Reply

 Soil Microbiology is the specialized subject I studied during my Post…Continue

Comment Wall

Comment

You need to be a member of Science Simplified! to add comments!

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 24, 2022 at 12:01pm

Study shows 90% of marine species at risk of extinction by 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions are not curbed

An international team of researchers has found that approximately 90% of all marine life on Earth will be at risk of extinction by 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions are not curbed. In their paper published in the journal Nature Climate Change, the group outlines their study of thousands of marine species and how greenhouse gas emissions might impact them in the future.

Greenhouse gas emissions impact the world's climate in two ways. They raise the temperature of the atmosphere (and by extension, Earth's surfaces and bodies of water) by holding in heat, and in the case of CO2 emissions, they make water more acidic, like carbonated soft drinks. And as emissions continue to be pumped into the atmosphere despite dire warnings from scientists around the world, more research is being conducted to learn about its possible impact. In this new effort, the researchers took a broad look at the impact of greenhouse gas emissions on ocean life.

The work involved estimating the impact of certain levels of  on  in the future. They looked specifically at 25,000 species, including fish, bacteria, plants and protozoans living in the top 100 meters of the world's oceans. They found that under the worst scenario, in which emissions lead to global atmospheric temperature increases of 3 to 5 degrees Celsius, approximately 90% of all marine life will disappear. They also found that if emissions are cut to the extent outlined by the Paris Climate Agreement, which would keep global temperature increases to below 2 degrees Celsius, then the risk of extinction would be reduced by approximately 98%.

The researchers also found that larger top predators are more at risk than smaller predators, as are fish species  in areas where they are heavily fished by humans. Those at lowest risk, on the other hand, include small, short-lived species. Notably, Earth has not seen a die-off as great as these projections since the Great Dying 252 million years ago.

Daniel G. Boyce et al, A climate risk index for marine life, Nature Climate Change (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41558-022-01437-y

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 24, 2022 at 11:58am

Your Next Wooden Chair Could Arrive Flat, Then Dry Into a 3D Shape

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 23, 2022 at 8:23am

Researchers discover a material that can learn like the brain

Researchers have discovered that Vanadium Dioxide (VO2), a compound used in electronics, is capable of "remembering" the entire history of previous external stimuli. This is the first material to be identified as possessing this property, although there could be others.

A PhD student made a chance discovery during his research on phase transitions in Vanadium Dioxide (VO2). VO2 has an insulating phase when relaxed at room temperature, and undergoes a steep insulator-to-metal transition at 68 °C, where its lattice structure changes. Classically, VO2 exhibits a volatile memory: "the material reverts back to the insulating state right after removing the excitation" . For his thesis, he set out to discover how long it takes for VO2 to transition from one state to another. But his research led him down a different path: after taking hundreds of measurements, he observed a memory effect in the material's structure.

In his experiments, the student applied an electric current  to a sample of VO2. The current moved across the material, following a path until it exited on the other side. As the current heated up the sample, it caused the VO2 to change state. And once the current had passed, the material returned to its initial state.

He then applied a second current pulse to the material, and saw that the time it took to change state was directly linked to the history of the material. The VO2 seemed to 'remember' the first phase transition and anticipate the next. The researchers didn't expect to see this kind of memory effect, and it has nothing to do with electronic states but rather with the physical structure of the material. It's a novel discovery: no other material behaves in this way.

The researchers went on to find that VO2 is capable of remembering its most recent external stimulus for up to three hours. The memory effect could in fact persist for several days, but we don't currently have the instruments needed to measure that.

The research team's discovery is important because the  they observed is an innate property of the material itself. Engineers rely on memory to perform calculations of all kinds, and materials that could enhance the calculation process by offering greater capacity, speed and miniaturization are in high demand. VO2 ticks all three of these boxes. What's more, its continuous, structural memory sets it apart from conventional materials that store data as binary information dependent on the manipulation of electronic states.

The researchers performed a host of measurements to arrive at their findings. They also corroborated their results by applying the new method to different materials at other laboratories around the world. This discovery replicates well what happens in the brain, as VO2 switches act just like neurons.

Mohammad Samizadeh Nikoo, Electrical control of glass-like dynamics in vanadium dioxide for data storage and processing, Nature Electronics (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41928-022-00812-zwww.nature.com/articles/s41928-022-00812-z

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 22, 2022 at 10:13am

How Quinine Fights Malaria

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 20, 2022 at 10:14am

Non-nutritive sweeteners affect human microbiomes and can alter glycemic responses

Since the late 1800s non-nutritive sweeteners have promised to deliver all the sweetness of sugar with none of the calories. They have long been believed to have no effect on the human body, but researchers publishing in the journal Cell on August 19 challenge this notion by finding that these sugar substitutes are not inert, and, in fact, some can alter human consumers' microbiomes in a way that can change their blood sugar levels.

In 2014 researchers found that non-nutritive sweeteners affected the microbiomes of mice in ways that could impact their glycemic responses. They were interested in whether these results would also be found in humans.

To address this important question, the researchers  carefully screened over 1,300 individuals for those who strictly avoid non-nutritive sweeteners in their day-to-day lives, and identified a cohort of 120 individuals. These participants were broken into six groups: two controls and four who ingested well below the FDA daily allowances of either aspartame, saccharin, stevia, or sucralose.

In subjects consuming the non-nutritive sweeteners, scientists could identify very distinct changes in the composition and function of gut microbes, and the molecules they secret into peripheral blood. This seemed to suggest that gut microbes in the human body are rather responsive to each of these sweeteners.

When they looked at consumers of non-nutritive sweeteners as groups, they found that two of the non-nutritive sweeteners, saccharin and sucralose, significantly impacted glucose tolerance in healthy adults. Interestingly, changes in the microbes were highly correlated with the alterations noted in people's glycemic responses.

To establish causation, the researchers transferred microbial samples from the study subjects to germ-free mice—mice that have been raised in completely sterile conditions and have no microbiome of their own.

The results were quite striking. In all of the non-nutritive sweetener groups, but in none of the controls, when the researchers transferred into these sterile mice the microbiome of the top responder individuals collected at a time point in which they were consuming the respective non-nutritive sweeteners, the recipient mice developed glycemic alterations that very significantly mirrored those of the donor individuals. In contrast, the bottom responders' microbiomes were mostly unable to elicit such glycemic responses. These results suggest that the microbiome changes in response to human consumption of non-nutritive sweetener may, at times, induce glycemic changes in consumers in a highly personalized manner.

The effects of the sweeteners will vary person to person because of the incredibly unique composition of our microbiome.

 Eran Elinav, Personalized microbiome-driven effects of non-nutritive sweeteners on human glucose tolerance, Cell (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2022.07.016. www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(22)00919-9

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 20, 2022 at 8:19am

How the brain gathers threat cues and turns them into fear

Scientists have uncovered a molecular pathway that distills threatening sights, sounds and smells into a single message: Be afraid. A molecule called CGRP enables neurons in two separate areas of the brain to bundle threatening sensory cues into a unified signal, tag it as negative and convey it to the amygdala, which translates the signal into fear.

The research, published in Cell Reports on August 16, 2022, may lead to new therapies for fear-related disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or hypersensitivity disorders such as autism, migraines and fibromyalgia.

The brain pathway researchers now discovered works like a central alarm system. The CGRP neurons are activated by negative sensory cues from all five senses—sight, sound, taste, smell and touch. Identifying new threat pathways provides insights into treating fear-related disorders.

Most external threats involve multisensory cues, such as the heat, smoke and smell of a wildfire. Previous research showed that different pathways independently relay sound, sight, and touch threat cues to multiple brain areas. A single pathway that integrates all these cues would be beneficial to survival, but no one had ever found such a pathway.

Previous research also showed that the amygdala, which initiates behavioral responses and forms fear memories to environmental and emotional stimuli, receives heavy input from brain regions that are laden with a chemical associated with aversion, the neuropeptide CGRP (calcitonin gene-related peptide).

Based on these two pools of research,  researchers now proposed that CGRP neurons, found especially in subregions of the thalamus and the brainstem, relay multisensory threat information to the amygdala. These circuits may both generate appropriate behavioral responses and help form aversive memories of threat cues.

The researchers conducted several experiments to test their hypotheses. They recorded CGRP neuron activity using single-cell calcium imaging while presenting mice with multisensory threat cues, enabling the researchers to pinpoint which sensory modality involved which sets of neurons. They determined the path the signals took after leaving the thalamus and brainstem using different colored fluorescent proteins. And they conducted behavioral tests to gauge memory and fear.

Taken together, their findings show that two distinct populations of CGRP neurons—one in the thalamus, one in the brainstem—project to nonoverlapping areas of the amygdala, forming two distinct circuits. Both populations encode threatening sights, sounds, smells, tastes and touches by communicating with local brain networks. Finally, they discovered that both circuits are necessary for forming aversive memories—the kind that tell you, "Stay away."

While mice were used in this study, the same brain regions also abundantly express CGRP in humans. This suggests that the circuits reported here may also be involved in threat perception-related psychiatric disorders.

https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(22)01039-7?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS2211124722010397%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 20, 2022 at 7:45am

Can a human with a spinal cord injury walk and run? Discovering clues with neuromorphic technology

 An international research team  has succeeded in recovering muscle movements in a model of paralyzed mice through organic artificial nerves. The result was published in Nature Biomedical Engineering.

The nerves, which are essential for life activities as well as having a significant impact on quality of life, are easily damaged by various causes such as physical injury, genetic causes, secondary complications, and aging. In addition, once nerves are damaged they are difficult to reconstruct, and some or all their bodily functions are permanently lost due to poor bio-signaling.

Among the various methods for rehabilitation in patients with neurological damage, Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES), which is currently actively used in clinical practice, uses computer-controlled signals. Through this setup, electrical stimulation is applied to muscles that are no longer arbitrarily controllable in patients with neuropathy to induce muscle contraction, resulting in functionally useful movements in the biological body even though they are confined in a specific space. However, this conventional approach has limitations that are not suitable for long-term use in patients' daily lives because they involve complex digital circuits and computers for signal processing to stimulate muscles, consuming a lot of energy and poor biocompatibility in the process.

To solve the problem, the research team succeeded in controlling the leg movement of mice only with artificial nerves without a complex and bulky external computer using stretchable, low-power organic nanowire neurormorphic devices that emulate the structure and function of bio nerve fibers. The stretchable artificial nerve consists of a strain sensor that simulates a proprioceptor which detects muscle movements, an organic artificial synapse that simulates a biological synapse, and a hydrogel electrode for transmitting signals to the leg muscles.

The researchers adjusted the movement of the mouse legs and the contraction force of the muscles according to the firing frequency of the action potential transmitted to the artificial synapse with a principle similar to that of the biological nerve, and the artificial synapse implements smoother and more natural leg movements than the usual FES.

In addition, the artificial proprioceptor detects the leg movement of the mouse and gives real-time feedback to the artificial synapse to prevent muscle damage due to excessive leg movement.

The researchers succeeded in allowing a paralyzed mouse to kick the ball or walk and run on the treadmill. Furthermore, the research team showed the applicability of artificial nerves in the future for voluntary movement by sampling pre-recorded signals from the motor cortexes of moving animals and moved the legs of mice through artificial synapses.

The researchers discovered a new application feasibility in the field of neuromorphic technology, which is attracting attention as a next-generation computing device by emulating the behavior of a biological neural network.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41551-022-00918-x

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/961673

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 19, 2022 at 9:06am

Turning to the laws of physics to study how cells move

Scientists have long been concerned with trying to understand how cells move, for example in pursuit of new ways to control the spread of cancer. The field of biology continues to illuminate the infinitely complex processes by which collections of cells communicate, adapt, and organize along biochemical pathways.

Turning to the laws of physics, researchers have taken a fresh look at how cells move, revealing similarities between the behaviour of cell tissue and the simplest water droplets. They have taken a different perspective on how cell motion is determined by the properties of the tissues they're in rather than how they act individually.

Published in Physical Review Letters, the researchers’ initial experiments used mechanical techniques to measure the surface tension of a simple "ball" of cell tissue to reveal similarities with the thermo-dynamic properties of water droplets, but with noticeable differences.

With a water droplet the surface tension is constant and doesn't change with droplet size.

However, the scientists found that in the case of a "droplet" of cancer cells surface tension was size dependent—the smaller the tissue the higher the surface tension, and the higher the pressure within the tissue.

Next, they applied a surface tension gradient to show that cells within the tissue moved rapidly and collectively, much like the way the surface of water moves when detergent is added. Their findings were published in Physical Review Fluids.

This so called "Marangoni" effect occurs when the forces at the surface of a tissue drive the motion of cells inside.

To complete the puzzle, the scientists allowed the tissue to adhere to a surface, mimicking the way a tumor grows and spreads. Cells emerged from the ball of tissue like water droplets "wetting" a receptive—or hydrophilic—surface. In some conditions, the wetting increased the internal pressure of the tissue, helping to push cells out.

Published today in Physical Review X, these findings cast new light on the degree to which cells "migrate" or whether pressure from surface tension promotes cell movement.

This new work shows that the bulk properties of tissue, including the surface tension and pressure, matter when it comes to the ability of cells to migrate out of a model tumor.

M. S. Yousafzai et al, Active Regulation of Pressure and Volume Defines an Energetic Constraint on the Size of Cell Aggregates, Physical Review Letters (2022). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.048103

Vikrant Yadav et al, Gradients in solid surface tension drive Marangoni-like motions in cell aggregates, Physical Review Fluids (2022). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevFluids.7.L031101

Muhammad Sulaiman Yousafzai et al, Cell-Matrix Elastocapillary Interactions Drive Pressure-Based Wetting of Cell Aggregates, Physical Review X (2022). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevX.12.031027

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 19, 2022 at 8:57am

Swarms of microrobots could be solution to unblocking medical devices in body

Swarms of microrobots injected into the human body could unblock internal medical devices and avoid the need for further surgery, according to new research .

The study is the first-time scientists have developed magnetic microrobotics to remove deposits in shunts—common internal medical devices used to treat a variety of conditions by draining excess fluid from organs.

Shunts are prone to malfunctioning, often caused by blockages due to a build-up of sediment. The sediment not only narrows and obstructs liquid passing through the shunt, but it also affects the shunt's flexibility. This leads to patients needing repeated, invasive surgeries throughout their lives either to replace the shunt or use a catheter to remove the blockage.

However, this new research  has shown there could be a wireless, non-invasive alternative to clearing the blockage in a shunt. It has shown that a swarm of hundreds of microrobots—made of nano size magnetic nanoparticles—injected into the shunt could remove the sediment instead.

Once the magnetic microrobots are injected into the shunt they can be moved along the tube to the affected area using a magnetic field, generated by a powerful magnet on the body's surface. The swarm of microrobots can then be moved so they scrape away the sediment, clearing the tube.

"The non-invasive nature of this method is a considerable advantage to existing methods as it will potentially eliminate the risk of surgery and a surgery-related infection, thereby decreasing recovery time.

With each microrobot smaller than the width of a human hair, once the swarm has done its job, it can either be guided to the stomach via a magnetic field or bodily fluid, so they leave the body naturally. Because the microrobots have very high biocompatibility they will not cause toxicity.

The research also found a direct relation between the strength of the magnetic field and the success of scraping away the sediment in the shunt.

This is the first proof-of-concept experiment using microswarms for opening a blockage in a shunt.

A. Moghanizadeh et al, A novel non-invasive intervention for removing occlusions from shunts using an abrading magnetic microswarm, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering (2022). DOI: 10.1109/TBME.2022.3192807

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 19, 2022 at 8:14am

'Forever chemicals' destroyed by simple new method

PFAS, a group of manufactured chemicals commonly used since the 1940s, are called "forever chemicals" for a reason. Bacteria can't eat them; fire can't incinerate them; and water can't dilute them. And, if these toxic chemicals are buried, they leach into surrounding soil, becoming a persistent problem for generations to come.

Now chemists have done the seemingly impossible. Using low temperatures and inexpensive, common reagents, the research team developed a process that causes two major classes of PFAS compounds to fall apart, leaving behind only benign end products. The simple technique potentially could be a powerful solution for finally disposing of these harmful chemicals, which are linked to many dangerous health effects in humans, livestock and the environment.

Even just a tiny, tiny amount of PFAS causes negative health effects, and it does not break down. We can't just wait out this problem.

The secret to PFAS's indestructibility lies in its chemical bonds. PFAS contains many carbon-fluorine bonds, which are the strongest bonds in . As the most electronegative element in the periodic table, fluorine wants electrons, and badly. Carbon, on the other hand, is more willing to give up its electrons.

"When you have that kind of difference between two atoms—and they are roughly the same size, which carbon and fluorine are—that's the recipe for a really strong bond.

Scientists now  found a weakness. PFAS contains a long tail of unyielding carbon-fluorine bonds. But at one end of the molecule, there is a charged group that often contains charged oxygen atoms. Researchers targeted this head group by heating the PFAS in —an unusual solvent for PFAS destruction—with sodium hydroxide, a common reagent. The process decapitated the head group, leaving behind a reactive tail.

That triggered all these reactions, and it started spitting out fluorine atoms from these compounds to form fluoride, which is the safest form of fluorine.

After discovering the PFAS degradation conditions, researchers also discovered that the fluorinated pollutants fall apart by different processes than generally assumed. A simulation showed that PFAS actually falls apart two or three carbons at a time—a discovery that matched the researchers' experiments. By understanding these pathways, researchers can confirm that only benign products remain. This new knowledge also could help guide further improvements to the method.

Brittany Trang et al, Low-temperature mineralization of perfluorocarboxylic acids, Science (2022). DOI: 10.1126/science.abm8868www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abm8868

 

Members (22)

 
 
 

Badge

Loading…

© 2024   Created by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service