Biosensing breast cancer.
Researchers at Universitat Politècnica de Valencia have developed a new biosensor device that can help detect breast cancer at its earliest stages. They use a liquid biopsy approach to rapidly, cheaply, and accurately analyse breast cancer biomarkers in blood samples.
Their work has been published in ACS Sensors: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acssensors.0c02222
#sciencenews #health #cancer
Researchers at Universitat Politècnica de Valencia have developed a new biosensor device that can help detect breast cancer at its earliest stages. They use a liquid biopsy approach to rapidly, cheaply, and accurately analyse breast cancer biomarkers in blood samples.
Their work has been published in ACS Sensors: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acssensors.0c02222
#sciencenews #health #cancer
ACS Publications
Nanoporous Anodic Alumina-Based Sensor for miR-99a-5p Detection as an Effective Early Breast Cancer Diagnostic Tool
Circulating microRNAs have emerged as potential diagnostic biomarkers. The deregulation of the microRNA miR-99a-5p has been previously described as an effective biomarker of early breast cancer. Herein, we present a new nanoporous anodic alumina (NAA)-based…
Today is the International Women in Engineering Day.
Before engineering was recognized as a formal profession, women with engineering skills often sought recognition as inventors. During the Islamic Golden Period from the 8th century until the 15th century there were many Muslim women who were inventors and engineers, such as the 10th-century astrolabe maker Al-ʻIjliyyah.
In the 18th and 19th century, there were few formal training opportunities for women to train as engineers and frequently women were introduced to engineering through family companies or their spouses. Some women did have more formal educations in the late 19th century and early 20th century, normally in mathematics or science subjects.
In the early years of the 20th century, greater numbers of women began to be admitted to engineering programs, but they were generally looked upon as anomalies by the men in their departments.
Women's roles in the workforce, specifically in engineering fields, changed greatly during the Post–World War II period. The War created a serious shortage of engineering talent, as men were drafted into the armed forces.
As women started to marry at later ages, have fewer children, divorce more frequently and stopped depending on male breadwinners for economic support, they started to become even more active in the engineering labor force despite the fact that their salaries were less than men's.
During this time, there were few public attacks on female engineers. Chiefly, these attacks were kept quiet inside institutions due to the fact that women did not pressure aggressively to shift the gender gap between men and women in the engineering field. Another reason why these “attacks” were kept private is due to how men believed that it was impossible for engineering to stop being a male-dominated field.
Gender stereotypes, low rates of female engineering students, and engineering culture are factors that contribute to the current situation where men are dominated in the engineering field.
Before engineering was recognized as a formal profession, women with engineering skills often sought recognition as inventors. During the Islamic Golden Period from the 8th century until the 15th century there were many Muslim women who were inventors and engineers, such as the 10th-century astrolabe maker Al-ʻIjliyyah.
In the 18th and 19th century, there were few formal training opportunities for women to train as engineers and frequently women were introduced to engineering through family companies or their spouses. Some women did have more formal educations in the late 19th century and early 20th century, normally in mathematics or science subjects.
In the early years of the 20th century, greater numbers of women began to be admitted to engineering programs, but they were generally looked upon as anomalies by the men in their departments.
Women's roles in the workforce, specifically in engineering fields, changed greatly during the Post–World War II period. The War created a serious shortage of engineering talent, as men were drafted into the armed forces.
As women started to marry at later ages, have fewer children, divorce more frequently and stopped depending on male breadwinners for economic support, they started to become even more active in the engineering labor force despite the fact that their salaries were less than men's.
During this time, there were few public attacks on female engineers. Chiefly, these attacks were kept quiet inside institutions due to the fact that women did not pressure aggressively to shift the gender gap between men and women in the engineering field. Another reason why these “attacks” were kept private is due to how men believed that it was impossible for engineering to stop being a male-dominated field.
Gender stereotypes, low rates of female engineering students, and engineering culture are factors that contribute to the current situation where men are dominated in the engineering field.
Today is the International Women in Engineering Day.
We would like to thank all the brilliant female Engineers for being our mothers, sisters, friends, to work with us and be there for us in need!
We wish all the ladies in Engineering to enjoy studying and working the field they have chosen, to achieve tremendous success in education and career, and lots of support from their friends and colleagues.
Happy International Women in Engineering Day!
We would like to thank all the brilliant female Engineers for being our mothers, sisters, friends, to work with us and be there for us in need!
We wish all the ladies in Engineering to enjoy studying and working the field they have chosen, to achieve tremendous success in education and career, and lots of support from their friends and colleagues.
Happy International Women in Engineering Day!
Deep learning in disease diagnosis.
Heart disease and cancer are two of the leading causes of death in the world. A team of engineers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a deep learning algorithm that enables simultaneous dual screening for both cardiovascular disease and lung cancer from a single CT scan.
Details of their method have been published in Nature Communication: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-23235-4
Heart disease and cancer are two of the leading causes of death in the world. A team of engineers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a deep learning algorithm that enables simultaneous dual screening for both cardiovascular disease and lung cancer from a single CT scan.
Details of their method have been published in Nature Communication: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-23235-4
Nature
Deep learning predicts cardiovascular disease risks from lung cancer screening low dose computed tomography
Nature Communications - Low dose computed tomography (LDCT) for lung cancer screening offers an opportunity for simultaneous CVD risk estimation in at-risk patients. Here, the authors develop a...
How can you succeed as a Mother in STEMM?
Being a Woman in STEMM is a challenge. Being a Mother in STEMM brings even more difficulties. But challenges are meant to be overcome — motherhood should not be a barrier to success in STEMM.
Dr. Yue (Christina) Wang is a RAEng Research Fellow in the Department of Physics at the University of York, and a mother to two children. She discusses how she has successfully balanced becoming a mother with her ongoing career in academia, including her experiences of maternity, the systems of support she has found, and what still needs to change to help mothers unleash their full scientific potential.
Subscribe STEMM Global Audio Learning Podcast and join the STEMM Global Scientific Community
#podcast #womeninstemm #mothersinstemm #equality
Being a Woman in STEMM is a challenge. Being a Mother in STEMM brings even more difficulties. But challenges are meant to be overcome — motherhood should not be a barrier to success in STEMM.
Dr. Yue (Christina) Wang is a RAEng Research Fellow in the Department of Physics at the University of York, and a mother to two children. She discusses how she has successfully balanced becoming a mother with her ongoing career in academia, including her experiences of maternity, the systems of support she has found, and what still needs to change to help mothers unleash their full scientific potential.
Subscribe STEMM Global Audio Learning Podcast and join the STEMM Global Scientific Community
#podcast #womeninstemm #mothersinstemm #equality
Audioboom
How can you succeed as a Mother in STEMM?
An Audioboom post by STEMM Global Audio Learning
Can your smartphone predict the future of wine?
Cornell University engineers have teamed up with plant scientists to develop an app that predicts the yield of vineyards earlier in the season and much more cheaply than traditional methods. The computer vision based system is simple to implement and use around the globe.
The work has recently been published in Frontiers in Agronomy: http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fagro.2021.648080
#sciencenews #wine
Cornell University engineers have teamed up with plant scientists to develop an app that predicts the yield of vineyards earlier in the season and much more cheaply than traditional methods. The computer vision based system is simple to implement and use around the globe.
The work has recently been published in Frontiers in Agronomy: http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fagro.2021.648080
#sciencenews #wine
Frontiers
Low-Cost, Computer Vision-Based, Prebloom Cluster Count Prediction in Vineyards
Traditional methods for estimating the number of grape clusters in a vineyard generally involve manually counting the number of clusters per vine in a subset of the vineyard and scaling by the total number of vines; a technique that can be laborious, costly…
Light out of thin air.
Carbon dioxide has been converted into light-emitting solid carbon by a team working at the University of Ottawa. They use surface plasmons to template the conversion process, giving spatial control of the carbon emitter deposition.
The results are published in Optica: https://www.osapublishing.org/optica/fulltext.cfm?uri=optica-8-5-708&id=451118
#sciencenews #light
Carbon dioxide has been converted into light-emitting solid carbon by a team working at the University of Ottawa. They use surface plasmons to template the conversion process, giving spatial control of the carbon emitter deposition.
The results are published in Optica: https://www.osapublishing.org/optica/fulltext.cfm?uri=optica-8-5-708&id=451118
#sciencenews #light
www.osapublishing.org
Reconfigurable carbon quantum emitters from CO<sub>2</sub> gas reduced via surface plasmons
Silver gratings supporting surface plasmons at 532 nm catalyze the formation of light-emitting solid carbon from ${\rm CO}_2$ gas, revealing a low-energy ${\rm CO}_2$ reduction pathway involving hot electrons. Reversibility and spatial control over the formation…
Goodbye to green?
Wherever ecologists look, from tropical forests to tundra, ecosystems are being transformed by human land use and climate change. Researchers at the University of Bergen have found fossil evidence that the rate of vegetation change began to accelerate between 4.6 and 2.8 thousand years ago and the acceleration is only increasing.
Their analysis is detailed in Science: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/372/6544/860
#sciencenews #ecology
Wherever ecologists look, from tropical forests to tundra, ecosystems are being transformed by human land use and climate change. Researchers at the University of Bergen have found fossil evidence that the rate of vegetation change began to accelerate between 4.6 and 2.8 thousand years ago and the acceleration is only increasing.
Their analysis is detailed in Science: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/372/6544/860
#sciencenews #ecology
Science
Global acceleration in rates of vegetation change over the past 18,000 years
Although much is known about the rapid environmental changes that have occurred since the Industrial Revolution, the patterns of change over the preceding millennia have been only patchily understood. Using a global set of >1100 fossil pollen records, Mottl…
A new form of carbon.
Researchers at Aalto University have discovered a new carbon network made up of an ordered lattice of squares, hexagons, and octagons. The so-called biphenylene network has metallic properties at sizes where graphene is already a semiconductor.
The new material is characterized in Science: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/372/6544/852
Researchers at Aalto University have discovered a new carbon network made up of an ordered lattice of squares, hexagons, and octagons. The so-called biphenylene network has metallic properties at sizes where graphene is already a semiconductor.
The new material is characterized in Science: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/372/6544/852
Science
Biphenylene network: A nonbenzenoid carbon allotrope
Although graphene forms two-dimensional carbon sheets, other arrangements of carbon rings could also assemble as flat sheers. Fan et al. synthesized an ultraflat biphenylene carbon sheet consisting of sp2-hybridized carbon atoms forming four-, six-, and eight…
Controlled ionisation.
Ionization energy is one of the most important physicochemical parameters. Kazan Federal University physicists have described how the ionisation energy of atoms contained in photonic crystals can be tuned, allowing the synthesis of new compounds to be accessed.
The work has recently been published in Physics Letters A: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0375960121002711?via%3Dihub
#sciencenews #physics #science
Ionization energy is one of the most important physicochemical parameters. Kazan Federal University physicists have described how the ionisation energy of atoms contained in photonic crystals can be tuned, allowing the synthesis of new compounds to be accessed.
The work has recently been published in Physics Letters A: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0375960121002711?via%3Dihub
#sciencenews #physics #science
Sciencedirect
Quantum electrodynamics in photonic crystals and controllability of ionization energy of atoms
The periodic changes in the physical and chemical properties of the chemical elements are caused by the periodic change of the ionization energies, wh…
Stem cell tuning.
Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have quantified how mesenchymal stem cells respond to the mechanical stiffness of their environments. Specific proteins can be localized in the cell nucleus depending on the stiffness. Their findings will help scientists control the state of stem cells in medical treatments.
Their work has been published in Analytical Sciences: https://doi.org/10.2116/analsci.20SCP02
#sciencenews #biology #genetics #medicine
Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have quantified how mesenchymal stem cells respond to the mechanical stiffness of their environments. Specific proteins can be localized in the cell nucleus depending on the stiffness. Their findings will help scientists control the state of stem cells in medical treatments.
Their work has been published in Analytical Sciences: https://doi.org/10.2116/analsci.20SCP02
#sciencenews #biology #genetics #medicine
J-STAGE
Designing Elastic Modulus of Cell Culture Substrate to Regulate YAP and RUNX2 Localization for Controlling Differentiation of Human…
To establish a guideline for the design of cell culture substrates to control human mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) differentiation, we quantitatively cha …
Safe to drink.
Micropollutants such as steroid hormones contaminate drinking water worldwide and pose a significant threat to human health. Scientists at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology have developed a new chemical process to remove hormones using photocatalysis to transform the pollutants into safe products.
The results can be viewed in Applied Catalysis B: Environmental: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S092633732100223X?via%3Dihub
#sciencenews #environment
Micropollutants such as steroid hormones contaminate drinking water worldwide and pose a significant threat to human health. Scientists at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology have developed a new chemical process to remove hormones using photocatalysis to transform the pollutants into safe products.
The results can be viewed in Applied Catalysis B: Environmental: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S092633732100223X?via%3Dihub
#sciencenews #environment
Sciencedirect
Photodegradation of steroid-hormone micropollutants in a flow-through membrane reactor coated with Pd(II)-porphyrin
The efficient degradation of steroid-hormone micropollutants is demonstrated in a single-pass, continuous operation of the photocatalytic membrane rea…
Light out of thin air.
Most commercial chemicals require catalysts to produce, which normally take the form of metal nanoparticles. A team at Vienna University of Technology have shown how the atomic scale surface structures of such catalysts can critically influence their reactive properties. They visualise the oxidation of hydrogen on a single rhodium nanoparticle in real time.
Their insights are published in Science: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2021/05/19/science.abf8107
#sciencenews #nano #physics
Most commercial chemicals require catalysts to produce, which normally take the form of metal nanoparticles. A team at Vienna University of Technology have shown how the atomic scale surface structures of such catalysts can critically influence their reactive properties. They visualise the oxidation of hydrogen on a single rhodium nanoparticle in real time.
Their insights are published in Science: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2021/05/19/science.abf8107
#sciencenews #nano #physics
Science
Resolving multifrequential oscillations and nanoscale interfacet communication in single-particle catalysis
In heterogeneous catalysis research, the reactivity of the individual nanofacets of single particle is typically not resolved. We applied in situ field electron microscopy (FEM) to the apex of a curved rhodium crystal (radius of 650 nanometers), providing…
Plastic to combat pollution.
Biodegradable plastics are better for the environment, but their rapid degradation means they can’t be recycled. Researchers from the University of Canterbury have developed a method to convert the plastics to a foam that can be reused for insulation or flotation devices.
Their method is described in the journal Physics of Fluids: https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0050649
#sciencenews #environment #chemistry
Biodegradable plastics are better for the environment, but their rapid degradation means they can’t be recycled. Researchers from the University of Canterbury have developed a method to convert the plastics to a foam that can be reused for insulation or flotation devices.
Their method is described in the journal Physics of Fluids: https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0050649
#sciencenews #environment #chemistry
AIP Publishing
Recycling and rheology of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) to make foams using supercritical fluid
Biodegradable plastics are thought to be the possible directions in managing plastic pollutions. Unfortunately, they are not recycled in most countries since they are designed to decompose even tho...
Recycling electric vehicle batteries.
University of Leicester researchers have developed an ultrasonic delamination technique to controllably separate the different metals used in lithium-ion batteries, improving the yield and purity of the recovered materials.
Their analysis is detailed in Green Chemistry: http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/D1GC01623G
#sciencenews #chemistry #environment
University of Leicester researchers have developed an ultrasonic delamination technique to controllably separate the different metals used in lithium-ion batteries, improving the yield and purity of the recovered materials.
Their analysis is detailed in Green Chemistry: http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/D1GC01623G
#sciencenews #chemistry #environment
pubs.rsc.org
Lithium ion battery recycling using high-intensity ultrasonication
Decarbonisation of energy will rely heavily, at least initially, on the use of lithium ion batteries for automotive transportation. The projected volumes of batteries necessitate the development of fast and efficient recycling protocols. Current methods are…
Down the nano-hole.
A sensing technique developed at the University of Cambridge has been used to reveal the fundamental physics governing the transport of DNA threads through nanopores. They assembled DNA molecules with ‘bumps’ at specific locations that could be used to track the passage of the molecule.
The study is published in Nature Physics: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41567-021-01268-2
#sciencenews #genetics #nano
A sensing technique developed at the University of Cambridge has been used to reveal the fundamental physics governing the transport of DNA threads through nanopores. They assembled DNA molecules with ‘bumps’ at specific locations that could be used to track the passage of the molecule.
The study is published in Nature Physics: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41567-021-01268-2
#sciencenews #genetics #nano
Nature Physics
Dynamics of driven polymer transport through a nanopore
Nature Physics - A study of the dynamics of polymer translocation through synthetic nanopores provides a direct observation of tension propagation—a non-equilibrium description of the...
Life beneath Antarctic ice.
Pioneering research at the University of Bristol has shown the erosion of ancient sediments found deep beneath Antarctic ice is a vital source of the nutrients and energy needed to sustain for subglacial microbial life. Their lab-based experiments replicated the conditions in Lake Whillans, 800m underneath Antarctica, where crushed sediments could release methane, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen in substantial concentrations.
Learn about their insight in Communications Earth & Environment: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-021-00202-x?proof=t
#sciencenews #environment
Pioneering research at the University of Bristol has shown the erosion of ancient sediments found deep beneath Antarctic ice is a vital source of the nutrients and energy needed to sustain for subglacial microbial life. Their lab-based experiments replicated the conditions in Lake Whillans, 800m underneath Antarctica, where crushed sediments could release methane, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen in substantial concentrations.
Learn about their insight in Communications Earth & Environment: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-021-00202-x?proof=t
#sciencenews #environment
Nature
Subglacial erosion has the potential to sustain microbial processes in Subglacial Lake Whillans, Antarctica
Communications Earth & Environment - The crushing and wetting of rocks by erosion under glaciers produces chemical compounds that could fuel microbial activity, as demonstrated by experiments...
The earthworm in a new light.
By combining novel imaging techniques, a team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology has imaged the exciting variety of chemical interactions that take place inside the earthworm. Their chemo-histo-tomography method combines chemical imaging of the metabolites using mass spectrometry with micro-computed X-ray tomography of the microanatomy of the animal.
The work has recently been published in PNAS: http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2023773118
#sciencenews #microscopy #biology #microbiology
By combining novel imaging techniques, a team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology has imaged the exciting variety of chemical interactions that take place inside the earthworm. Their chemo-histo-tomography method combines chemical imaging of the metabolites using mass spectrometry with micro-computed X-ray tomography of the microanatomy of the animal.
The work has recently been published in PNAS: http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2023773118
#sciencenews #microscopy #biology #microbiology
PNAS
Connecting structure and function from organisms to molecules in small-animal symbioses through chemo-histo-tomography
Metabolites mediate the establishment and persistence of most interkingdom symbioses. Still, to pinpoint the metabolites each partner displays upon interaction remains the biggest challenge in studying multiorganismal assemblages. Addressing this challenge…
Visualizing atomic-scale structures with the optical force.
Researchers from Osaka University have achieved the first ever sub-nanometre resolution in photoinduced atomic force microscopy. They eliminated noise sources to map out the forces acting on quantum dots in 3D with a precision never previously achieved.
Their work has been published in Nature Communications: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24136-2
#sciencenews #microscopy #quantum
Researchers from Osaka University have achieved the first ever sub-nanometre resolution in photoinduced atomic force microscopy. They eliminated noise sources to map out the forces acting on quantum dots in 3D with a precision never previously achieved.
Their work has been published in Nature Communications: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24136-2
#sciencenews #microscopy #quantum
Nature
Optical force mapping at the single-nanometre scale
Nature Communications - Direct visualisation of 3D vector distributions of photoinduced fields can shed light on the optical and mechanical behaviour of different materials. Here, the authors...
A mouse in a Petri dish.
University of Virginia biologists have grown the most sophisticated in-vitro mammal model known from stem cells. The tiny mouse embryo has a heart that beats, and its muscles, blood vessels, gut, and nervous system are beginning to develop. The model will aid understanding of mammalian development to help grow new tissues and organs for transplants.
Their latest results are published in Nature Communications: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23653-4
#sciencenews #biology #embriology
University of Virginia biologists have grown the most sophisticated in-vitro mammal model known from stem cells. The tiny mouse embryo has a heart that beats, and its muscles, blood vessels, gut, and nervous system are beginning to develop. The model will aid understanding of mammalian development to help grow new tissues and organs for transplants.
Their latest results are published in Nature Communications: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23653-4
#sciencenews #biology #embriology
Nature Communications
Construction of a mammalian embryo model from stem cells organized by a morphogen signalling centre
Following instruction by a morphogen secreting centre, aggregates of mouse embryonic stem cells develop into embryo-like structures organized around an axial mesoderm, which show extensive...