research

Many people who follow the progress of science may be aware of the reproducibility problem in the field, today. This involves reporting the findings of one published study as though they form an unimpeachable fact on their own, without testing its conclusions by recreating it.

The issue is so severe that some putative treatments have risked being fast-tracked through clinical trials far too early in their development and testing. Furthermore, a lack of replication goes against a central tenet of the scientific method.

Synthetic biology is the study of the interdisciplinary fields of engineering and biology. It was described by the UK Royal Society as “an emerging area of research that can broadly be described as the design and construction of novel artificial biological pathways, organisms or devices, or the redesign of existing natural biological systems.”

Black holes and their activity are typically tracked with spectral telescopy. This is because the actions they are best known for – the destruction of matter that gets too close – have become associated with certain types of emissions in the optical to X-ray ranges.

The risk of developing many different forms of cancer may be strongly associated with age. Some scientists even agree that there may be a “power law” that connects increasing age to increasing susceptibilities to cancer. However, a new study, conducted at Dundee University, disrupts this theory with evidence of a new statistical link between thymic functions and the age-related risk of cancer. This new data may be the basis of a new, immune system-based hypothesis to be used in the study and treatment of relevant diseases.

For around 65 percent of patients with schizophrenia, one of the effects can be verbal auditory hallucinations. These tend to involve a voice speaking to them in a demeaning and derogatory tone.

Some patients respond to currently available therapies well, meaning that these voices diminish or disappear altogether. But unfortunately for others, nothing seems to help which means that for around 25 percent of patients with psychotic conditions, there is no respite from these auditory hallucinations.

Sleep deprivation is regarded as a major public health issue, by those who study it and its effects at least. Research has shown that life-threatening mistakes for patients made by resident physicians can increase as much as seven times over in response to sleep-robbing schedules for these doctors. Sleep deprivation is linked to deficits in cognition, memory and vigilance, and is as a result discouraged in people who work in areas such as heavy industry and nuclear power.

The increase in domains such as E-learning, Ubiquitous Computing, Ambient Intelligent and the Internet of Things, exposes users to demanding interactive environments on a daily basis, a fact that increases the need for good user experience (UX). Emotional aspects of UX have gained increased interest recently. The main goal of a user emotional experience evaluation is to identify system flaws that trigger negative emotions such as stress.

The Hubble space telescope has identified many objects in our solar system, with one of its recent missions to help astronomers discover more about a mysterious object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. At first glance, this object appeared to be two asteroids orbiting each other, and was assigned as such. But further observations revealed that it also possessed characteristics in keeping with a comet. Astronomers knew that this meant they needed to take a much more detailed look.

What is Asthma?

Picture this: you’ve somehow come across a super-advanced, sophisticated crafting station from the far future. You can take components, including state-of-the-art semiconductors, and integrate them into devices to make fantastic high-tech equipment. Now imagine you’ve made a selection of quantum dots, silicon wafers and graphene to do just that. There may be many possibilities as to which gadgets this hypothetical combination may offer, but if you guessed that the actual result is ‘all-seeing camera’, you would…not be far wrong.

Anyone who has seen an octopus, squid or cuttlefish up close can’t deny that their other-worldly appearance and impressive shape-shifting abilities makes them truly fascinating creatures. As well as being fiercely intelligent, capable of solving complex problems, escaping through the tiniest of spaces and using tools, it seems as though their genetic makeup is also a step apart from many other animals.

Aquaculture is more commonly known as fish farming. As an industry, this is one of the fastest growing sectors of the food market, and suggested as a potential solution to help feed our ever-increasing global population. Harvests of wild fish are steadily decreasing, with worry about habitat damage also impacting people’s choice as to whether or not to eat fish. Aquaculture is becoming a popular solution to this problem – meeting the global demand for protein whilst also producing this food source in a sustainable way.

Hacking a computer using a strand of DNA sounds like something out of a science-fiction movie, but believe it or not, this isn’t taken from the script of the latest Hollywood blockbuster, but instead from the laboratories of the University of Washington.

When we think of mind reading, we may imagine a process by which an entity, perhaps aided by super-advanced technology, ‘listens in’ on our thoughts to capture or record them. However, thoughts and how they manifest in the brain are much more complicated than simple voices in our heads. Currently, the best of our scientific tools that come close to representing how it works are non-invasive techniques that can produce accurate 2D, 3D or 4D (i.e. ‘real-time’) images of a person’s brain and which specific regions are involved in thought formation.

Many of us know that we work better under pressure – when no deadline is set we can coast along or become distracted by other tasks, but as soon as that deadline is looming we turn the anxiety over missing it to our advantage, using it as a powerful motivational tool to get the task completed on time. This is known as ‘anxiety motivation’ and can increase performance, helping us reach our goals or feel satisfied in our jobs.

How would it feel to be able to participate in research against Alzheimer’s? A new online game allows the general public to contribute to the scientific community and help them search for a cure. Anyone, with zero knowledge on the subject, can now help scientists spot clogged capillaries, or stalls, where blood is no longer flowing.

Forget to charge your music player before a run, or the battery life of your smartphone insufficient to get you through the day? For a generation that depends on electronic devices for their daily needs, the challenge of charging or powering gadgets begs for a sustainable solution.

Now the summer is in full swing, many of us enjoy getting out in the fresh air and making the most of the sunny weather. Sometimes this means sitting in the park whilst we’re on our lunchbreak and inevitably most of us turn to our phones to check our emails and social media whilst relaxing. This leads to the annoying situation where we try to read our phone screens in bright sunshine, and whilst this is definitely a situation that could be described as a ‘first world problem’ it’s one that has inspired researchers to try and come up with a solution.

Cognitive Computing is a new and evolving research area, which broadly refers to both hardware and software technologies that attempt to mimic the capabilities and functioning of the human brain. While at its base is the major disciplines of Artificial Intelligence and Signal Processing, this new discipline exhibits certain features common to the human brain model:

Volcanic eruptions are incredibly dangerous, especially those from volcanoes with magma containing a high percentage of silica, as this tends to give rise to more explosive eruptions. Scientists have been looking for ways to better predict the possibility of these eruptions, with one technique centering on tracking the way in which the magma within the volcano has been heated in the past.