135 articles from TUESDAY 26.10.2021

Researchers develop broadband spintronic-metasurface terahertz emitters with tunable chirality

Terahertz radiation, between infrared and microwave radiation in the electromagnetic spectrum, possesses unique advantages for fundamental studies and practical applications. The ability to generate and manipulate broadband chiral terahertz waves is essential for applications in material imaging, terahertz sensing, and medical diagnosis. It can also open up new possibilities for nonlinear...

Advancing agriculture threatens the livelihoods of forest-dependent people

Forest-dependent people living across the Gran Chaco have been put on the map for the first time. As agribusiness expands into the dry forest on which they rely, the impact of that expansion on them has been difficult to document because their homesteads are dotted over 1 million km2. But now an international team of researchers has used high resolution satellite imagery to systematically identify...

Facebook Delayed Action as Anti-Vaccine Comments Swarmed Users, Watchdog Group Says

(WASHINGTON) — In March, as claims about the dangers and ineffectiveness of coronavirus vaccines spun across social media and undermined attempts to stop the spread of the virus, some Facebook employees thought they had found a way to help. By altering how posts about vaccines are ranked in people’s newsfeeds, researchers at the company realized they could curtail the misleading...

Why pregnant women need clearer messaging on Covid vaccine safety

Analysis: early uncertainty around vaccination advice for expectant mothers has left them confused and hesitantPregnant women are being turned away from Covid vaccine clinics, experts warnCoronavirus – latest updatesIn the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, there was uncertainty around almost everything, from who was more adversely affected by Covid-19 to who should get vaccinated first...

A new way to generate light through use of pre-existing defects in semiconductor materials

Researchers from the Low Energy Electronic Systems Interdisciplinary Research Group at Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology, MIT's research enterprise in Singapore, together with collaborators at the MIT, National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University have discovered a new method of generating long-wavelength (red, orange, and yellow) light through the use of...

Using overpasses as shelter from tornado?

Meteorologists and emergency workers continue to contest the popular thinking that waiting out a tornado under an overpass is safe. According to the National Weather Service, doing so could actually increase the risk of death, in part because the wind from a tornado is thought to accelerate as it flows under the overpass, in what's known as the wind tunnel effect.

Enhanced touch screens could help you 'feel' objects

The next time you buy a new couch, you may not ever have to leave your old one to get a feel for the texture of the new material. Researchers are working to better define how the finger interacts with a device with the hope of aiding in the further development of technology that goes beyond sensing and reacting to your touch.

How a natural disaster can bring couples closer

According to a study of couples in the Houston area before and after Hurricane Harvey, natural disasters can actually bring married couples closer together, at least temporarily. This surprised researchers because in previous studies looking at everyday stressors, couples typically experience 'stress spillover' in their relationships, which can decrease their satisfaction with their relationships....

Modeling improvements promise increased accuracy for epidemic forecasting

Accurate forecasting of epidemic scenarios is critical to implementing effective public health intervention policies. Researchers used dynamical stochastic modeling techniques to reveal that infection and recovery rate fluctuations play a critical role in determining peak times for epidemics. Using a susceptible-infected-recovered epidemic model that incorporates daily fluctuations on control...

Teaching robots to think like us

Researchers outline how a robot could be taught to navigate through a maze by electrically stimulating a culture of brain nerve cells connected to the machine. These nerve cells were grown from living cells and acted as the physical reservoir for the computer to construct coherent signals. These findings suggest goal-directed behavior can be generated without any additional learning by sending...