Mission control: Salty diet makes you hungry, not thirsty

Salty snacks. Surprisingly, in the long run, a salty diet causes people to drink less. Credit: © fotofabrika / Fotolia New studies show that salty food diminishes thirst while increasing hunger, due to a higher need for energy We've all heard it: eating salty foods makes you thirstier. But what sounds like good...

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Policymakers 'flying blind' into the future of work

New kinds of data needed to assess technology's impact on jobs Will a robot take away my job? Many people ask that question, yet policymakers don't have the kind of information they need to answer it intelligently, say the authors of a new study. Will a robot take away my job? Many people ask that question, yet policymakers don't have the kind of information they need to answer it intelligently, say the authors of a new study from the National...

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Is soda bad for your brain? (And is diet soda worse?)

Matthew Pase is lead author on two studies that link higher consumption of both sugary and artificially sweetened drinks to adverse brain effects. Credit: Cydney Scott Both sugary, diet drinks correlated with accelerated brain aging Excess sugar -- especially the fructose in sugary drinks -- might damage your brain,...

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Genetics, environment combine to give everyone a unique sense of smell

Genetically identical mice exposed to different smells as they grow up develop different olfactory receptors in their noses.Credit: © Marion Wear / Fotolia Genetically identical mice develop different smell receptors in response to their environments. Receptors in the noses of mice exposed to certain smells during...

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Macrophages conduct electricity, help heart to beat

The image shows a volumetric reconstruction of a human atrioventricular node. Cardiomyocytes (red) appear densely interspersed with macrophages (green). Credit: Maarten Hulsmans & Matthias Nahrendorf Macrophages have a previously unrecognized role in helping the mammalian heart beat in rhythm. Researchers have...

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Water is streaming across Antarctica

New survey finds liquid flow more widespread than thought In the first such continent-wide survey, scientists have found extensive drainages of meltwater flowing over parts of Antarctica's ice during the brief summer. In the first such continent-wide survey, scientists have found extensive drainages of meltwater flowing...

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Naked mole-rats 'turn into plants' when oxygen is low

Ignore the whiskers and teeth -- these are plants. Credit: Thomas Park/UIC Discovery could lead to treatments for heart attack, stroke Deprived of oxygen, naked mole-rats can survive by metabolizing fructose just as plants do -- a finding that could lead to treatments for heart attacks and strokes. Deprived of...

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Research uses mirrors to make solar energy cost competitive

Concentrating solar power technologies use mirrors to reflect and concentrate sunlight to produce heat, which can then be used to produce electricity, according to ongoing work by mechanical engineers. These technologies present a distinct advantage over photovoltaic (PV) cells in their ability to store the sun’s energy as thermal energy, experts say. If the current national challenge to make solar energy cost competitive with other forms of...

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Bubble-wrapped sponge creates steam using sunlight

MIT graduate student George Ni holds a bubble-wrapped, sponge-like device that soaks up natural sunlight and heats water to boiling temperatures, generating steam through its pores. Credit: Jeremy Cho Date: August 22, 2016 Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Bubble-wrapped structure requires no mirrors...

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Device pulls water from dry air, powered only by the sun

This is the water harvester built at MIT with MOFs from UC Berkeley. Using only sunlight, the harvester can pull liters of water from low-humidity air over a 12-hour period. Credit: MIT photo from laboratory of Evelyn Wang Metal-organic framework sucks up water from air with humidity as low as 20 percent While...

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Super sensitive devices work on recycling atoms

Next-generation sensors to be used in fields as diverse as mineral exploration and climate change will be turbo boosted thanks to new research. Theoretical physicists said future precision sensing technology would exploit unusual effects of quantum mechanics. Theoretical physicist Dr Stuart Szigeti, of UQ's School of Mathematics and Physics, said future precision sensing technology would exploit unusual effects of quantum mechanics. "Our research...

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