Research has shown that introducing nature into large hospitals can humanize the institutional environment and reduce the stress of patients, visitors and healthcare providers. One landscape architecture researcher at West Virginia University has a potential solution: Let nature in. Research conducted by Shan Jiang showed that introducing nature into large hospitals can humanize the institutional…

With winter approaching in the Northern Hemisphere, many people are looking forward to hitting the slopes. However, a recent study suggests that ski wax applied during winter months could have consequences that stretch to summer and beyond. Researchers have found that certain perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) found in ski wax bioaccumulate and biomagnify in the food…

The number of cases of tick-borne illnesses (TBIs) reported annually to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has more than doubled over the past two decades in the United States. An expert panel has developed a set of clinical practice guidelines that recommends low-risk interventions, employable with minimal resources, to help reduce the…

Researchers have investigated the performance capability of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as a communication platform with autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) for ocean and seafloor monitoring research. Studies suggest that UAVs exhibit suitable communication performance for underwater measurement up to approximately 1 km from the shore, owing to their operation speed, robust hovering control, and stability…

Researchers have developed a new method to recycle electric vehicle batteries using a ground-breaking new approach that many will have experienced in the dentist’s chair. The Faraday Institution project on the recycling of lithium-ion batteries (ReLiB) led by Professor Andy Abbott at the University of Leicester used a new method, involving ultrasonic waves, to solve…

Many semiconducting materials are possible candidates for solar cells. In recent years, perovskite semiconductors in particular have attracted attention, as they are both inexpensive and easy to process and enable high efficiencies. Now a new study shows how terahertz (TRTS) and microwave spectroscopy (TRMC) can be used to reliably determine the mobility and lifetime of…

Hydrocarbons, which are an essential component of crude oil and natural gas, form under pressure and high temperatures in the deep ocean floor. In the Guaymas Basin in the Gulf of California, researchers have detected hydrocarbon gas patterns that could not have been generated by known formation pathways. In their study they describe a new…

Despite the perception that wild birds in farm fields can cause food-borne illness, a new study has found little evidence linking birds to E. coli, Salmonella and Campylobacter outbreaks. But a recent Washington State University study published in Biological Reviews on Jan. 31 has found scant evidence to support the link between wild birds and…

Researchers have now analyzed the optoelectronic properties of rust (haematite) and other metal oxides in unprecedented detail. Their results show that the maximum achievable efficiency of haematite electrodes is significantly lower than previously assumed. The study demonstrates ways to assess new photoelectrode materials more realistically. Why is rust not much better? Research has long focused…

Hookah waterpipe use has grown in popularity in recent years — 1 in 5 college students in the U.S. and Europe have tried it — but the practice could be more dangerous than other forms of smoking, according to a first-of-its-kind study. Using a custom-built testing apparatus, the UCI chemists analyzed emissions during a typical…