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IMAGE: CT scans showing cracks in damaged concrete. A and B show cracks in the first layer while C and D show cracks in the second layer. GBS, GHY, TMS, MS. view more
Credit: Akihiro Moriyoshi, et al. PLOS ONE. May 13, 2021
Scientists reveal that the deterioration of modern concrete and asphalt structures is due to the presence of trace quantities of organic matter in these structures.
Cement and asphalt are vital to modern construction materials; cement is used for the construction of various buildings and structures, while asphalt is primarily used for highways and runways. They have been widely used for these purposes since the 1800s. It has been observed modern concrete structures and asphalt structures tend to deteriorate much faster than historical structures, but the reason for this phenomenon was unknown.
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IMAGE: A tangle of ducted air pipes are connected to a portable air unit being used to air condition a large hall. view more
Credit: Martin Visser, Unsplash
Humans in the 21st century spend most of their time indoors, but the air we breathe inside buildings is not regulated to the same degree as the food we eat and the water we drink. A group of 39 researchers from 14 countries, including two from the University of Colorado Boulder, say that needs to change to reduce disease transmission and prevent the next pandemic.
In a Perspectives piece published in
Science May 14, they call for a paradigm shift in combating airborne pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, demanding universal recognition that respiratory infections can be prevented by improving indoor ventilation systems.
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IMAGE: Researchers from Shibaura Institute of Technology, Japan design a dual camera-based platform employing an omnidirectional camera for target detection and a separate camera for its high-resolution capture and report an. view more
Credit: Shibaura Institute of Technology, Japan
If you re a fan of spy movies, you ve probably come across scenes where the intelligence agents try to identify or detect a perpetrator using some sophisticated image enhancement technology on surveillance camera images. While the idea behind surveillance cameras and object detection is the same in real life, unlike in movies, there is often a trade-off between the camera s field-of-view and its resolution.
Credit: Dorling Kindersley
Anyone who s raised a child or a pet will know just how fast and how steady their growth seems to be. You leave for a few days on a work trip and when you come home the child seems to have grown 10cm! That s all well and good for the modern household, but how did dinosaurs grow up? Did they, too, surprise their parents with their non-stop growth?
A new study lead by Dr Kimberley Chapelle of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City and Honorary Research Fellow at the University of the Witwatersrand suggests NOT. At least for one iconic southern African dinosaur species. By looking at the fossil thigh bones under a microscope, researchers can count growth lines, like those of a tree. This allows them to study how much the individuals grew each year. By looking at growth rings in the bones of Massospondylus carinatus, Dr Chapelle was able to show that its growth varied season-to-season, more like a tree than a puppy or a baby human.