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Washington State University researchers have shown the fundamental mechanisms that allow tiny pieces of plastic bags and foam packaging at the nanoscale to move through the environment.
The researchers found that a silica surface such as sand has little effect on slowing down the movement of the plastics, but that natural organic matter resulting from decomposition of plant and animal remains can either temporarily or permanently trap the nanoscale plastic particles, depending on the type of plastics.
The work, published in the journal
Water Research, could help researchers develop better ways to filter out and clean up pervasive plastics from the environment. The researchers include Indranil Chowdhury, assistant professor in WSU s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, along with Mehnaz Shams and Iftaykhairul Alam, recent graduates of the civil engineering program.
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Under normal, healthy circulatory conditions, the von Willebrand Factor (vWF) keeps to itself. The large and mysterious glycoprotein moves through the blood, balled up tightly, its reaction sites unexposed. But when significant bleeding occurs, it springs into action, initiating the clotting process.
When it works properly, vWF helps stop bleeding and saves lives. However, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 60,000 to 100,000 Americans die each year from thrombosis, a disorder characterized by too much clotting. Blood clots can trigger a stroke or heart attack.
According to X. Frank Zhang, associate professor in the Department of Bioengineering at Lehigh University, only one drug has been FDA-approved to target vWF and treat thrombosis, or excessive blood clotting disorders, Caplacizumab. It works by binding to vWF and blocking it from binding to platelets. However, no one has understood the specific mechanism behind how it accomplis
The now-familiar sight of traditional propeller wind turbines could be replaced in the future with wind farms containing more compact and efficient vertical turbines. New research from Oxford Brookes University has found that the vertical turbine design is far more efficient than traditional turbines in large scale wind farms, and when set in pairs the vertical turbines increase each other s performance by up to 15%.
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IMAGE: The new Test-Bed Telescope 2, a European Space Agency telescope, is housed inside the shiny white dome shown in this picture, at ESO s La Silla Observatory in Chile. The telescope. view more
Credit: I. Saviane/ESO
Part of the world-wide effort to scan and identify near-Earth objects, the European Space Agency s Test-Bed Telescope 2 (TBT2), a technology demonstrator hosted at ESO s La Silla Observatory in Chile, has now started operating. Working alongside its northern-hemisphere partner telescope, TBT2 will keep a close eye on the sky for asteroids that could pose a risk to Earth, testing hardware and software for a future telescope network.
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IMAGE: The visualisation shows the design for the planned research building OPTICUM - Optics University Center and Campus at Leibniz University Hannover, Germany. The design comes from the international architectural office Henn. view more
Credit: HENN
German companies have shaped the optical landscape with iconic brands like Leica and Zeiss for decades. Nowadays, our everyday digital life relies on optical technologies: We use smartphone cameras to submit documents, stream movies online via optical fibres, weld cars with lasers and diagnose illnesses with 3D imaging. At Leibniz University Hannover (LUH), around 120 scientists of the Cluster of Excellence PhoenixD: Photonics, Optics, and Engineering - Innovation across Disciplines are working on the next evolutionary step - novel integrated optics. With the advanced technology, the researchers plan to take mechanical engineering and production processes to a new level and build a production platform. Now