Negative news is bad news for mental health.

Positive news is good for your health. It’s undeniable: “Studies have linked the consumption of bad news to increased distress, anxiety and depression, even when the news in question is relatively mundane. According to Graham Davey, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Sussex, exposure to bad news can make personal worries seem worse […]

ATS Advanced Thermovoltaic Systems Earthshot Prize

No less than a “revolutionary solution to capture and convert industrial waste heat into sustainable electricity”: that’s what Advanced Thermovoltaic Systems (ATS) has developed. For its efforts, the company has received the prestigious Earthshot Prize 2024, which recognizes innovators addressing the world’s most pressing challenges in five areas: protecting and restoring nature; cleaning our air; […]

Clove natural antibiotic

Antibiotics can be lifesaving. One of the most significant discoveries in the history of medicine, they successfully fought waves of cholera, smallpox, plague, typhoid fever, malaria, leprosy, and syphilis. They are medications that act against bacterial infections, like Legionnaires’ disease (a type of lung infection), Lyme disease, meningitis, strep throat, tuberculosis, whooping cough, bloodstream infections, […]

Filaggrin protein 3D structure

Recognizing the Nobel Prize Winners “One of the discoveries being recognised this year concerns the construction of spectacular proteins. The other is about fulfilling a 50-year-old dream: predicting protein structures from their amino acid sequences. Both of these discoveries open up vast possibilities,” said Heiner Linke, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, after the […]

Antibiotic resistance

“Antimicrobials – including antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals, and antiparasitics – are medicines used to prevent and treat infectious diseases in humans, animals, and plants. “Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites no longer respond to antimicrobial medicines. “As a result of drug resistance, antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines become ineffective and infections become […]

Mosquito on skin

For the 20% of the population who are more susceptible to being bitten by mosquitoes than the average person, here’s some very good news. A new repellent shows great promise in preventing mosquito bites by up to 80%. It is made from combining a renewable raw material found in cotton and wood, called cellulose nanocrystals […]

Saildrone

What is a saildrone? you might ask. It’s an uncrewed, environmentally friendly, wind- and solar-powered sailing drone capable of 12-month ocean data collection missions. According to one of its makers, “Saildrone’s measurements and observations, from above and below the ocean surface, provide intelligence and insight for challenges from maritime defense and seafloor mapping to earth […]

woman engineer

In the lead up to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2024, here’s some high-level information on what it takes to get more women to pursue careers as scientists and engineers. The US National Academy of Sciences affirms that “Women already show their proficiency with scientific content in fields like biology and medicine. They make […]

waves crashing in Hawaii

Anyone who has spent a bit of time at the ocean or sea will have noticed how the water levels rise and fall twice a day, independent of the wind or other meteorological conditions. The tides are the result of the gravitational pull of the moon, the rotational force of the Earth, and the sun. […]

Why is seaweed remarkable? After all, it’s just a vegetable that grows in the ocean and places like rivers, lakes, and other bodies of water. It’s common, including countless species of marine plants and algae. Many types exist, classified as red (Rhodophyta), green (Chlorophyta), and brown (Phaeophyta) algae. Typical types of edible seaweeds include Wakame, […]