Science news of the day thread.

[Brian Peacock]

[macdoc]

Now is someone would invent giant red tape cutting scissors.

Affordable starter home is 3D-printed in just 18 hours
By Adam Williams
April 25, 2024

https://newatlas.com/architecture/3d-pr ... lar-cobod/

[macdoc]

NEWS
12 May 2024
Is the Internet bad for you? Huge study reveals surprise effect on well-being
A survey of more than 2.4 million people finds that being online can have a positive effect on welfare.
By Carissa Wong

A global, 16-year study1 of 2.4 million people has found that Internet use might boost measures of well-being, such as life satisfaction and sense of purpose — challenging the commonly held idea that Internet use has negative effects on people’s welfare.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-01410-z

[macdoc]

wow....

New brain tech turns paralyzed patient’s thoughts into speech with 97% accuracy
This innovation deciphers brain signals when a person attempts to speak, converting them into text, which the computer then vocalizes.

Published: Aug 14, 2024 04:02 PM EST

great read
https://interestingengineering.com/heal ... ient-speak

[Brian Peacock]

Common food dye found to make skin and muscle temporarily transparent

Researchers have peered into the brains and bodies of living animals after discovering that a common food dye can make skin, muscle and connective tissues temporarily transparent.

Applying the dye to the belly of a mouse made its liver, intestines and bladder clearly visible through the abdominal skin, while smearing it on the rodent’s scalp allowed scientists to see blood vessels in the animal’s brain.

Treated skin regained its normal colour when the dye was washed off, according to researchers at Stanford University, who believe the procedure opens up a host of applications in humans, from locating injuries and finding veins for drawing blood to monitoring digestive disorders and spotting tumours...

[Brian Peacock]

Loss of bats to lethal fungus linked to 1,300 child deaths in US, study says

In 2006, a deadly fungus started killing bat colonies across the United States. Now, an environmental economist has linked their loss to the deaths of more than 1,300 children.

The study, published in Science on Thursday, found that farmers dramatically increased pesticide use after the bat die-offs, which was in turn linked to an average infant mortality increase of nearly 8%. Unusually, the research suggests a causative link between human and bat wellbeing.

“That’s just quite rare – to get good, empirical, grounded estimates of how much value the species is providing,” said environmental economist Charles Taylor from the Harvard Kennedy School, who was not involved in the study. “Putting actual numbers to it in a credible way is tough.”

The crisis for bat colonies began in 2006, when a fungus called Pseudogymnoascus destructans hitchhiked from Europe to the US. P destructans grows on hibernating bats in winter, sprouting as white fuzz on their noses. It can extinguish a bat colony in as little as five years...

[macdoc]

Fantastic read

[rainbow]

Common food dye found to make skin and muscle temporarily transparent

Researchers have peered into the brains and bodies of living animals after discovering that a common food dye can make skin, muscle and connective tissues temporarily transparent.

Applying the dye to the belly of a mouse made its liver, intestines and bladder clearly visible through the abdominal skin, while smearing it on the rodent’s scalp allowed scientists to see blood vessels in the animal’s brain.

Treated skin regained its normal colour when the dye was washed off, according to researchers at Stanford University, who believe the procedure opens up a host of applications in humans, from locating injuries and finding veins for drawing blood to monitoring digestive disorders and spotting tumours...

For many years it was believed that Tartrazine caused hyperactivity in children with no evidence.