SciPod

Attached and implanted technologies are now part of everyday life for many millions of people. Yet as the capabilities of these devices have advanced rapidly in recent years, lawmakers have struggled to keep pace. Professor Muireann Quigley at the University of Birmingham believes that it is now more critical than ever that the law catches up with the technological and social change wrought by att...

Plants are more tolerant of changes in their chromosome number than animals. Even dramatic changes, such as doubling of the entire genome, sometimes leads to beneficial outcomes. Though a history of genome doubling is common in most plants, the chromosome number in many plants does not reflect this. Complex genome downsizing processes help these plants shed extra genetic information, but are poorl...

Tropical forests are some of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet, but extensive deforestation has pushed many species to the brink of extinction. Conservation efforts have been limited by political and socioeconomic backgrounds of each region. By integrating ecological and social research techniques, Dr Peter Beck at St Edward’s University, Dr Michael Wasserman of Indiana University and t...

Sound waves are all around us. They govern vibrations from the sweetest of sound to the most destructive earthquakes. Now, a team of researchers across the US has embarked on an ambitious project, named ‘ New Frontiers of Sound ’, which will pave the way for advanced technologies that operate using sound waves. Combining the expertise of more than 30 leading scientists and engineers from across th...

In recent decades, advancements in agricultural practices have made the large-scale production of cheap and nutritious food possible. However, these practices are often damaging to the environment, making them unsustainable in the long term. Technology is now sufficiently developed that many of these environmental impacts can be reduced or mitigated, by using ‘big data’ to inform farming managemen...

To help feed a global population of the magnitude expected by 2050, fish farming will need to increase dramatically. Two main factors limiting the expansion and future sustainability of the aquaculture industry are finding feed replacements that have equivalent or improved nutritional benefits, and preventing disease. Over the last 20 years, Dr Ken Overturf and his team at the USDA’s Agricultural...

Engineering mechanics can provide medical researchers with invaluable insights into the diverse mechanisms contained within the human body, and the conditions that arise when they go wrong. Over a career spanning four decades, Dr Nigel Shrive at the University of Calgary has offered significant contributions to this field. His research is now helping to improve the lives of many millions of people...

Humans have a long history of developing crops with improved characteristics, benefitting consumers, and farmers alike. Selective breeding, inducing genetic mutations, and, more recently, gene editing, are all tools that are used to produce plants with beneficial traits. As with any breeding technique, gene editing can lead to unintended genetic changes, but how does the prevalence of these off-ta...

Individuals with chronic kidney disease commonly also suffer from renal anaemia. Renal anaemia, a condition in which individuals lack enough red blood cells to adequately supply oxygen to the tissue, can have many underlying causes. Treatment is based on hormones that stimulate the production of red blood cells but this has varying outcomes and it is difficult to estimate the effects treatment wil...

Big data is now central to the operation of many online companies, but until now, the wealth of information it provides has remained largely untapped by manufacturers. Dr Tim Young at the University of Tennessee believes that through data science, this information could be used to significantly streamline the operations of many manufacturing industries. His work provides the widely varied parties...

Haematopoiesis is the process through which cellular blood components are produced. It starts during embryonic development to ensure the production of blood cells such as erythrocytes (red cells), leukocytes (white cells), and platelets and continues throughout our lives. All blood cells derive from haematopoietic stem cells located in the bone marrow and, unfortunately, blood cancers may occur du...

China is home to a large number of the world’s primate species, but expanding industries and land transformations have put the country’s lorises, monkeys and apes at risk of extinction. Dr Paul Garber of the University of Illinois-Urbana and Dr Alejandro Estrada of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, along with primate scientists from China, Brazil and Australia, have examined the challe...

In today’s corporate America, rapid growth and success often comes tied to some form of controversy. Perhaps one of the best examples of this is the restaurant chain Chick-fil-A. Driven by the huge popularity of its chicken sandwiches, Chick-fil-A had propelled itself to 10 billion dollars in annual sales by 2019. However, public backlash in response to donations made on behalf of the company to g...

While many people perceive diamond as a material used to make jewellery or other decorative objects, this mesmerising stone has numerous other valuable applications. In fact, its physical properties make diamond ideal for uses in various technological applications, including high performance electronics. Dr Debarati Mukherjee, Dr Luis Nero Alves and Dr Joana Catarina Mendes at the University of Av...

As the human population continues to grow, increasing global market demands, land conversion and the unsustainable use of natural resources are having a negative impact on non-human primate survivorship. Dr Alejandro Estrada from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Dr Paul Garber of the University of Illinois, and Dr Abhishek Chaudhary from the Indian Institute of Technology, examine the...

Since the 2008 global financial crisis, the US and other Western powerhouses have performed a U-turn in investing in globalisation, returning to the perceived comfort of protectionism, which involves imposing tariffs on imports to prioritise domestic industries. This has had a significant effect on developing and emerging countries, suppressing their economic growth by decreasing investment in the...

Engineering students can benefit greatly from interacting with physical objects whose attributes mimic those of real-world systems. So far, however, objects that do this effectively have proven to be extremely difficult to create. To solve the problem, Dr Diana Bairaktarova at Virginia Tech suggests that taught engineering courses could recreate practical situations more reliably using virtual obj...

Climate change is already having devastating effects felt across the globe. Without adequate measures to counteract the human drivers behind climate change, these negative consequences are guaranteed to increase in severity in the coming decades. Esteemed biomedical scientist, Dr Charles DeLisi of Boston University, urges that a multi-disciplinary approach to mitigating climate change is vital. Us...

Symbiosis is the interaction between two species that offers benefits to one or both of the organisms involved. One important type of symbiosis that has been instrumental in advancing evolution is endosymbiosis, where one of the organisms lives inside the other. Endosymbiosis has typically been studied using microscopy, but Dr Toshiyuki Takahashi from the National Institute of Technology in Miyaza...

Currency crises are a major feature of the world economy we live in, and many governments face the challenge of defending their currency’s exchange-rate. A system of currency and money needs a standard of value to be stable, but no such system has existed since the end of the US Gold Standard in 1971. Professor Patrick Collins of Azabu University in Japan and his colleagues perform detailed simula...

Climate change and land-use changes are shaping the future of the world’s forests. Initiatives to halt deforestation and forest degradation are consistently missing their targets, despite political and public support. A key reason for this lack of effectiveness may be the failure to account for human behaviour. Dr Claude Garcia and Dr Patrick Waeber from the French Agricultural Research Centre for...

As the electricity generation landscape transforms at a breakneck pace, the techniques engineers use to maintain a high performance in the electricity grid are struggling to keep up. Through a new study, Dr Hashem Nehrir and several of his former students at Montana State University delve into a variety of potential solutions, which have been presented by global research teams over the past two de...

‘Our audacious idea is to cure cancer.’ Dr Kenneth Pienta at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, USA, speaks with genuine passion about his ground-breaking research. With his team, he has recently discovered that in every type of cancer, a special type of rare cancer cell – a polyaneuploid cancer cell (PACC) – exists and hides within the greater cancer cell population. The team hypothesises that...

Poor sleep is a common difficulty issue for teenagers and young adults worldwide. Unfortunately, the impact of poor sleep is substantial with clear links to mental health difficulties. Dr Colleen Carney , an Associate Professor and the Director of the Sleep and Depression Laboratory at Ryerson University, Canada, is committed to helping people sleep better. Dr Carney has recently turned her expert...

Social psychology is the scientific study of individuals in society. An immense body of work has demonstrated that social cues, such as the facial expressions and body language of others, affect our motivation. One line of research suggests that autonomy-supportive instructions enhance motivation. However, this work has primarily been conducted in Western contexts and relatively little has been es...