SciTech Revel

What are Pheromones? Pheromones are most commonly thought of as scents that animals give off that will lure a potential mate to them, or scare a potential threat away. Humans also seem to produce these scents naturally. The detection of pheromones, however, is where the problem lies. Scientists have had difficulty finding an area of the brain that detects the pheromones secreted by others. This may be the explanation for why human pheromones are believed to not exist or cause a reaction for humans. A study from the Huddinge University Hospital in Sweden sheds some light on the truth of this conundrum. In the experiment, Ivanka Savic found that smelling synthetic versions of either testosterone or estrogen led to an increase in blood flow to the hypothalamus. The men showed an increase when smelling estrogen and women when smelling testosterone, but neither had a reaction when smelling the scent of the same gender. The hypothalamus is the region of the brain in rodents and other a...

In the future, an AI may diagnose eye problems The computer will see you now. Artificial intelligence algorithms may soon bring the diagnostic know-how of an eye doctor to primary care offices and walk-in clinics, speeding up the detection of health problems and the start of treatment, especially in areas where specialized doctors are scarce. The first such program — trained to spot symptoms of diabetes-related vision loss in eye images — is pending approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. While other already approved AI programs help doctors examine medical images, there’s “not a specialist looking over the shoulder of [this] algorithm,” says Michael Abràmoff, who founded and heads a company that developed the system under FDA review, dubbed IDx-DR. “It makes the clinical decision on its own.” IDx-DR and similar AI programs, which are learning to predict everything from age-related sight loss to heart problems just by looking at eye images, don’t follow preprogramm...

50 years ago, pulsars burst onto the scene The strangest signals reaching Earth The search for neutron stars has intensified because of a relatively small area, low in the northern midnight sky, from which the strangest radio signals yet received on Earth are being detected. If the signals come from a star, the source broadcasting the radio waves is very likely the first neutron star ever detected. —  Science News ,  March 16, 1968 That first known neutron star’s  odd pulsating signature  earned it the name “pulsar.” The finding garnered a Nobel Prize just six years after its 1968 announcement — although one of the pulsar’s discoverers, astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell, was famously excluded. Since then, astronomers have found thousands of these blinking collapsed stars, which have confirmed  Einstein’s theory of gravity  and have been proposed as a kind of  GPS for spacecraft  

The debate over how long our brains keep making new nerve cells heats up Adult mice and other rodents sprout new nerve cells in memory-related parts of their brains. People, not so much. That’s the surprising conclusion of a series of experiments on human brains of various ages  first described at a meeting  in November . A  more complete description  of the finding, published online March 7 in  Nature , gives heft to the controversial result, as well as ammo to researchers looking for reasons to be skeptical of the findings. In contrast to earlier prominent studies, Shawn Sorrells of the University of California, San Francisco and his colleagues failed to find newborn nerve cells in the memory-related hippocampi of adult brains. The team looked for these cells in nonliving brain samples in two ways: molecular markers that tag dividing cells and young nerve cells, and telltale shapes of newborn cells. Using these metrics, the researchers saw signs of n...

{{[This post is from chemistryworld.com be a regular visitor of chemistryworld.com to see more such posts]}} https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/boron-clusters-turn-titanium-oxide-to-the-dark-side-/3008741.article Boron clusters turn titanium oxide to the dark side Titanium-tipped ‘hedgehog’ molecules become a robust – and black – high-performance electronic material US researchers have expanded the capabilities of the key light-harvesting material titanium dioxide by eliminating the very property that makes it most recognisable – its bright white colouring.  Alexander Spokoyny  at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and his colleagues have combined titanium dioxide with boron clusters in a high-temperature process he says may be unique. ‘Any organic molecule would get destroyed,’ Spokoyny tells  Chemistry World . ‘Because these boron clusters are so robust you can carry them through 500˚C annealing in air and they remain in a network of what...

Ever told a chemistry joke and gotten no reaction?  Then it’s time to expand your brain and learn some fun, new facts! Luckily there are many amazing, free podcasts that will teach you all kinds of cool things in a thoroughly entertaining way. They’re the perfect companion for your commute, workout, or for when you just want to kick back and relax. So get excited! Here are the 20 best science podcasts on the internet. Star Talk Radio @StarTalkRadio Hosted by:  Neil deGrasse Tyson  @neiltyson  and friends Overview: StarTalk  is an incredibly entertaining podcast devoted to all things space. It’s hosted by science popularizer and renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson (of  Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey  fame).  StarTalk Radio  bridges the intersection between pop culture and science with clarity, humor, and passion. Hilarity ensues as Tyson is joined each week by a large variety of comedian co-hosts, celebrities, and other special...