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Pushing the (extra cold) Frontiers of Superconducting Science

Ames Laboratory has developed a method to measure magnetic properties of superconducting and magnetic materials that exhibit unusual quantum behavior at very low temperatures in high magnetic fields, by placing a tunnel diode resonator, an instrument that makes precise radio-frequency measurements of magnetic properties, in a dilution refrigerator, a cryogenic device that is able to cool samples down to milli-Kelvin temperature range.
Credit: Ames Laboratory, US Department of Energy

Scientists have developed a method to measure magnetic properties of superconducting and magnetic materials that exhibit unusual quantum behavior at very low temperatures in high magnetic fields...

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Does Herpes cause Alzheimer’s?

Researchers found large amounts of viral DNA in key areas of the brains of Alzheimer's patients CREDIT: REDHEAD ET AL

Researchers found large amounts of viral DNA in key areas of the brains of Alzheimer’s patients CREDIT: REDHEAD ET AL

Decades of research show a striking correlation between Alzheimer’s disease risk and infection with Herpes Simplex Virus 1 (HSV1) in people carrying a specific gene. Now, newly-available epidemiological data provide a causal link between HSV1 infection and senile dementia – raising the tantalizing prospect of a simple, effective preventive treatment for one of humanity’s costliest disorders.

Professor Ruth Itzhaki. Her latest paper presents a lifetime of research evidence that the herpes virus responsible for cold sores can also cause Alzheimer’s – and new data which show antiviral drugs drastically reduce risk of senile dementia in patients with severe herpes infections...

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Eating Leafy Greens could help Prevent Macular Degeneration

Eating vegetable nitrates, found mainly in green leafy vegetables and beetroot, could help reduce your risk of developing early-stage age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Eating vegetable nitrates, found mainly in green leafy vegetables and beetroot, could help reduce your risk of developing early-stage age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

A new study has shown that eating vegetable nitrates, found mainly in green leafy vegetables and beetroot, could help reduce your risk of developing early-stage age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Researchers at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research interviewed more than 2,000 Australian adults aged over 49 and followed them over a 15-year period.

The research showed that people who ate between 100 to 142 mgs of vegetable nitrates each day had a 35% lower risk of developing early AMD than people who ate less than 69mgs of vegetable nitrates each day...

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3D-printed Supercapacitor Electrode Breaks Records in Lab tests

This schematic illustration shows the fabrication of a 3D-printed graphene aerogel/manganese oxide supercapacitor electrode. Credit: Yat Li et al., Joule, 2018

This schematic illustration shows the fabrication of a 3D-printed graphene aerogel/manganese oxide supercapacitor electrode. Credit: Yat Li et al., Joule, 2018

Advances in supercapacitor technology could lead to wider use of fast-charging energy storage devices and novel designs for electronic gadgets. Scientists at UC Santa Cruz and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have reported unprecedented performance results for a supercapacitor electrode. The researchers fabricated electrodes using a printable graphene aerogel to build a porous 3D scaffold loaded with pseudocapacitive material.

In laboratory tests, the novel electrodes achieved the highest areal capacitance (electric charge stored per unit of electrode surface area) ever reported for a supercapacitor, said Yat Li, profes...

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