Drones used to track wildlife

 

Researchers at The Australian National University (ANU) and The University of Sydney have developed a world-first radio-tracking drone to locate radio-tagged wildlife. Lead researcher Dr Debbie Saunders from the ANU Fenner School of Environment and Society said the drones have successfully detected tiny radio transmitters weighing as little as one gram. The system has been tested by tracking bettongs at the Mulligan's Flat woodland sanctuary in Canberra. "The small aerial robot will allow researchers to more rapidly and accurately find tagged wildlife, gain insights into movements of some of the world's smallest and least known species, and access areas that are otherwise inaccessible," Dr Saunders said. "We have done more than 150 test flights and have demonstrated how the drones can find and map the locations of animals with radio tags." Researcher Oliver Cliff, from the Australian Centre for Field Robotics (ACFR) at the University of Sydney, said the technology had generated international interest. "Lots of people are trying to do this. It is not an easy process, but we believe we've come up with a solution," he said. "We've had interest in our system from all around the world. We are still doing some fine tuning but we've achieved more than has ever been done before, which is exciting." Dr Saunders, a wildlife ecologist, came up with the idea eight years ago to track small dynamic migratory birds such as the endangered swift parrot. The new system, funded by an ARC Linkage Project Grant and Loro Parque Foundacion, has been built and tested over the past two and a half years with Dr Robert Fitch and his team at the ACFR at the University of Sydney. The robot consists of an off-the-shelf drone or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The custom-built miniature receiver and antenna provide real-time information on radio-tracked wildlife, which are mapped live on a laptop. ANU Associate Professor Adrian Manning, also from the Fenner School of Environment and Society, has helped the team by attaching VHF and GPS collars on bettongs at Mulligan's Flat. "Radio tracking of collars manually is very time consuming," Associate Professor Manning said. "Early indications are that the drones could save a huge amount of time. If you have two operators working and they can put the drone up in two bursts of 20 minutes, they can do what would take half a day or more to do using ground methods." Details of the new research tool were presented at Robotics: Science and Systems. Story Source: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Australian National University. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Australian National University. "Drones used to track wildlife." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 25 August 2015. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/08/150825103118.htm

Single-crystal phosphors suitable for ultra-bright, high-power white light sources

 

YAG single-crystal phosphor ingot. Credit: Image copyright NIMS Researchers in Japan successfully developed single-crystal phosphors that use a blue LD (laser diode) as an excitation light source, are suitable for ultra-bright, high-power white lighting, and have outstanding temperature characteristics. The Optical Single Crystals Group at National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) led by Group Leader Kiyoshi Shimamura and Senior Researcher E. Garcia Villora, in collaboration with Tamura Corporation (President, Naoki Tamura) and Koha Co., Ltd. (President, Yasuhiro Nakashima), successfully developed single-crystal phosphors (based on (Y1-xLux)3Al5O12 oxide-garnets) that use a blue LD (laser diode) as an excitation light source, are suitable for ultra-bright, high-power white lighting, and have outstanding temperature characteristics. In line with environmentally conscious efforts to promote power-saving and mercury-free products, white lighting that uses blue LEDs as an excitation light source has grown rapid in popularity in recent years. At the same time, products that use blue LDs as an excitation light source have also been commercialized to meet the needs of certain light-p rojectors and car headlights. These require a high-brightness that is difficult to attain with LED light sources. Due to its optical properties, LD light can be easily collected with a lens or mirror, and it is feasible to focus 100-watt-equivalent LD light on an area as small as several millimeters in diameter. However, as the power density of the LD excitation light increases, the heat generated by the lighting device also increases proportionally. The use of conventional phosphors, with low thermal conductivities and a decreasing internal quantum efficiency with the temperature, requires complex cooling techniques and critically limits the applicable LD power. Further, non-oxide based powder phosphors degrade irreversibly with the temperature. In this study, the developed single-crystal phosphors, grown from the melt by the Czochralski technique, exhibit superior temperature characteristics, overcoming mentioned difficulties. On the one hand, due to the higher thermal conductivity (over two orders of magnitude) they can be cooled much more efficiently, avoiding overheating and enabling downsizing and cost reduction of lighting products. On the other hand, their quantum efficiency does not drop with the temperature, exhibiting an efficiency over 0.9 till 300 °C in either plate or powder form. These two features, high thermal conductivity and quantum efficiency, are so remarkable that when the emission of conventional phosphors is already quenched by the temperature rise, under the same nominal conditions the temperature of single-crystal phosphors barely increases. Thus, in contrast with conventional powder phosphors, single-crystal phosphors will allow the fabrication of brighter and more powerful lighting products. Based on this study, we have already acquired two patents in Japan, and have applied for five additional patents in Japan and abroad. We are aiming at stablishing the growth methods for the efficient mass production of single-crystal phosphors for laser lighting products such as laser projectors and laser headlights by the end of FY2015 in collaboration with Tamura Corporation. Story Source: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by National Institute for Materials Science. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. National Institute for Materials Science. "Single-crystal phosphors suitable for ultra-bright, high-power white light sources." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 25 August 2015. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/08/150825115150.htm.

Migraine treatment: Can antidepressants help?

 

My doctor prescribed an antidepressant for my migraines. Is this an appropriate migraine treatment? I don't have depression. Answers from Jerry W. Swanson, M.D. Certain antidepressants can help reduce the frequency and severity of some types of headaches, including migraines. You don't have to be depressed to benefit from these drugs. Tricyclic antidepressants, such as amitriptyline, are most effective and likely work by affecting the level of serotonin and other chemicals in your brain. There is little evidence that other classes of antidepressants, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), are effective for migraine prevention. Side effects of antidepressants vary from one medication to another and from person to person. Side effects may include weight gain, fatigue, constipation and dry mouth. Such side effects can make it difficult to stick with treatment. If the medication doesn't seem to be working or is causing bothersome side effects, talk to your doctor. Don't stop taking a prescribed medication without talking to your doctor first. May 14, 2015 References See more Expert Answers Products and Services Book: Mayo Clinic Guide to Pain Relief http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/migraine-headache/expert-answers/migraine-treatment/faq-20058410/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pain-management

The last diet you will ever need

 

EAT WELL, LOSE WEIGHT NOW

Ohm intelligent car battery refuses to die

 

The Ohm is designed as a smarter form of car battery It's a terrible feeling. You're already late for wherever you're going, so you rush into the car and slam the door shut. You put the key in, give it the usual twist and ... nothing, not a peep. Dead battery. Many a driver has experienced this issue at one point or another, and most would prefer not to repeat it. The Ohm smart battery was designed to help make sure you never do. The car battery is one of those items that most people really don't want to think too much about. They want to replace it as infrequently as possible and then have it just work, every time, without fuss. It's no surprise, therefore, that the car battery is largely the big, heavy, electrochemical block that it was generations ago. It does its job pretty well, and you don't really have to think about it much. Silicon Valley startup Ohm Laboratories believes there's some room for improvement and new thinking, though. More than just a battery, its Ohm battery is an energy storage and management system in a battery-sized case. Its integrated processor monitors power level and automatically cuts power when the battery drops to a critical level. So if you accidentally leave your lights on, Ohm will shut itself down before going dead and then turn itself back on within about 30 seconds when you start up the car. The self shut-off system is a handy feature to have during the battery's effective life, but there's one dead battery issue it can't help with: end of life. That's why the battery also has a replacement warning system. The system beeps to let you know it's time for replacement, and Ohm says it works more quickly and accurately than the battery warning light on the dashboard. Unlike the lead acid construction of typical car batteries, Ohm uses a combination of lithium iron phosphate batteries and supercapacitors. It's the supercapacitors that deliver the quick burst of electricity for starting. The LiFePO4 batteries, in turn, keep the supercapacitors charged when the engine is off, so they're ready to go when you twist the key or punch the ignition button. Ohm says that the LiFePO4/supercapacitor configuration gives the battery a seven-year lifespan, which is around double that of the average lead acid battery. It also makes claims of better performance in cold weather. Assuming it doesn't gain any bulk before production, the Ohm is also a lot lighter than a lead acid battery. The estimated 6-lb (2.7-kg) weight looks light right off the bat, but when you compare it to the ~35 pounds (15.9 kg) a group size 35 lead acid battery weighs, it's downright feathery. That loss not only cuts down your vehicle's weight, it makes the Ohm easier to handle during replacement. While lighter internally, the Ohm's body is sized to slide into existing cars' battery wells and connect just like a lead acid car battery. The unit comes in two sizes – one designed to fit neatly in cars that accept group size 35 batteries and one designed for smaller battery wells. You can use the reference tool on Ohm's Indiegogo page to find out if the battery is a match for your car. Ohm designers admit one downside to their design: a small 10 Ah reserve capacity. This could be a problem if you rely on the battery to run electrical equipment and accessories with the engine off, and Ohm suggests sticking with a standard lead acid battery if that's the case. Thanks to the Ohm's self shut-off, at least you won't risk running the battery dead. The Ohm team says that it has tested its battery over thousands of miles but still has a lot of testing left to do on aspects like life cycle, temperature rating and battery management circuitry. Its numbers are not finalized, so the aforementioned seven-year lifespan, 10 Ah reserve capacity and 6-lb weight are still subject to change, as are the 500 peak cold cranking amps and -22 to 122° F (-30 to 50° C) operating range. Ohm has worked with the seed funders at Y Combinator and has turned toIndiegogo to raise the additional funding it needs to complete testing, finalize the design, purchase tooling and get production started. It is closing in on its US$50,000 goal with 23 days left to go and the lowest early bird pledge levels have sold out, but the Ohm battery is still available at $199, a $20 discount off the estimated retail price. That price is probably a lot higher than you'd spend on a lead acid battery at the local auto parts store, but if the Ohm performs as promised, it may be worth it. Source: Ohm

High iron intake may increase appetite, disease risk

 

Here's one more reason to cut down on the amount of red meat you eat. Using an animal model, researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have found that dietary iron intake, equivalent to heavy red meat consumption, suppresses leptin, a hormone that regulates appetite. Iron is the one mineral that humans can't excrete, so the more iron that is consumed the greater the likelihood that leptin levels will drop, resulting in increased appetite and the potential to overeat. The study was recently published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. "We showed that the amount of food intake increased in animals that had high levels of dietary iron," said Don McClain, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Center on Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism at Wake Forest Baptist and senior author of the study. "In people, high iron, even in the high-normal range, has been implicated as a contributing factor to many diseases, including diabetes, fatty liver disease and Alzheimer's, so this is yet another reason not to eat so much red meat because the iron in red meat is more readily absorbed than iron from plants." In this study, male mice were fed high (2000 mg/kg) and low-normal (35 mg/kg) iron diets for two months, followed by measuring the levels of iron in fat tissue. The researchers observed a 215 percent increase of iron in the mice fed a high iron diet as compared to the mice fed the low normal diet. In addition, leptin levels in blood were 42 percent lower in mice on the high iron diet compared to those on the low normal diet. Results from the animal model were verified through ferritin blood tests from a large number of human participants in a previous clinical study. Ferritin blood tests measure the amount of iron stored in the body. The researchers showed that fat tissue responds to iron availability to adjust the expression of leptin, a major regulator of appetite, energy expenditure and metabolism. "We don't know yet what optimal iron tissue level is, but we are hoping to do a large clinical trial to determine if decreasing iron levels has any effect on weight and diabetes risk," McClain said. "The better we understand how iron works in the body, the better chance we have of finding new pathways that may be targets for the prevention and treatment of diabetes and other diseases." Funding for the study was provided by the Research Service of the Department of Veterans Affairs and the national Institutes of Health. This study was conducted at the University of Utah before McClain joined Wake Forest Baptist. Co-authors are Yan Gao, Ph.D., Zhonggang Li, M.S., Scott Gabrielsen, M.D., Ph.D., Judith A. Simcox, Ph.D., Soh-hyun Lee, Ph.D., Deborah Jones, B.S., Bob Cooksey, M.S., and Gregory Stoddard, Ph.D., of the University of Utah; William T. Cefalu, M.D., of Louisiana State University System. Story Source: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference: Yan Gao, Zhonggang Li, J. Scott Gabrielsen, Judith A. Simcox, Soh-hyun Lee, Deborah Jones, Bob Cooksey, Gregory Stoddard, William T. Cefalu, Donald A. McClain. Adipocyte iron regulates leptin and food intake. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2015; 10.1172/JCI81860 DOI: 10.1172/JCI81860

Structural Discoveries Could Aid in Better Drug Design

 

Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute Florida campus have uncovered the structural details of how some proteins interact to turn two different signals into a single integrated output. These new findings could aid future drug design by giving scientists an edge in fine tuning the signal between these partnered proteins -- and the drug's course of action. F. Scott Fitzgerald once said that the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. Now, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have found the biological equivalent of that idea or something very close. For the first time, they have uncovered the structural details of how some proteins interact to turn two different signals into a single integrated output. These new findings could aid future drug design by giving scientists an edge in fine tuning the signal between these partnered proteins -- and the drug's course of action. "Thyroid, vitamin D and retinoid receptors all rely on integrated signals -- their own signal plus a partner receptor," said TSRI Associate Professor Kendall Nettles, who led the study with TSRI colleague Associate Professor Douglas Kojetin. "These new findings will have important implications for drug design by clearly defining exactly how these signals become integrated, so we will be able to predict how changes in a drug's design could affect signaling." The study was published recently in the journal Nature Communications. Using a number of complementary technologies, including nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), X-ray crystallography and hydrogen/deuterium exchange (HDX) mass spectrometry from the laboratory of Scripps Florida colleague Chair of the Department of Molecular Therapeutics Patrick R. Griffin, the scientists were able to determine the mechanism through which two signaling pathways become integrated. The study focused on a small subset of nuclear receptors, a large family of proteins that regulate gene expression in response to signals from various binding partners, including steroids and fats. Once receptors sense the presence of these binding partners, they send out new signals that initiate other cellular processes.   "Nuclear receptors bind different types of molecules, and some of these receptors physically interact with each other to integrate different signals," Kojetin said. "Earlier studies basically accepted this without any structural evidence for communication between receptors. This is the first time that anyone has looked at what's actually going on at the atomic level." The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grants DK101871, GM114420, GM063855, RR019077, RR027755, MH084512, GM084041, RR027270 and CA132022), the Frenchman's Creek Women for Cancer Research, the James and Esther King Biomedical Research Program, the Florida Department of Health and the State of Florida. Story Source: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by The Scripps Research Institute. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference: Douglas J. Kojetin, Edna Matta-Camacho, Travis S. Hughes, Sathish Srinivasan, Jerome C. Nwachukwu, Valerie Cavett, Jason Nowak, Michael J. Chalmers, David P. Marciano, Theodore M. Kamenecka, Andrew I. Shulman, Mark Rance, Patrick R. Griffin, John B. Bruning, Kendall W. Nettles.Structural mechanism for signal transduction in RXR nuclear receptor heterodimers. Nature Communications, 2015; 6: 8013 DOI:10.1038/ncomms9013

Gut feeling restored by growth outside the body

 

University of Manchester scientists have bridged a gap between two separate pieces of small intestine kept alive outside the body, in an advance which could have implications for surgery in human adults and babies. It is not currently possible to study the intestine in embryos when inside the body, which holds back advances in treatment for conditions causing damage in infants. However, new techniques used by the researchers in this study have allowed organs to be kept alive and grown on supports which allow the absorption of nutrients. In the new research, two pieces of embryonic mouse intestine were placed on the supports with a small gap between them. A thread was inserted to link the two and the researchers observed the two pieces grow together to such an extent that in three quarters of the 36 tests, nerve signals were passed between them causing the now joined piece to operate as a single section of gut. Professor Adrian Woolf, from the University's Institute of Human Development led the study. He said: "The ability to study organs outside of the body is delivering new insights into how they work. In this case we've been able to study damaged intestines and instigate repairs which could lead to treatment in a number of conditions." On such condition is short bowel syndrome (SBS) - a condition caused by the dysfunction of sections of the bowel. It can occur in premature babies or in adults due to Crohn's disease or surgery. SBS prevents absorption of vitamins and nutrients and can cause weight loss and is fatal in severe cases. The new research will allow treatments in the form of growth stimulating compounds to be tested ex vivo and perfected before being trialled in the body and eventually in humans. As well as using the basic nutrient base to bridge the gap, the study also experimented with the use of a growth factor called R-spondin 1 to try and speed up growth and make it more successful. Although this caused faster growth it failed to establish the bridge in as uniform a way and fusion was less successful. Professor Woolf added: "In this study we managed to bridge a gap of less than 1mm, but for this to be useful in conditions like short bowel syndrome we'll need to promote growth across much larger distances. Having the ability to test different vitamins and hormones which promote growth opens up many new possibilities for future treatments." The research was funded by the Medical Research Council and The Short Bowel Survivor and Friends Charity. Story Source: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Manchester University.Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference: Riccardo Coletta, Neil A. Roberts, Francesca Oltrabella, Basem A. Khalil, Antonino Morabito, Adrian S. Woolf. Bridging the gap: functional healing of embryonic small intestineex vivo. Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, 2015; DOI: 10.1002/term.2073

Sea Ice in the Greenland Sea

 

As the northern hemisphere experiences the heat of summer, ice moves and melts in the Arctic waters and the far northern lands surrounding it. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this true-color image of sea ice off Greenland on July 16, 2015.

Large chunks of melting sea ice can be seen in the sea ice off the coast, and to the south spirals of ice have been shaped by the winds and currents that move across the Greenland Sea. Along the Greenland coast, cold, fresh melt water from the glaciers flows out to the sea, as do newly calved icebergs. Frigid air from interior Greenland pushes the ice away from the shoreline, and the mixing of cold water and air allows some sea ice to be sustained even at the height of summer.

According to observations from satellites, 2015 is on track to be another low year for arctic summer sea ice cover. The past ten years have included nine of the lowest ice extents on record. The annual minimum typically occurs in late August or early September. The amount of Arctic sea ice cover has been dropping as global temperatures rise. The Arctic is two to three times more sensitive to temperature changes as the Earth as a whole.

Image Credit: NASA/Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC

Last Updated: Aug. 24, 2015

Editor: Sarah Loff

Japan Immersion Photography

 

Posted: 22 Aug 2015 10:01 AM PDT

Le photographe japonais Hidenobu Suzuki nous offre une immersion au coeur de son pays natal. Il fige les paysages colorés du pays du soleil levant. Des couleurs du Mont Fuji au soleil couchant aux cascades en pleine nature, en passant par des villages reculés, toutes les facettes du Japon se retrouvent dans ses clichés.