Article archives

Augmented reality and autism

Augmented reality and autism

HealthMedicineNeurobiologyNeuroscience

By José Ramón Alonso

The most effective interventions in people with autism are based on a personal work by specialized professionals and these therapies, when well designed and well done, achieve a constant improvement in different areas such as social communication, the presence of stereotypes and other atypical behaviors characteristic of autism. However, person-to-person therapies are by their very […]

MI weekly selection #288

MI weekly selection #288

Weekly Selection

By César Tomé

Cavers find new connections in massive Sistema Huautla Mexico’s Sistema Huautla, one of the world’s deepest cave systems, is larger than previously thought. A group of cavers and researchers found new connections while trapped by flooding inside Sistema Huautla. National Geographic Number of new flu strains found in dogs in China Three hybrid canine flu […]

Higher-order topological insulators

Higher-order topological insulators

Condensed matterMaterialsPhysicsTheoretical physics

By DIPC

Topological insulators are materials with special universal properties, which are protected against perturbations. Such properties are theoretically described by topology, a branch of mathematics concerned with the properties of geometrical objects that are unchanged by continuous deformations. Concretely, topological insulators are electronic materials that have a bulk band gap like an ordinary insulator but have […]

The 3D-printing hype: expectations vs. reality

The 3D-printing hype: expectations vs. reality

Materials

By Silvia Román

After years of watching manufacturing plants relocating offshore, hundreds of thousands of jobs gone and deindustrialization creeping up, policy makers and investors from high-income countries are finally willing to bring the manufacturing sector back. But they won’t get this done just competing globally for mass, low-cost production; those days are long gone. On the contrary […]

MI weekly selection #287

MI weekly selection #287

Weekly Selection

By César Tomé

Companion star’s temperature differences help weigh massive pulsar The close proximity of its companion star has helped researchers weigh a huge pulsar in the binary system PSR J2215+5135. Astronomers measured the temperature differences and the Doppler shift on the two sides of the pulsar’s companion star to discover that the pulsar weighs more than twice […]

The forgotten fraction in semicrystalline semiconducting polymers

The forgotten fraction in semicrystalline semiconducting polymers

ChemistryCondensed matterMaterials

By DIPC

A class of materials of utmost fundamental and applied interest is that of semicrystalline polymers. Actually, all solid synthetic polymers are, in general, partly crystalline and partly amorphous. The degree of crystallinity depends on the polymer structure and on how the solid is prepared. Rapid cooling of the molten polymer favors formation of an amorphous […]

On scientific co-authorship (& 3): Intelectual property rights and the individualization of items of knowledge

On scientific co-authorship (& 3): Intelectual property rights and the individualization of items of knowledge

Philosophy of science

By Jesús Zamora Bonilla

In our previous entries , we asked why it is that collaborating scientists prefer to publish one single paper in which all their contributions are ‘mixed’, instead of one individual paper by each co-author (with quotations to the other collaborator’s paper where necessary). There is a relatively obvious (but, as I shall show, partial) answer […]

MicroRNA-loaded nanoparticles against liver metastasis

MicroRNA-loaded nanoparticles against liver metastasis

BiomedicineMolecular biology

By Invited Researcher

Author: Iker Badiola is an assistant professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Faculty of Medicine and Nursery, University of Basque Country (UPV/EHU). Colorectal cancer is the third most frequently occurring cancer and a common cause of cancer-related death worldwide. The origin of colorectal cancer is usually a malignant polyp developed in the […]