The rapidly increasing aging population will lead to a shortage of care providers in the future. While robotic technologies are a potential alternative, their widespread use is limited by poor acceptance. In a new study, researchers from Chiba University have examined a user-centric approach to understand the factors influencing user willingness among caregivers and recipients in Japan, Ireland, and Finland. Users’ perspectives can aid the development of home-care robots with better acceptance.

A new study conducted by D-Hygea Lab of the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering of the Politecnico di Milano, in collaboration with the Regional Emergency Agency (AREU), has analysed the impact of heat waves on the cardiovascular health of Milan residents. The results show that in 18 highly vulnerable districts, home to 23% of the city’s population, the risk of cardiovascular emergencies increases by 22% during days of extreme heat compared to normal days. In contrast, in 20 low vulnerability districts, the increased risk is not significant

A rare prehistoric ritual complex has been uncovered in the darkest depths of Manot Cave in the Western Galilee, Israel. The complex is enclosed naturally by impressive stalagmites that create a distinctive entrance to the site and features a unique and impressive rock with geometric engravings resembling a turtle shell.

In this study, the authors investigated the mineralization, humification characteristics, and dynamics of microbial communities of two organic materials, including chicken manure (CM) and composted kitchen waste compost (KW) in farmland soil by conducting nylon mesh bag in-situ incubation experiments combined with indoor analysis and high-throughput microbial sequencing technology.

For human researchers, it takes many years of work to discover new super-resolution microscopy techniques. The number of possible optical configurations of a microscope — for example, where to place mirrors or lenses — is enormous. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) framework which autonomously discovers new experimental designs in microscopy. The framework, called XLuminA, performs optimizations 10,000 times faster than well-established methods. The researchers’ work was recently published in “Nature Communications”.

Some of the world's smallest animals and their tiny poops could aid in the fight against climate change. A Dartmouth-led study reports that clay dust sprayed on the surface of seawater converts free-floating carbon particulates into food for zooplankton, which the microscopic animals later deposit deep into the sea as feces. The particulates are the remnants of carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere by marine plants that re-enters the atmosphere when the plants die. This new method redirects the carbon into the marine food chain.