Caption: L: An artist rendering of graphene gilding on Tutankhamun’s middle coffin (original photograph copyright: Griffith Institute, University of Oxford). R: Microscope image of a graphene crystal is shown on the palladium leaf. Although graphene is only a single atom thick, it can be observed in the scanning electron microscope. Here, a small crystal of graphene is shown to observe its edges. The team produces leaves where the graphene fully cover the metal surface. Credit:…

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Giant clams in Palau (Cynthia Barnett) These don’t look like any clams I’ve ever seen but that is the point of Cynthia Barnett’s absorbing Sept. 10, 2018 article for The Atlantic (Note: A link has been removed), Snorkeling amid the tree-tangled rock islands of Ngermid Bay in the western Pacific nation of Palau, Alison Sweeney lingers at a plunging coral ledge, photographing every giant clam she sees along a 50-meter transect. In Palau, as in…

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This memristor story comes from South Korea as we progress on the way to neuromorphic computing (brainlike computing). A Sept. 7, 2018 news item on ScienceDaily makes the announcement, A research team led by Director Myoung-Jae Lee from the Intelligent Devices and Systems Research Group at DGIST (Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology) has succeeded in developing an artificial synaptic device that mimics the function of the nerve cells (neurons) and synapses that are response…

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“Quantum Rhapsodies” combines a narrative script, video images and live music by the Jupiter String Quartet to explore the world of quantum physics. The performance will premiere April 10 [2019] at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. Courtesy Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology Here’s more about Quantum Rhapsodies, a free public art/science music performance at the University of Illinois on April 10, 2019, from an April 5, 2019 University of Illinois…

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Assuming you’d be happy with limiting the damage for rheumatoid arthritis, at some point in the future, this research looks promisin. Right now it appears the researchers aren’t anywhere close to a clinical trial. From a Sept. 3, 2018 news item on ScienceDaily, Engineers at the University of California San Diego [UCSD] have developed neutrophil “nanosponges” that can safely absorb and neutralize a variety of proteins that play a role in the progression of rheumatoid…

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Every two years, the EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF) holds Europe’s largest interdisciplinary meeting and City of Science festivities. The last ESOF/City of Science shindig was held in Toulouse, France in 2018. Organizers are now gearing up for 2020 in Trieste, Italy. The ESOF meeting will be held from July 5-9, 2020 but there is much, much more as you can see at the proESOF 2020 website, Mobilizing Central Eastern Europe towards Trieste 2020In 2020 Trieste…

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I received (via email) an April 2019 ‘newsletter’ from the Canadian Science Policy Centre (CSPC) with news about the November 13 – 15, 2019 (10th annual) Canadian Science Policy Conference (CSPC) to be held in what seems to be the conference’s permanent home, Ottawa, Ontario. Let’s start with the call for panel submissions, ONLY 10 DAYS LEFT: Deadline for CSPC 2019 Panel Proposals is April 15, 2019! What questions and topics would you like to…

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ARPICO, the Embassy of Italy in Ottawa, the Consulate General of Italy in Vancouver, and Paolo Raggi on April 16, 2019, Italian Research Day in the World I love this image with the brain and heart as plants rooted in the earth for this upcoming ARPICO (Society of Italian Researchers & Professionals in Western Canada) event. I received a March 19, 2019 announcement (via email) from ARPICO about their latest Vancouver event, which is celebrating…

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Finnish research is highlighted in an August 28, 2018 news item on phys.org, A method developed at Aalto University, Finland, can produce large quantities of pristine single-walled carbon nanotubes in select shades of the rainbow. The secret is a fine-tuned fabrication process—and a small dose of carbon dioxide. The films could find applications in touch screen technologies or as coating agents for new types of solar cells. An August 28, 2018 Aalto University press release…

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This seems like the right thing to post on April Fool’s Day (April 1, 2019) as the upcoming news item concerns fooling people although not in a any friendly, amusing way.. More pleasantly, the other story I’m including holds the possibility of foiling the would-be adulterators/counterfeiters. The problem and blockchain anti-counterfeiting measures Adulterating or outright counterfeiting products such as olive oil isn’t new. I’m willing to bet the ancient Greeks, Romans, Persians, Egyptians, and others…

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