Author: Dangist
-
Natural fires help native bees, improve food security
Native bees that boost food crops are in decline but changing fire management policies could help them. A new study finds these native bees are better able to survive harsh climate events, like drought, in areas where naturally occurring fires are allowed to burn. Most flowering plant farms employ honeybees, a non-native species originally imported…
-
Essential oil diffusers may cause pollution in the home says watchdog
Essential oil diffusers could be a source of pollution in the home, the French food and environmental safety agency warned Tuesday. ANSES said the popular gadgets, which are supposed to purify and freshen the air, could have some unpleasant side effects. It said that 1,400 cases of people being affected by the products were reported…
-
Plastic, paper or cotton: which shopping bag is best
On March 1, New York State instituted its plastic bag ban, joining seven other states in an attempt to lessen litter, garbage in landfills, ocean pollution, and harm to marine life. March 1 was also the day that New York acknowledged its first coronavirus case. And despite the fact that California was the first state…
-
Raspberry Pi unveils $50 interchangeable-lens camera board
Raspberry Pi’s new high-quality camera does not sport a fancy name—it’s actually called “High-Quality Camera”—but it packs some new features do-it-yourselfers are sure to enjoy, and it’s being offered at Raspberry’s typical bargain-basement prices. The camera includes a 12.3 megapixel Sony back-illuminated sensor, back-focus adjustment ring, lens and tripod mounts as well as adaptors for…
-
Eyes send an unexpected signal to the brain
The eyes have a surprise Fig 1. Retinal section from a mouse where cell nuclei are labelled in blue, inhibitory cells is labelled with magenta, and ipRGCs are labelled in green. For decades, biology textbooks have stated that eyes communicate with the brain exclusively through one type of signalling pathway. But a new discovery shows…
-
Google makes Meet video conferencing app free for all users: How to get notified
Google Meet allows 100 people to participate in a video conference at once. The tech giant shared that it will gradually open Meet for all users in the coming weeks. Starting today, Google’s own video conferencing app is now going free for all users globally, the search engine giant announced today. Meet was initially launched…
-
A high performing and efficient e-skin for robotic applications
Fig 1. The H-1 robot covered with the electronic skin developed by the researchers Researchers at Technische Universität München in Germany have recently developed an electronic skin that could help to reproduce the human sense of touch in robots. This e-skin, presented in a paper published in MDPI’s Sensors journal, requires far less computational power…
-
Plastic pollution reaching Antarctica
Food wrapping, fishing gear and plastic waste continue to reach the Antarctic. Two new studies into how plastic debris is reaching sub-Antarctic islands are published in the journal Environment International. Fig 1. Plastic debris has been collected at Bird Island and Signy Island for the last three decades New findings include analyses of some of…
-
New dual-action coating keeps bacteria from cross-contaminating fresh produce
Researchers have created a coating that can be applied to surfaces like conveyor belts and collection buckets Summary Over the course of their journey from the open fields to the produce displays at grocery stores, fresh vegetables and fruits can sometimes become contaminated by microorganisms. These items can then spoil other produce, spreading the…
-
Fruit may mask the taste of dark green vegetables in commercial baby foods
Commercially prepared baby foods that purport to be loaded with dark green vegetables are sweetened with fruit puree and often do not contain a high percentage of dark green vegetable content, according to a team of researchers. The resulting lack of dark green vegetable taste matters, said team leader John Hayes, associate professor of food…