Research

Silk beats both cotton and synthetic materials like polyester when it comes to homemade and reusable face masks, according to a new study from the University of Cincinnati. The material offers a number of potential benefits, according to the researchers, including the fact that it is naturally antimicrobial due to its copper content. Face masks made from silk are likely to be perceived as more comfortable than synthetic and cotton alternatives, as well.

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Having high levels of 'bad' LDL cholesterol during one's young adult years is an extreme health risk, according to a new study, paving the way for irreversible heart issues and heightened stroke and heart attack risk by middle age. The study warns that 'aggressive' steps are necessary to get LDL cholesterol levels under control early in life and that it may be too late to avoid the heightened risk by one's late thirties. The risk was found to remain elevated even when cholesterol was corrected.

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Researchers from NUS have developed a smartphone-powered suit that is capable of providing athletes with physiological data, including information on their posture, running gait, and body temperature while they are performing. The team says athletes are always looking for new ways to push human performance and to be able to improve the need to know their current limits objectively so they can overcome them. Current ways that athletes can track performance include wearables, such as the Apple Watch or Fitbit.

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Another study has linked the popular drug used to treat type-2 diabetes, metformin, with a decreased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease later in life, but that may not mean what you think it does. Dementia, including Alzheimer's, is believed to be caused by a variety of genetics and lifestyle factors, with the latter having a massive influence -- so much so that even those who have a genetic risk for the disease may stall its onset until very late in life by adopting the right habits.

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Researchers at UCLA have created what they have termed the world's smallest refrigerator. When most of us think of a fridge, we think of the machine sitting in the kitchen that keeps meat frozen and milk cold. What the researchers at UCLA created isn't a traditional refrigerator. It's a thermoelectric cooler only 100 nanometers thick.

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Do you often feed your cat more than one time per day? If so, you may be unwittingly putting your cat's health at risk, at least according to a new study from the University of Guelph's Ontario Veterinary College and Agricultural College. Because humans eat more than one time a day, it may seem natural to feed one's pet multiple a day, as well, but that could be sabotaging your cat's amino acid levels and appetite hormones.

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This week the folks at the independent testing organization ECRI published Medical Device Hazard Report on certain N95-style masks. A wide variety of imported (into USA) N95-style respirators (face-filtering respirators [FFRs]) that lack NIOSH certification were shown in testing to be less than acceptable for filtration of airborn materials, here more specifically COVID-19 and related materials. To be clear, here, this does not mean that ALL MASKS are bad, but that some masks aren't as good as they should be for healthcare workers and patients at risk during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Weighted blankets are a bit of a fad at the moment, with a number of companies now selling these heavy blankets that were once commonly used by individuals suffering from certain health and mental conditions. Many people report positive experiences with these blankets, including better sleep quality, lower anxiety, and relief from insomnia. A new study evaluates that latter claim, finding that weight blankets do, indeed, help those insomnia sufferers.

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Black holes are known for being voracious, inescapable, and some of the most impressive elements of the known universe, but what we didn't realize until now is that they can wobble. New research from the University of Chicago tapped a unique telescope array to track the supermassive black hole at the center of the M87 galaxy, and in the process unlocked a new discovery - and a fresh mystery.

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Arctic summers are becoming warmer, and the result is a greener Arctic landscape. NASA has been using satellites to track global tundra ecosystems for decades. A new study found that the Arctic region is becoming greener as warmer air and soil temperatures lead to increased plant growth. The Arctic is one of the coldest biomes on Earth, and NASA says it's one of the most rapidly warming as well.

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In addition to living in a digital age, our lives have also started to revolve around clouds, that is, cloud storage and services. This elusive and ephemeral concept, however, still needs to be tethered to physical realities and limited by physical storage solutions. In other words, that fancy cloud storage you're using to collaborate and store your files ultimately gets stored in the old but proven technology of hard disk drives. That, however, is far from ideal and Microsoft researchers are looking into an old yet new idea of using holograms to store data in a much smaller physical space.

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A newly published study from the University of Jyväskylä has found that present-day older adults are mentally and physically younger than those of similar age who lived just 30 years ago. The researchers focused on adults ages 75 to 80 and compared data on their cognitive and physical performance with the same data on adults in the same age group from the 1990s, finding that everything from strength to working memory and even walking speed are 'significantly better' in modern elderly populations.

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