(Phys.org)—Nanoionics is a sub-field of nanotechnology that is concerned with nanoscale phenomena involving migration of ions in solid maters. Thus far, however, the confinement of ionic currents to predefined paths in a manner resembling the motion of electrons in wires of electronic conductors has not been explored.

The 'stiff-legged' walk of a motor protein along a tightrope-like filament has been captured for the first time.

Kyocera is in the news this month. Two floating solar power plants in two reservoirs in Kato City, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, are complete. This is a joint venture. The two players are Kyocera and Century Tokyo Leasing, which is in the business of equipment leasing. Construction started last year in September. They use 255-watt Kyocera modules, 11,256 modules in total.

Mice, and now touchscreens, have become a daily part of our lives in the way we interact with computers. But what about people who lack the ability to use a mouse or touchscreen? Or situations where these would be impractical or outright dangerous?

Computers were the size of refrigerators when an engineer named Gordon Moore laid the foundations of Silicon Valley with a vision that became known as "Moore's Law."

Carnegie Mellon University researchers are going all in, pitting a computer program against some of the world's best professional poker players.

Apple Watches are arriving Friday to the first group of people who had ordered one two weeks ago.

Google paid its billionaire Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt nearly $109 million last year while the company's stock slumped.

The Apple Watch debuted in selected global markets Friday with sales limited to clients who had pre-ordered online, making the launch a relatively low-key affair compared to tech titan's usual fanfare.

Google's latest Internet revolution this week saw the web giant modify its search algorithm to favour mobile-friendly sites, in a bid to upstage Apple that US media branded a "mobilegeddon".

Apple has won an appeal in China over patent rights to voice recognition software such as the iPhone's "Siri", with a court overruling an earlier decision that had gone against the US technology giant.

Mark April 23, 2015 as the day the Nasdaq market finally left the dot-com crash, and billions of dollars lost to the first technology bubble, behind.

Indian software giant Infosys Technologies saw its shares dip nearly seven percent Friday after it reported a single digit rise in yearly revenues and also missed quarterly profit estimates.

The future of lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS) – often referred to in the popular press as "killer robots" – remains uncertain following a week-long meeting in Geneva to discuss their legality.

In the age of the smart phone, how smart are the mobile shoppers who use these almost ubiquitous devices? A study from South Korea published in the International Journal of Mobile Communications hopes to answer that question.

UC San Diego's efforts to produce innovative and sustainable solutions to the world's environmental problems have resulted in a partnership with the region's surfing industry to create the world's first algae-based, sustainable surfboard.

Imagine a glass window that's tough like armor, a camera lens that doesn't get scratched in a sand storm, or a smart phone that doesn't break when dropped. Except it's not glass, it's a special ceramic called spinel {spin-ELL} that the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has been researching over the last 10 years.

What killed Comcast's $45 billion bid for Time Warner Cable? Regulators' desire to protect the Internet video industry that is reshaping TV.

4D printing is unfolding as technology that takes 3D printing to an entirely new level.

When the Bullitt Center opened in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood two years ago, the six-story office building was hailed as one of the greenest on the planet.

The world's first watches ran on springs and could run hours behind. The newest watches will measure heart rate and even ask how you're feeling.

The dream of a paperless society may need to be crumpled and tossed out due to the realities of American life.

The Samsung Galaxy S6 is a paradox. While Samsung has produced a great phone and included some nice upgrades, it left out some of the Galaxy's best features and hiked the price.

The state attorney general and New York City's chief lawyer announced a new effort Friday to help technology startups understand what regulations they'll need to follow and to help regulators understand what rules might be getting in innovators' way.

Research to identify the optimum steel for modern railways – combining the highest safety standards and reduced whole life costs – is being headed by experts at the University of Huddersfield. It is a key element in a new ￡2 million project backed by major funding bodies.

Named EVA, a new electric taxi is built by TUM CREATE, a collaboration between Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore) and one of Europe's top universities, Germany's Technische Universität München (TUM). The project is supported by the National Research Foundation, Prime Minister's Office, Singapore.

International travelers arriving at Chicago's O'Hare airport should find shorter lines at passport control thanks to a smartphone app.

Research from The University of Manchester is bringing scientists a step closer to developing new therapies for controlling the body's response to allergies and parasitic worm infections.

An international research team led by Weill Cornell Medical College investigators has discovered an answer to why the human immune system ignores roughly 100 trillion beneficial bacteria that populate the gastrointestinal tract. The findings, published April 23 in the journal Science, advance investigators' understanding of how humans maintain a healthy gastrointestinal tract, and may provoke new ways to treat inflammatory bowel disease—including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis—whose origins have been mysterious and treatment difficult.

Every time you make a memory, somewhere in your brain a tiny filament reaches out from one neuron and forms an electrochemical connection to a neighboring neuron.

A new technique that identifies how genes are controlled could help scientists spot errors in the genetic code which trigger disease, a study suggests.

New research published today in the journal Nature Communications represents a potentially fundamental shift in our understanding of how nerve cells in the brain generate the energy needed to function. The study shows neurons are more independent than previously believed and this research has implications for a range of neurological disorders.

Fragile X syndrome, an inherited cause of autism and intellectual disability, can have consequences even for carriers of the disorder who don't have full-blown symptoms.

Cigar smoking is associated with many of the same fatal conditions as cigarette smoking, according to research published in open access journal BMC Public Health. This underscores the fact that cigar smoking is not a safe alternative to cigarette smoking.

Sleep-related deaths are the most common cause of death for infants 1-12 months of age. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that infants sleep on their back on a firm mattress, without loose bedding. However, many parents use sitting or carrying devices, such as car seats, swings, or bouncers, as alternative sleeping environments, which could lead to potential injury or death. In a new study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics, researchers describe how the improper use of these items can lead to infant deaths.

Investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute have developed an imageable mouse model of brain-metastatic breast cancer and shown the potential of a stem-cell-based therapy to eliminate metastatic cells from the brain and prolong survival. The study published online in the journal Brain also describes a strategy of preventing the potential negative consequences of stem cell therapy.

(HealthDay)—Concomitant use of metformin and histamine H2-receptor antagonists or proton pump inhibitors has the potential to induce vitamin B12 depletion and neuropathy, according to research published in the April issue of Clinical Diabetes.

(HealthDay)—More than one-quarter of patients with metastatic prostate cancer present with a synchronous second primary malignancy, according to a review published in the April issue of The Journal of Urology.

(HealthDay)—Direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of asthma medications is associated with increased emergency department utilization among commercially insured patients, according to a study published online April 16 in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

(HealthDay)—One in 10 acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients without a previous diagnosis of diabetes mellitus (DM) have underlying DM, according to research published online April 21 in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

(HealthDay)—Itchy, blistering rashes from poison ivy, oak and sumac are common and are caused by an oil in the plants called urushiol.

As many as 10900 extra malaria deaths may have occurred in 2014 due to the disruption of healthcare services in the three countries in west Africa currently experiencing widespread Ebola virus outbreaks (Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia), with a further 3900 deaths resulting from the interruption of insecticide treated net (ITN) delivery, according to new modelling research published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal.

Turmeric—the familiar yellow spice common in Indian and Asian cooking—may play a therapeutic role in oral cancers associated with human papillomavirus, according to new research published in ecancermedicalscience.

The first malaria vaccine candidate (RTS,S/AS01) to reach phase 3 clinical testing is partially effective against clinical disease in young African children up to 4 years after vaccination, according to final trial data, published in The Lancet. The results suggest that the vaccine could prevent a substantial number of cases of clinical malaria, especially in areas of high transmission.

Once-daily oral grazoprevir/elbasvir combination therapy, taken without interferon or ribavirin for 12 weeks, demonstrated high sustained virologic response rates for treatment-naïve patients with cirrhotic or non-cirrhotic chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1, 4, or 6. These findings suggest that once-daily oral grazoprevir/elbasvir represents a new therapeutic option for chronic HCV infection.

A new game about the life cycle of malaria that can be played on Android smartphones has been created by an Oxford University developer, based on malaria research at the University's Nuffield Department of Medicine.

Wanda (Lemna) O'Neal was four years old when her sister Nancy died.

If you've ever wondered about the benefits of exercise and why we should all try to get our fair share of it, here are some tips:

Negative feedback can sting, but thinking about the big picture may help transform criticism into positive change, according to new research published by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.

A new study released today found that drugs used to treat multiple sclerosis have soared in price in the past two decades, in some cases more than 700 percent, even though newer drugs have come to the market - a process that normally should have stabilized or reduced the cost of at least the older medications.

Most of the brave and hardy runners in Sunday's London Marathon will have put themselves through a lengthy training programme to build up strength and stamina as well as physical and mental fitness.

Ultrasound—the technology used for sonograms and examining the heart—can increase the rate at which heart cells beat, researchers from Drexel University report. In their paper "Ultrasound-Induced Modulation of Cardiac Rhythm in Neonatal Rat Ventricular Cardiomyocytes," published ahead-of-print in the Journal of Applied Physiology, they describe the ultrasound settings that can change the beat frequency of cardiac cells.

Medical experts widely recommended a combined program of diet and fitness to fight obesity. But when it comes to the type of exercise most effective a reducing weight and body mass—strength training, endurance exercise or a combination of both—opinions vary widely on which exercise regimen is best. Now, a new clinical study by a team of Spanish researchers working as part of the Nutrition and Physical Activity Programs for Obesity Treatment project suggests that the type of exercise may be less important than previously thought.

Published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the researchers used the latest genetic sequencing methods to study 31 children with the disease and discovered a defect in the biological process known as deadenylation. This is the routine breakdown and recycling of the body's messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) – the molecules which transcribe instructions from DNA to make proteins.

Following the publication of Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein's persuasive book "Nudge", nudges have become a popular tool in many fields from tax collection to public health and not least among advertisers, but a thorough review of existing research suggests that the evidence that the concept is based on flimsy evidence at best.

Approximately 584,000 people worldwide die of malaria each year. The epidemic strongly associated with poverty claims most of its victims in Africa, where it particularly affects the weakest, children and pregnant women. Current therapies have to be taken over several days to be effective against malaria. "Due to supply bottlenecks, but also the quick reduction of symptoms, the administration of therapies over several days is often inadequate which can lead to treatment failure and ultimately represent a threat to the patients", so Michael Ramharter of the Infectiology and Tropical Medicine Division of the University for Internal Medicine I at MedUni Vienna on the occasion of the World Malaria Day. First results of a multicentre study with Ramharter as "Principal Investigator" now provide hope for the malaria therapy with just one dose.

Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the United States. The proportion of US adults who are obese – defined as a body mass index (BMI), a measure of body fat based on height and weight – of at least 30, has risen from 13% in 1960 to 35% in2011-2012. Estimates of the annual costs of obesity include 112,000 lives lost and US$190 billion in medical expenses.

(HealthDay)—Women undergoing coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) have a higher rate of vascular complications than men, which are significantly reduced with radial access, according to a study published in the April 20 issue of JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions.

(HealthDay)—For older women with breast cancer, low self-rated health (SRH) and limited walking ability predict worse all-cause survival at five and 10 years, according to a study published in the April issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

All over the world, millions of people see skin color as a symbol of superiority or inferiority, whether they are conscious of it or not. Others see humanity's array of skin tones, from white to ocher to black, as a positive mark of our remarkable diversity. But Nina Jablonski sees skin color, first and foremost, as an evolutionary gateway to vitamin D.

In the deep of winter high in the mountains of South Africa's Eastern Cape, teenage boys clad only in blankets, with white clay painted on their faces, undergo agonizing traditional circumcisions. Hundreds have died as a result of the ritual, and hundreds more have lost their penises when infection set in, according to the South African Health Ministry.

Acute myeloid leukemia is a conundrum among cancers. Immature cells swamp the bone marrow, crowd out healthy cells, and all too often can have devastating consequences.

Friends and loved ones of Lee's Summit, Mo., Police Detective Joshua Ward are praying for the 34-year-old married father of three who, even after five surgeries in as many days, remained in critical condition Monday at St. Luke's Hospital battling a rare and sudden flesh-eating infection.

Nearly two years before recent superbug outbreaks at two Los Angeles medical centers, the maker of the scopes involved was already warning hospitals in Europe about the risk of such patient infections.

Like many of today's moms, Faith Kirkpatrick waited until she was in her 30s before she tried to get pregnant. Then she knew her biological clock was ticking.

The recent Great Recession was accompanied by a significant and sustained increase in major depression in U.S. adults, according to a Loyola study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

While seeking targets to attack Huntington's disease, an incurable inherited neurodegenerative disorder, neurobiologists of the research group led by Professor Erich Wanker of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association found what they were looking for. Using a filtering strategy borrowed from criminologists, the researchers systematically filtered interaction networks of various biological databases. In several steps, they increasingly narrowed down their search until they ultimately found the protein (CRMP1). In subsequent lab experiments the researchers showed that CRMP1 acts like a "chaperone", ensuring that the protein huntingtin (HTT) behaves correctly and does not misfold or clump. Dysregulated modulation of the HTT protein by the CRMP1 protein is regarded as a causal mechanism of Huntington's disease.

Orphaned children in low- and middle-income countries face a high risk of trauma, with physical and sexual abuse being by far the most prevalent traumatic events.

Nearly half of American hospitals aren't taking key steps to prevent a kind of gut infection that kills nearly 30,000 people annually and sickens hundreds of thousands more - despite strong evidence that such steps work, according to a new study.

Coeliac disease is one of the most common life-long conditions in Europe, yet many people remain undiagnosed and lengthy diagnostic delays may be putting lives at risk. Today, doctors are being urged to consider testing for Coeliac disease in anyone showing signs and symptoms of the condition and to consider screening everyone in high-risk groups.

Text messaging that connects teens with sexual health educators is effective for delivering sexual health information, according to a recent study in The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University.The research abstract is online and the work will appear in an upcoming print issue of the journal Health Education and Behavior.

Children with hemophilia A require three to four infusions each week to prevent bleeding episodes, chronic pain and joint damage. The effect on quality of life can be significant, due to time and discomfort associated with infusions. For these reasons, under dosing is common, leaving children at increased risk for bleeding episodes and even death.

Ahmad M. Khalil, PhD, knew the odds were against him—as in thousands upon thousands to one.

Cases of HIV have skyrocketed in a rural community in the midwestern state of Indiana where 142 people have been diagnosed since the beginning of the year, officials said Friday.

Federal health officials helping to contain an HIV outbreak in Indiana state issued an alert to health departments across the U.S. on Friday, urging them to take steps to identify and track HIV and hepatitis C cases in an effort to prevent similar outbreaks elsewhere.

A new study published today by the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine has found that alternative providers of primary care in the NHS, including private sector companies, do not perform as well as traditional GP practices.

Findings were presented today at The International Liver Congress 2015 on a novel therapeutic candidate for a genomically defined subset of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with an aberrant fibroblast growth factor receptor 4 (FGFR4) pathway. BLU-554, a small molecule inhibitor of FGFR4, has been identified as a potential treatment option for up to 30% of HCC patients. In preclinical studies, the investigational drug was shown to be potent and 'exquisitely selective' for FGFR4 compared to other kinases targeting the FGFR family.

Results announced today at The International Liver Congress 2015 show that cancer rates in patients with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) were significantly increased compared to the non-HCV cohort. The researchers suggest an extrahepatic manifestation of HCV may be an increased risk of cancer.

A new study presented today at The International Liver Congress 2015 has demonstrated that ledipasvir (LDV) in combination with sofosbuvir (SOF) achieves sustained virologic response rates 12 weeks after treatment (SVR12; primary endpoint), of 93% and 95% in patients chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes 4 or 5, respectively.

Results presented today at The International Liver Congress 2015 show that a 12-week oral regimen of once-daily single tablet grazoprevir/elbasvir (GZR/EBR) is effective and well-tolerated in treatment-naive (TN) patients infected with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes (GT)-1, -4 or -6, including those with compensated cirrhosis.

Results from a large population-based cohort of almost a million people in the UK found that the chances of dying from non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), over a 14-year period, was approximately 50% higher than for those with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

Major recalls from two well-known ice cream companies due to the discovery of listeria bacteria raise questions about how the pathogen could have contaminated multiple ice cream manufacturing plants—and whether the discoveries are related.

A new University of Sydney study has detailed how courts are facing difficult choices about the criminal responsibility of veteran defendants, with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or serious mental health issues.

Digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) increases the rate of cancer detection in women with dense breast tissue by as much as 67%, according to new research from the Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia.

Preliminary results of a study of patients with prostate cancer show that MR tractography may be a reliable quantitative imaging biomarker to assess prostate cancer treatment response to androgen deprivation and radiation therapy, according to a team of researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Quantitative evaluation shows higher tract densities after androgen deprivation and radiation therapy, reflecting gland shrinkage and subsequent fibrosis.

Although National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines consider 18F-PET/CT (FDG PET/CT) appropriate for systemic staging of newly diagnosed stage III breast cancer, the technique may not be equally valuable for all breast cancer histologies. Researchers at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center found that while FDG PET/CT is valuable for systemic staging of stage III ductal breast cancer, it adds little to the systemic staging of ILC.

The death toll in a meningitis epidemic that broke out in January in Niger has reached 129, the health minister of the largely arid west African nation said Friday.

(HealthDay)—Patricia Harrington is many things: a woman in her 60s, a successful physicist and radiation oncology programmer, and currently the intake coordinator for the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund.

A study performed by Loyola University Medical Center resident neurologists has won a prestigious 2015 Safety and Quality Award from the American Academy of Neurology.

A simple method of testing "twilight vision" gives reliable results in identifying people who have decreased visual acuity under low light conditions, according to a study in the May issue of Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry.

Generic drug company Mylan increased its offer for over-the-counter giant Perrigo Friday, days after Israel's Teva attempted to head off that deal with its own bid for Mylan.

Stem cells naturally cling to feeder cells as they grow in petri dishes. Scientists have thought for years that this attachment occurs because feeder cells serve as a support system, providing stems cells with essential nutrients.

Karl A. Gschneidner and fellow scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory have created a new magnetic alloy that is an alternative to traditional rare-earth permanent magnets.