The AlphaGalileo Blog 10/10/2024
October eNews
Welcome to this month's edition of eNews! We've had an exciting month filled with groundbreaking research and compelling updates. It was a real challenge to narrow down the highlights for this issue. As always, we bring you our top 5 most-read articles, the editor's pick, and our featured image of the month.
As always, if you would like to get in touch with the News Team about anything, please email us.
We would also like to welcome our new contributors:
CIIMAR - Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research
Chiba University
iesResearch
North Carolina State University
Sedulo Group
Top 5 September eNews
1. VTT develops more efficient lithium recovery – driven by EU's goal of increasing self-sufficiency in mining operations, published by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland on 25/09/24
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is leading the development of more efficient and sustainable recovery of lithium. The joint effort of industry and researchers supports the EU's goals of increasing the self-sufficiency rate of important metals and creating a new sustainable extractive sector in Finland.
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2. Researchers aim to create biodegradable plastic – from algae, published by Umeå University on 20/09
The Waste2Plastic project at Umeå University has received SEK 15 million from the Swedish Energy Agency and its industrial partners to produce biodegradable plastics, PHA, using microalgae. The algae are grown in wastewater in Umeå and convert carbon dioxide from flue gases into biomass.
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3. New CBE JU Project OptiForValue aims to optimise forest operations for sustainable forest management and high-value applications, published by ERINN Innovation on 24/09
Wood use is increasing globally, with demand estimated to significantly surpass supply, increasing the pressure to increase forest areas and growth. The importance of forests in climate change mitigation and maintaining biodiversity is becoming more evident (as emphasised in the New EU Forest Strategy for 2023). Climate change is also causing direct challenges to forests and the bioeconomy, due to increasing biotic and abiotic threats affecting forest health and causing severe economic losses.
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4. Breakthrough in Submicron Transistor Thermal Simulation through Efficient Phonon BTE Method, published by Transpread on 25/09
This study presents a highly efficient thermal simulation method using a non-gray phonon Boltzmann transport equation. By integrating first-principles phonon properties and advanced computational techniques, the method avoids empirical parameters and achieves remarkable efficiency, solving large-scale 3D problems in under two hours on a personal computer. It enables predictive design of nanostructures with specific thermal conductivity and accurately resolves temperature profiles at the transistor level, aiding in understanding self-heating effects in electronics.
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5. Are cows pickier than goats?, published by Uppsala Universitet on 20/09
To answer this question, Linnaeus collected 643 different plant species that were then fed to horses, cows, pigs, sheep and goats. The results were carefully compiled but not analysed until now, 275 years later, when they will also be published by the Linnean Society in London.
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Editor's Choice
Recording the cats in the hats published Université de Montréal on 26/09/2024
In a world first, veterinary scientists at Université de Montréal have found a way to scan the brains of cats while they’re awake, using electrodes concealed under specially knitted wool caps. They have reported a new technique to keep the electrodes in place: by placing them in crocheted beanies.
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Image Caption: Fée, an abandoned cat with chronic osteoarthritis, was one of 11 who wore specially knitted caps for tests at Université de Montréal's veterinary school. (Credit: Aliénor Delsart, Université de Montréal)
Image of the month
Return of the Elephants Seals: From a Few to Thousands published by Universitaet Bielefeld on 27/09/2024
A new international study has revealed the genetic impact of hunting in northern elephant seals. Published today (27.09.2024) in ‘Nature Ecology and Evolution’, the research shows that this species narrowly escaped extinction by hunting, resulting in lasting genetic effects in the present population. Fifteen German, British and US researchers from seven universities and four research institutions collaborated for this study led by Bielefeld University.
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Image caption: The northern elephant seals have recovered over decades from extreme hunting, but still carry genetic traces of it. Photo: Bielefeld University/Martin Stoffel