Cool STEM News:

Exercise ‘could be better than medication for dementia patients with depression’ | News Chain (01:46)

• A meta-analysis (combining previous studies) showcased that exercise and social interaction are as good if not better at treating depression in patients with dementia. 

• The research looked at 256 studies, covering 28,483 people with dementia, and they published their study on BMJ.  

• The benefit of this meta-study is the comparison between non-drugs & drug therapies was not tested. 

• To get more specific in their findings, they found 7 interventions that shown a greater reduction in symptoms (mean difference):

1. 1. Cognitive Stimulation (−2.93) 
   2. Cognitive stimulation combined with a dementia drug (−11.39)
   3. Massage and touch therapy (−9.03)
   4. Multidisciplinary care (−1.98)
   5. Occupational therapy (−2.59)
   6. Exercise with social interaction & cognitive stimulation (−12.37)
   7. Reminiscence therapy (−2.30)

• The study put forward these findings & concluded: “In this systematic review, non-drug interventions were found to be more efficacious than drug interventions for reducing symptoms of depression in people with dementia without a major depressive disorder”

This Structural Battery Could Lead to Massless Energy Storage | Popular Mechanics (08:56)

• In groundbreaking new research, scientists at Chalmers University of Technology and  KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden have made a “massless” structural battery 10 times better than in any previous experiment.

• What is a structural battery?
  • An energy storage device that can also bear weight as part of a structure.
  • Example: If the studs in your house could store energy.
• The termed ‘massless’ energy storage is used because, in essence, the battery’s weight vanishes when it becomes part of the load-bearing structure.

• The main use case would be in Electric Vehicles. Since batteries take up a good percentage of weight.
  • For example, in a Tesla Model S the battery pack takes up almost 30% of the weight. 

• Now imagine if the structure of the car can hold energy storage? Lead to new designs where companies don’t have to work around the battery pack weight.

• How did they make it?
  • Layered a buffer glass “fabric” between a positive and negative electrode. 
  • Packed it with a space-age polymer electrolyte and cured it in the oven.
  • Final Creation: A flat battery cell that conducts well and holds up to tensile tests in all directions.

• Chalmers University of Technology wrote in a press release:
  • “The battery has an energy density of 24 Wh/kg, meaning approximately 20 percent capacity compared to comparable lithium-ion batteries currently available. But since the weight of the vehicles can be greatly reduced, less energy will be required to drive an electric car, for example, and lower energy density also results in increased safety. And with a stiffness of 25 GPa, the structural battery can really compete with many other commonly used construction materials.”

• Next Steps:
  • Improve the performance, replacing aluminum foil in the electrode with carbon fiber material & thinning out the separator.
  • Possibly resulting in a battery that produces 75 Wh/kg of energy and 75 GPa of stiffness. (Approximately 63% capacity compared to lithium-ion batteries)

• Potential Uses:
  • E-bikes
  • Satellites
  • Laptops
  • Even Airplanes! (The main issue of turning airplanes electric is the weight of battery packs)

Researchers Found a Way to Send Tiny Robots Into Mouse Brains | Gizmodo (18:47)

• A team of researchers at Key Laboratory of Microsystems and Microstructures Manufacturing in China have managed to treat brain tumors in mice by delivering drugs to the tissues using microscopic robots.

• In their study, Robots were coated in E. Coli which tricked the rodents’ immune systems into attacking them, absorbing the robots and the cancer-fighting drugs in the process.

• These microscopic robots are magnetic allowing the researchers to use a rotating magnetic field to pull them around remotely.
  • Named “neutrobots” because they infiltrate the brain in the casing of neutrophils, a type of white blood cell.

• Why E. Coli?  It is easily recognized by the white blood cells as an unwelcome invader. The immune system would not pick up the non-coated robots before.

• Once absorbed they were able to move the cells toward the brain, and once in the brain were able to deliver the drug directly to the tumor.

• The applications are not specifically designed just for brain tumors it can be all-encompassing according to lead author Zhiguang Wu:
  • “The neutrobots are not exclusively designed for the treatment of glioma … [A] platform for active delivery for the therapy of various brain diseases such as cerebral thrombosis, apoplexy, and epilepsy.”

Scientists will test the world’s first nuclear fusion reactor this summer | The Next Web (26:53)

• The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) will move one step closer to becoming the world’s first functioning nuclear fusion reactor this summer when scientists conduct its inaugural test runs.

• Briefer on Fusion:
  • When the nuclei of two atoms fuse they release an incredible amount of energy.
  • Use a relatively tiny amount of energy to release an immense amount.
  • Problem is that it has to produce enough energy to be useful. But, it also has to be controlled so it doesn’t produce too much. (Scaling up is difficult)
  • Essentially how our sun works. 

• Further understanding the amount of energy produced in Britannica:
  • One metric ton of deuterium would contain roughly 3 × 10³² atoms.
  • If that were consumed through fusion with tritium, the energy released would be 8.4 × 10²⁰ joules.
  • Compared to one ton of coal which produces 2.9 × 10¹⁰ joules.
  • This fusion reaction would produce the equivalent of 29 billion tons of coal!

• What is happening this summer?

• • Researchers at EUROfusion will fire up the Joint European Torus (JET).
    •  JET is a sort of proof-of-concept for ITER at a smaller scale
  • A separate experiment designed to fine-tune the fuel and material needs for the ITER experiment.
  • Allows going hands-on to sort out the problems of controlling Nuclear Fusion power.

• Future of ITER:
  • 2025: begin a ten-year service cycle where it’ll operate on low-power hydrogen reactions.
  • 2035: Hopefully collected enough data & info to comfortably swap out the hydrogen fuel source for deuterium and tritium fuel.

It Takes Guts to Fend Off Loneliness and Achieve Wisdom | Neuroscience News (36:38)

• The evolving science of wisdom rests on the idea that wisdom’s defined traits correspond to distinct regions of the brain.
  • Back in 2009, a study was published where Researchers at UC San Diego suggested that the neurobiology of wisdom may involve an optimal balance between more primitive brain regions (the limbic system) and the newest ones (pre-frontal cortex.)

• Scientists have found in multiple studies that persons deemed to be wiser are less prone to feel lonely while those who are lonelier also tend to be less wise. 

• Researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine have taken it a step further by making the connection between wisdom brain activity and your gut microbiome.
  • Wisdom and loneliness appear to influence — and/or be influenced by — microbial diversity of the gut.

• This is related to the gut-brain axis:
  • A complex network that links intestinal function to the emotional and cognitive centers of the brain.
  • Regulated by neural activity, hormones, and the immune system.
  • Alterations to your gut can result in disruptions to stress response and behaviors.

• Past studies have associated gut microbiota with mental health disorders, social behavior & cognitive decline.
  • Talked about the importance of the gut microbiome on Episode 27 & 28.

• Study:
  • 187 participants, ages 28 to 97
  • Self-reported measures of loneliness, wisdom, compassion, social support, and social engagement.
  • Analyzed gut microbiota from fecal samples. 

• Findings:
  • “We found that lower levels of loneliness and higher levels of wisdom, compassion, social support, and engagement were associated with greater phylogenetic richness and diversity of the gut microbiome,” said first author Tanya T. Nguyen, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine.
  • Not sure what is the link but did note that reduced microbial diversity typically represents worse physical and mental health
    • Associated with a variety of diseases, including obesity, inflammatory bowel disease, and major depressive disorder.

• The researcher theorized:
  • “It is possible that loneliness may result in decreased stability of the gut microbiome and, consequently, reduced resistance and resilience to stress-related disruptions, leading to downstream physiological effects, such as systemic inflammation … Bacterial communities with low alpha-diversity may not manifest overt disease, but they may be less than optimal for preventing disease. Thus, lonely people may be more susceptible to developing different diseases.”

• The researchers concluded due to the complexity of the issue they would need to investigate more thoroughly (e.g. more variable data points) to better understand the gut-brain axis relation.

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