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Monday, May 4, 2026
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Soft Artificial Heart Is Capable Of Beating Like The Real One, But Not As Long

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illustration of soft artificial heart

A team of scientists created a soft artificial heart capable of beating almost like a real cord.

A team of researchers managed to accomplish an impressive feat as they created a soft artificial heart prototype capable of beating almost like a real one. However, they still have their work cut out for them, as the prototype currently has a limited beating span.

A team of ETH Zurich Functional Materials Laboratory in Switzerland researchers are behind this new artificial heart. They managed to create it by using 3D printing technology and silicone.

The Soft Artificial Heart Is Almost an Exact Replica of a Real Cord

This heart prototype was designed to replicate a real human heart, as opposed to other existing blood pumps or cord replicas. The soft artificial heart employed the use of a 3D printer and is made out of silicone. It features almost the same compartmentation, only instead of two, it has three ventricles.

This additional chamber unlocks its ability to beat. The prototype weighs some 390 grams and has a volume of 679 cubic centimeters, which makes it a bit heavier than a real cord.

Its left and right ventricle are separated not by a septum but by the extra heart chamber. This acts as the cord muscle, as it helps move pressurized air that inflates and deflates the prototype.

The soft silicone heart can then beat as a regular real one, but only for some 3,000 times. About 30 to 45 minutes after it started beating, its silicone base starts breaking apart.

The research team is now working hard on improving its prototype. They will be looking to strengthen its material. Further enhancements will also have to help it function over longer periods of time. Still, as the research team states, this was solely a test, and their first target was creating an as real as possible heart. This in itself could open up a new path in organ replacement.

“This was simply a feasibility test. Our goal was not to present a heart ready for implantation, but to think about a new direction for the development of artificial hearts.”

Further tests, studies, and research will still be needed. But this is nonetheless an important step towards the creation of an as efficient as possible artificial heart.

Current study results are available in the journal Artificial Organs.

Image Source: Wikimedia

Tardigrades Are Likely To Be Alive Even 5 Billion Years From Now

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tardigrades

Tardigrades are seemingly likely to survive another five billion years from now on.

Scientists have known for some time that tardigrades, also known as water bears, are capable of surviving almost anything they can throw at it. Extended periods of dehydration, exposure to vacuum conditions, and even heavy doses of radiation would fail to kill these micro-animals.

Even though they are less than a millimeter long, they may well be some of the toughest creatures in existence. They have also been around for quite some time. Now, researchers predict that they could survive, as a species, for another 5 billion years.

Tardigrades are Quite Indestructible Creatures

A team looked into the issue as a way of examining how life might survive extinction level events and possibly transmit from planet to planet, even between stars. It also helps them predict life on other planets might exist long enough for us to find it. Of all the members of the animal kingdom, the tardigrade appears to be the most likely to survive a major destructive event. Only some microbes might have a greater chance to continue afterward.David Sloan, a physics researcher at Oxford University, stated that this new study considered “the hardiest species”, namely, the tardigrade. It did so as quite a number of previous studies focused on ‘doomsday’ scenarios.

These revolve around Earth and the astrophysical events, such as supernovae, which could wipe out humanity. However, few considered what species could still survive them.

Sloan, a co-author of the study, continued, relating his comments to other recent discoveries. “As we are now entering a stage of astronomy where we have seen exoplanets and are hoping to soon perform spectroscopy, looking for signatures of life, we should try to see just how fragile this hardiest life is.”
The main reason they put the 5 billion years time limit on the tardigrades’ existence is tied to the Sun. This is predicted to expand to such a size that Earth’s oceans would completely boil away. Still, humans will be gone long before that.
Study results are available in the journal Nature.  
Image Source: Wikimedia

A One Trillion Tons Iceberg Broke From The Larsen C Ice Shelf

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one million tons iceberg satellite view

A one trillion tons iceberg jut broke free of the Larsen C Ice Shelf in northwest Antarctica.

Scientists monitoring the Larsen C Ice Shelf announced early on Wednesday morning that a one trillion tons iceberg just broken free of the formation located in northwest Antarctica.

The team of researchers is part of Project MIDAS, a United Kingdom initiated research project. Scientists point out that such calving events are quite to be expected. Especially so considering the crack in Larsen C, which has been expanding faster than expected.

Calving is the term given to the process in which chunks of ice break off at the end or terminus of an ice shelf or glacier.

 

One Trillion Tons Iceberg, the Third Biggest Calving Ever Recorded

According to initial estimates, the one trillion tons iceberg which recently broke off is one of the largest such structures ever recorded. It was estimated to be about the size of Delaware as it has an area of some 2,200 square miles. It also contains an ice volume about twice as big as the size of Lake Erie.

The Project MIDAS researchers revealed these details in a blog release posted on July 12. This also pointed out that the iceberg will most likely receive the “A68” designation. Its title will help officials in charge of tracking the movement of icebergs so that these can be avoided by ships.

Scientists also state that it is still hard to predict how the situation will unfold from now on. This is turn due to the iceberg’s large size. Scientists report that this may either remain in one piece or break apart into fragments. This latter also seems to be the most likely variant.

 

The calving event in itself is believed to have taken place sometime in between Monday, July 10, and Wednesday, July 12.

 

However, the researchers pointed out that “The calving of this iceberg leaves the Larsen C Ice Shelf reduced in area by more than 12 percent, and the landscape of the Antarctic Peninsula changed forever.”

If the one trillion tons iceberg does break apart, some parts of it may drift up north, into warmer parts. Some others may remain for decades in the same area where they are now.

Image Source: JPL/NASA

New Particle Discovered At CERN Has Double The Charm

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The XI-cc++ particle is a double charmer

Physicists at CERN discovered a new particle that could challenge Quantum Theory.

The physicists at the CERN facility in Geneva, Switzerland have recently discovered a new particle that was only predicted by the current patterns in particle physics. The particle, named XI-cc++, is made up of two heavy quarks and one light one. Thus, its conclusive detection could make it a useful tool in understanding more about the force that binds the quarks together and leads to the formation of the atom.

The New Particle is an Important Discovery to Quantum Theory

The XI-cc++ particle is a baryon, which means it is composed of three quarks. The quark is a unit of measurement for hadrons, the main object of study for the scientists at CERN.

Usually, three light quarks form most baryons. However, as the XI-cc++ particle has two heavy quarks, it is four times heavier than a usual baryon. This makes for an important clue for the suppositions made in quantum theory. As Giovanni Passaleva from the Large Hadron Collider states:

Finding a doubly heavy-quark baryon is of great interest as it will provide a unique tool to further probe quantum chromodynamics, the theory that describes the strong interaction, one of the four fundamental forces.

Physicists have split the quarks into different “flavors” called up, down, top, bottom, charm and strange. The XI-cc++ has two charm quarks and an up quark. That is why it makes the particle lean towards the heavy side. Because lighter particles move faster, they are harder to study.

However, with the XI-cc++ particle, a single light quark moves around the heavier quarks which are slower, making it easier for the physicists to study the phenomenon.

By proving the existence of a speculated particle pattern, researchers wish to discover other such patterns that involve the charm quark and measure their lifespan as well as the frequency with which they can be created in the collision experiments at CERN. With these measurements, scientists can reinforce or disprove the current theories in the Standard Model of particle physics.

Image source: Wikimedia Commons.

Qualcomm Seeks Iphone Ban Following Legal Battle With Apple

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Two industry giants are currently engaged in a legal battle.

The legal battle between Apple and Qualcomm is now at a global scale.

Following a string of lawsuits, Qualcomm now seeks the US government to enforce a ban on iPhone imports. Since the beginning of 2017, Apple filed four lawsuits against the market giant on accusations of overcharging for basic patents. The latest lawsuits came after the Federal Trade Commission announced that it would sue Qualcomm for abusing its position as market leader.

The Legal Fights Seem to Only Escalate

As the lawsuits against the market giant seem to pile up, the company is now retaliating by asking the US government to enforce a ban that would stop Apple products for entering American soil. Moreover, the company asks for halting the sales of iPhones that are already in the country.

Qualcomm accuses Apple of violating six patents that deal with extending the battery life of a mobile phone. The company added that the patents have not been licensed because they are not essential for a standard product. However, the company accuses Apple of using technology that the industry giant refuses to pay for. Qualcomm’s general counsel, Don Rosenberg stated:

Qualcomm’s inventions are at the heart of every iPhone and extend well beyond modem technologies or cellular standards.

By striking back, the company aims to put a strain on Apple and its suppliers.

On the other hand, Apple’s lawsuit stays in line with the Federal Trade Commission’s accusations of Qualcomm’s practicing anti-competitive prices. Moreover, Apple extended the lawsuit to two other countries, including China.

The company claims that Qualcomm charges extremely high royalties for technologies it is not responsible for and therefore abusing its position as a market leader. Apple claims that the rates are five times higher than all the other patent licensors combined.

Qualcomm has strongly denied both FTC’s and Apple’s accusations. As a primary supplier of smartphone modems, the company has a leverage that might force Apple to come to an agreement regarding the shipment of iPhones.

As of yet, Apple did not issue a response and its position remains to be seen.

Image Source: Techcrunch

Opportunity Rover Researches Mars Ancient River Site

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Opportunity rover

The Opportunity rover explores the surface of Mars

The Opportunity rover from NASA has sent new footage and observation data from the research mission on Mars. In the recent news, Opportunity sent images depicting an area in which a lake may have been.

Opportunity Rover Researches Mars Ancient River Site

In its current mission, the Opportunity rover is examining rocks at the edge of Endeavour Crater for clues that might tell if the rocks were transported by a flood or eroded in place by winds.

The team that manages the Opportunity rover mission will most probably drive the rover to Perseverance Valley after finishing a study of the area above the Valley. The Opportunity rover has been studying the western rim of Endeavour Crater since 2011. It is meant to be a mission of accommodation and study of what is above Perseverance Valley, said Ray Arvidson, Deputy Principal Investigator from Washington University in St. Louis.

“We see a pattern of striations running east-west outside the crest of the rim”, he said.

Researchers have observed a broad notch over the Valley and, at west, patches of rocks that line in the east-west where they believe, billion-years ago, was a drainage channel.

“We want to determine whether these are in-place rocks or transported rocks,” Arvidson said.

Scientists believe that there are two possibilities. It was either the final part of a catchment where a lake was perched against the outside of the crater rim. If this were the case, a giant river course would have carried rocks, breaching the rim and overflowing into the crater.

The other theory makes Perseverance Valley a spillway, the ground west of the crest slope away. If this were the case, researchers are thinking of delving into finding a scenario that would offer an explanation about how the valley was carved. There is much more to do for the Opportunity rover.

Image Source: NASA

Scientists Crack the Macrauchenia Patachonica Case

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Macrauchenia patachonica

The Macrauchenia patachonica lived during the last ice age and was recently added to the tree of life

Charles Darwin stumbled upon one of, what he called, the strangest animals ever encountered. The Macrauchenia patachonica was an extinct animal, whose fossils Darwin had found but neither him nor his colleague, Richard Owen, a British paleontologist, could figure it out. But now scientists have cracked down the Macrauchenia patachonica.

Scientists Crack the Macrauchenia Patachonica Case

The last member of the species died approximately 12,000 years ago. The Macrauchenia lived during the last ice age. It looked like a bulky camel without a hump, having the neck of a llama and a short trunk as a nose.

Ross MacPhee, study coauthor and a curator at the American Museum of Natural History, said about the animal that

“It was a fairly bulky quadruped, probably not very fleet of foot”.

He said that the most remarkable aspect of the Macrauchenia patachonica was its nose. The researchers do not know whether it was an actual trunk, as in the case of an elephant-like nose, or if it was more of an appendage, like the proboscis of a tapir, he added. Especially since the opening was, per MacPhee’s account, right between the eyes, not above its mouth.

In a previous study, for example, researchers tried to place the Macrauchenia patachonica on the tree of life by using ancient collagen. This was two years ago. MacPhee and his colleague, Michi Hofreiter, have built on the 2015-study by extracting mitochondrial DNA from a fossil found in South America. In addition to this, however, the researchers also used a different, new approach in order to recover the genome of the Macrauchenia patachonica.

Because the tests and results confirmed their hypothesis and approach, they have since included it in the tree of life, being related to the hypo, horse, and elephant. Their work regarding the Macrauchenia patachonica gave them hope for further research regarding other extinct species of whose fossils are still uncovered, discovered, and analyzed.

Image Source: Walking With Wikia

The Lone Star Tick Bite Triggers Red Meat Allergy

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tick bite triggers red meat allergy

The lone star tick bite triggers red meat allergy, immunologists say. They have yet to understand the underlying mechanisms for this situation

Immunologists have found an increased rate of meat allergy induced by the lone star tick. There isn’t much data on how the allergy is triggered or why the immune system triggers it, but there are worrisome reasons that urge healthcare agents to caution people that are bitten by this tick to carefully monitor any sort of joint or muscle pain or other signs of allergy.

This Tick Bite Triggers Red Meat Allergy

In the past 20 years, there have been increasing reports of people that, after a lifetime worth of meat eating, developed sudden meat allergy. And as Summers has set its sails, MDs and other health agents worry that the number of such cases will increase.

The reason for which this particular tick bite triggers red meat allergy is that red meat contains some protein-linked saccharides, among them the galactose-α-1,3-galactose. The alpha-gal is the main ingredient in triggering the meat allergy. This tick bite triggers red meat allergy which poses a life threating danger, as individuals can develop specific symptoms which, if not treated in due under specialized care, can kill them.

All that the researchers know is that the ticks feed on deer. When they bite humans, their victims are exposed to the alpha-gal allergen, which is found in the deer blood still present in the tick.  This is what Andrew Nickels, M.D., assistant professor of Medicine and Pediatrics and an allergist at ASAP, said.

 “A susceptible human’s immune system then develops molecules called IgE that are specific to the alpha-gal allergen. Once this occurs, they are prone to have allergic reactions”, he further said.

The alpha-gal syndrome is a recent discovery, having less than 10 years of research behind it. The tick bite allergy has been more tested in the recent period to help scientist understand how the tick bite triggers red meat allergy and how it changes the immune system’s reaction to the said protein. For the time being, however, there isn’t a cure that can help patients regain their normal red meat diet. But the symptoms can be controlled through diet, doctors hoping that it passes in time.

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Pictures Of Baby Animals Proven To Have Positive Effects On People

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baby animals puppies

New research found that looking at pictures of baby animals could potentially improve relationships.

According to the latest study, looking at pictures of baby animals was proven to have a positive effect on people, possibly even going as far as helping somewhat improve their relationships.

The research team set out to determine if people could become ‘conditioned by repeated associations’. They did so to test out the theory that advances the following idea; can outside sources influence behavioral exchanges between partners?

As the team points out, misattributions processes can lead to an association between an event and a different source.

Baby Animals Pictures to Help Improve Relationships

The Florida State University research team employed the help of 144 married couples. These had been together for no more than 5 years, and the partners were younger than 40. Experiment participants were split into two groups. One of them, the control part, was shown “neutral” images.

The others were presented with “positive” stimuli, ones that showed them puppy pics and photographs of their spouses. It also used words such as “wonderful” or “superb”. The two groups were asked to view their stimuli three times a week, over 6 weeks.

Participants in “positive” incentives group returned a more “positive automatic reaction” to their partners when compared to those shown neutral images, such as a button. At the same time, the first category also presented an overall boost, and better relation, when compared to the beginning of the study. This applied even in cases when the situation was not that happy, to begin with, according to results.

“All the theory I reviewed on evaluative conditioning suggested it should, but existing theories of relationships, and just the idea that something so simple and unrelated to marriage could affect how people feel about their marriage, made me skeptical, ” stated James McNulty.

As such, McNulty, who is the study lead, also expressed his actual surprise at the positive results.

Study findings are available in the journal Psychological Science.

Image Source: FreeGreatPicture

Quantum Entanglement Can Lead to Faster and Safer Communication

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quantum entanglement

A shot of the Milky Way. In it, quantum entanglement is an eerie phenomenon that scientists are trying to understand

Scientists have discovered a new way of sending tangled photons in such a way that they can observe directly and immediately if there is any sort of interference between the two. This is called quantum entanglement. And it is a breakthrough discovery that is a step forward in the evolution of cryptography and information transmission from end to end stations.

Quantum Entanglement – Definition and Explanation

Quantum entanglement was up until recently a sort of anomaly as far as standard physics is concerned. The bedrock rules are: nothing can travel faster than light and objects are only influenced by their immediate surroundings.

However, quantum entanglement breaks these rules because recent experiments have shown that it is possible to create entangled photons on a satellite orbiting 300 miles above Earth. And then sending them to two ground-based labs separated by 750 miles. Without losing the linkage of the entangled photons. This is a breakthrough because no one was able to produce quantum entanglement in space and be able to maintain it through the entire course of information transmission.

Jian-Wei Pan, a physicist at the University of Science and Technology of China in Shanghai, is the lead scientist behind this operation. His work can lead to better, faster and secure information sharing between two points. This, without the possibility of interfering with the said information.

“It’s a really stunning achievement, and I think it’s going to be the first of possibly many such interesting and exciting studies that this particular satellite will open up” (Shohini Ghose, a physicist at Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada)

Of course, there are still yet to be known factors, such as “how is quantum entanglement possible?”. And, out of 6 million photons, only 1 photon could be recovered. This in itself is still more promising that nothing. Ultimately, further research and the evolution of technology will lead to ways of understanding quantum entanglement. Then, to the means of creating it and harnessing its capabilities.

Image Source: Flickr

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