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New wall paint automatically cleans when exposed to sunlight
Researchers have developed titanium oxide nanoparticles that can be added to commercially available wall paints to give them self-cleaning properties.
According to a new study published in the journal ACS catalysisnanoparticles are photocatalytically active and use sunlight to bind and break down substances in the air.
“People have been trying to use customized wall paints to clean the air for years,” said Günter Luprechter, director of the Materials Chemistry Institute at the Vienna University of Technology, also known as the Vienna University of Technology in Austria. ” he says.
“Titanium oxide nanoparticles are of particular interest in this context. They can bind and degrade a wide range of pollutants.”
When the researchers flushed painted surfaces with a solution containing the contaminants, they found that 96% of the contaminants could be broken down by natural sunlight without changing the color of the paint.
Song lyrics are becoming simpler and more repetitive
English song lyrics have become more simple and repetitive over the past 40 years, according to a new paper published in . scientific report.
Researchers looked at the lyrics of 12,000 English-language rap, country, pop, R&B, and rock songs released between 1980 and 2020. The lyrics were then analyzed using descriptors such as complexity, structure, emotion, and popularity.
Their findings suggest that over time, lyrics have become simpler and easier to understand, and the number of different words used within songs has also decreased, especially in rap and rock songs.
On the other hand, lyrics also tend to become more emotional and personal over time. However, while using emotionally positive words, and There was an increase in negative words in rap songs, but only the use of negative lyrics increased in R&B, pop, and country songs.
Citizen scientists fill gaps in seahorse knowledge
An analysis of approximately 7,800 seahorse observations from 96 countries Fish Biology Journalhas revealed new information about 35 of the 46 species of seahorses found around the world.
Citizen science sightings submitted to the iSeahorse program between 2013 and 2022 updated the geographic ranges of seven species, expanded the depth ranges of 14 species, and provided new information on sex ratio for 15 species. it was done.
“When we compared the habitat types reported in iSeahorse with the IUCN Red List assessed habitat types for each species, we found new habitats for 80% of species,” said the paper’s senior author. says Amanda Vincent of the University of British Columbia in Canada.
Elsa Cummins Martinez, a master’s student at UBC’s Institute of Marine and Fisheries Research at the time and lead author of the paper, added that the data extends the known breeding seasons of the five species.
“In the tropics, breeding seahorses were reported every month. Surprisingly, this also applies to Asian species in the northern hemisphere, but breeding is more common in the spring.”
Astronauts know how far they can ‘fly’ in space despite microgravity
Scientists studying astronauts on the International Space Station have found that humans are surprisingly good at orienting themselves and measuring how far they travel in microgravity. I discovered that.
“It has been repeatedly shown that the perception of gravity influences perceptual abilities,” says John, an expert in vision and motion perception at York University in Canada and lead author of a new study published in 2006. Lawrence Harris says. npj microgravity.
Researchers compared 12 astronauts’ pre-, during-, and post-mission performance over a year-long period and found that their sense of how far they had traveled was largely intact. did.
“Based on our findings, it appears that humans are surprisingly able to use vision to adequately compensate for the lack of Earth’s normal environment,” Harris says.
“Astronauts need to be able to get to safety or escape through a hatch on the ISS in an emergency. So to see that they were actually able to do this with great precision was very exciting. I felt relieved.”
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