Video played on paper
Researchers in the Netherlands have developed a new way to display video contents on electronic paper. Conventional electronic paper uses the motion of small oil particles on a white background driven by electrical voltage. However, the speed of the system is rather slow due to the sluggish migration of oil particles. The new method uses voltage to control the movement of coloured oil film, resulting in shorter response times and less power consumption. Oil film is fast enough to display vivid video contents. It is also four times brighter than liquid crystal displays.
Source: Nature
-Haowei Sun
Octopuses get erections
Zoologists have discovered that the two-spot octopus is capable of getting an erection. The animal possesses a tiny organ, called a ligula, at the tip of its mating arm. The ligula is normally tiny, but during mating swells due to the flow of blood into empty cavities, much like in a mammalian penis. During mating male octopuses insert a sperm packet into a female using their mating arm. It is not yet known how this ligula functions inside the female, as it was only observed erect for the first time after a failed mating. The organ may be used to insert the sperm or to scrape out the sperm of other males. This is the first such organ found in an invertebrate.
Source: Nature
-Zoe Cormier
Antibiotics linked to asthma in babies
A new U.S. study suggests that babies given antibiotics are more likely to develop asthma. Children given antibiotics in their first six months of life were found to be on average 2.6 times more likely to develop allergic asthma, and those given broad spectrum antibiotics (which kill a wide range of bacteria) are 8.9 times more likely to develop asthma. The researchers suggest that this may be because antibiotics alter the communities of bacteria in the gut, making it more difficult for a baby’s growing immune system to learn the difference between “bad” bacteria and the “good” bacteria that occur naturally in the body.
Source: New Scientist
ZC
