Geoscience: Volcanoes
Published

Minor volcanic eruptions could ‘cascade’ into global catastrophe      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers call for a shift in focus away from risks of 'super-volcanic' eruptions and towards likelier scenarios of smaller eruptions in key global 'pinch points' creating devastating domino effects.

Physics: Acoustics and Ultrasound
Published

Built-in vibration control may help soundproof spaces      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A different kind of design for absorbing vibrations could help better soundproof walls and make vehicles more streamlined, a new study shows.

Physics: Acoustics and Ultrasound
Published

Does visual feedback of our tongues help in speech motor learning?      (via sciencedaily.com) 

When we speak, we use our auditory and somatosensory systems to monitor the results of the movements of our tongue or lips. Since we cannot typically see our own faces and tongues while we speak, however, the potential role of visual feedback has remained less clear. Researchers explore how readily speakers will integrate visual information about their tongue movements during a speech motor learning task.

Geoscience: Volcanoes
Published

Sea levels influence eruptions on volcanic island      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The rise and fall of sea levels influence the likelihood of volcanic eruptions on the Greek island of Santorini, new research has discovered. Analyzing the timings of eruptions over hundreds of thousands of years, the researchers found that a 40 meter fall in sea level is a crucial point beyond which eruptions are more likely to occur. The findings could have implications for millions of people living on volcanic islands around the world.

Geoscience: Volcanoes
Published

Giant friction experiment at Kilauea volcano      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new analysis of the 2018 collapse of Kilauea volcano's caldera helps to confirm the reigning scientific paradigm for how friction works on earthquake faults. The model quantifies the conditions necessary to initiate the kind of caldera collapse that sustains big, damaging eruptions of basaltic volcanoes like Kilauea and could help to inform forecasting and mitigation.

Physics: Acoustics and Ultrasound
Published

Researchers demonstrate technique for recycling nanowires in electronics      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have demonstrated a low-cost technique for retrieving nanowires from electronic devices that have reached the end of their utility and then using those nanowires in new devices. The work is a step toward more sustainable electronics.

Physics: Acoustics and Ultrasound
Published

Soft skin patch could provide early warning for strokes, heart attacks      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Engineers developed a soft, stretchy ultrasound patch that can be worn on the skin to monitor blood flow through vessels deep inside the body. Such a device can make it easier to detect cardiovascular problems, like blockages in the arteries that could lead to strokes or heart attacks.

Physics: Acoustics and Ultrasound
Published

Air-powered computer memory helps soft robot control movements      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Engineers made a pneumatic RAM chip using microfluidic valves instead of electronic transistors. The valves remain sealed against a pressure differential even when disconnected from an air supply line, creating trapped pressure differentials that function as memories and maintain the states of a robot's actuators. Dense arrays of these valves can perform advanced operations and reduce the expensive, bulky, and power-consuming electronic hardware typically used to control pneumatic robots.

Physics: Acoustics and Ultrasound
Published

Magnetic field from MRI affects focused-ultrasound-mediated blood-brain barrier      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have found that the magnetic field of the MRI scanner decreased the BBB opening volume by 3.3-fold to 11.7-fold, depending on the strength of the magnetic field, in a mouse model.

Geoscience: Volcanoes
Published

Huge volcanic eruption disrupted climate but not human evolution      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A massive volcanic eruption in Indonesia about 74,000 years ago likely caused severe climate disruption in many areas of the globe, but early human populations were sheltered from the worst effects, according to a new study.

Geoscience: Volcanoes
Published

Supervolcano fed from Earth's mantle caused crustal plates to rotate      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The plates of the Earth's crust perform complicated movements that can be attributed to quite simple mechanisms. That is the short version of the explanation of a rift that began to tear the world apart over a length of several thousand kilometers 105 million years ago.

Geoscience: Volcanoes
Published

To predict underwater volcano eruptions, scientist looks at images from space      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study monitored satellite images to obtain sea discoloration data as a novel indicator in detecting if an underwater volcano's eruption is imminent.

Geoscience: Volcanoes
Published

Like a molten pancake      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Why magma flowed along a curved pathway during the 2018 eruption of a Galapagos volcano is explained by a new model.

Physics: Acoustics and Ultrasound
Published

A tiny device incorporates a compound made from starch and baking soda to harvest energy from movement      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists have used a compound made from a starch derivative and baking soda to help convert mechanical to electrical energy. The approach is cost-effective and biocompatible, and can help charge low-energy electronics like calculators and watches.

Physics: Acoustics and Ultrasound
Published

New tool activates deep brain neurons by combining ultrasound, genetics      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A team has developed a new brain stimulation technique using focused ultrasound that is able to turn specific types of neurons in the brain on and off and precisely control motor activity without surgical device implantation.

Physics: Acoustics and Ultrasound
Published

Silicon chips combine light and ultrasound for better signal processing      (via sciencedaily.com) 

High-end wireless and cellular networks rely on light for the distribution of signals. The selective processing of such signals requires long delays: too long to support on a chip using light alone. A research team brought together light and ultrasonic waves to realize ultra-narrow filters of microwave signals, in silicon integrated circuits. The concept allows large freedom for filters design.

Physics: Acoustics and Ultrasound
Published

Tiny, wireless, injectable chips use ultrasound to monitor body processes      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers report that they have built what they say is the world's smallest single-chip system, consuming a total volume of less than 0.1 mm3. The system is as small as a dust mite and visible only under a microscope. In order to achieve this, the team used ultrasound to both power and communicate with the device wirelessly.

Physics: Acoustics and Ultrasound
Published

Release of drugs from a supramolecular cage      (via sciencedaily.com) 

How can a highly effective drug be transported to the precise location in the body where it is needed? Chemists now present a solution using a molecular cage that opens through ultrasonification.

Physics: Acoustics and Ultrasound
Published

Focused ultrasound enables precise noninvasive therapy      (via sciencedaily.com) 

New research demonstrates that noninvasive neuromodulation via low-intensity ultrasound can have cell-type selectivity in manipulating neurons.

Physics: Acoustics and Ultrasound
Published

Using sound waves to make patterns that never repeat      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Mathematicians and engineers have teamed up to show how ultrasound waves can organize carbon particles in water into a sort of pattern that never repeats. The results, they say, could result in materials called 'quasicrystals' with custom magnetic or electrical properties.