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Consumers spent less on candy and desserts when shopping online

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When shopping online, participants surveyed spent more money, purchased more items, and spent less on candy and desserts than when they shopped in-store, according to a new study in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, published by Elsevier.

In recent years, online grocery shopping has grown exponentially. To describe the grocery shopping patterns of people who shopped both online and in-store and evaluate whether shoppers purchased fewer unhealthy, impulse-sensitive items online, 137 primary household shoppers in Maine who shopped at least once in-store and online (with curbside pickup) were studied for 5,573 total transactions from 2015-2017.

“There were differences in both the quantity and types of food purchased when shopping online compared to in-store. When study participants were shopping online, they spent about 44 percent more per transaction, and they purchased a greater number and variety of items compared to when they shopped in-store,” said lead author Laura Zatz, ScD, MPH, Department of Nutrition and Department of Social & Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA. [Read more…] about Consumers spent less on candy and desserts when shopping online

Urban crime fell by over a third around the world during COVID-19 shutdowns, study suggests

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A team of researchers led by the University of Cambridge and University of Utrecht examined trends in daily crime counts before and after COVID-19 restrictions were implemented in major metropolitan areas such as Barcelona, Chicago, Sao Paulo, Tel Aviv, Brisbane and London.

While both stringency of lockdowns and the resulting crime reductions varied considerably from city to city, the researchers found that most types of crime – with the key exception of homicide – fell significantly in the study sites.

Across all 27 cities, daily assaults fell by an average of 35%, and robberies (theft using violence or intimidation, such as muggings) almost halved: falling an average of 46%. Other types of theft, from pick-pocketing to shop-lifting, fell an average of 47%. [Read more…] about Urban crime fell by over a third around the world during COVID-19 shutdowns, study suggests

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The most discussed and shared research and commentary of 2020

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Covid-19, racial justice, climate change, the origins of life and other crucial issues all garnered attention in 2020.

The annual Altmetric Top 100 highlights research and scholarly commentary published in 2020 that generated significant international online attention and discussion – from patents and public policy documents to mainstream media, blogs, Wikipedia and social media platforms.

This year’s Top 100 represents the most discussed research from all disciplines, selecting the top five works by Altmetric Attention Score from twenty subjects.

Unsurprisingly, Covid-19 research accounts for roughly 30% of the Top 100 across many disciplines including biomedicine, built environment and design, and economics. Virus transmission and face mask protection were among the most heavily discussed topics. [Read more…] about The most discussed and shared research and commentary of 2020

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Scientists make powerful underwater glue inspired by barnacles and mussels

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If you have ever tried to chip a mussel off a seawall or a barnacle off the bottom of a boat, you will understand that we could learn a great deal from nature about how to make powerful adhesives.

Engineers at Tufts University have taken note, and today report a new type of glue inspired by those stubbornly adherent crustaceans in the journal Advanced Science.

Starting with the fibrous silk protein harvested from silkworms, they were able to replicate key features of barnacle and mussel glue, including protein filaments, chemical crosslinking and iron bonding. [Read more…] about Scientists make powerful underwater glue inspired by barnacles and mussels

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New study suggests falcons have natural ‘eye makeup’ to improve hunting ability

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Dark “eyeliner” feathers of peregrine falcons act as sun shields to improve the birds’ hunting ability, a new scientific study suggests.

Scientists have long speculated that falcons’ eye markings improve their ability to target fast-moving prey, like pigeons and doves, in bright sunlight. Now research suggests these markings have evolved according to the climate; the sunnier the bird’s habitat, the larger and darker are the tell-tale dark ‘sun-shade’ feathers.

The distinctive dark stripes directly beneath the peregrine falcon’s eyes, called the malar stripe or ‘moustache’, likely reduce sunlight glare and confer a competitive advantage during high-speed chases. It’s an evolutionary trait mimicked by some top athletes who smear dark makeup below their eyes to help them spot fast-moving balls in competitive sports. [Read more…] about New study suggests falcons have natural ‘eye makeup’ to improve hunting ability

Printing a better microgrid

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The future of electronic displays will be thin, flexible and durable. One barrier to this, however, is that one of the most widely used transparent conductors for electronic displays – indium tin oxide (ITO) – doesn’t perform as well on larger areas and can crack and break down with wear.

Indium is also a rare earth mineral, which is relatively scarce, and the process to create ITO requires high energy consumption and expensive equipment.

One emerging alternative is metal “microgrid” conductors. These microgrids can be customized to their application by varying the microgrid width, pitch and thickness, and they can be made with a variety of metals. [Read more…] about Printing a better microgrid

Bringing order to hydrogen energy devices

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Researchers at Kyoto University’s Institute for Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS) have developed a new approach to speed up hydrogen atoms moving through a crystal lattice structure at lower temperatures. They reported their findings in the journal Science Advances.

“Improving hydrogen transport in solids could lead to more sustainable sources of energy,” says Hiroshi Kageyama of iCeMS who led the study.

Negatively charged hydrogen “anions” can move very quickly through a solid ‘hydride’ material, which consists of hydrogen atoms attached to other chemical elements. [Read more…] about Bringing order to hydrogen energy devices

How an elephant’s trunk manipulates air to eat and drink

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New research from the Georgia Institute of Technology finds that elephants dilate their nostrils in order to create more space in their trunks, allowing them to store up to nine liters of water.

They can also suck up three liters per second – a speed 50 times faster than a human sneeze (150 meters per second/330 mph).

The Georgia Tech College of Engineering study sought to better understand the physics of how elephants use their trunks to move and manipulate air, water, food and other objects. They also sought to learn if the mechanics could inspire the creation of more efficient robots that use air motion to hold and move things. [Read more…] about How an elephant’s trunk manipulates air to eat and drink

The robot smiled back: Columbia scientists give robot realistic facial expressions

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While our facial expressions play a huge role in building trust, most robots still sport the blank and static visage of a professional poker player.

With the increasing use of robots in locations where robots and humans need to work closely together, from nursing homes to warehouses and factories, the need for a more responsive, facially realistic robot is growing more urgent.

Long interested in the interactions between robots and humans, researchers in the Creative Machines Lab at Columbia Engineering have been working for five years to create EVA, a new autonomous robot with a soft and expressive face that responds to match the expressions of nearby humans. [Read more…] about The robot smiled back: Columbia scientists give robot realistic facial expressions

Press (re)play to remember – How the brain strengthens memories during sleep

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While we sleep, the brain produces particular activation patterns. When two of these patterns – slow oscillations and sleep spindles – gear into each other, previous experiences are reactivated. The stronger the reactivation, the clearer will be our recall of past events, a new study reveals.

Scientists have long known that slow oscillations (SOs) and sleep spindles – sudden half-second to two-second bursts of oscillatory brain activity – play an important role in the formation and retention of new memories.

But experts in the UK and Germany have discovered that the precise combination of SOs and sleep spindles is vital for opening windows during which memories are reactivated; helping to form and cement memories in the human brain. [Read more…] about Press (re)play to remember – How the brain strengthens memories during sleep