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From the article: A new paper published in Science describes the chemistry behind a novel lithium-air battery, an innovative design which could potentially provide way more energy density than traditional li-ion battery technology. It could serve as a real breakthrough for the battery market and a possible revolution for transportation and heavy-duty vehicles such as airplanes, trains and even submarines.

The new battery can sustain more than 1,000 recharge cycles with just a small five percent drop in energy efficiency and zero impact on coulombic efficiency. This means that all the initial battery material was still active, with no irreversible side reactions during the charge/recharge cycles.

The design conceived by researchers at the Illinois Institute of Technology uses a solid electrolyte based on a ceramic-polyethylene oxide composite, which is safer and more efficient compared to liquid electrolytes. Ceramic and polymer materials used as solid electrolytes have their own downsides when used separately but when combined, they can provide both the high ionic conductivity of ceramic and the high stability of the polymer.

From the article: Do the observed sex differences in self-estimated intelligence among younger adults extend to older adults as well? And what are some psychological correlates of self-estimated intelligence among older adults? These are the research questions pursued by a new paper published in Brain and Behavior.

“I am interested in neuropsychological assessment in older people. For many years I was wondering if there is a correlation between actual cognitive performance/intellectual abilities and self-estimated performance in cognitive tasks – including intelligence tests – not only in older adults, but also in young adults,” said Dr. Vaitsa Giannouli, a scientific collaborator at the European University Cyprus.

“Thus, inspired by the research done by Professor Furnham, I wanted to examine for the first time these variables along with some neglected ones, including self-estimated emotional intelligence, physical attractiveness, health, general optimism, religiousness, and working memory, in Greek younger and older adults.”

A total of 311 Greek younger and older adults (128 men) participated in this research. The mean age of younger adults was 34.8, while the mean age of older adults was 77.9. Individuals with a history of various psychiatric and medical issues that could affect neuropsychological performance, as well as non-native speakers of Greek, were excluded from participation.

Participants provided an estimate of their overall intelligence on a scale of 0 to 100, as well as ratings of their physical health and physical attractiveness on a 9-point scale ranging from 1 (not at all) to 9 (very). They also indicated how optimistic and religious they were. Participants completed a working memory cognitive test, which is a strong predictor of intelligence, and a measure of creativity. As well, they responded to a questionnaire assessing for positive and negative affect, which have previously been excluded as a variable that could potentially influence self-estimated (emotional) intelligence.

From the article: Basic nutrition teaches that fat, when consumed in large quantities, is harmful to human health. However, the components that make up fats are complex. Good, unsaturated fats, or lipids, can lower disease risk. In fact, in a new study, researchers found that a good fat derivative may be able to relieve symptoms in patients suffering from chronic inflammatory diseases, such as multiple sclerosis. They published their results in the Journal of Biological Chemistry on Jan. 7.

The study was conducted by Justin Kim, a postdoctoral fellow at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Aditi Das, an associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Georgia Tech, Andrew Steelman, an associate professor of animal sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and their colleagues.

MS is a chronic, autoimmune disease of the brain and spinal cord during which the immune system attacks the cells and tissues that protect nerve fibers. This potentially debilitating disease can cause pain, vision loss, fatigue, impaired cognitive function and more. There is no cure for MS, and it affects almost 1 million people nationwide.

The researchers specifically looked at docosahexaenoyl ethanolamide (DHEA), a derivative of the lipids found in cold-water fish and fish oil supplements, and its impact on the immune system. Interestingly, DHEA has been shown to be anti-inflammatory and has similar properties to cannabis in some contexts.

“Our goal was to use something that is naturally found in food and the human body to see if we can enhance it to reduce the disease severity in multiple sclerosis patients,” Das said.

From the article: The Apple Glasgow store was the first in the UK to unionize, but it has now entered a formal agreement with Apple to have that status recognized. Following months of negotiations, Apple Glasgow became unionized in November, 2022. Initially workers had to individually join a union, the UK's GMB, then ask Apple to have union representation recognized.

Apple agreed to a voluntary recognition ballot. According to The Herald newspaper, the vote has now resulted in Apple signing a collective bargaining agreement to recognize GMB Scotland.

"This agreement is historic and our members in the Glasgow store are a beacon of hope across the world to show that you can organise to make work better," GMB organizer John Slaven told the publication. "We look to build a good relationship with Apple while being passionate advocates for members' interests."

From the article: An online survey in Turkey found that people who are more exposed to partner phubbing (being ignored by their partner who was focused on their phone) are less satisfied with their romantic relationship and see its quality as lower. The study was published in Psychological Reports.

Smartphones allow individuals to fulfill many vital needs such as communication, shopping, banking transactions, and food orders, but also connect to social media, play games, surf the internet, and others. This is the reason why individuals use smartphones in all areas of life.

However, increasing use of smartphones has given rise to an array of social and possibly even mental health problems such as smartphone addiction, nomophobia (fear of being without a phone), and plagonomy (fear that the phone battery will run out).

One of these social problems is also phubbing, defined as an individual turning his/her attention to the smartphone during a face-to-face interaction and becoming less concerned with their surroundings. Individuals engaged in phubbing spend time using their smartphones instead of communicating with people around them.

The word phubbing is formed by combining English words “phone” and “snubbing.” Phubbing can indeed cause people being ignored in favor of the smartphone to feel disrespected and worthless.