Science | WPN World People News

By the time they're two, most children have had respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and suffered symptoms no worse than a bad cold. But for some children, especially premature babies and those with underlying health conditions, RSV can lead to pneumonia and bronchitis - which can require hospitalization and have long-term consequences.

By the time they're two, most children have had respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and suffered symptoms no worse than a bad cold. But for some children, especially premature babies and those with underlying health conditions, RSV can lead to pneumonia and bronchitis - which can require hospitalization and have long-term consequences.

Iranian researchers used nanoclay and calcium carbonate particles to improve surface properties of paper, including smoothness and printability, as well as optical properties of printing papers.

Researchers have developed a way to microscopically view battery electrodes while they are bathed in wet electrolytes, mimicking realistic conditions inside actual batteries. While life sciences researchers regularly use transmission electron microscopy to study wet environments, this time scientists have applied it successfully to rechargeable battery research.

Iranian researchers from Qom University of Technology succeeded in increasing the thermal resistant (lifetime) of ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) rubber and improving its mechanical properties by using zinc oxide nanoparticles in annealing of the rubber.

Iranian veterinary researchers from Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz in association with researchers from Veterinary Faculty of Razi University of Kermanshah studied the effects of carbon nanotubes during pregnancy on the evolution of neural systems in offsprings, and they also investigated the probable changes in reproducing indices.

Iranian researchers measured very tiny amounts of some of toxic heavy metals in water and foodstuff by using SBA-15 nanoporous compound functionalized with guanidin groups as perfect sorbent for metals.

Even physics can give pointers for energy saving. An international team working together with the Centre for Quantum Materials, run by the Max Planck Society in conjunction with the University of British Columbia (Canada), is now in a position to provide materials scientists with tips for the development of high-temperature superconductors, in a bid to make them earn their name. The term is currently used to describe materials including ceramic cuprates, which lose their electrical resistance at significantly higher temperatures than conventional superconductors, but still well below the freezing point of water. In two complementary studies, the physicists have now established that superconductivity in cuprates collapses at a maximum of minus 135 degrees Celsius due to the formation of charge-density waves. These periodic fluctuations in the distribution of the electrical charges destroy superconductivity. Consequently, in order to find superconductors that drop to zero resistance at realistic temperatures, materials scientists must search for substances that are not subject to charge-density waves.