Memory enhancement, chemical and dark matter signaling

Brain stimulation improves memory

Neuroscientists have shown that stimulating people's brains with weak electrical currents for several days can lead to long-lasting memory improvements (S.

The research team conducted a series of experiments on 150 people over the age of 65 using "transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS)," which delivers electrical current through scalp electrodes

Previous research has shown that long-term memory and "working" memory are controlled by different parts of the brain

Cheap way to break down 'permanent chemicals'

Researchers have developed a way to break down persistent chemicals, which they say is easier and cheaper than the draconian methods currently used

Perfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are widely used in products such as firefighting foam (pictured), waterproof clothing, and nonstick cookware

"Companies originally designed chemicals to be stable -- a feature, but once they entered the environment, it was a flaw," says Shira Joudan, an environmental chemist at York University in Toronto, Canada

PFASs can be removed from water, but dealing with them is a challenge

A team led by environmental chemist Brittany Trang at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, developed a method to decompose the largest PFASs using inexpensive reagents and temperatures around 100°C (B.

The durability of PFASs is attributed to a series of carbon-fluorine bonds, one of the strongest chemical bonds in nature

Using this method, the team degraded ten PFOS, including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which is banned in most countries, and one of its common substitutes

"This is the first time I've seen a degradation mechanism, and I think 'this can actually have an impact,'

Dark matter signal may be due to analytical error

Physicists have shown that an underground experiment in South Korea can "see" dark matter flowing on Earth -- or not, depending on how its data is sliced ​​(G.

For more than two decades, the DAMA/LIBRA experiment at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory near L'Aquila, Italy, has annually reported flash fluctuations recorded by its detector's sodium iodide crystals
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These events peaked in June and troughed in December, as physicists would expect if dark matter particles permeate the Milky Way
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But so far, many other dark matter experiments have not found a DAMA/LIBRA-compatible signal
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Now, one of them — the Cosine 100 detector (pictured) — has shown that it can generate similar seasonal fluctuations by doing some type of analysis on its own data
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The data analysis produced a spurious result, said Dan Hooper, a dark matter theorist at the University of Chicago in Illinois, "which, in my opinion, is a potential, good -- maybe even -- Explain what DAMA/LIBRA says
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