EurekAlert! Staff Picks
Each month, our team members share their favorite recent news releases, stories that caught their eye, sparked their curiosity, or made them think. We hope you’ll find them just as interesting!
Noreen Rozario
Editorial Coordinator
When I was in elementary school, I used to love making origami with my friends so I really enjoyed this Feature Story about origami and its surprising link to engineering and geometry! Larissa Novelino, an assistant professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rice University, utilizes origami—a centuries-old Japanese art of paper folding—to help her design buildings, materials and machines.
To provide some context, "origami engineering" takes the geometric principles behind folding and applies them to address real-world challenges. She employs these principles to develop everything from portable emergency shelters to lightweight materials with unique mechanical properties.
Students in her classes are so surprised at how much folding a piece of paper can teach them about geometry, mechanics and design and emphasizes that this method provides an accessible and tangible way to understand concepts that often appear abstract when viewed on a computer screen. I always appreciated hands-on learning, and this one is most definitely an engaging one! It's truly amazing and inventive to see an art form (like origami) intersecting with science in such a fascinating way! Here’s to more creativity and thinking outside the box!
I was today year's old when I learned that some rodents, including squirrels, have thumbnails instead of claws!? In this release from the Field Museum, researchers examined hundreds of rodents in museum collections to see where thumbnails crop up. They say this research could shed light on how rodents evolved into so many different species that thrive all over the world! It's so fascinating to learn random facts about animals like squirrels because we see them a lot in our daily lives.
I thought this release by the University of Michigan was quite interesting! In the ever-evolving topic of electric vehicles, this research stands out to me because it offers a practical tool for drivers who are thinking about switching to electric cars. The researchers developed a free online calculator that allows drivers to estimate their greenhouse gas emissions based on their vehicle type, driving habits, and location. This innovative tool can give us valuable insights into the environmental impact of our driving choices, which make it a useful resource for environmentally-conscious consumers like myself!
As a Bengali-American, I was interested in this release by Boston University School of Public Health because it relates to Bangladesh! Researchers developed a new evidence-based strategy that has been shown to improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions in Bangladesh’s brick manufacturing industry by encouraging operational changes that emphasize practicality and profitability. I appreciated how this benefits both the workers and the environment, and loved to see how successful this study was! When I went there in 2019 (before the pandemic), I recall the city air being so thick and sticky but this study makes me hopeful to see more progress in improving air quality in South Asia.
I found this Feature Story to be a fun read! It highlights a fashion designer named Iris van Herpen, who showcased a beautiful bioluminescent dress during Paris Haute Couture Week. The dress was made using 125 million living algae (!!!) and was developed in collaboration with biodesigner Chris Bellamy and researchers from the Universiteit van Amsterdam. I find it fascinating when science intersects with cool fields such as fashion!
Being an avid coffee drinker, I really enjoyed reading this Feature Story by The Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture. It describes a new resource - a digital platform - that is helping Honduran coffee farmers, who are at risk of losing access to the European market due to a lack of tools to trace the deforestation-free status of their coffee. The new platform is tailored for small-scale producers like Honduran coffee growers, which is allowing hundreds of farmers to meet compliance requirements. I thought it was also thoughtful and impressive that the new software is made accessible at little to no cost, acknowledging the financial constraints that may be faced by these farmers.
A release submitted by California Institute of Technology describes how researchers created a "smart bandage" that can monitor chronic wounds in patients. I think this device would be beneficial in a hospital setting as it can also deliver treatment and speed up healing for cuts, incisions, scrapes, and burns that are slow to heal on their own!
I found this Feature Story posted by NIH/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to be quite fascinating because it relates to twins in some way! Seeing as I am a twin myself, this story was eye catching! The story describes researchers who are exploring the concept of a digital carbon copy of individuals, kind of like a virtual twin. This innovative idea may help predict long-term disease risks, assess treatment responses, and simulate surgeries before they occur! Although this technology is still in its early stages, it may hold the potential to improve our health outcomes in the future.