Learn about how scientists found a way to transfer data through music. Then, learn about the world of possibilities for cell-sized robots, in the final edition of our Microscale Mondays mini-series with Cornell physicists Itai Cohen and Paul McEuen. In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following story from Curiosity.com about how scientists found a way to transfer data through music: https://curiosity.im/2SFglLi Additional resources from Cornell University: Physicists take first step toward cell-sized robots — https://as.cornell.edu/news/physicists-take-first-step-toward-cell-sized-robots Graphene Origami [VIDEO] — https://research.cornell.edu/video/graphene-origami Nanobots That Can Do Just about Anything — https://research.cornell.edu/news-features/nanobots-can-do-just-about-anything Itai Cohen | Department of Physics Cornell Arts & Sciences — https://physics.cornell.edu/itai-cohen Paul McEuen | Department of Physics Cornell Arts & Sciences — https://physics.cornell.edu/paul-mceuen Download the FREE 5-star Curiosity app for Android and iOS at https://curiosity.im/podcast-app. And Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing — just click “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Learn about how scientists found a way to transfer data through music. Then, learn about the world of possibilities for cell-sized robots, in the final edition of our Microscale Mondays mini-series with Cornell physicists Itai Cohen and Paul McEuen.
In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following story from Curiosity.com about how scientists found a way to transfer data through music: https://curiosity.im/2SFglLi
Additional resources from Cornell University:
Download the FREE 5-star Curiosity app for Android and iOS at https://curiosity.im/podcast-app. And Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing — just click “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/future-of-cell-sized-robots-w-cornell-university-and-transferring-data-through-music
CODY: Hi! We’re here from curiosity-dot-com to help you get smarter in just a few minutes. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, you’ll learn about the true history of penicillin; why wireless charging may be bad for your battery; and why the “alpha dog” is a canine myth.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
In the Story of Penicillin, Alexander Fleming Was a Minor Character — https://curiosity.im/2SD8bmX (Ashley)
Do you know the REAL story of penicillin? Let’s get into a little science history mythbusting. Here’s what you probably know: In 1928, Alexander Fleming was growing bacteria in Petri dishes in his lab, when he noticed that one had started growing mold. That mold had cleared a spot in the bacteria, which suggested that it might have antibacterial properties. Fleming named the mold "penicillin," and it became the world's first antibiotic. It cured thousands of previously untreatable infections and spawned a new era of human health. That's the story, anyway. But while the first part is true, the facts get hazy as the story goes on.
Here's the problem with Fleming's discovery: The strain of penicillium mold he found camping out in his bacterial colonies was really hard to reproduce. Fleming and his assistants at St. Mary's Hospital tried for weeks to grow more of the stuff and to isolate pure penicillin from the bacteria-killing fluid that seeped from the mold, but they just ended up with a crude solution to work with. Still, that was enough to demonstrate his findings, and in 1929, Fleming published a paper about the mold’s antibacterial action. But in the paper, he only made a passing reference to penicillin’s potential in treating infections. It was nearly a decade later, in 1938, when Dr. Howard Florey came across Fleming’s paper when studying the different ways that mold and bacteria can kill each other. Florey was the director of Oxford University's school of pathology, and he and his colleagues tested small doses on mice infected with deadly streptococcus to learn about penicillin’s healing properties. Most of the mice made full recoveries. Mice are small, though, and there was still no way to reliably produce penicillin in large quantities. Florey and his team spent years trying to solve this problem, testing the contents of soil samples from all over the world, but none produced the mold they needed. Finally, they caught a break with some help from a bacteriologist named Mary Hunt. She’d been collecting moldy food she found at bakeries and grocery stores, then isolating the mold in the lab.
The winner ended up being a Texas cantaloupe that was perfectly ripe, save for a small mold growth at its navel. Hunt even cut up the cantaloupe for the staff to eat, and it was reportedly delicious. The mold turned out to be the fungus Penicillium chrysogeum, which yielded 200 times the penicillin of Fleming's strain. And once the fungus was exposed first to X-rays and later to UV radiation, its production yields increased even more. In 1945, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Alexander Fleming, Howard Florey, and Ernst Chain, who was a biochemist who’d worked with Florey on trying to reproduce the stuff. Most of us only remember Fleming, and that’s mostly because of Oxford University’s PR efforts. And he should certainly be celebrated for his discovery. But Howard Florey, Ernst Chain, Norman Heatley, Mary Hunt, and countless others were responsible for making it a reliable, practical drug that made it the greatest medical advance of the 20th century. Very few advances come from only one individual, and this breakthrough was the definition of a team effort. Remember: history isn’t always as simple as it might seem. And neither is science!
Bad News: Wireless Charging May Be Bad for Your Battery — https://curiosity.im/2LspOoE (Republish) (from Wednesday 8/7) (Cody)
Another thing that seems so simple but may have some drawbacks? Wireless charging. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but researchers say that the technology called inductive charging may be bad for your battery. As reported by Futurity, inductive charging lets a power source transmit energy across an air gap. Smartphones take in that energy with inductive charging coils that you’ll find in newer devices, especially in the last couple years. You don’t have to deal with cables when you do this, but you do have to deal with the potentially damaging heat that a charging pad can generate. And that’s part of the problem. The power-receiving coil is usually close to the back cover of the phone, which is usually electrically non-conductive. Thanks to packaging constraints, the phone’s battery and power electronics are usually pretty close together, so there’s not much room to dissipate heat generated in the phone, or shield the phone from heat that comes from the charger. It’s well-documented that batteries age more quickly when they’re exposed to higher temperatures, so researchers decided to conduct some experiments to see how inductive charging might affect a phone — especially if it’s not lined up correctly on the charging base. That’s because when a phone is poorly aligned on a wireless charger, those inductive charging systems can increase their transmitter power or adjust their operating frequency. That means the charge is less efficient, AND you end up with more heat generation. And it’s actually pretty easy to misalign your phone, since the actual position of your phone’s receiving antenna isn’t always obvious. The researchers found that when a phone charged using a conventional cable, the maximum temperature was never higher than 27 degress Celsius, or 80.6 degrees Fahrenheit. When the phone used inductive charging, even when it was properly aligned, its peak temperature was almost 10 percent higher, at 30.5 degrees Celsius or 86.9 degrees Fahrenheit. That temperature didn’t get much higher when the phone was misaligned, but the peak temperature was reached sooner and lasted more than twice as long. This isn’t ALL bad news, though: the researchers noted that using ultrathin coils, higher frequencies, and other improvements could help as this technology develops. For now, inductive charging may be convenient, but it’ll probably reduce the life of your mobile phone battery. If that’s a price you’re willing to pay for the convenience, then go for it! But if you want your phone to live its longest life, then maybe stick to the cable. There’s something to be said for being old-school sometimes.
The "Alpha Dog" Is a Canine Myth — https://curiosity.im/2LrOCx7 (Ashley) [FREELANCER]
The “Alpha Dog” is a canine myth. Certain TV dog trainers have made careers out of telling us that dogs will only respect your authority if they see you as the "alpha" or dominating pack leader. But this so-called “alpha dog” theory just isn’t true. What your dog really needs, according to most animal behaviorists, is reinforcement, consistency, and love.
The concept of “alpha wolf” originated with animal behaviorist Rudolph Schenkel, who spent the 1930s and 40s studying the social interaction of wolves at the Basel Zoo in Switzerland. His findings showed that the group naturally competed for status until a male and female emerged as dominant in the pack.
But we now know that his entire paper was based on a faulty premise: The idea that a bunch of unrelated animals brought together in captivity would behave the same way they would in the wild. It would be like trying to learn about average human family dynamics by studying humans in refugee camps. According to newer research, wild wolves actually live in family units that are strikingly similar to those of humans. The parents guide the family's activities and split the "chores" of feeding, pup-rearing, and protection. And as the pups get older, their social status is based on birth order, with the oldest at the top.
This means so-called "dominance training" to change a dog’s behavior is based on faulty science. Even though they’re used by celebrity trainers like Cesar Millan [Mil-lawn], dominance tactics like mild “quick smacks on the flank” or pinning a dog on its back using an “alpha roll” are ineffective at best. The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behaviour has released a statement against the use of punishment for modifying your pet's behavior. And Bonnie Beaver, the former president of the American Veterinary Medical Association, told Time that they are on record as opposing some of the things Cesar Millan does.
Instead, most experts advise training that focuses on positive reinforcement. In the end, the risk of too many treats is much lower than a stressed, insecure dog.
CODY: Let’s recap what we learned today. Today we learned that we have penicillin thanks to more than a decade of research from lots of scientists, not just one guy.
ASHLEY: And that wireless charging might hurt your battery by heating it up too much.
CODY: And that wild wolves actually operate like human families, so you shouldn’t try to teach your dog otherwise.
[ad lib]
CODY: Join us again tomorrow to learn something new in just a few minutes. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Stay curious!