The research team designed the electrodes using a nickel-based carbonate and hydroxide composite material and maximized the conductivity and stability of the electrodes by adding transition metal ions such as Mn, Co, Cu, Fe, and Zn. This technology has greatly improved the performance of energy storage devices, demonstrating significant advancements in energy density, power density, and charge and discharge stability.

Particularly, the energy density achieved in this study is 35.5 Wh kg⁻¹, which is significantly higher than the energy storage per unit weight in previous studies (5-20 Wh kg⁻¹). The power density is 2555.6 W kg⁻¹, significantly exceeding the values from previous studies (- 1000 W kg⁻¹), demonstrating the ability to release higher power rapidly, enabling immediate energy supply even for high-power devices. Additionally, the performance showed minimal degradation during repeated charge and discharge cycles, confirming the long-term usability of the device.

Furthermore, the research team developed an energy storage device that combines silicon solar cells with supercapacitors, creating a system capable of storing solar energy and utilizing it in real time. This system achieved an energy storage efficiency of 63% and an overall efficiency of 5.17%, effectively validating the potential for commercializing the self-charging energy storage device.

Jeongmin Kim, Senior Researcher at the Nanotechnology Division of DGIST, states, “This study is a significant achievement, as it marks the development of Korea’s first self-charging energy storage device combining supercapacitors with solar cells. By utilizing transition metal-based composite materials, we have overcome the limitations of energy storage devices and presented a sustainable energy solution.” Damin Lee, a researcher at the RLRC of Kyungpook National University, stated, “We will continue to conduct follow-up research to further improve the efficiency of the self-charging device and enhance its potential for commercialization.”

This research was conducted with support from DGIST’s Institutional Core Projects, the Early Career Researcher Projects, and the Kyungpook National University’s Regional Leading Research Center for Carbon-Neutral Intelligent Energy System. The research findings were published in the journal Energy in December.

Conventional solid polymer electrolyte batteries perform poorly due to structural limitations which hinder an optimal electrode contact. This could not eliminate the issue of “dendrites” either, where lithium grows in tree-like structures during repeated charging and discharging cycles. Dendrites are a critical issue, as an irregular lithium growth can disrupt battery connections, potentially causing fires and explosions.

The research team, therefore, developed a triple-layer structure for the electrolyte to address such issues. Each layer serves a distinct function, significantly enhancing the battery’s safety and efficiency. This electrolyte incorporates “decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE)” to prevent fires, “zeolite” to enhance the electrolyte’s strength, and a high concentration of a lithium salt, “lithium bis (trifluoromethanesulfonyl) imide) (LiTFSI),” to facilitate a rapid movement of lithium ions.

The triple-layer solid electrolyte features a robust middle layer that boosts the battery’s mechanical strength, while its soft outer surface ensures an excellent electrode contact, facilitating an easy movement of lithium ions. This enables a faster movement of lithium ions, enhancing energy transfer rates and preventing dendrite formation effectively.

The experiment showed that the battery developed by the research team retained about 87.9% of its performance after 1,000 charging and discharging cycles, demonstrating a notable improvement in durability compared with traditional batteries, which typically maintain 70-80% of their performance. It can also extinguish itself in a fire, thus significantly reducing the fire risk. This battery is expected to be applicable across various sectors, ranging from small devices like smartphones and wearables to electric vehicles and large-scale energy storage systems.

Dr. Kim stated, “This research is anticipated to make a significant contribution to the commercialization of lithium metal batteries using [solid polymer] electrolytes, while providing enhanced stability and efficiency [to] energy storage devices.”

This study was supported by the Future Materials Discovery Project (led by Professor Lee Jung-ho of Hanyang University) and the Mid-Career Researcher Program (led by Dr. Kim Jae-hyun) of the National Research Foundation of Korea. The findings were published as the cover article in an international academic journal, Small, published by Wiley.

The findings, published Dec. 30 in the journal Nature Communications, could lead to novel approaches for treating alcohol use disorder.

“We know a lot less about what drives alcohol drinking behavior in females because most studies of alcohol use have been done in males,” said senior author Dr. Kristen Pleil, an associate professor of pharmacology. Yet females, too, overindulge and are more susceptible to the negative health effects of alcohol than males.

Recent studies indicate that, during the pandemic lockdown, women increased their heavy alcohol consumption more than men. That behavior has important consequences for women’s health, said Dr. Pleil, “because many studies show this pattern of drinking enhances alcohol’s harmful effects.” Indeed, women had many more alcohol-related hospital visits and complications than men during and since the pandemic.

Peak Levels of Estrogen Associated with Increased Alcohol Consumption

In a 2021 study, Dr. Pleil and her team showed that a specific subpopulation of neurons in a brain region called the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) were more excitable in female mice than in males. This enhanced activity correlated with their binge drinking behavior.

But what makes this neural circuit more excitable in females? “Estrogen has such powerful effects on so many behaviors, particularly in females,” Dr. Pleil said. “So, it makes sense that it would also modulate drinking.”

To assess estrogen’s potential involvement, the researchers, including first author Dr. Lia Zallar, who was a graduate student in the Pleil lab at the time of the research, began by monitoring the hormone levels throughout estrous cycle of female mice. Then, they served up the alcohol. They found that when a female has a high level of circulating estrogen, she drinks much more than on days when her estrogen is low.

That enhanced bingeing behavior was reflected in heightened activity in those same neurons in the BNST. “When a female takes her first sip from the bottle containing alcohol, those neurons go crazy,” Dr. Pleil said. “And if she’s in a high-estrogen state, they go even crazier.” That extra boost of neural activity means the mice hit the bottle even harder, particularly within the first 30 minutes after the alcohol was made available, a behavior Dr. Pleil refers to as “front-loading.”

Surprising Discovery: Cell-surface Receptors Allow Estrogen to Act Fast

Although the researchers suspected estrogen would have an effect on drinking, they were surprised by its mechanism of action. This steroid hormone typically regulates behaviors by binding to receptors that then travel to the nucleus, where they alter the activity of specific genes — a process that could take hours. However, Dr. Pleil and her team realized that something else must be happening when estrogen infused directly into the BNST excited the neurons and triggered binge drinking within minutes.

So, the researchers tested estrogen that had been doctored so it could not enter cells and bind to nuclear receptors — a feat of chemical engineering performed by Dr. Jacob Geri, assistant professor of pharmacology at Weill Cornell Medicine. They determined that when estrogen promotes bingeing, the hormone is binding to receptors on the neurons’ surface, where it directly modulates cell-cell communication.

“We believe this is the first time that anybody has shown that during a normal estrous cycle, endogenous estrogen made by the ovaries can use such a rapid mechanism to control behavior,” Dr. Pleil said. That rapid action drives the front-loading of alcohol when estrogen is high.

The team identified the estrogen receptor that mediates this effect and determined that it is expressed in the excited BNST neurons and in neurons from other brain regions that excite them. The researchers are now investigating the signaling mechanisms for this effect, and they will also examine whether the same system regulates drinking in males.

“All of the infrastructure is there in males, too: the estrogen receptors and the basic circuit organization,” Dr. Pleil said. The only difference will be the source of the estrogen, which in males without an ovarian source relies on local conversion of testosterone to estrogen in the brain.

Inhibiting the enzyme that synthesizes estrogens could offer a novel treatment for selectively reducing alcohol consumption when hormone levels surge. An FDA-approved version of such an inhibitor is currently used to treat women with estrogen-sensitive cancers.

“Combining this drug with compounds that modulate the downstream effects of the chemicals produced by the BNST neurons could potentially provide a new, targeted approach for treating alcohol use disorder,” Dr. Pleil said.

Tonsillitis is a common reason for visits to the doctor and prescriptions of antibiotics in primary care. To determine whether a patient needs antibiotics, doctors use the so-called Centor Criteria for tonsillitis. The criteria include fever, tender and swollen lymph nodes in the angles of the jaw and inspection of the tonsils.

However, it has been unclear how well these criteria can be assessed during digital healthcare consultations compared to traditional in-person consultations. This lack of scientific evidence has become a growing concern as digital healthcare consultations become more common.

Digital vs physical assessment

The current study, published in the journal Infectious Diseases, examines whether digital assessments are as reliable as physical examinations in determining whether antibiotic treatment is warranted. The study includes 189 patients who sought care at healthcare clinics and urgent care clinics in Region Västra Götaland, Sweden, between January 2020 and October 2023.

Each patient in the study underwent two assessments: a digital medical assessment via video and a physical examination conducted by another doctor. The results show that digital healthcare consultations are not sufficient to assess some of the most important criteria, such as tonsil inspection and lymph node examination.

Digital not safe enough

One of the driving forces behind the study is Patrycja Woldan-Gradalska, a PhD student at Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg and a Resident Physician at Sätila Healthcare Clinic.

“Our study shows that although digital healthcare consultations are convenient for many patients, they are not reliable enough to assess tonsillitis. To ensure a correct diagnosis and treatment, it is still important to conduct a physical examination,” she says.

The authors are active in community medicine and public health at Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg and at Region Västra Götaland’s FoUUI primary and community healthcare, a support resource for research, education, development and innovation.

New research in Psychological Science reveals that lifelong singles have lower scores on life satisfaction measures and different personality traits compared to partnered people, findings that point to the need for both helpful networks and ways to create such networks that are better catered to single people.

“When there are differences, they might be especially important in elderly people who face more health issues and financial issues,” said Julia Stern, one of the lead authors and a senior researcher at the University of Bremen in Germany, in an interview with APS. “They need more help, and the help is usually the partner.”

Stern and colleagues compared single people and partnered individuals on life satisfaction ratings and the Big Five personality traits (openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism). The study used a survey of more than 77,000 Europeans over the age of 50 and was the first of its kind to look across cultures and at people who had been single their entire lives. The findings revealed that, in addition to lower life satisfaction scores, lifelong singles are less extraverted, less conscientious, and less open to experience, compared to partnered people.

Previous studies used different definitions of being single, sometimes considering only current status and other times drawing the line at having never married or, alternatively, at never living with a partner. But people who have been in a serious relationship in the past — even if it has ended — might have different personality traits than those who have never been that committed. To investigate this, Stern and colleagues grouped respondents by the different definitions: currently partnered, never living with a partner, never married, or never being in any long-term relationship. People who had never been in a serious long-term relationship scored lower on extraversion, openness, and life satisfaction than those who were currently single but had lived with a partner or been married in the past. All singles scored lower on these measures than people in current relationships.

Although this study cannot definitively decipher if personality differences are due to selection — people with certain personality types may be more likely to start relationships — or socialization — long-term relationships could change personalities — the evidence points to the former. Stern said that changes to personality from being in a relationship are small and temporary. For instance, although an extraverted person beginning a new relationship may be keen to stay in with their partner, eventually their extraversion comes back.

“It’s more likely you have these selection effects: For example, people who are more extraverted are more likely to enter a relationship,” Stern said. But she warned that the results are average effects and not necessarily descriptive of everyone; of course, there are single extraverts and introverts in committed relationships.

For singles, living in a society where marriage is the expectation may affect their life satisfaction. Because the large sample included people from 27 European countries, the researchers were able to ask whether there were any cultural differences. In countries with higher marriage rates (such as southern European countries), singlehood resulted in even lower life satisfaction scores, but the effects were small. The religiosity of the country did not seem to matter, however.

When comparing across gender and age, single women scored higher on life satisfaction than single men, and older people tended to be happier with their singlehood status than middle-aged singles. Stern speculated that, with the era of their peers getting married and starting families behind them, older singles may accept their circumstances and be happier.

Singles may grow happier with age, but their lower scores compared to partnered people are still worrying. Previous research has shown life satisfaction and particular personality traits (including extraversion and conscientiousness) can predict health and mortality, emphasizing the need to find ways to promote the well-being of older singles.

“There are differences between people who stay single their entire lives and people who get partnered, and for me this means that we have to take extra care of these people,” Stern said. She suggested developing new kinds of programs to prevent loneliness that take these personality traits into consideration and help older singles meet like-minded people. “If they have people who care for them or look out for them regularly, this might help.”