Broken bones often need a material to fill the void
Sopone Nawoot/Alamy
Researchers have discovered that with slight modifications, hot glue guns, typically used in crafting, can effectively and affordably mend damaged bones.
While bones can often heal themselves after minor injuries, serious trauma or tumor removal may leave cavities that require a synthetic plug to stimulate bone cell growth.
Although 3D printing can create tailored scaffolding to fill these gaps, the method necessitates scanning and remote fabrication, taking at least a week. While this pre-planned approach works for worn joints, it’s unfeasible for emergency surgeries.
To tackle this issue, John Seung Lee from Sungkyunkwan University in Korea and his team have created a solution that can be employed immediately during a single procedure.
They modified hot glue guns to lower their operating temperature from above 100°C to approximately 60°C and developed biological adhesive materials composed of hydroxyapatite (which makes up 50% of natural bone) and a biodegradable thermoplastic known as polycaprolactone.
During surgery, surgeons can utilize hot glue guns to rapidly fill bone voids, enabling bone cells to access these gaps and ultimately heal the injuries permanently over time.
“It’s essentially created from a standard hot glue gun,” Lee explains. “It significantly reduces time and costs.”
Lee and his colleagues assessed the glue gun’s effectiveness by repairing a 1 cm gap in a rabbit’s femur. Twelve weeks later, samples showed no complications or signs of separation between the adhesive and the bone, with bone mass being more than double that of control animals treated with traditional cement.
Furthermore, researchers found that two antibacterial agents can be integrated into the filaments to decrease infection risk, releasing the drugs gradually to the surgical site over several weeks.
Benjamin Olivere from the University of Nottingham in the UK is investigating 3D-printed scaffolds for bone repair but expresses skepticism, suggesting hot glue guns might become a more practical alternative compared to slower scanning and printing methods.
“Is it an intriguing idea? Absolutely. Is it feasible? Yes. Do I believe it’s plausible? Yes,” he states. “However, the practical application may be a different matter.”
As capitalist forces largely steer advancements in artificial intelligence, Alex Proyas perceives the integration of AI in filmmaking as a pathway to artistic freedom.
While numerous individuals in the film industry view the rise of AI as a threat to their jobs, incomes, and likenesses, Australian filmmakers, including Proyas, embrace the technology as a means to simplify and reduce costs associated with projects.
“The model for filmmakers, the only person I truly care about at the end of the day, is broken… and it’s not AI that’s causing it,” Proyas states to the Guardian.
“It’s the industry, it’s streaming.”
He mentions that the filmmakers he once depended on are dwindling in the streaming era, with the remaining ones working on tighter budgets for projects.
“We need to reconstruct it from the ground up. We believe that AI will assist us in doing that because as it continually lowers production costs, we can retain more ownership of our projects,” he remarks.
Proyas’s upcoming film, Rur, narrates the tale of a woman attempting to liberate her robots from capitalist oppression within an island factory. Based on a satirical play from 1920, the film features Samantha Orle, Lindsay Faris, and Anthony Laparia, having begun filming in October of the previous year.
The Heresy Foundation, one of Proyas’s ventures, was established in 2020 in Alexandria, Sydney. I detailed that at the time as a comprehensive production house for films. He claims that Rur can be produced for a fraction of the US$100 million budget typical of traditional studios.
This cost-effectiveness is due to the capability of carrying out much of the work directly in the studio via virtual production in collaboration with Technology Giant Dell, which supplies workstations to facilitate real-time generation of AI assets during film creation.
Proyas’ 2004 film I, Robot, was created when AI was more firmly entrenched in the sci-fi genre. Photo: 20th Century Fox/Sports Photo/All Star
Proyas asserts that production durations for environmental designs can be shortened from six months to eight weeks.
His 2004 film, I, Robot, was produced during a time when AI was reasonably established in science fiction, yet depicted a world in 2035. When questioned about his concerns regarding AI’s implications in film production, especially in visual effects, Proyas responds, “The workforce is streamlined,” yet believes retraining is possible.
“I believe there’s a role for everyone who embraces technology and pushes it forward, just as we’ve done throughout the film industry,” he comments.
The Guardian interviewed Proyas during the same week when the Australian Productivity Committee was discharged from the creative sector to spark discussions on whether AI companies should have unrestricted access to everyone’s creative works for model training.
Proyas argues that in the “analog world,” there is no need for AI to plagiarize.
“I think of AI as ‘enhancing intelligence’ rather than artificial intelligence. It aids in streamlining processes, promoting efficiency, and enhancing productivity,” he explains.
“A human team will always be necessary. We view AI as one of our collaborative partners.”
Amidst a plethora of AI-generated content online, Proyas reveals that he has spent years honing his skills to achieve the desired outcomes from AI, striving to refine its output until he is content with it.
“My role as a director, creator, and visual artist hasn’t changed at all. I’m now collaborating with a smaller team of humans, with AI as my co-collaborator to realize my vision. And I am clear about what that vision is,” he states.
“I don’t just sit at my computer asking for ‘Funny cat videos, please.’ I am very precise.”
Narcissists are individuals who exhibit grandiosity and entitlement, often convinced of their own specialness. They typically lack empathy and constantly seek attention.
In severe cases, a person may receive a diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder. Despite their outward confidence, narcissism is believed to stem from deep-rooted insecurities referred to as “fragile narcissism.”
Another study found that narcissists display reduced connectivity between various brain regions related to self and reward. Neural regions related to self and reward.
For some narcissists, the need to attract attention and show off serves as a coping mechanism for personal self-doubt. However, this strategy can backfire if the narcissist faces rejection or public humiliation.
While the term “disintegrated narcissist” is not included in psychiatric diagnostic manuals, therapists and psychologists use it to describe a narcissist who experiences a breakdown, leading to feelings of deflation and anger.
Studies have shown that vulnerable narcissists react to imagined insults or rejection with feelings of sadness and self-hatred. Additionally, disintegrated narcissists often respond to provocation with shame, anger, and rage.
Attempting to bring a narcissist down a notch may escalate conflicts and worsen underlying insecurities. A better approach may involve helping the narcissistic individual build healthier self-esteem and cultivate empathy towards others.
This article is in response to a question posed by Jules Morrison via email: “What is a disintegrated narcissist?”
Andrew Carter and Adam DiMartino launched Smallhold in 2017 with a goal of providing mushrooms to more people. Carter believed that mushrooms are highly sustainable in terms of water, waste, plastic use, and emissions. Over the years, Smallhold has successfully introduced specialty mushrooms like shiitake, green oysters, and trumpet mushrooms to grocery stores and households across America.
As mushrooms gained popularity as a symbol of sustainability during the pandemic, Smallhold found success and attention from the media, resulting in a valuation of $90 million. Despite starting in a Brooklyn shipping container, the brand expanded rapidly with farms in New York, Texas, and California, selling in 1,400 stores nationwide.
Smallhold’s co-founders, DeMartino and Carter, believe in promoting sustainability and reducing waste in the food industry. However, the company faced challenges when the founders resigned, leading to Smallhold filing for bankruptcy. Although the brand was acquired and reorganized, it struggled to maintain its original vision, closing farms and reducing staff.
For entrepreneurs, Smallhold’s journey serves as a lesson on finding a niche beyond sustainability and ensuring economic sustainability. While the company focused on unique mushroom varieties and sustainable practices, it also built a strong brand through aesthetics and social media. It’s crucial for startups to deliver quality products, maintain profitability, and avoid excessive reliance on venture capital.
In the evolving landscape of food startups, lessons can be learned from Smallhold’s experience. By combining sustainability with quality, variety, and branding, companies can attract customers and thrive in the market. Innovating in the food industry requires a balance between financial responsibility and sustainability goals, defining success on your own terms.
Many of us entered this so-called super-election year with a sense of foreboding. So far, not much has happened to allay these fears. Russia’s war against Ukraine has exacerbated the perception that democracy is under threat in Europe and beyond. In the United States, presidential candidate Donald Trump self-proclaimed dictatorial tendencies facing two assassination attempts. And more broadly, people seem to be losing faith in politics. A 2024 report from the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance states that “most citizens in diverse countries around the world have no confidence in the performance of their political institutions.”
By many objective measures, democracy is not functioning as it should. The systems we call democracies tend to favor the wealthy. Political violence is on the rise, legislative gridlock is severe, and elections are becoming less free and fair around the world. Nearly 30 years have passed since pundits proclaimed the triumph of Western liberal democracy, but their predictions seem further away than ever from coming true. what happened?
According to Rex Paulson At the Mohammed VI Institute of Technology in Rabat, Morocco, we have lost sight of what democracy is. “We have created a terrible confusion between the system known as a republic, which relies on elections, political parties, and a permanent ruling class, and the system known as democracy, where the people directly participate in decisions and change power. The good news, he says, is that the original dream of government by the people and for the people can be revived. That’s what he and other researchers are trying to do…
“Losing or ending a romantic relationship is one of the most painful losses an adult can experience,” begins the BAS (A Study Full of Acronyms) study by German and Iranian researchers. Journal of Psychiatry Research.
This is science at its most overtly romantic: electromagnetically stimulating the brains of volunteers who have suddenly experienced heartbreak. It's also science with the most acronyms: tDCS (transcranial direct current stimulation), DLPFC (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex), VLPFC (ventrolateral prefrontal cortex), LTS (love trauma syndrome).
For those who have suffered through heartbreak, here's a passage worth hearing out loud as a midnight rooftop monologue: “Thirty-six participants with love trauma syndrome were randomly assigned to three tDCS conditions (left DLPFC, right VLPFC, or sham stimulation). LTS symptoms, treatment-related outcome variables (depression, anxiety, emotion regulation, positive and negative affect), and cognitive functioning were assessed pre-intervention, immediately after intervention, and one month after the intervention.”
The evaluation showed that brain zapping “ameliorated symptoms of LTS,” according to the researchers, but they cautioned that, in terms of science in general, “there are significant gaps in the research on 'love trauma syndrome,' what exactly the symptoms are and what the diagnostic criteria are.”
Eliminates odors
Kevin Lee sees some causation in the actions of perhaps London's (and the world's) first celebrity pathologist.
He writes: “I'm a retired forensic scientist and, as you can imagine, I've been asked countless times how I deal with smells. Apart from the old-fashioned solution of smiling innocently and asking, 'Ouch, what's that?', I still have a keen sense of smell and can detect a range of odours, even when the smell of decay is very faint. I've trained myself to have a fairly neutral approach to these smells, so that although I still notice them well, after one good sniff, they're no longer an issue.”
“Recent articles [Feedback, 15 June] Sir Bernard Spilsbury, a very famous forensic scientist in the early 20th century, said that his sense of smell was extremely defective. If it was, it is more likely that this was because he was a heavy smoker, smoking around 50 cigarettes a day. It is also possible that he used the same techniques that I later used.”
A slice of life
This note from UK reader Gerald Legg depicts body parts that are living (elbow), dead (hair), nominal (leg) and sliced: “Your recent article, 'Parting the Hair' (July 20th) made me think of my time at Manchester University, where my PhD research involved a lot of microtome work using an old but still-functioning Cambridge rocking microtome. [a specialist cutting device].
“I was taught how to sharpen the blade using a glass plate and cerium dioxide. Before each use, the blade is sharpened and then tested under 40x magnification to make sure it is free of scratches. The test is to cut a hair. A sharp blade can cut a hair three times, lifting the little curled section that is still attached to the body of the hair and then cutting the hair straight through.
“There was a sharp knife in the lab, and I put my elbow against the knife and heard it cutting all the way to the bone, but I didn’t feel anything.
“I was rushed to the nearby Manchester Hospital, where I was quickly healed with just a few stitches and was able to return to the lab and continue serial sectioning with the same blade.”
Anonymous
When students make tangible contributions to science, some teachers find ways to publicly recognize who, what, and where they did it, especially when students make extraordinary sacrifices.
In the academic world, credits are limited: individual students are not identified by name.
Simple Happiness
“Simple, simple, simple” is an old rule of thumb, especially among scientists. In honor of this maxim, Feedback has created a document collection called “Simple, Simple, Simple.”
The first item in this assemblage is report It was published in the February 6, 1997 issue under the heading “The Uniquely Simple Personality of Politicians” NatureThe study suggests that a politician's personality can be summed up in just two or three numbers – in stark contrast to the five numbers psychologists claim are needed to judge the average person.
The study's authors were awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Psychology in 2003.
If you have the simple pleasure of finding another good example, send it to us (with details of the citation) at Simple pleasures, Feedback.
Marc Abrahams is the founder of the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony and co-founder of the journal Annals of Improbable Research. He previously worked on unusual uses of computers. His website is Impossible.
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You can submit articles for Feedback by emailing feedback@newscientist.com. Please include your home address. This week's and past Feedback can be found on our website.
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