March 6, 2024: Ultrapowerful new kind of combustion, music theory is reinventing the hospital alarm and why Labradors are genetically predisposed to eat more. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | | A new kind of rocket engine is a hot area of development at NASA and other government, private and academic research labs. The rotating detonation engine, or RDE, uses a new kind of combustion. In a standard piston engine, fuel ignites and explodes as pistons pump and compress fuel. An RDE pumps fuel around a ring-shaped channel to create a steady, supersonic wavefront of detonations, which produces continuous thrust.
Why this is interesting: An RDE can capture more of a fuel's energy to power vehicles farther, faster and with larger payloads. The technology could propel high-speed and hypersonic aircraft as well as deep-space transports, and lunar and Martian landers for NASA. Someday it might even power supersonic transports for the commercial airline industry.
What the experts say: "The power density—the amount of energy release we get within a certain volume—is an order of magnitude higher than today's devices. And that's exciting," says Steve Heister, a Purdue University engineering professor and longtime propulsion researcher. | | | Principles from music theory could improve hospital alarms, whose annoying blares can go unnoticed in a cacophony of other alarms. In examining the timbres of sounds, researchers discovered a set of softer sounds that can still command attention. They found that sounds with a "percussive" timbre, many of which contain short bursts of high-frequency energy, and that had complex, time-varied harmonic overtones (the many components within a single sound) like a xylophone's ping or the clang of a champagne toast, were arresting without being annoying.
Why this matters: So called alarm fatigue happens when clinicians turn off or forget to restart alarms, and has been linked to 566 deaths, according to data for more than five years from the FDA. In busy hospitals, auditory alarms can sound up to 300 times a day per patient in U.S. hospitals, but only a small fraction require immediate action.
What the experts say: That musical tones can help improve alarms is important for future patient monitoring and equipment designs, says applied psychologist Judy Edworthy, professor emeritus at the University of Plymouth in England. Such studies could lead to alarms that command attention, don't produce sound fatigue in those that hear them every day and fit into current regulatory guidelines for hospital equipment. | | | • Only one of two planned giant telescopes, the Thirty Meter Telescope and Giant Magellan Telescope, might be built after the National Science Foundation announced a spending limit last week. | 4 min read | | | • One in four Labrador retrievers carry a gene mutation that makes them both feel hungrier between meals and burn less energy than other dog breeds (and constantly beg for more snackies). | 5 min read | | | Who could resist this face? Credit: Chalabala/Getty Images | | | • Election polls can be trusted, writes David Dutwin, senior vice president of strategic initiatives at NORC at the University of Chicago. The key is to acknowledge the limitation of polls: They are a snapshot of the present moment--not the future--and many have a margin of error that gets underreported, he says. "Today's polls on Biden versus Trump are not wrong, per se, they just tell us what voters are feeling today. And a lot can happen between now and Election Day." | 5 min read | | | • How the U.S. government figured out how to track Vladimir Putin's entourage through ad tracking data. | Wired | | | • Trillions of gallons of drinking water in the U.S. leaks away every year, after decades of deferred maintenance and disinvestment. | The Associated Press | | | • The cost of batteries will drive some of the most important tech developments of the future. | Ars Technica | | | If the music theory above fascinates you, dive into these podcasts on music:
- Artificial Intelligence Helped Make the Coolest Song You've Heard This Week | 12 min listen
- What That Jazz Beat Tells Us about Hearing and The Brain | 14 min listen
- If the Mathematical Constant Pi Was a Song, What Would It Sound Like? | 11 min listen
Readers of Today in Science won't be surprised to learn that there is science behind music, even down to what sounds please humans, or what emotions certain musical phrases elicit in us. | Reach out any time with suggestions for how to improve this newsletter: newsletters@sciam.com. See you tomorrow. | —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters . | | | | Scientific American
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