Egyptians have access to around 750 cubic metres of water per person per year. That’s significantly less than the water scarcity limit of 1000 cubic metres. The realisation that the Nile cannot continue to sustain Egypt’s growing population has pushed researchers to tackle the possibility of water desalination.

To that end, researchers at the American University in Cairo have come up with a prototype for a hybrid nanocomposite membrane that relies on reverse osmosis to remove salt from seawater. Made of a polymeric material that contains interconnected pores that allow water to pass through while blocking the salt, the prototype may make desalination a far more feasible prospect for Egypt. Read more about it here.

Another membrane making news this week is promising to allow for commercial gas-separation in large-scale operations. By modifying a new class of polymer materials known as polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIMSs) with ultraviolet irradiation in the presence of oxygen, the membrane allows small gas molecules to pass while blocking larger ones. See more details here.

Finally, genetic variations in the gene BACH2 is known to have a link with a range of autoimmune and inflammatory conditions. A team of researchers probed how BACH2 expression can interfere with the normal functioning of the immune system by creating knockout mice missing the BACH2 gene. The mice were found to develop inflamed lungs and guts, with less immune inhibitory regulatory T cells. More details here.

Beyond the hood

3D printing has been causing a lot of hype lately, and perhaps justifiably so. The latest of its potential has come in the form of a 3D printed battery the size of a grain of sand. The tiny device promises to supply electricity to tiny devices, many of which have been sitting in labs waiting for batteries small enough to fit them (think flying insect-like robots, tiny cameras and medical implants).

The microbattery was made by printing precisely interlaced stacks of tiny battery electrodes, each being less than the width of a human hair. Here’s a link to the study.

Let’s face it: asexual reproduction is not exactly “fun”. In flowering plants, where some species commonly transition from cross-fertilization to self-fertilization, the effect can come with a loss in genetic variety and ability to eliminate harmful mutations.

At least that’s what a team of researchers, including Khaled Hazzouri from New York University Abu Dhabi, has concluded. The team sequenced the genome of Capsella rubella, a self-fertilizing plant that separated from its cross-fertilizing ancestor Capsella grandiflora less than 200,000 years ago.

Comparing RNA expression and polymorphism patterns between the two Capsella species, they found that C. rubella (the asexual one) had a decreased ability to eliminate harmful mutations compared to its cross-fertilizing ancestor. They also made intriguing comparisons between C. rubella and two species of Arabidopsis. Read more about it here.

Another thing that is really not fun at all is ankylosing spondylitis (AS): a painful inflammatory disease that causes bones in the spine and pelvis to grow abnormally, fusing joints and stiffening movements. This inheritable condition was previously linked to the allele HLA-B *27. However, new research, with contributions from King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, has identified 13 gene loci also associated with the risk of inheriting AS disease.

The researchers did this by combing known immune-related sections of the genomes of 25,764 participants of European, East Asian and Latin American ancestry. Their findings turned up important clues to understanding how HLA-B *27 is involved in the disease. The results may also help provide an efficient way to screen people with back pain for AS risk. More details here.

Beyond the hood

New research from Carnegie Mellon University seems to have found a good, selfish reason to engage in the relatively selfless activity of volunteering. According to a study published in the journal Psychology and Aging, older adults who volunteer for at least 200 hours a year decrease their risk of hypertension by 40 percent.

The researchers studied 1,164 adults between the ages of 51 and 91 from across the U.S. They interviewed the participants once in 2006 and another time in 2010. All had normal blood pressure levels during the 2006 interview. During both interviews, they measured  their level of volunteerism, along with various social and psychological factors.

As it turned out, those who reported at least 200 hours of volunteer work during the initial interview were 40 percent less likely to develop hypertension when compared to those who did not volunteer in the 2010 interview. The researchers also found that the amount of time spent volunteering was what mattered, and not the type of volunteer activity.

However, while it seems to pay to be good, the researchers suggest that the real beneficial effect likely comes from the social connections volunteers make through these activities — evidence consistently suggests that having good social connections promotes healthy aging.

This week it’s all about separation: getting salt out of salt water, and removing carbon dioxide from other gases.

First: desalination. It holds the promise of securing the water needs of virtually everyone, but comes at the cost of being unfeasible expensive and energy consuming for most countries. In Egypt, a team of researchers at the American University in Cairo have come up with a prototype for a cheap membrane that filters out the salt from salt water. If it proves itself under industrial conditions, it may help make desalination a viable option for Egypt at a mass scale. Get more details about this story here.

Second: carbon capture. As a major contributor to climate change, efforts have been underway to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere for some time now. While techniques exist, they remain generally inefficient and expensive. But check out this research by a Saudi Arabian team: they’ve come up with a crystalline, porous metal-organic framework that can capture carbon at very low concentrations. This links up with similar research also recently published which we highlighted here.

On another note, while chocolate fans may not be able to explain why the substance is so close to their hearts, scientists appear to have discovered how it may help protect that most vital organ — at least that’s the case with dark chocolate. It all comes down to epicatechin, a nutrient in dark chocolate that seems to induce beneficial metabolic and structural changes in the mitochondria of heart cells. Read more about this here.

Finally, and this is not quite science news related, but if you are a postgraduate or research assistant working in any Arab state (regardless of your nationality), we’d like to hear about your work. We are having a little competition to highlight the five most interesting research ideas being work on in the region. See this for more details.

Beyond the hood

Turns out women are generally better at recalling faces than men. According to a new study from Canada’s McMaster University, without even being aware of it, it seems that women spend more time analyzing new faces, thereby reinforcing their capacity to recall them, and hence identify them, later.

The researchers used eye tracking technology to observe where participants looked while they were being shown a series of randomly selected faces on a computer screen. Women were generally found to fixate on features far more than men — a strategy that operates outside of people’s awareness. Interestingly, this suggests that by intentionally changing our eye movement patterns when looking at a new face, we may be able to better recall that face later. Here’s a link to the study.