News

Deciphering the Morse code of communication between butterflies and ants

It has long been known that there is a close symbiotic relationship between silverline butterflies and ants. The larvae of the silverline butterfly have honey (nectar) glands and other ant-loving (myrmecophily) organs that attract ants and increase their survival rate by being cared for by ants. The larvae secrete honeydew for the ants to feed on. It is interesting though that the pupa does not have ant-loving organs to attract ants. This phenomenon has caused scientists to wonder if there are other mechanisms by which small gray butterflies attract ants. One of the answers is the inaudible sound vibration signal, which was published in an international journal on December 6, 2019 (Scientific Reports).

Coffee Helps Relieve Muscle Soreness Caused by Exercise, Making you Stronger

Promoting athletic performance through nutritional supplementation has been a popular research topic in sports science, and caffeine has been proven in many studies to be a legitimate supplement that can effectively enhance aerobic and anaerobic performance. However, whether caffeine, which also has an analgesic effect, can be effective in reducing muscle strength performance when the exercise causes delayed muscle soreness in the case of supplementation, and whether the effect has gender differences, has not been clarified. Therefore, we designed an experiment in which a downhill running caused running-induced delayed muscle soreness with male and female athletes, followed by caffeine supplementation of about three cups of American coffee, and observed the degree of muscle soreness change and muscle strength performance. The results showed that caffeine supplementation was effective in terms of reducing the muscle pain of both male and female athletes, but the degree of reduction in pain was higher in men than in women. Both men and women, however, can benefit from the same supplement of coffee that reduces the maximum loss of muscle strength. If you have muscle soreness and want to exercise, drink some coffee next time.

NTNU and PSU Join Forces Again to Sign Collaboration Agreement for Taiwan Huayu Best Program

National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) and its strategic partner of Pennsylvania State University (PSU) signed a collaboration agreement for “Taiwan Hauyu BEST program” on November 1, 2021 to promote Chinese language instruction and learning through academic cooperation and exchange of visiting scholars and students supported by NTNU Overseas Mandarin Training Center. NTNU will annually send two Chinese language instructors on exchange to PSU, while PSU students come to NTNU for in-depth Chinese language study and to provide English language tutorials to local elementary schools in New Taipei City.

NTNU develops virtual reality system to help escape fires

National Taiwan Normal University project will improve public response to threat of fire.

One material with two functions could lead to faster memory

Researchers from National Taiwan Normal University and Kyushu University have developed a new light-emitting memory device by integrating a resistive random-access memory with a light-emitting electrochemical cell that are both based on perovskite. The results are promising for faster data storage and reading in future electronic devices and open a new avenue of applications for perovskite optoelectronics.