Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

<br />
It goes without saying that having to do <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=laundry&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">laundry</a> is one of the worst parts of one’s week. The process is just so cumbersome and boring and makes you wish someone else did it for you.<br />
<br />
Well, lucky for you, someone’s been listening.<br />
<br /> A pioneering <keyword id="1170231" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="nanotechnology-research">nanotechnology research</keyword> by <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=scientists&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">scientists</a> from <keyword id="380559" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="RMIT-University">RMIT University</keyword> in Australia could soon ensure that clothes start cleaning themselves. <br />
	Know what that means? Goodbye <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=washing+machines&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">washing machines</a>.<br />
	<br /> The <keyword id="6367929" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="scientists">scientists</keyword> have developed a low-cost way to grow nanostructures on textiles which end up degrading organic matter when exposed to light.<br />
	<br />
	This means that all you will need is your clothes being exposed to sunlight or a light bulb to do the trick.<br />
	<br />
	“The advantage of textiles is they already have a 3D structure so they are great at absorbing light, which in turn speeds up the process of degrading organic matter,” Rajesh Ramanathan one of the lead researchers in the team told PTI.<br />
	<br />
	Though he admitted that they still have to go a long way before these textiles will become a reality, but he believed that a strong foundation for the development of fully self-cleaning textiles has been built.<br />
	<br />
	Image credit: Indiatimes<br />

You may not have to wash your clothes anymore. Find
out why

By Natasha Chaku <p>Melbourne, Apr 16 () In a bid to support international students, including from India, who are facing financial crisis during the coronavirus pandemic, several Australian universities have rolled out hardship packages and expanded grants for eligible applicants.</p><p>Thousands of international students who rely mostly on part time jobs to manage their daily expenses or even sometimes pay their university fees, raised concerns after the Australian government announced that they were not included in any social security payments or the JobKeeper wage subsidy.</p><p>Moreover, the current travel bans and cancelled flights due to the coronavirus crisis have left them with no option but to stay back in the country.</p><p>Melbourne-based Deakin university has announced a package of 25 million Australian dollars for international students experiencing hardship during the ongoing health crisis.</p><p>Deakin's Vice-Chancellor Iain Martin said the support for impacted foreign students is available for the next six months.</p><p>"Many international students, through no fault of their own, are struggling with the costs of living and studying, yet are not eligible for the same government COVID-19 assistance available to our domestic students. </p><p>"Some of those students face a very desperate situation where their part-time and casual work is gone or drying up, and they can't return home yet can't afford to stay. This is an untenable position." he said.</p><p>Martin said the university so far has approved over 1,200 requests for immediate financial and hardship support, with hundreds more applications currently being assessed. </p><p>Similarly, the RMIT University, also based in Melbourne, has announced expanding its Student Hardship Assistance and Equity Scholarship funds of up to 10 million Australian dollars to support its students, both domestic and international, impacted by COVID-19.</p><p>"Students impacted by the pandemic could apply for an Emergency Financial Grant if facing job loss, housing insecurity or other financial matters and an IT Grant of 1,000 Australian dollars per student was also available for essential IT equipment to continue studying remotely," the RMIT university said.</p><p>The Monash University in Melbourne has also announced a student compassionate and hardship package of up to 15 million Australian dollars. </p><p>According to the varsity, an eligible student can apply for up to 7,500 Australian dollars grant.</p><p>Similar relief measures were announced by other universities, including the University of Melbourne, the Victoria University, the Macquarie univesity in New South Wales and the University of NSW.</p><p>The Australian National University and South Australia's Flinders University have also announced packages of nearly 21 million Australian dollars and 12.5 million Australian dollars, respectively.</p><p>Flinders University Vice-Chancellor Colin Stirling said their package offers a range of support for students, including cash payments, a new scholarship and waiver of fees.</p><p>"We estimate that 4,000 of our domestic students will feel the greatest hardship from the pandemic," he said, adding that nearly half of the 3,500 international onshore students will need additional financial support at this time.</p><p>''There are no other financial supports available to these students and they cannot return to their home countries due to the travel restrictions currently in place," Stirling said.</p><p>There are around 570,000 international students in Australia currently and according to Universities Australia (UA), the peak lobby group for Australia's 39 universities, second semester international student enrolments would see significant decline due to the current pandemic.</p><p>India is the second largest source of enrolments in Australia after China with over 140,000 enrolments recorded last year. International students are allowed to work 20 hours a week under their student visa arrangement. </p><p>UA Chief Executive Catriona Jackson said the higher education sector need more support from the federal government as ever.</p><p>"Universities have established hardship funds to support the domestic and international students who had been affected. These funds have received thousands of applications from students who, through no fault of their own, have lost jobs due to the pandemic. We are asking the government to join with us in supporting these students," she said.</p><p>Jackson said the sector could see a "revenue decline between 3 billion Australian dollars and 4.6 billion Australian dollars" and over 21,000 jobs were at risk in the next six months, and more after that.</p><p>"Recovering from this pandemic will require our best and brightest minds and every ounce of ingenuity," she said.</p><p>International students in Australia have not been included in any social security payment schemes announced by the government in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. Only those students, who are living in the country for more than a year, will be allowed to access their superannuation funds to support themselves. </p>Earlier this month, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison had said that overseas students were not eligible for any financial support as under their visa arrangements, it was a requirement for them to support themselves for a year in Australia.  NC  SCYSCY

Australian universities step up to help international students affected by coronavirus pandemic

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table center"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>NICHOLAS YEO/AFP/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">The pungent smell of rotting durian was mistaken for a gas leak at an Australian university.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>An Australian university library was evacuated on Saturday over a suspected gas leak that turned out to be the smell of a rotting durian.</strong></li><li><strong>500 people were evacuated after the pungent smell traveled through the air-conditioning system.</strong></li><li><strong>Durian is the world's smelliest fruit and is banned in taxis and hotels throughout Asia.</strong></li></ul><p><br />An Australian university library was evacuated after a rotting fruit was mistaken for a gas leak.</p><p>Firefighters arrived at the campus of RMIT in downtown Melbourne around 3 p.m. on Saturday after receiving a call about a suspected gas leak. As a precautionary measure, police evacuated approximately 500 students and teachers.</p><p>In a <a href="http://www.mfb.vic.gov.au/News/Media-releases/Rotten-afternoon-on-campus.html">statement</a> entitled "Rotten afternoon on campus," the Metropolitan Fire Brigade described how it conducted a "comprehensive search," eventually discovering the smell was not a chemical gas but rather the gas emitted from a rotting durian fruit.</p><p>The spiky fruit, which has an incredibly pungent smell, had been left rotting in a cupboard, according to the statement. The smell traveled through the building's air-conditioning system.</p><p>The custardy flesh inside a durian is an acquired taste, with a sweet flavour to some eaters that others find completely unpalatable.</p><p>Anthony Bourdain reportedly once <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/why-does-the-durian-fruit-smell-so-terrible-149205532/">said</a> the fruit's flavor is "<span>indescribable, something you will either love or despise … Your breath will smell as if you'd been French-kissing your dead grandmother."</span></p><p>As one of the world's smelliest fruits, durian is forbidden in many taxis and hotels throughout Asia. Singapore's public transport system has banned the fruit entirely.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/wyze-labs-camera-google-nest-cam-2018-4">How a tiny camera startup is taking on Amazon and Google</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

An Australian university was evacuated when a pungent fruit was mistaken for a gas leak

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Taylor Swift kicked off her six-night, sold-out The Eras Tour stopover in Singapore on Saturday.</li><li>It's the only place in Southeast Asia where she will perform due to an exclusivity deal.</li></ul><p>There's a feud between <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-to-do-in-singapore-taylor-swift-concert-2024-2">Singapore</a> and neighboring government officials — and it's all down to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/taylor-swift-net-worth-spending-2018-8">Taylor Swift</a>.</p><p>Ahead of the pop star's<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/taylor-swift-concert-singapore-india-package-eras-tour-2024-3"> six sold-out shows</a> in the city-state, which kick off on Saturday, a lawmaker in the Philippines has criticized the exclusive deal that Singaporean authorities reportedly brokered with her to ensure that she wouldn't take <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/taylor-swift-eras-tour-guide-to-every-album-era-2022-12">The Eras Tour </a>to other territories in the region.</p><p>On Wednesday, Philippines representative Joey Salceda called on the Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to protest against the <a target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/stb-gave-grant-for-taylor-swift-concerts-event-likely-to-generate-major-benefits-for-s-pore-economy-govt">grant the Singapore government authorized</a> in exchange for Swift agreeing not to perform elsewhere in Southeast Asia during her sold-out world tour, local media reported.</p><p>"Some $3 million in grants were allegedly given by the Singapore government to AEG to host the concert in Singapore. The catch was that they do not host it elsewhere in the region," Salceda said, according to <a target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/not-what-good-neighbours-do-filipino-lawmaker-hits-out-at-singapore-over-taylor-swift-deal">The Straits Times</a>.</p><div type="image" title="Fans of US singer Taylor Swift, also known as a Swifties, arrive for the first of the pop star's six sold-out Eras Tour concerts at the National Stadium in Singapore on March 2, 2024." height="3406" width="5119" msid="108167161" hostid="261" sizebytes="707666"></div><p>He said it "isn't what good neighbors do," adding: "Our countries are good friends. That's why actions like that hurt."</p><p>Per <a target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/898944/salceda-wants-explanation-for-singapore-s-alleged-deal-with-taylor-swift/story/">GMA Network</a>, Salceda noted that while the grants significantly boosted Singapore's economy, "it was at the expense of neighboring countries, which could not attract their own foreign concertgoers, and whose fans had to go to Singapore."</p><p>He added that the Philippines should not "just let things like these pass."</p><p>The Grammy Award-winning artist, who recently announced that she <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/taylor-swift-the-tortured-poets-department-album-release-date-tracklist-what-to-know">will be releasing a new studio album in April</a>, is performing six shows at Singapore's 55,000-seat National Stadium between March 2 and 9.</p><p>Salceda's criticism comes after Thailand's prime minister revealed that Singapore had brokered the deal that meant Swift couldn't take the tour to other nine territories in the Association of South East Asian Nations, which also includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Vietnam.</p><div type="image" title="Taylor Swift performs at the National Stadium on March 2, 2024 in Singapore." height="2793" width="4190" msid="108167163" hostid="261" sizebytes="322700"></div><p>According to <a target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://news.sky.com/story/singapore-has-done-deal-so-taylor-swift-cant-perform-in-any-other-countries-in-southeast-asia-13072902#:~:text=Singapore%20has%20done%20a%20deal,of%20South%20East%20Asian%20Nations.">Sky News</a>, while speaking at the iBusiness Forum 2024 in Bangkok in February, Srettha Thavisin said promoter AEG informed him of the agreement after he enquired why the world tour would not be stopping in his home country. Swift has never performed in Thailand, although she was scheduled to perform there in 2014, but ended up <a target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/taylor-swift-cancels-thailand-concert-due-to-political-turbulence-56388/">canceling due to political turbulence.</a></p><p>He claimed he was told the Singapore government offered $2 million to $3 million per show in exchange for exclusivity.</p><p>However, according to <a target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-68379688">BBC News</a>, Singapore's CNA has suggested it may be just S$2 million for all six nights.</p><p>Swift's stop-over in Singapore is expected to bring economic benefits to the city-state. The recent Australian leg of the tour gave a $558 million boost to the economy, according to an estimate from Angel Zhong, an Associate Professor of Finance at RMIT University (via <a target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" href="http://forbes">Forbes</a>).</p>

Singapore brokered a deal with Taylor Swift, so she wouldn't take the Eras Tour to other Southeast Asian countries. Now, a Philippines lawmaker is calling it out.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Two recent studies signal major breakthroughs in <keyword id="45681" type="TECHNOLOGY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Solar">solar</keyword> energy that could make <keyword id="6356941" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="solar-panels">solar panels</keyword> cheaper and more efficient.</li><li>In the first, researchers uncovered a method of converting low-wavelength light that's invisible to the human eye into electricity, suggesting more energy can be harvested from sunlight.</li><li>Another study suggests that silicon solar panels could be replaced with a material called perovskites, which is cheaper and more lightweight.</li></ul><p>New discoveries in solar energy could make it cheaper and more efficient to transform sunlight into electricity, potentially reshaping the renewable energy market.</p><p>The breakthroughs were featured in two recent studies, published in Nature Energy and Nature Photonics and first reported by <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/sun-solar-energy-renewable-environment-a9628246.html?utm_source=reddit.com">The Independent</a>. While solar is traditionally seen as <a href="http://www.qrg.northwestern.edu/projects/vss/docs/power/2-how-efficient-are-solar-panels.html">less energy-efficient</a> than other resources, the new discoveries could change that.</p><p>The <a href="https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science-tech/oxygen-breathes-new-life-solar-cell-research">first study</a>, led by researchers at RMIT University, Australia's UNSW, and the University of Kentucky, found that low-energy light that's invisible to the human eye can be "upconverted" using oxygen to generate electricity, which could allow solar panels to generate more energy using the same amount of sunlight.</p><p>"I'm very hopeful and think that we can improve the efficiency quickly. I think it's quite exciting for everyone,"  UNSW professor and lead researcher Elham Gholizadeh said in a statement.</p><p>Another <a href="https://techxplore.com/news/2020-07-scientists-boost-stability-efficiency-next-gen.html">recent study</a> led by the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology in Japan found that solar panels may be more inexpensive and efficient if built with a material called perovskites rather than silicon, which most current solar panels are made of.</p><p>Both studies are preliminary — the methods involved have yet to be tested more broadly. But scientists hope their breakthroughs can pave the way for more efficient solar power in the commercial sector.</p><p>"Scaling up is very demanding; any defects in the material become more pronounced so you need high-quality materials and better fabrication techniques," Luis Ono, one of the Okinawa Institute study's authors, said in a statement.</p>

Solar power could become cheaper and more efficient thanks to a new method that creates electricity from invisible light

<ul class="summary-list"><li>As most of us practice social distancing or stay home to prevent the spread of the <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword>, the <keyword id="1590919" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Neighborhoods">neighborhoods</keyword> we live in are important.</li><li>Insider spoke with <keyword id="6521786" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Urban-Planning">urban planning</keyword> experts about the aspects of an ideal neighborhood during a pandemic.</li><li>The ultimate place to live has a diversity of businesses, parks, and open public spaces, they said.</li></ul><p>Six months into the spread of the coronavirus across the US, most people who have the option to do so, are spending more time in their own neighborhoods than they might have before the pandemic.</p><p>In such a situation, Sam Lubell, an architectural journalist, says the characteristics of a neighborhood are more important than they used to be since more people are staying home and less are commuting to work. In April 2020, he wrote an <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2020-04-22/coronavirus-pandemics-architecture-urban-design">op-ed for the LA Times</a> about how the pandemic will change cities.</p><p>"A huge part of any neighborhood is its proximity to work," he told Insider. "Eventually people will go back to work, but they won't go back in the same numbers that they had before. In the short term, your neighborhood is everything."</p><p>In March 2020, William Fulton, a former planning director for the City of San Diego and the director of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University, <a href="https://kinder.rice.edu/urbanedge/2020/03/30/how-covid-19-pandemic-will-change-our-cities">wrote a paper about the future of cities after the pandemic</a> and made a similar point that remote work makes people's home neighborhoods more important.</p><p>Insider spoke with Lubell, Fulton, and urban planning experts Quentin Stevens and Karl Samuelsson about what people need from their neighborhoods during a pandemic. Here are three characteristics they say the ideal neighborhood should have.</p><h2>The ideal neighborhood to live in amid the pandemic is walkable.</h2><p>This means that there are different types of businesses that residents can easily access — especially outdoor restaurants. "I think the ideal place to live is in a neighborhood with a lot of diversity, so you can walk or ride your bike to a store or to an outdoor restaurant," Fulton told Insider. "That's the kind of place I would move to."</p><p>According to <a href="https://www.walkscore.com/walkable-neighborhoods.shtml">Walkscore</a>, a website that ranks neighborhoods' walkability, a walkable neighborhood has a mixture of income and business types. This means it includes affordable housing and plenty of different places where residents can work and spend money.</p><p>Lubell said that an ideal neighborhood would have nearby amenities, like "access to a park, outdoor dining, and things that you can do in a small group on your own."</p><h2>Having open public spaces where people can meet is critical.</h2><p>Quentin Stevens, an urban design researcher at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, who wrote a paper in May 2020 about <a href="https://www.academia.edu/43043660/We_can_t_let_coronavirus_kill_our_cities_Here_s_how_we_can_save_urban_life">how to save urban life from the impacts of the pandemic</a>, said that living in an area with a lot of open public space is important for people to encounter one another.</p><p>"Public space doesn't necessarily have to be filled up with stuff — just making it available for people to go out there and use is important because we all need more space than we used to," Stevens said. "We need spaces where we can bump into people and create more of that in areas that don't have it, and the pandemic is creating those opportunities."</p><div type="image" title="new york city parks busy weekend coronavirus" height="997" width="1330" msid="78449178" hostid="261"></div><h2>Different types of parks in a neighborhood makes it more suitable for pandemic life.</h2><p>Karl Samuelsson, an urban researcher at the <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_org&amp;hl=en&amp;org=983604985647114430671144306">University of Gävle</a> in Stockholm, Sweden, thinks accessible natural spaces of all sizes are crucial to pandemic life.</p><p>"From the street cross-section to the pocket park, to the larger parks, to very large nature areas — I think all of them need to play a role in the future cities," Samuelsson told Insider.</p><p>While a tree outside your window can boost your mood from indoors, a pocket park around the corner offers easy access to the outdoors.</p><p>"In Stockholm, it's the mid-sized areas that have really been important," Samuelsson added. "They are fairly large — so you can observe a distance to other people — but still easily accessible."</p>

Urban planning experts share 3 characteristics of an ideal neighborhood to live in during a pandemic

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Wikimedia commons/D-wave</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>Einstein called it "spooky action at a distance."</p><p>That's because entanglement, a voodoo-like phenomenon in quantum physics linking particles that once interacted, seems to surpass the speed of light, violating the cosmic speed limit.</p><p>Because of this, it doesn't fit in with Einstein's theory of relativity, so he concluded that it was too ludicrous to be real.</p><p>But it is real, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/quantum-entanglement-experiment-2015-10">as physicists proved last year</a>. And it's actually going to be pretty useful, whether for <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ibm-launches-first-quantum-computer-cloud-service-2016-5">a form of computing</a> that is exponentially faster than what we have now, the creation of unbreakable codes and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/quantum-teleportation-fiber-optics-2014-2">a more secure internet</a>, or even for solving problems in chemistry and developing new drugs and materials.</p><p>Now, quantum computing researchers at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Australia have gotten even better at detecting this spooky phenomenon, which has big implications for the future of entanglement.</p><h2><strong>Quantum cars</strong></h2><p>Here's how entanglement works. Imagine your friend is holding two matchbox cars - a green car and a yellow car, one in each hand. If he mixes them up behind his back, their information becomes "entangled" in a way - if he unfolds his right hand and reveals the green car, you know that the yellow car must be in his left hand.</p><p>Now imagine these are special cars - quantum cars. Until your friend reveals one to you, they are undefined, shifting randomly between green and yellow with equal chances of being either color, <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/physics/quantum-physics-terminally-confused">Cosmos explains</a>.</p><p>But once you look at one car, the colors of the cars stop changing. If the car you're looking at has frozen at green then you know that the color of the other car must be yellow. So in a sense, the green car has affected the yellow car.</p><p>And this can happen at any distance. If you have one friend standing in front of you with one car and another friend standing on, say, the moon with the other car, the cars are still entangled, instantaneously affecting each other. So having information about one particle in an entangled ensemble reveals an "unnatural" amount of information on the other, <a href="http://phys.org/news/2016-06-refine-method-quantum-entanglement.html">Phys.org reports</a>.</p><p>"It allows us to look at one particle that interacted with another particle in the past and know what other particle's state is - even if we can't read it because it's on other side of universe," Alberto Peruzzo, a senior research fellow with RMIT University's School of Engineering and Director of RMIT's Quantum Photonics Laboratory, told Business Insider.</p><p>When this is applied to computing, it allows for algorithms that are extremely fast - far faster than any algorithms we can come up with using classical mechanics.</p><p>Unlike classical computers, which are binary and limited to just 0 and 1 (on or off), quantum computing uses particles that can exist in multiple dimensions, and can be 0, 1, 2, or more. </p><p>"So much more information can be stored and transmitted," said Zixin Huang, a PhD student working on the experiment, to Phys.org.</p><h2><strong>Here's the catch</strong></h2><p><span>Quantum computing relies on entanglement between individual particles to store information. </span>But there's a catch. In order to move forward with quantum computing, scientists have to find a way to make sure the particles in question are actually entangled.</p><p>"One of problems we have today in the lab is that we need to certify that we have achieved entanglement in an experiment," Peruzzo said. "When you have a higher number of particles in a quantum state, the dimensionality of system grows very fast. It quickly becomes very hard to actually find that this system is entangled."</p><p>The key ingredient to the new method is something called 'mutual information,' which quantifies the amount of information obtained about one random variable through another random variable.</p><p>"The recipe is this: We take a two particle system, we calculate mutual information by doing measurements on each of these two particles," Peruzzo said. "By comparing the mutual information to a threshold we can certify we have entanglement."</p><p>Although at the moment this method can only be used on bipartite (two particle) systems, the scientists are working on extending it to even more particles.</p><p>They hope it will allow for simpler operations, cutting back the amount of measurements scientists have to make to determine if particles are, in fact, entangled.</p><p>"Other methods require more sophisticated and complex approach," Peruzzo said. "What we did in this work is show a very simple method that allows us to make faster progress in the lab."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/gamers-beat-computers-quantum-physics-science-atoms-study-2016-4">Physicists came up with a simple way you can outperform supercomputers at quantum physics</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="h4YnJ4MjE63Os8CYdZQtgvyCwlJ8J4O4" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

We just got better at detecting this phenomenon in quantum physics that Einstein thought was too 'spooky' to be real

<p><em><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></em></p><p><em>Our gut does more than help us digest food; the bacteria that call our intestines home have been implicated in everything from our mental health and sleep, to weight gain and cravings for certain foods. This series examines how far the <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> has come and whether there's anything we can do to improve the health of our gut.</em></p><p>The gut microbiota is the community of bugs, including bacteria, that live in our intestine. It has been called the body's "forgotten organ" because of the important role it plays beyond digestion and metabolism.</p><p>You might have read about the importance of a healthy gut microbiota for a healthy brain. Links have been made between the microbiota and depression, anxiety and stress. Your gut bacteria may even affect how well you sleep.</p><p>But it can be difficult to work out exactly how far the science has come in this emerging field of research. So what evidence is there that your gut microbiota affects your brain?</p><p><div></div></p><h2>How does your gut talk to your brain?</h2><p>When you're healthy, bacteria are kept safely inside your gut. For the most part, the bacteria and your gut live in harmony. (The gut has been known to nurture or even <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/biology/chemical-messengers-could-make-poo-transplants-obsolete">control the behaviour</a> of the bacteria for your well-being.)</p><p>So how do the bacteria get their signal out?</p><p>The best evidence is that the normal channels of communication from your gut are being hijacked by the bacteria.</p><p>The gut has a bidirectional relationship with the central nervous system, referred to as the "<a href="http://www.gutmicrobiotaforhealth.com/en/interview-ted-dinan-learning-gut-brain-axis/">gut-brain axis</a>". This allows the gut to send and receive signals to and from the brain.</p><p>A recent <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/108/38/16050">study</a> found that the addition of a "good" strain of the bacteria lactobacillus (which is also found in yoghurt) to the gut of normal mice reduced their anxiety levels. The effect was blocked after cutting the vagus nerve - the main connection between brain and gut. This suggests the gut-brain axis is being used by bacteria to affect the brain.</p><p>This link was clarified in a <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25550456">study</a> where bacterial metabolites (by-products) from fibre digestion were found to increase the levels of the gut hormone and neurotransmitter, serotonin. Serotonin can activate the vagus, suggesting one way your gut bacteria might be linked with your brain.</p><p>There are <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25103109">many other ways</a> gut bacteria might affect your brain, including via bacterial toxins and metabolites, nutrient-scavenging, changing your taste-receptors and stirring up your immune system.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><h2>How can the gut affect your mental health?</h2><p>Two human studies looked at people with major depression and found that bacteria in their faeces differed from healthy volunteers. But it's not yet clear why there is a difference, or even what counts as a <a href="http://www.jwatch.org/na41241/2016/05/27/characteristics-gut-microbiome">"normal" gut microbiota</a>.</p><p>In mouse studies, changes to the gut bacteria from antibiotics, probiotics (live bacteria) or specific breeding techniques are associated with anxious and depressive behaviours. These behaviours can be "<a href="http://www.gutmicrobiotaforhealth.com/en/gut-microbiota-changes-may-responsible-depressive-like-behaviours-mice-alterations-host-metabolism/">transferred</a>" from one mouse to another after a faecal microbiota transplant.</p><p>Even more intriguingly, in a <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27491067">study</a> this year, gut microbiota samples from people with major depression were used to colonise bacteria-free rats. These rats went on to show behavioural changes related to depression.</p><p>Stress is also likely to be important in gut microbiota and mental health. We've known for a long time that stress contributes to the onset of mental illness. We are now discovering bidirectional links between stress and the microbiota.</p><p>In rat pups, exposure to a stressor (being separated from their mums) changes their gut microbiota, their stress response, <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150728110734.htm">and their behaviour</a>. Probiotics containing "good" strains of bacteria can reduce their stress behaviours.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><h2>How gut microbiota affects your mood</h2><p>Medical conditions associated with changes in mood, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), might also be related to gut microbiota.</p><p>IBS is considered a "<a href="http://www.ibsclinic.org.au/causes.php?pageId=584&amp;moduleId=186">gut-brain disorder</a>", since it is often worsened by stress. Half of IBS sufferers also have difficulties with depression or anxiety.</p><p>Ongoing <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4734998/">research</a> is investigating whether gut bacteria are one reason for the mood symptoms in IBS, as well as the gastrointestinal pain, diarrhoea and constipation.</p><p>Similarly, CFS is a multi-system illness, with many patients experiencing unbalanced gut microbiota. In these patients, alterations in the gut microbiota may contribute to the development of symptoms such as depression, neurocognitive impairments (affecting memory, thought and communication), pain and sleep disturbance.</p><p><a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1984006315000632">In a recent study</a>, higher levels of lactobacillus were associated with poorer mood in CFS participants. Some improvements in sleep and mood were observed when patients used antibiotic treatment to reduce gut microbial imbalance.</p><p>The exact contributions of stress and other factors such as intestinal permeability (which allows nutrients to pass through the gut) to these disorders are not understood. But the downstream effects seem to be involved in IBS, inflammatory bowel conditions, CFS, depression and chronic pain.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><h2>How our gut affects our sleep</h2><p>Our mental health is closely linked to the quality and timing of our sleep. Now evidence suggests that the gut microbiota can influence sleep quality and sleep-wake cycles (our circadian rhythm).</p><p>A study this year examined patients <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26757840">with CFS</a>. The researchers found that higher levels of the "bad" clostridium bacteria were associated with an increased likelihood of sleep problems and fatigue, but this was specific to females only. This suggests that an unbalanced gut may precipitate or perpetuate sleep problems.</p><p>There is emerging evidence that circadian rhythms regulate the gut immune response. The effect of immune cells on the biological clock could provide insights into the possible bidirectional relationship between sleep and the gut. For example, data from <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0097500">animal studies</a> suggests that circadian misalignment can lead to an unbalanced gut microbiota. But this effect can be moderated by diet.</p><p>There is growing concern that <a href="http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v6/n5/full/nrn1670.html">disruptions</a> to our circadian timing of sleep leads to a range of health issues, such as obesity, metabolic and inflammatory disease, and mood disorders. This is particularly important for shiftworkers and others who experience changes to their sleep/wake patterns.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><h2>What this means for treatment</h2><p>In terms of using interventions directed at the gut to treat brain disorders - so called "psychobiotics" - there is a lot of promise but little clear evidence.</p><p>Probiotic (live bacteria) treatments in mice have been shown to reduce cortisol, an important stress hormone, and decrease anxious and depressive behaviours.</p><p>But there are very few studies in humans. A <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26370263">recent systematic review</a> of all the human studies showed the majority do not show any effect of probiotics on mood, stress or symptoms of mental illness.</p><p>On the plus side, large studies show us that people who eat a balanced diet with all the usual good stuff (fibre, fresh fruit and vegetables) have lower rates of mental illness as <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21957462">adults</a> and <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21715296">adolescents</a>.</p><p>Clearly, diet affects both the gut microbiota and mental health. Research is ongoing to see whether it is a healthy gut microbiota that underlies this relationship.</p><p>A healthy gut microbiota is linked to a healthy brain. However there are only a handful of human studies demonstrating real-world relevance of this link to mental health outcomes.</p><p>There is still a way to go before we can say exactly how best to harness the microbiota in order to improve brain function and mental health.</p><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/paul-bertrand-7622">Paul Bertrand</a>, Senior Lecturer in School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/rmit-university-1063">RMIT University</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/amy-loughman-298142">Amy Loughman</a>, Associate Lecturer, Industry Fellow, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/rmit-university-1063">RMIT University</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/melinda-jackson-169319">Melinda Jackson</a>, Senior Research Fellow in the School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/rmit-university-1063">RMIT University</a></p><p>This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/gut-feeling-how-your-microbiota-affects-your-mood-sleep-and-stress-levels-65107">original article</a>.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/autonomous-garden-sun-brightest-robot-innovation-art-2016-8">This intelligent garden rolls through the city find the sunlight</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="k0ZnEwNTE6lBlKTMmLVZKAreNcnfGGPp" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

How your gut bacteria affect your sleep, stress levels, and mood

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>STR/AFP/Getty Images</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>China's influence operations have flourished because the US, Australia, and other leading nations have left a void that Beijing was easily able to fill, according to a former Australian government adviser.</strong></li><li><strong>President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative to link 70 countries filled a gap of loans and infrastructure to poorer nations, particularly in Southeast Asia.</strong></li><li><strong>Hundreds of controversial Confucius Institutes, which are run by the Communist Party, also fill a "black hole" of education on Chinese language and culture that countries failed to provide themselves.</strong></li><li><strong>The influence of these institutes is so large that US legislators announced this week a draft law to force them to register as foreign agents of the the Chinese government</strong></li></ul><p><br />China's biggest advantage is that other countries have left giant opportunities wide open that Beijing was able to easily fill, according to John Garnaut, a former adviser on China to Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.</p><p>Garnaut, who spoke to the US House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday, was giving national-security advice on state influence operations when he pointed out a common thread of China's influence operations. Namely, that the US, Australia, and other leading nations stopped investing in Chinese education and global development, allowing China to take control.</p><p>"China is really filling a service we are failing to provide - that is a China capability, linguistic capability, understanding of Chinese contemporary <keyword id="6358883" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Politics">politics</keyword> and history," Garnaut said, before putting a spotlight on China's state-run cultural institutes around the world.</p><p>"Confucius Institutes have found a great black hole that they can fill," he said.</p><p>There are over 1,500 Confucius Institutes and Classrooms, which aim to promote Chinese language and culture, in universities, primary schools, and high schools in 142 countries around the world.</p><p>While playing a key role in, <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/FlagPost/2014/November/Confucius_Institutes_and_Chinese_soft_power_in_Australia">by their own admission</a>, China's soft-power and propaganda, they have also been deemed a "<a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/05/09/american-universities-are-welcoming-chinas-Trojan-horse-confucius-institutes/">trojan horse</a>" and a source of censorship. China's Communist Party retains ultimate control over Confucius Institutes, their budgets, activities, and curricula.</p><p>Garnaut believes the US and Australia have essentially given Beijing this influence. He said that universities "need to work hard" to rebuild their Chinese expertise so they don't have to rely on China's government to fill the gaps.</p><p>But education isn't the only area where China has seized opportunities. The <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-belt-and-road-china-infrastructure-project-2018-1">Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)</a>, President Xi Jinping's plan to link 70 countries via railways and shipping lanes, has seen an outpouring of expensive loans to poorer nations to fund infrastructure.</p><p>"With BRI, obviously again they filled a vacuum," said Garnaut. "If we're - between us - no longer supporting development in the way that we used to in my part of the world, in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, it provides opportunities for others. I think there's opportunity to do more there and also to again really focus on transparency."</p><h2>US legislators wants Confucius Institutes to register as foreign agents</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>WILLIAM WEST/AFP/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Xi Jinping unveils the plaque at the opening of Australia's first Chinese Medicine Confucius Institute at the RMIT University in Melbourne on June 20, 2010.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>On Wednesday, three US legislators, including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, introduced the Foreign Influence Transparency Act which would require Confucius Institutes to register as foreign agents.</p><p>"This legislation aims to bring greater transparency to the activities of foreign governments operating in the United States," said Rubio.</p><p>When asked about the proposed law, Garnaut said regardless of whether Confucius Institutes should be registered, "that's the right direction."</p><p>"What they do is partly propaganda, but even more importantly is their connection to the United Front's Work Department system and that is they can potentially be used, and we need to stop them being used, as a platform for influencing decision-making in universities," said Garnaut.</p><p>The United Front Work Department is the arm of China's government that openly runs China's soft power and influence initiatives internationally, particularly in regard to <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2018/02/chinas-united-front-work-propaganda-as-policy/">Chinese students studying abroad and the Chinese diaspora</a>.</p><p>And the relationship between United Front Work and Confucius Institutes was made even stronger this week in a vast government shakeup. <a href="http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2138196/its-mysterious-department-behind-chinas-growing">United Front Work's role is being strengthened</a>, and it will absorb the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office and oversee international Chinese language education.</p><p>From now on, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/china-brazenly-and-aggressively-interfering-with-political-systems-20180322-p4z5ke.html">Confucius Institutes may very well be overseen by the United Front Work Department</a>.</p><h2>But countries should be more concerned about quieter initiatives</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Screenshot</span></p><p class="caption">John Garnaut.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>As much as the US and Australia should be concerned about overt instances of influence, such as the Confucius Institutes, Garnaut believes there are far more serious instances of influence that need to be tackled.</p><p>"One thing about the Confucius Institutes is, at least we know about them and people are talking about them. In a way, that degree of transparency goes a long way to curing the problem," Garnaut said.</p><p>"What I'm personally more concerned about is things that don't have a big flag over their building. We see other institutes and research institutes performing similar functions but without the attention, and I think that's where we need to pay a lot more attention."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/meaning-of-fake-news-and-make-america-great-again-steven-pinker-2018-3">Harvard professor Steven Pinker explains the disturbing truth behind Trump's 2 favorite phrases</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

You Searched For "RMIT University" and got 10 results

You may not have to wash your clothes anymore. Find out why

Poulomi Das

Australian universities step up to help international students affected by coronavirus pandemic

PTI

An Australian university was evacuated when a pungent fruit was mistaken for a gas leak

Tara Francis Chan

Singapore brokered a deal with Taylor Swift, so she wouldn't take the Eras Tour to other Southeast Asian countries. Now, a Philippines lawmaker is calling it out.

Eve Crosbie

Solar power could become cheaper and more efficient thanks to a new method that creates electricity from invisible light

Aaron Holmes

Urban planning experts share 3 characteristics of an ideal neighborhood to live in during a pandemic

Joey Hadden

We just got better at detecting this phenomenon in quantum physics that Einstein thought was too 'spooky' to be real

Ali Sundermier

How your gut bacteria affect your sleep, stress levels, and mood

Paul Bertrand, Amy Loughman, …

China is winning because it can fill a 'black hole' that other countries have left behind

Tara Francis Chan

Bullying allegations, $1,000 pens, and a celebrity chef: Inside the collapse of Faraday Grid, the billion-dollar energy startup backed by Adam Neumann

Shona Ghosh

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides