The science behind extra virgin olive oil’s antioxidant properties
Extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) is one of the most important ingredients as well as the main source of lipids in the Mediterranean diet. It is known to contain biologically relevant phenolic components with recognised health-beneficial properties. For this reason, EVOO is defined as a functional food with high antioxidant and anti-inflammatory capacity, which is also why past studies have focused on linking olive oil consumption with a lower incidence of different cancers.
Deterioration of ancient Egyptian sandals
Ancient leather artefacts from Museo Egizio have been studied by combining optical and spectroscopic tools (SEM-EDS, XRF-RAMAN), more sensitive their surface composition, and neutron spectroscopy, able to better probe their bulk. Leather was a common material in ancient Egypt and its manufacturing into sandals, bags, and stools responded to many daily applications. For this reason, leather-made objects were subject to hard use and harsh environmental conditions.
Neutron irradiation of COTS electronics
Micro- and nano-satellites, i.e., small satellites with overall mass of tens of kilograms, are becoming of increasing interest for the scientific and industrial communities. By reducing the mass of the satellite, the high cost associated to its launch into the upper atmosphere and space is also reduced and, in turn, this allows to have “constellations” (hundreds of) of small satellites which provide more precise information, e.g. by gathering data from multiple locations, compared with few larger satellites
Investigations of radiation shielding heavy concrete
A unique combination of scanning electron microscopy to look at the atomic level details of heavy concrete, and its neutron shielding ...
