It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Thursday, May 28, 2026
Nutrition’s role in chronic fatigue
Diet and homocysteine may influence fatigue and motivation
With less time and more work, chronic fatigue has become a moniker of modern society. However, this not only reduces the quality of life but also constitutes as a social issue that affects work efficiency and leads to accidents. On the surface, the cause of fatigue is often attributed to not getting enough rest, but there may be another underlying issue—the lack of proper nutrition.
Taking this into account, a research group led by Professor Hiroaki Kanouchi at Osaka Metropolitan University’s Graduate School of Human Life and Ecology focused on nutritional status and water-soluble vitamin deficiencies found in unbalanced diets. The team hypothesized that a lack of folate (B9) and vitamin B12 may be related to fatigue, and centered their research around homocysteine (Hcy), a biomarker known to increase when these deficiencies are present. Blood concentrations of Hcy, folate, and vitamin B12 in approximately 600 healthy Japanese participants were measured. Participants’ fatigue and motivation were assessed using the Chalder Fatigue Scale questionnaire and Visual Analog Scale. The initial results showed that individuals with higher blood Hcy levels had lower levels of vitamin B12 and folate, regardless of sex.
The researchers then examined the relationship between homocysteine levels and fatigue separately for men and women. In their analysis, factors that may influence fatigue, such as age, sleep duration, workload, and dietary habits, were simultaneously accounted for. The results revealed higher Hcy levels were associated with greater physical fatigue in men and higher levels were associated with decreased motivation in women.
“This suggested relationship between vitamin B12, folate, and fatigue in healthy individuals may represent the first report of its kind,” said Professor Kanouchi. “Blood homocysteine levels have traditionally raised concerns in relation to cardiovascular disease, dementia, and fractures. However, our findings suggest that attention should also be paid to fatigue and motivation in the future. To prevent an increase in homocysteine levels, it is important to avoid deficiencies in vitamin B12 and folate. Maintaining a well-balanced diet on a daily basis is essential.”
The findings were published in Nutrients.
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About OMU
Established in Osaka as one of the largest public universities in Japan, Osaka Metropolitan University is committed to shaping the future of society through the “Convergence of Knowledge” and the promotion of world-class research. For more research news, visit https://www.omu.ac.jp/en/ and follow us on social media: X, Instagram, LinkedIn.
Associations of Plasma Homocysteine Reflecting Vitamin B12 and Folate Status with Fatigue-Related Outcomes in Healthy Adults
Article Publication Date
17-Mar-2026
COI Statement
E.N., Y.N. and T.N are employees of Alinamin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Good Vitamin D status among most young children in Sweden
The majority of young children showed good vitamin D status, no child had indications of deficiency, but among some intake was too low. This is the result of a study encompassing over 1,800 infants in Sweden. Foods providing children with vitamin D also contributed to greenhouse gas emissions.
This study is the first to offer an in-depth analysis of vitamin D intake and status among infants in Sweden following an expansion of mandatory vitamin D fortification in 2018. The initiative focused on certain food groups and the aim was to ensure that more people attain sufficient vitamin D through their diet.
The study included children aged 18 months (1,074 individuals) and four years (746 individuals) whose data were obtained from the survey “Riksmaten småbarn”, covering 2021-2024. The study also evaluated the climate impact of foods providing children with vitamin D.
Low intake but no deficiency
The results show that 16 percent of the 18-month-olds and 61 percent of the four-year-olds were below the average required vitamin D intake (7.5 microgram/day) through diet and vitamin D drops. No children were vitamin D deficient, and most children had sufficient levels, including 93 percent in the younger age group and 96 percent in the older age group.
The most important sources of vitamin D for 18-month-olds were vitamin D drops and fortified dairy products, porridge and cereals; and for the four-year-olds, fortified dairy products and spreads.
At the same time, dairy products contribute to diet-related greenhouse gas emissions. The foods with the highest vitamin D content relative to environmental impact were fortified spreads and fortified plant-based alternatives. This makes plant-based alternatives a climate-friendly source of vitamin D.
Climate impact can be reduced
The study, published in the Nutrition Journal, was conducted by researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Swedish Food Agency and RISE, Research Institutes of Sweden. One of the lead authors is André Hesselink, dietician and doctoral student in clinical nutrition at the University of Gothenburg:
“We have enjoyed an excellent collaboration with the Swedish Food Agency, and our results show the crucial importance of fortified dairy products for vitamin D intake among young children in Sweden, especially after they stop taking vitamin D drops. In addition, the expansion of the mandatory fortification programme provides an opportunity for plant-based alternatives to play a more prominent role in the future for ensuring adequate intake of vitamin D and reducing the climate impact of our dietary habits”, he says.
Fact box: Vitamin D
Required for the formation of strong teeth and bones
One of few vitamins that we risk ingesting too little of
Stored in the body over time
Ingested through diet, mainly from fatty fish and fortified foods
Formed in the skin by exposure to sunlight (dark skin requires more exposure time)
Recommended for children in Sweden from 0-2 years of age in the form of supplemental vitamin D drops
High proportion of young children are vitamin D sufficient after expansion of Sweden’s mandatory fortification but dairy products also contribute to a high climate impact
Monash students unveil cave safety tech as Laos rescue continues
The student team created ANTRUM, a wearable tracking and navigation system,, designed for high-risk underground settings such as caves and mines, where GPS and phone signals are often unavailable.
The palm-sized devices are strapped to a user’s leg before entering an underground environment. Using motion sensors and radio communication, it allows users to locate their exploration partner and navigate back towards the cave entrance from the point where route recording began.
The team developed a complete working system, including hardware, software, electronics and a 3D-printed casing. They are now hoping to develop a waterproof version that could support underwater cave divers.
The project was inspired by the 2018 rescue of the Thai youth soccer team trapped in the Tham Nang Non cave system in Thailand's Chiang Rai province.
“We were inspired by the story of the Thai youth soccer team cave rescue and wanted to explore whether technology could help prevent people from becoming stranded in the first place,” said project team member Maria Demina, who is studying a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering.
ANTRUM also includes a web dashboard, ANTRUM DASH, which records movement data during use. Once users return to the surface, the data uploads to the cloud, allowing them to review and analyse their route.
The development comes at a critical time and highlights the growing need for technology that can help prevent people becoming trapped underground.
Risk of renewable power fluctuations made predictable
Giant dataset of electricity generation and weather conditions informs new physics-based framework that helps mitigate grid fluctuations and inform wind farm placements
Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) Graduate University
One of the key challenges to climate-neutral power generation is addressing the risk of unpredictable power surges from renewables. Even with advanced turbine design or battery storage, a gust of wind or changing atmospheric conditions can cause a sudden spike in power output. This overgeneration can rapidly escalate up to volatile, potentially dangerous grid-wide surges and blackouts as generators become larger and more efficient, farms increase in size and number, and renewables take up an increasing fraction of total power production.
In a paper now published in PRX Energy, researchers from the Nonlinear and Non-equilibrium Physics Unit at Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) present a new statistical framework for predicting power fluctuations of individual wind turbines, wind farms, and groups of farms, as well as voltage fluctuations of entire grids, using existing geospatial information. With this, energy policymakers, engineers, and grid operators have a powerful tool for understanding and predicting the risks associated with the turbulent behavior of wind power generation.
“With our statistical analysis, farm designers can now create physics-based predictors for assessing power fluctuation risks based on the specific placement of current or future turbines and farms. It’s a bit like financial forecasting,” says study first author Dr. Samy Lakhal.
Translating turbulence to risk via a 20km wide physics experiment
The researchers derived the statistical framework using wind and power-generation data from 80 wind turbines in the United States, spread over 20km, collected every 10 minutes for more than 5 years. Senior author Professor Mahesh Bandi continues:
“We found that the wind farm behaved less like a collection of independent wind turbines, and more like a single, turbulent system. Power fluctuations correlate strongly with atmospheric turbulence, which gives a very strong indication of the total variation in electricity output for a given farm. And these fluctuations scale predictably across downwind farms and the entire energy grid.”
With this framework in hand, planners can accurately assess the risk profiles of existing turbines and farms, as well as future developments. The predictors also scale to help evaluate the fluctuation risks associated with connecting new facilities to the power grid.
Scale up diversification and collaboration
Renewables are expected to overtake coal in global power generation by the end of 2026. As wind power megaprojects come online — last year alone, 165 gigawatts of wind power were installed, a 40% year-over-year increase — addressing the risk of power surges becomes increasingly urgent.
“Ultimately, the most reliable strategy is to diversify the geographic placement of wind turbines to mitigate the risks of overproduction. A sparse distribution of both turbines and farms reduces large-scale fluctuations, as does a diversity of power generation methods. And as more installations come online, we need better collaboration between grid and farm operators,” concludes Lakhal.
“We absolutely need more renewables. With the accurate predictions that this model can help establish, we can better manage the risks associated with large-scale implementation — and as global developments come online, diverse energy portfolios and sparse placements should themselves act as buffers against future fluctuations.”
Metamaterials – the term may sound esoteric to the layman. In science and engineering, however, this is an interesting field of research that has developed at a highly dynamic pace, particularly since the 1990s.
To the naked eye, a metamaterial looks like an ordinary material. On smaller scales, however, it features an unusual, carefully engineered structure, endowing it with special mechanical or physical properties that the original basic material does not possess.
Such artificially designed materials are, for example, very light, stiff, highly deformable, or they mitigate impact and attenuate vibrations. Applications range from shoe soles (as reported by ETH News) and helmets all the way to microelectronics.
Special properties thanks to a special microstructure
Dennis Kochmann, Professor of Mechanics and Materials Research at ETH Zurich has extensively worked on metamaterials in his research. “It is fascinating how, through a special microstructure, you can endow a material with special properties that it does not possess without this structure,” he explains.
Kochmann and his collaborators recently presented a novel so-called phononic metamaterial in two scientific publications – a material capable of precisely controlling mechanical waves, such as vibrations or acoustic signals.
Such a metamaterial could, for example, be deployed to harvest energy from vibrations or to process signals purely mechanically, which is of interest for sensors and mechanical computers that operate without electricity.
Wafer-thin silicon membrane as a wave guide
If a metal plate is excited to vibrate – for example, by hitting it with a hammer – these vibrations usually spread in a circular fashion, similar to surface waves in water. If this plate has a carefully designed structure, however, it can redirect waves along specific paths – and it is precisely this effect that the ETH researchers have exploited.
Instead of a metal plate, they used an extremely thin silicon membrane into which the researchers etched countless holes by way of photolithography and etching techniques, thereby forming a specific pattern.
A pattern comprising millions of elements
The pattern consists of millions of repeating square elements – minute squares, each further divided diagonally into four squares. At the centre of the main square is a four-pointed star.
Unlike in many other metamaterials, these unit cells are not identical across the entire pattern but change incrementally, as the lengths of the star’s arms vary.
The ETH researchers used custom-built computer models to generate these patterns and simulated how a wave striking the pattern propagates in rays.
“If one were to simulate the entire wave field in a conventional manner, it would be extremely computationally expensive, because the design space is huge with millions upon millions of degrees of freedom,” explains Kochmann’s former team member Charles Dorn, now an assistant professor at the University of Washington, who was in charge of the simulations.
Playing puzzle with metamaterials
“The design of our metamaterial is modular, just like a jigsaw puzzle,” as Kochmann explains. In this way, different puzzle pieces perform specific functions, such as deflecting rays at right angles or splitting waves into different directions based on their frequency. When the researchers skilfully assemble the appropriate puzzle pieces, they can generate complex wave paths, such as a figure-eight path.
Manufactured in the cleanroom on silicon substrates
In a further step, the researchers fabricated the computationally designed structures with high precision in the cleanroom at the Binnig and Rohrer Nanotechnology Centre at ETH Zurich and IBM. To this end, they used a conventional silicon wafer as the starting point and, in several steps, turned it into a silicon membrane that is structured exactly like the simulated pattern, with hundreds of thousands of unit cells – each measuring just a few micrometres in size and hence barely visible to the naked eye.
As a final step, the researchers tested the metamaterial membranes they had produced in an experiment. Using laser pulses, they caused the silicon membrane to vibrate. Deploying an optical measurement technique, they tracked the propagation of the vibrations in real time.
This enabled Kochmann and his colleagues to confirm that the waves did indeed follow the specified paths – and in some cases over long periods of time.
The structures not only function at a single vibration frequency: although the researchers designed the system for 750 kilohertz (750,000 vibrations per second), it operates effectively at frequencies ranging from around 250 to 800 kilohertz. “We hadn’t planned for this broad frequency range, so it came as a pleasant surprise,” comments Vignesh Kannan, co-author of the study published in the journal Nature Communications.
As silicon, the base material, has naturally low damping characteristics, waves can propagate for a long time. This is a major advantage over polymer-based 3D-printed structures, whose damping quickly suppresses any vibrations, explains Kannan, who is now an assistant professor at the École Polytechnique in Paris.
Harvesting energy from vibrations
The novel silicon membrane could find use in micro- and nanoelectronics, for example to better control vibrations on chips. The phononic metamaterial is also of interest for mechanical signal processing without a power supply, such as in sensors for monitoring infrastructure in remote areas. In the long term, they could also be deployed for novel computer architectures.
Kochmann, however, is also considering energy harvesters – devices that specifically direct vibration energy to piezoelectric energy converters, which generate usable electricity from vibrations.
In the next stages, he and his collaborators hope to push miniaturisation even further – right up to the limits of what is feasible, where manufacturing defects in the micro- or even nanostructure begin to have a significant impact.
“We also want to gain a better understanding of the physics behind the phenomena at play. It is not yet entirely clear why the design works so robustly across such a wide range of frequencies,” states Kochmann.
For him, basic research is the top priority, as some of the underlying phenomena still remain a mystery. Applications often arise naturally, as the researcher comments. “That’s the beauty of being here at ETH: we can try things out and explore the fundamentals without commercial pressure.”
References
Kannan V, Dorn C, Drechsler U, Kochmann DM: Microscale Architected Materials for Elastic Waveguiding: Fabrication and Dynamic Characterization across Length and Time Scales Phys. Rev. X 16, 011047 – Published 5 March, 2026, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/21w4-zn1s
Dorn C, Kannan V, Drechsler U, et al. Graded phononic metamaterials based on scalable microfabrication and design. Nat Commun 17, 3192 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-69888
Microscale Architected Materials for Elastic Waveguiding: Fabrication and Dynamic Characterization across Length and Time Scales Phys.
Disco lasers improve the safety of snow groomers
An international team involving Graz University of Technology has investigated how heavy machinery can be operated more safely using extended reality applications. In the process, a disco laser outdid VR headsets
When it comes to snow groomers, excavators or crane vehicles, how can their operation be optimised even in difficult conditions and made safer for people in and around the vehicle? An international research team, including the Institute of Visual Computing at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), investigated this question as part of the THEIA-XR project. The researchers aimed to improve human-machine interaction through the use of extended reality technologies. The focus was on the operator, whose field of perception was to be expanded without negatively affecting control performance. When working with snow groomers, for example, the team from TU Graz found that data or VR headsets tend to be counterproductive, while information projected via a repurposed disco laser proved to be a great help.
Drawings in the snow
Wearing a VR headset for long periods was too strenuous for the neck muscles; moreover, due to the constant jolting movements on rough terrain, they quickly caused nausea in many people. Laser projection onto the terrain in front of the vehicle, on the other hand, proved to be a viable solution. This allows not only speed information but also tracks and orientation aids to be projected onto the snow, enabling a snow groomer to be steered more efficiently and safely. Virtual barriers and warning indicators for people in the vicinity of the vehicle further enhance safety. And in poor visibility, due to fog or snowfall, the laser beams become visible in the aerosols in the air, allowing structures to be visualised that lie beyond the available line of sight.
In addition to improving data visualisation for drivers, the team also carried out research on ways to better capture the surrounding environment. It became apparent that the researchers’ intentions and the practical benefits for vehicle occupants were not always the same. “The exciting thing about this project was that our considerations from a research perspective and the drivers’ needs first had to be reconciled,” says Clemens Arth from the Institute of Visual Computing at TU Graz. “For example, we developed what is probably a globally unique prototype for a 360-degree thermal imaging camera to show snow groomer drivers whether there were people or animals around the vehicle. Ultimately, however, the much greater benefit was that they could groom the slopes more accurately, as it became clear where the snow was well-compacted and where it wasn’t.”
Foundations for future remote control
The project also provided important foundations for the increased remote control of heavy machinery in the long term. The rationale behind this is to protect the health of the people in the vehicle, as physical injuries can occur rapidly, particularly when working in rough terrain due to constant vibrations. An important step towards reliable remote control was the improved depth perception in simple camera transmissions, enabling distances to be better assessed via a monitor.
In addition to TU Graz and the snow groomer manufacturer Prinoth, Dresden University of Technology was also involved in the project, conducting research on excavator vehicles in collaboration with Stuttgart Media University. The VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, in collaboration with the Kalmar company, focused on forklifts and loading machines in port environments. The University of Luxembourg was responsible for the anonymisation of personal performance data and the non-discriminatory identification of individuals by sensors. The consortium was led by TTControl, while the Creanex Oy and Haption companies contributed simulator and control technology.
