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The impact of polluted urban soil on trees is highlighted in a recent study from Latvia. The researchers found that high salt levels from de-icing chemicals and nutrient imbalance in soil damaged lime trees growing in the city of Riga.

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Needle pricks not your thing? A team of National Science Foundation-funded scientists is developing wearable skin sensors that can detect what's in your sweat. They hope that one day, monitoring perspiration could bypass the need for more invasive procedures like blood draws, and provide real-time updates on health problems such as dehydration or fatigue. In a new paper, the team describes a new sensor design that can be rapidly manufactured using a "roll-to-roll" processing technique that essentially prints the sensors onto a sheet of plastic like words on a newspaper. They used the sensors to monitor the sweat rate, and the electrolytes and metabolites in sweat, from volunteers who were exercising, and others who were experiencing chemically induced perspiration. The new sensors contain a spiraling microscopic tube, or microfluidic, that wicks sweat from the skin. By tracking how fast the sweat moves through the microfluidic, the sensors can report how much a person is sweating, or their sweat rate. The microfluidics are also outfitted with chemical sensors that can detect concentrations of electrolytes like potassium and sodium, and metabolites like glucose.

Image credit: Bizen Maskey/Sunchon National University

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After 16 years of dedicated planning and engineering, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have completed a 3.2 gigapixel sensor array for the camera that will be used in the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), a massive telescope that will observe the universe like never before. The digital sensor array is composed of about 200 16-megapixel sensors, divided into 21 modules called "rafts." Each raft can function on its own, but when combined, they will view an area of sky that can fit more than 40 full moons in a single image. Researchers will stitch these images together to create a time-lapse movie of the complete visible universe accessible from Chile. Currently under construction on a mountaintop in Chile, LSST is designed to capture the most complete images of our universe that have ever been achieved. The project to build the telescope facility and camera is a collaborative effort among more than 30 institutions from around the world, and it is primarily funded by DOE's Office of Science and the National Science Foundation.

Image credit: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

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A new study shows that the West Antarctic Peninsula is experiencing some of the most rapid climate change on Earth, featuring dramatic increases in temperatures, retreats in glaciers and declines in sea ice. The Southern Ocean absorbs nearly half of the carbon dioxide -- the key greenhouse gas linked to climate change -- that is absorbed by all the world's oceans. The study tapped an unprecedented 25 years of oceanographic measurements in the Southern Ocean and highlights the need for more monitoring in the region. The research revealed that carbon dioxide absorption by surface waters off the West Antarctic Peninsula is linked to the stability of the upper ocean, along with the amount and type of algae present. A stable upper ocean provides algae with ideal growing conditions. During photosynthesis, algae remove carbon dioxide from the surface ocean, which in turn draws carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. From 1993 to 2017, changes in sea ice dynamics off the West Antarctic Peninsula stabilized the upper ocean, resulting in greater algal concentrations and a shift in the mix of algal species. That's led to a nearly five-fold increase in carbon dioxide absorption during the summertime. The research also found a strong north-south difference in the trend of carbon dioxide absorption. The southern portion of the peninsula, which to date has been less impacted by climate change, experienced the most dramatic increase in carbon dioxide absorption, demonstrating the poleward progression of climate change in the region.

Image credit: Drew Spacht/The Ohio State University

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National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded researchers from North Carolina State and Elon universities have developed a technique that allows them to remotely control the movement of soft robots, lock them into position for as long as needed and later reconfigure the robots into new shapes. The technique relies on light and magnetic fields. "By engineering the properties of the material, we can control the soft robot's movement remotely; we can get it to hold a given shape; we can then return the robot to its original shape or further modify its movement; and we can do this repeatedly. All of those things are valuable, in terms of this technology's utility in biomedical or aerospace applications," says Joe Tracy, a professor of materials science and engineering at NC State and corresponding author of a paper on the work. In experimental testing, the researchers demonstrated that the soft robots could be used to form "grabbers" for lifting and transporting objects. The soft robots could also be used as cantilevers or folded into "flowers" with petals that bend in different directions. "We are not limited to binary configurations, such as a grabber being either open or closed," says Jessica Liu, first author of the paper and a Ph.D. student at NC State. "We can control the light to ensure that a robot will hold its shape at any point."

Image credit: Jessica A.C. Liu

Source: Streetwise Reports   05/05/2020

For the last several summer drill seasons, most of Aben Resources Ltd.'s (ABN:TSX.V; ABNAF:OTCQB) attention has centered on its 23,000-hectare Forrest Kerr Gold Project, located in northern British Columbia, in the heart of the Golden Triangle.

Some of Canada's greatest mines, such as Premier, Snip and Eskay Creek, have been found on the Golden Triangle, located just inland from the Alaska Panhandle. Other significant and well-known deposits located within the Triangle include Brucejack, Galore Creek, Copper Canyon, Schaft Creek, KSM, Granduc and Red Chris.

In recent years, the Golden Triangle area has attracted lots of new exploration as infrastructure improvements, such as roads and power lines, have made access easier.

Aben's drills at Forrest Kerr at the end of the 2017 season discovered the North Boundary Zone, where values as high as 21.5 g/t gold, 28.5 g/t silver and 3.1% copper over 6 meters were unearthed. The following year drilling uncovered multiple high-grade gold zones at shallow depths in the zone, including an interval of 62.4 g/t Au over 6.0m starting at 114 meters downhole, establishing the continuity of the North Boundary Zone. Drilling also found the South Boundary Zone, located 1.5 kilometers from the North Boundary Zone, where assays showed "broad horizons of low-grade gold mineralization punctuated by intermittent intercepts of moderate to high-grade gold-silver-copper-zinc values."

For the 2019 exploration season, in nearly 10,000 meters of drilling that wrapped up on October-November 2019, Aben focused on the area south of the North Boundary Zone. "We were trying to find, not just continuity, but a structural source to it. We were drilling and testing a lot of these anomalies that showed up in the mag survey that we did at the beginning of last year before the season started. That was giving us good targets to work with," Aben CEO Jim Pettit told Streetwise Reports.

"As we headed south, much like the South Boundary Zone that we drilled back in 2018, we came up with these good intersections of gold and silver, but there were also lead-zinc and broader intersections of lower grade. So we had obviously come out of that zone that was high grade into a different type of mineralization," Pettit explained.

Pettit is hopeful that Aben will be able to explore Forrest Kerr this year. "Mining is deemed an essential activity in British Columbia, but, because of the coronavirus, we are concerned about the safety of our workers. We will be discussing this with the Tahltan Central Government to develop the proper protocols and make sure that the safeguards are in place for safely operating a camp."

The company has spent the winter analyzing its data in preparation for exploration this year. "We've gone through and detailed meter by meter all the drilling we've done. We've got some pretty good looking concepts to work with where we could be looking for possibly the feeder zone for the high-grade system and continuity," Pettit stated.

"Because of what we did last year on the west side of the Creek Fault, we've encountered another fault system that seems to be controlling a lot of the lower-grade mineralization as we headed south.," Pettit said. "If we follow that back up north toward the high-grade North Boundary Zone, there is a very large blind anomaly there that was not tested because it was covered in scree. This could give us some tremendous targets to work with.” "

In November, Aben reported that its drilling satisfied the expenditure requirements set out in the 2016 option agreement on the Forrest claim block, resulting in the company's 100% ownership of the Forrest Kerr property.

In addition to exploring Forrest Kerr, "Aben is always on the lookout for new projects to extend its exploration potential throughout the year," Pettit said.

Disclosure:
1) Patrice Fusillo compiled this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an employee. She or members of her household own securities of the following companies mentioned in the article: None. She or members of her household are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None.
2) The following company mentioned in this article is a billboard sponsor of Streetwise Reports: Aben Resources. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees.
3) Comments and opinions expressed are those of the specific experts and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security.
4) The article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports.
5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article until three business days after the publication of the interview or article. The foregoing prohibition does not apply to articles that in substance only restate previously published company releases. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of Aben Resources, a company mentioned in this article.

( Companies Mentioned: ABN:TSX.V; ABNAF:OTCQB, )

Source: Knox Henderson for Streetwise Reports   05/05/2020

News Update: A quick update since FansUnite Entertainment Inc. went live on Tuesday, May 5, because big things are happening in the industry, thus showing there is an enormous appetite for this kind of technology especially now, as we (very slowly) emerge out of this COVID pandemic. . .FansUnite is at a small-cap entry point with tremendous upside. After a financing at $0.35, the now-trading company rests slightly above that as a relatively new and unknown entity—so far—which is why now is great opportunity participate in a smaller scale, yet leveraged, consolidation play. "We have a great opportunity to use our stock as currency, and then grow and scale companies through our team and resources," says CEO Darius Eghdami. Read the entire update here.

Lets face it: gamers love games. While currently there's a dearth of real sports activity, that doesn't mean people aren't starving something to speculate on. No sports? No problem. Consider that there is $50 billion dollars placed online every year, according to ESPN. That's a lot of hungry money looking for a place to play.

So, despite the absence of the NFL, NHL, NBA and MLB, new online platforms are offering fun times for taking your chances on everything from reality TV shows, award shows, online gaming and virtual sports along with real in-the-flesh nail-biters like horse racing, table tennis and snooker. Who cares? It's all about the thrill of playing and winning. According to The The Guardian, just last week, "as coronavirus and the subsequent shelter-in-place orders have shut businesses around the globe and forced people to stay inside, some jobs have proven more stable than others," it said referring to online players. "The four U.S. states with legal sites—New Jersey, Nevada, Delaware, and Pennsylvania—reported record revenues in March." Meanwhile despite our current "modified behaviors" and "slowing of the economy," investors are also very keen on speculation in the gaming industry itself.

"FansUnite is at a small-cap entry point with tremendous upside."

Take, for example, DraftKings (NASDAQ:DKNG), which launched as recently as April 23, in the thick of this stay-at-home pandemic. After completing a merger with Diamond Eagle, a special purpose acquisition company, and back-end technology provider SBTech, its stock soared. Not only did DraftKings' stock jump 14% in its first day of trading before closing up 10.38% at $19.35, but the company was also able to add another half a billion dollars on the balance sheet at a time when it's not easy to raise money. The company is currently nearing a $1 billion market capitalization.

In this game, consolidation is key. Another highly successful big gaming conglomerate over-the-pond is UK-based GVC Gaming Group, which has been consolidating gaming assets over the last 15 years and is now worth $7.5 billion.

This week on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) an emerging player is launching its platform onto the public market. FansUnite Entertainment Inc. (FANS:CSE), a company active in the gaming industry since 2014, is led by industry veterans who are looking to unleash their own high-growth consolidation strategy. The company is focusing on technology related to regulated and lawful internet activity and other related products.

Its business is to consolidate business-to-business (B2B) partnerships worldwide, operate its FansUnite business-to-consumer (B2C) coined Sportsbook launching later this year, and operate its recently acquired (March 26) Scottish subsidiary, McBookie, an online white-label sportsbook licensed and regulated by the U.K. Commission. Even considering the "COVID" delays in traditional sports, the company expects to generate at least $1 million in 2020. Considering FansUnite's experience in the space and its established technologies in an industry that is truly trending, FansUnite has a long runway from its current $25 million market cap to the billions-dollar peers it's chasing, and that is why this looks be a great stock to hold right out of the gate.

When you consider "B2B" in this scenario, consider an entity that wants to create a sportsbook, to become "the house," if you will. That company would turn to FansUnite to set up a turnkey "white-label" (as in use FansUnite technology but with its own brand) online platform, complete with user onboarding, fan integration and access to fulfillment in fiat currency (hard dollars) or cryptocurrency. For this service FansUnite takes a percentage of the "house earnings" and also charges for its Software as a Service (SaaS) platform. In the B2C scenario, FansUnite itself is the "house," using its own sportsbook and technology platform, and executes the marketing efforts to on-board new users.

McBookie, the company's first acquisition, is a white-label sportsbook in the UK, focusing on the Scottish market. It offers 200,000 members active in sports, and virtual games and boasts over $100 million turnover cumulatively the last three years. "It's a great brand with an experienced team operating for over a decade," says FansUnite CEO Darius Eghdami. "We completed this acquisition late March, and our focus currently is going to continue building our presence in the Scottish market."

Moving forward, Eghdami says the team will be putting an emphasis on M&A activity. "We'll continue to look for strong assets with either great technology or a strong database of users where we can come in with our team and resources and really grow and scale the business," he says.

With strong financial backing, Eghdami is also looking at potential opportunities in the colossal U.S. market. "The big heavyweights are coming into the U.S.. We don't intend to be an operator in the U.S., so we're looking at other ways to get in the market and that includes social peer activity, fan engagement, as well as licensed affiliate opportunities."

Eghdami points to another big success story in Canada, Amaya (TSE:TSGI), which is now The Stars Group and has a market capitalization of $11.5 billion. "It's a tremendous story of how they built the company and started to acquire assets. It's a model that we would love to follow."

After a crushing dip into the pandemic, TSGI.T is big-board player that has catapulted to new highs once the reality set in that social isolation might not necessarily be a bad thing for online gaming providers. According to Bloomberg, "The Stars Group Inc. says it saw record revenue in its first quarter as COVID-19 led to an increase in online activity starting in March. And, it says, it has continued to see increased activity in its online playing into the second quarter. In an update to its expectations for the three-month period ended March 31, the company says it expects revenue of approximately US$735 million, up from US$580 million in the first quarter of 2019."

"The stay-at-home lifestyle we now face in 2020 could result in a massive shift in the habits of players," says Eghdami. "Players that are used to going to the physical house, or the horse track, may now shift their habits to online. The older generation now may be signing up on online platforms and realize they can do this a lot easier. We're getting new users on the platform every day, and players starting to turn to virtual sports as well."

FansUnite is the brainchild of three entrepreneurs who have each already carved out more than a decade of in-the-trenches experience in the industry. Two of them including founder Eghdami and his former associate at KMPG, Graeme Moore, are chartered accountants, while co-founder Duncan McIntyre is a practicing lawyer schooled in mergers, acquisitions and corporate development. The teams' first success was the development of the FansUnite B2C social platform, which they eventually sold to a public company in 2016. FansUnite Social uses a free virtual currency for members to simulate the real thing while following and learning from their online heroes. The endgame, of course, is toward transferring the activity to the real-dollar platforms.

FansUnite Technology—B2C Social Platform

After the sale of the social peer platform, Eghdami and company decided to maintain the "FansUnite" brand equity in their new venture, launched in 2017. "We had the idea of getting into real-money sports gaming, spun it out of the pubic company, raised money in 2018 and started down this path. For the last year and a half we've been building our own technology to launch our sportsbook from a B2C perspective as well as prepare it for a full turn-key B2B solution. An option on the B2B platform will be a "smart contract sports book" whereby the funds are held "in-trust" and not accessible to FansUnite or end users until the event is completed and funds are directly sent to the winning party. The FansUnite platform is expected to accept cryptocurrency and regular fiat currency on its sportsbooks.

As part of FansUnite's roll-up strategy of entering into other world markets, acquiring yet maintaining well-established brands is the key to building its global B2B customers and B2C end users. The company is well funded with access to capital. Much of its support comes from industry leaders on the board like Shafin Diamond, CEO of Victory Square since 2015, a venture builder that builds start-ups in web, mobile, gaming, AI and AR/VR. Diamond has launched 40 start-ups in 24 countries, employed more than 350 people, and has generated over $100 million in annual revenues. He has received numerous awards, including the BC Tech Person of the Year Award, BC Angel Investor of the Year in 2014, and Business in Vancouver's Top 40 under 40.

FansUnite recently completed a financing of $3.1 million at $0.35 (free trading upon listing) and used $500,000 cash for the McBookie transaction before launching its IPO on the CSE. Total consideration for the McBookie deal was for approximately CAD$2.2 million, composed of the $500,000 cash up front, and $500,000 cash to be paid within 12 months, the rest in stock, at $0.35 a share, vesting and unrestricting over a course of 36 months.

Currently, management and insiders hold about 20% of the 70 million shares outstanding, and there are 3.5 million options and 1.4 million warrants with a weighted average price of $0.48 and $0.17 respectively, so no scary skeletons in the closet. Eghdami says the company is now sitting on about a $2 million war chest and burning about $175,000 per month. Should investor speculation lift its share price (as predicted here), it should be able to execute is M&A activity with a much stronger currency.

With $1 trillion waged annually, according to UK-based Football Report, the global market for this kind of technology is insane. Apparently, due to "COVID self-containment," it's "trending" even more as digital consumers are quarantined in their homes with nothing better to do but play on their computers.

As we hopefully ease out of this economic situation, FansUnite will have to execute fast and furiously. Now launching on the CSE at C$0.35 with a current market capitalization of $25 million, it has a long way to go, and much to prove, toward reaching the billion-dollar heights of its gaming peers, but the pie is big and the appetite is certainly there.

This is one race worth watching.

Knox Henderson is a journalist and capital markets communications consultant. He has advised for a broad range of small cap companies in the resource, life sciences and technology sectors for more than 25 years.

Disclosure:
1) 1) Knox Henderson: I, or members of my immediate household or family, own shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: None. I personally am, or members of my immediate household or family are, paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: FansUnite Entertainment Inc. My company has a financial relationship with the following companies mentioned in this article: None. I determined which companies would be included in this article based on my research and understanding of the sector.
2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: None. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees. As of the date of this article, an affiliate of Streetwise Reports has a consulting relationship with FansUnite. Please click here for more information. An affiliate of Streetwise Reports is conducting a digital media marketing campaign for this article on behalf of FansUnite. Please click here for more information. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security.
3) Statements and opinions expressed are the opinions of the author and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The author is wholly responsible for the validity of the statements. The author was not paid by Streetwise Reports for this article. Streetwise Reports was not paid by the author to publish or syndicate this article. Streetwise Reports requires contributing authors to disclose any shareholdings in, or economic relationships with, companies that they write about. Streetwise Reports relies upon the authors to accurately provide this information and Streetwise Reports has no means of verifying its accuracy.
4) This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports.
5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article until three business days after the publication of the interview or article. The foregoing prohibition does not apply to articles that in substance only restate previously published company releases. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of FansUnite, a company mentioned in this article.

( Companies Mentioned: FANS:CSE, )

Netherlands-based payments platform

Cancer-causing chemicals that occur naturally in foods are far more numerous in the human diet than synthetic carcinogens, yet both types are consumed at levels so low that they currently appear to pose little threat to human health, a committee of the National Research Council said in a report released today.

More targeted aircraft testing and simulation should be conducted to uncover design characteristics in new flight control systems that -- in rare circumstances -- may mislead pilots and result in unstable or dangerous flight conditions, says a new report by a National Research Council committee.

Immigration benefits the U.S. economy overall and has little negative effect on the income and job opportunities of most native-born Americans, says a new report by a panel of the National Research Council.

Women who might become pregnant need 400 micrograms of folic acid per day to reduce their risk of having a child with neural tube defects, according to the latest report on Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) from the Institute of Medicine.

Good morning and welcome. There has been unprecedented interest in recent years about whether marijuana or its constituent compounds should be used as medicine. Since 1996, voters in seven states have approved the medical use of marijuana.

Incineration is widely used in the United States to reduce the volume of waste. Hundreds of incinerators -- including industrial kilns, boilers, and furnaces -- combust municipal and hazardous waste, while many more are used to burn medical waste.

While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys guideline for protecting the public from a toxic form of mercury is justifiable based on the latest scientific evidence, some children of women who consume large amounts of fish and seafood during pregnancy may be at special risk of neurological problems.

No justification currently exists for completely abandoning chemical pesticides, says a new report from the National Academies National Research Council.

Focused attention by world leaders is needed to address the substantial challenges posed by disposal of spent nuclear fuel from reactors and high-level radioactive waste from processing such fuel for military or energy purposes.

Recent strides in biotechnology offer the promise of new and innovative applications -- from edible vaccines to protein-based electronics components.

No single approach -- technical, legal, economic, or educational -- will be sufficient to protect children from online pornography.

Based on a thorough review of clinical and epidemiological studies, neither the mercury-based vaccine preservative thimerosal nor the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine are associated with autism, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.

Long-term population trends for some North American pollinators -- bees, birds, bats, and other animals and insects that spread pollen so plant fertilization can occur -- are demonstrably downward, says a new report from the National Research Council.

The search for life elsewhere in the solar system and beyond should include efforts to detect what scientists sometimes refer to as weird life -- that is, life with an alternative biochemistry to that of life on Earth -- says a new report from the National Research Council.

A new report from the Institute of Medicine finds suggestive but limited evidence that exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides used during the Vietnam War is associated with an increased chance of developing high blood pressure in some veterans.

Although most people who receive and manage Social Security benefits on behalf of other individuals perform their duties well.

Evidence exists that people who lived or worked at Camp Lejeune Marine Base in North Carolina between the 1950s and 1985 were exposed to the industrial solvents tricholorethylene (TCE) or perchloroethylene (PCE) in their water supply, but strong scientific evidence is not available to determine whether health problems among those exposed are due to the contaminants, says a new report from the National Research Council.