Researchers from the Allen Institute for Brain Science have published the Allen Mouse Brain Connectivity Atlas, the first comprehensive, large-scale data set on how the brain of a mammal is wired, described in their paper in Nature.
The mouse brain’s 75 million neurons are arranged in a structure roughly similar to the human brain’s approximately 100 billion neurons, so they provide a powerful model system… read more
Researchers at the Allen Institute for Brain Science have generated a blueprint for how to build a human brain at unprecedented anatomical resolution.
This first major report using data from the the BrainSpan Atlas of the Developing Human Brain is published in the journal Nature this week. The data provide insight into diseases like autism that are linked to early brain development, and to the origins of human… read more
As part of its Windows Phone 8.1 update announcement Wednesday, Microsoft introduced Cortana, a personal digital assistant with a persona.
“We were inspired by the popular character from Halo who served as a brilliant AI and a deeply personal digital assistant to Master Chief… so we called her Cortana,” said Joe Belfiore, the corporate vice president and manager for Windows Phone Program Management at Microsoft on his… read more
Stanford University scientists have discovered by accident a way to produce thin diamond films from graphite, which could be useful for a variety of industrial applications, from cutting tools to electronic devices and electrochemical sensors.
The scientists added a few layers of graphene (one-atom thick sheets of graphite) to a platinum support and exposed the topmost layer to hydrogen.
The ‘Midas touch’?
To their surprise, the reaction… read more
Controlled placement of carbon nanotubes in nanostructures could result in a huge boost in electronic performance in photovoltaic solar cells, researchers at Umeå University in Sweden have discovered.
KurzweilAI has reported on a number of recent research projects using carbon nanotubes as a replacement for silicon to improve the performance of solar cells. However, according to Umeå University researchers, the projects have found that the nanotubes… read more
Duke University biomedical engineers have grown living skeletal muscle that resembles the real thing. It contracts powerfully and rapidly, integrates into mice quickly, and for the first time, demonstrates the ability to heal itself both inside the laboratory and inside an animal.
The researchers watched the muscle growth in real time through a window on the back of a living, walking mouse.
Both the lab-grown muscle and experimental… read more
Ghent University researchers have created a small 16-nodes neural network in a silicon photonics chip, inspired by how the human brain works.
The goal is to create a new information technique based on light instead of electricity, with the potential for high speed (up to several hundreds of Gbits/sec., or more with miniaturization), low power consumption, and compact design.
The researchers have experimentally shown that the… read more
In a potential breakthrough in brain-tissue imaging, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) researchers have developed ultra-tiny (sub-10-nanometers), ultra-bright nanoprobes for single-molecule deep-tissue optical imaging of proteins in neurons in the brain and other tissues.
Scientists often study proteins within cells by labeling them with light-emitting probes, but finding probes that are bright enough for imaging — but not so large as to disrupt the protein’s function… read more
George Washington University (GW) researcher Narine Sarvazyan, Ph.D., has invented a new organ to help return blood flow from veins lacking functional valves. A rhythmically contracting cuff made of cardiac muscle cells surrounds the vein acting as a ‘mini heart’ to aid blood flow through venous segments. The cuff can be made of a patient’s own adult stem cells, eliminating the chance of implant rejection.… read more
A team of University of Toronto physicists led by Alex Hayat has proposed a novel and efficient way to leverage quantum entanglement: combining light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with a superconductor to generate entangled photons.
The method could open up a rich spectrum of new physics as well as devices for quantum technologies, including quantum computers and quantum communication, the researchers suggest.
“A usual light source… read more
An international team of researchers has created an entanglement of 103 dimensions with only two photons, beating the previous record of 11 dimensions.
The discovery could represent an advance toward toward better encryption of information and quantum computers with much higher processing speeds, according to a statement by the researchers.
Until now, to increase the “computing” capacity of these particle systems, scientists have mainly turned to increasing the number… read more
Einstein’s skepticism* about quantum mechanics may lead to an ultra-secure Internet, suggests a new paper by researchers from Swinburne University of Technology and Peking University.
Associate Professor Margaret Reid from Swinburne’s Center for Quantum and Optical Science said Einstein’s reservations about quantum mechanics were highlighted in a phenomenon known as “spooky action at a distance,” which is the strange way entangled particles stay… read more
An article in Nature reviewing developments in quantum cryptography describes how we can keep our secrets secret even when faced with the double challenge of mistrust and manipulation.
In the March 27 issue of Nature, Center for Quantum Technologies at the National University of Singapore ( CQT)’s Director Artur Ekert and Renato Renner review what physics tells us about keeping our secrets secret.… read more
A new study using data from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) has turned up what might be the cosmic seeds from which a supermassive black hole will sprout.
The smallest black holes, only a few times greater in mass than our sun, form from exploding stars. The biggest, billions of times the mass of our sun, grow together with their host galaxies over time, deep in the… read more
MIT researchers have developed a system that allows light of any color to pass through only if it is coming from one specific angle; the technique reflects all light coming from other directions.
This new approach could ultimately lead to advances in solar photovoltaics, detectors for telescopes and microscopes, and privacy filters for display screens.
The work is described in a paper appearing in the journal… read more