Researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have developed a deep-learning algorithm that can predict how memorable or forgettable an image is almost as accurately as humans, and they plan to turn it into an app that tweaks photos to make them more memorable.
For each photo, the “MemNet” algorithm also creates a “heat map” (a color-coded overlay) that identifies exactly which parts of the… read more
By flashing high-frequency (40 to 100 pulses per second) optogenetic lasers at the brain’s thalamus, scientists were able to wake up sleeping rats and cause widespread brain activity. In contrast, flashing the laser at 10 pulses per second suppressed the activity of the brain’s sensory cortex and caused rats to enter a seizure-like state of unconsciousness.
“We hope to use this knowledge to develop better treatments for… read more
A locust-inspired miniature robot that can jump 3.35 meters (11 ft.), covering a distance of 1.37 meters (4.5 ft.) horizontally in one leap is designed to handle search-and-rescue and reconnaissance missions in rough terrain.
The new locust-inspired robot, dubbed “TAUB” (for “Tel Aviv University and Ort Braude College”), is 12.7 cm (5 in.) long and weighs weighs 23 grams (less than one ounce). It was developed by Tel Aviv… read more
In a remarkable chance landmark discovery, a team of researchers at four universities has discovered a mysterious material that emits ultraviolet light and has insulating, electrical conducting, semiconducting, superconducting, and ferromagnetic properties — all controlled by surface water.
It happened while the researchers were studying a sample of lanthanum aluminate film on a strontinum titanate crystal. The sample mysteriously began to glow, emitting intense levels of ultraviolet light from… read more
UNSW Australia astronomers have discovered the closest potentially habitable planet found outside our solar system so far, orbiting a star just 14 light years away.
The planet, more than four times the mass of the Earth, is one of three that the team detected around a red dwarf star called Wolf 1061.
“It is a particularly exciting find because all three planets… read more
A new laser-printing technology allows for printing high-resolution data and color images at the unprecedented resolution of 127,000 dots per inch (DPI) and with a speed of 1 nanosecond per pixel — developed by researchers at Technical University of Denmark’s DTU Nanotech and DTU Fotonik.
At that extreme resolution, images can be printed on the microscale. This patented method uses special plasmonic metasurfaces coated with 20 nanometers of aluminum.… read more
Wearables will “disappear” in 2016, predicts New Enterprise Associates venture capital partner Rick Yang, cited in a Wednesday (Dec. 16) CNBC article — integrated “very directly into your everyday life, into your existing fashion sense to the extent that nobody knows you’re wearing a wearable,” he said.
For example, Athos makes smart workout clothes embedded with inconspicuous technology that tracks muscle groups, heart, and breathing rates,… read more
Researchers have developed a method of constructing nanolenses that could focus incoming light into a spot much smaller than possible with conventional microscopy, making possible extremely high-resolution imaging or biological sensing.
They precisely aligned three spherical gold nanoparticles of graduated sizes in a string-of-pearls arrangement to produce the focusing effect.
The first step employs the lithographic methods used in making printed circuits to create a chemical mask that… read more
Do you find your news and information from social media instead of search engines? If so, you are at risk of becoming trapped in a “collective social bubble.”
That’s according to Indiana University researchers in a study, “Measuring online social bubbles,” recently published in the new open-access online journal PeerJ Computer Science, based on an analysis of more… read more
You’ve probably seen the “connectome” map of the major networks between different functional areas of the human brain. Cool graphic. But this is just an average.
It raises a lot of questions: How does this map relate to your brain? Do these connections persist over a period of months or more? Or do they vary with different conditions (happy or sad mood, etc.)? And what if you’re a schizophrenic, alcoholic,… read more
Watching a lot of TV and having a low physical activity level as a young adult were associated with worse cognitive function 25 years later in midlife, according to an article published online by JAMA Psychiatry.
The researchers* examined associations between 25-year patterns of television viewing and physical activity and midlife cognition in a study of 3,247 adults (ages 18 to 30), using a questionnaire to assess television viewing and… read more
ASCB’s Celldance Studios released Monday (Dec. 14) three new short videos made by cell scientists, featuring dramatic live cell imaging.
The videos, which take advantage of accelerating advances in super-resolution imaging, fluorescent tagging, and Big Data manipulation, where made in the labs of Douglas Robinson at John Hopkins University, John Condeelis at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Satyajit Mayor at the National Centre for the Biological… read more
MIT | Microscope creates near-real-time videos of nanoscale processes
MIT engineers have designed an atomic force microscope (AFM) that scans images 2,000 times faster than existing commercial models. Operating at near-real-time-video speed, it can capture structures as small as a fraction of a nanometer from single strands of DNA down to individual hydrogen bonds.
Existing AFMs have similar spatial resolution but function… read more
A new material that is both highly transparent and electrically conductive could make large screen displays, smart windows, touch screens, and solar cells more affordable and efficient, according to materials scientists and engineers at Penn State who have discovered just such a material.
Indium tin oxide (ITO), the transparent conductor that is now used for more than 90 percent of the display market, has been the dominant… read more
A one-of-a-kind mass spectral imaging instrument built at Colorado State University (CSU) lets scientists map cellular composition in three dimensions at a nanoscale image resolution of 75 nanometers wide and 20 nanometers deep — more than 100 times higher resolution than was earlier possible, according to the scientists.
The instrument may be able to observe how well experimental drugs penetrate and are processed by cells as new medications are… read more