German researchers have developed a robot that mimics the simple nervous system used for olfactory learning in the honeybee, using color instead of odors.
The researchers have installed a camera on a small robotic vehicle connected to a computer. The computer program replicates, in a simplified way, the sensorimotor neural network of the insect brain and operates the motors of the robot wheels to control its motion and direction… read more
An international team of astronomers led by Imperial College London has identified four new distant galaxy clusters — more than has previously been possible — using a new way of combining data from the two European Space Agency satellites, Planck and Herschel.
The researchers believe up to 2000 further clusters could be identified using this technique, helping to build a more… read more
The milestone of achieving fuel gains greater than 1 has been reached at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) National Ignition Facility (NIF) — for the first time ever at any facility.
Ignition — the process of releasing fusion energy equal to or greater than the amount of energy used to confine the fuel — has long been considered the “holy grail” of inertial confinement… read more
How you represent yourself in the virtual world of video games may affect how you behave toward others in the real world, new University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign research published in Psychological Science suggests.
“Our results indicate that just five minutes of role-play in virtual environments as either a hero or villain can easily cause people to reward or punish anonymous strangers,” says lead researcher Gunwoo Yoon.
The… read more
A new low-power signal-processing chip that could lead to a cochlear implant that does not require external devices has been developed by researchers at MIT’s Microsystems Technology Laboratory (MTL), together with physicians from Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (MEEI).
The chip uses the natural microphone of the middle ear rather than a skull-mounted microphone. The implant would be… read more
USC neuroscientists have systematically created the first map of the core white-matter “scaffold” (connections) of the human brain — the critical communications network that supports brain function.
Their work, published Feb. 11 in the open-access journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, has major implications for understanding brain injury and disease, the researchers say.
By detailing the connections that have the greatest influence over all other connections, the researchers offer… read more
University of Illinois researchers have developed new self-healing materials that do not require extra chemicals or catalysts.
“The key advantage of using this material is that it’s catalyst-free and low-temperature, and can be healed multiple times,” said U. of I. materials science and engineering professor Jianjun Cheng. “This can heal the crack before it causes major problems by propagating.”
Other self-healing material… read more
Optogenetics is a technique that allows scientists to control neurons’ electrical activity with light by engineering them to express light-sensitive proteins. It’s a powerful tool for discovering the functions of different types of cells in the brain.
Most of these light-sensitive proteins, known as opsins, respond to light in the blue-green range.
Now, a team led by MIT has discovered an opsin that is sensitive to… read more
A new microscopy method could enable scientists to generate images of dozens of different biomolecules in a human cell simultaneously, a team from the Wyss Institute of Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University reported in Nature Methods.
Such images could shed light on complex cellular pathways and potentially lead to new ways to diagnose disease, track its prognosis, or monitor the effectiveness of therapies at a cellular… read more
A new way to print living cells onto any surface and in almost any shape has been developed by researchers led by Houston Methodist Research Institute nanomedicine faculty member Lidong Qin.
Unlike a similar inkjet printing process, almost all cells survive.
The new process, called Block-Cell-Printing (BloC-Printing), produces 2-D cell arrays in half an hour, prints the cells as close together as 5 microns (most animal cells… read more
Penn State University chemists and engineers have, for the first time, placed tiny synthetic motors inside live human cells in a lab, propelled them with ultrasonic waves, and steered them magnetically.
KurzweilAI has covered a number of designs for microbots studies in laboratories (and one that uses a pill that is swallowed) that could one day be passively or actively propelled through the… read more
Keio University scientists have developed a “neurocam” — a wearable camera system that detects emotions, based on an analysis of the user’s brainwaves.
The hardware is a combination of Neurosky’s Mind Wave Mobile and a customized brainwave sensor.
The algorithm is based on measures of “interest” and “like” developed by Professor Mitsukura and the neurowear team.
The users interests are quantified… read more
Goddard Astrobiology Analytical Laboratory scientists have applied advanced technology to inspect extremely small meteorite samples for the components of life.
“We found amino acids in a 360 microgram sample of the Murchison meteorite,” said Callahan. “This sample size is 1,000 times smaller than the typical sample size used.
“We got the same results looking at a very small fragment as we did a much larger fragment… read more
Michigan Technological University researchers have developed a method of achieving transmission electron microscopy (TEM) atomic-resolution images and nanometer-resolution spectroscopy of biological samples by encapsulating them between two layers of graphene.
The method overcomes the limitations* of TEM imaging of biological samples, and uses a low-dose-rate X-ray imaging technique, so electron beam radiation damage can be reduced to hydrogen-bond-breakage level.
The researchers tried their technique on a biochemical… read more
A team of researchers led by scientists at Case Western Reserve University has developed a multifunctional nanoparticle that enables magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to pinpoint blood vessel plaques caused by atherosclerosis.
The technology is a step toward creating a non-invasive method of identifying plaques vulnerable to rupture — the cause of heart attack and stroke — in time for treatment.
Currently, doctors can identify only blood vessels that… read more