Oldest Most commentedBy Title | A-Z

Page 955 of 1,027First102030951952953954955956957958959960970980990Last

Russian diamonds: Siberian meteorite crater said to hold trillions of carats

September 21, 2012

Artist's impression of asteroid hitting Earth (Credit: Don Davis/NASA)

Russian scientists are claiming that a gigantic deposit of industrial diamonds found in a huge Siberian meteorite crater during Soviet times could revolutionize industry, Huffington Post reports.

The Siberian branch of Russian Academy of Sciences said that the Popigai crater in eastern Siberia contains “many trillions of carats” of “impact diamonds” — good for technological purposes, not for jewelry, and far exceeding the currently known global… read more

Topics: Nanotech/Materials Science | Social/Ethical/Legal | Space

Comments (17)

Delivering drugs via nanoparticles to target mitochondria

Positive results shown for cancer, Alzheimer’s and obesity drugs
September 21, 2012

nanoparticle drug delivery

Researchers at the University of Georgia have refined the nanoparticle drug delivery process further by using nanoparticles to deliver drugs to a specific organelle within cells.

By targeting mitochondria, “the powerhouse of cells,” the researchers increased the effectiveness of mitochondria-acting therapeutics used to treat cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and obesity in studies conducted with cultured cells.

“The mitochondrion is a complex organelle that is very difficult… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Biotech | Nanotech/Materials Science

Comments (5)

Creating self-assembling nanomaterials in space

September 21, 2012

(A) Schematic of the flight experiment. Sample images are shown<br /> taken from the (B) ST camera view, which is parallel to the external field,<br /> and the (C) RTcamera, which is perpendicular to the field. (D) The experiment<br /> in the ISS Microgravity Sciences Glovebox.<br /> Swan

Imagine a computer chip that can assemble itself.

Engineers and scientists are closer to making this and other scalable forms of nanotechnology a reality as a result of new milestones in using nanoparticles as self-assembling building blocks in functional materials, says professor Eric M. Furst at the University of Delaware,

Furst and his postdoctoral researchers, James Swan and Paula Vasquez, along with colleagues at NASA,… read more

Topics: Innovation/Entrepreneurship | Nanotech/Materials Science | Space

Comments (7)

Ray Kurzweil’s How to Create a Mind to be published Nov. 13

September 21, 2012

how-to-create-a-mind-cover

Ray Kurzweil’s next book — How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed* — will be published Nov. 13, Viking announced today. It can now be pre-ordered.

In the book, Kurzweil explores the most important science project since the human genome: reverse-engineering the brain to understand precisely how it works, then applying that knowledge to create vastly intelligent machines.

… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

Comments (140)

How to erase fear from your brain

September 24, 2012

Amygdala activity predicts return of fear and correlates with recall of fear. (A) In the 6 hours group (top), activity in the amygdala (where fear memories are stored) predicted return of fear 2 days later. In the 10 min group (bottom), an area in the right temporal claustrum extending into the amygdala was also related to SCR (x, y, z = 33, 2, –23; Z = 2.49; P = 0.006; 324 mm3). Because fear did not return in the 10 min group, the correlation may reflect individual brain-behavior relations unrelated to fear and the experimental manipulation. (B) In the 6 hours group (top), recall of fear during extinction covaried with the strength of amygdala activity bilaterally (x, y, z = 24, –1, –20; Z = 2.35; P = 0.009; 378 mm3; x, y, z = –15, 4, –17; Z=2.27; P = 0.012; 189mm3). No covariation existed in the 10min group (bottom).(Credit: T. Agren, J. Engman, A. Frick, J. Bjorkstrand, E.-M. Larsson, T. Furmark, M. Fredrikson/Science)

Newly formed emotional memories can be erased from the human brain, Uppsala University researchers have shown.

When a person learns something, a lasting long-term memory is created with the aid of a process of consolidation, which is based on the formation of proteins. When we remember something, the memory becomes unstable for a while and is then restabilized by another consolidation process.

In other words,… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

Comments (22)

Virtual-reality simulator helps teach surgery for brain cancer

NeuroTouch system provides 3D graphics and tactile feedback during simulated brain surgery
September 24, 2012

NeuroTouch (credit: NRC)

A new virtual-reality simulator — including sophisticated 3D graphics and tactile feedback — provides allows neurosurgery trainees to practice essential skills and techniques for brain cancer surgery.

The prototype system, called “NeuroTouch,” uses 3D graphics and haptic (sense of touch) technology to provide a realistic look and feel for practice in performing common tasks in brain cancer surgery. Lead author Sébastien Delorme, PhD, of the National Research Council… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Cognitive Science/Neuroscience | VR/Augmented Reality/Computer Graphics

Comments (1)

Automatic building mapping could help emergency responders

A prototype sensor array that can be worn on the chest automatically maps the wearer’s environment, recognizing movement between floors
September 24, 2012

wearable-sensor_mit

To help emergency responders coordinate disaster response, MIT researchers have built a wearable sensor system that automatically creates a digital map of the environment through which the wearer is moving.

In experiments, a student wearing the sensor system wandered the MIT halls, and the sensors wirelessly relayed data to a laptop in a distant conference room. Observers in the conference room were able to track the… read more

Topics: Computers/Infotech/UI | Electronics | Survival/Defense | VR/Augmented Reality/Computer Graphics

Comments (4)

Single-molecule electronic DNA sequencing

September 24, 2012

single_molecule_dna_sequencing_nanopore

A team of researchers at Columbia University, have developed a novel approach to potentially sequence DNA in nanopores electronically at the single molecule level with single-base resolution.

This work, entitled “PEG-Labeled Nucleotides and Nanopore Detection for Single Molecule DNA Sequencing by Synthesis,” is now available in the open access online journal, Scientific Reports.

Background

The major roadblock in DNA sequencing has been the cost and speed of obtaining… read more

Topics: Biotech | Nanotech/Materials Science

Comments (4)

First working quantum bit based on a single atom in silicon

September 24, 2012

unsw_quantum_bit

A research team led by Australian engineers has created the first working quantum bit based on a single atom in silicon, opening the way to ultra-powerful quantum computers of the future.

The team was able to both read and write information using the spin, or magnetic orientation, of an electron bound to a single phosphorus atom embedded in a silicon chip.

“For the first time, we have… read more

Topics: Computers/Infotech/UI | Physics/Cosmology | Quantum

Comments (3)

Custom gene editing rewrites zebrafish DNA

September 24, 2012

800px-Zebrafisch

Researchers led by Stephen Ekker, a molecular biologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, have for the first time made custom changes to parts of the zebrafish (Danio rerio) genome, using artificial enzymes to cut portions of DNA out of targeted positions in a gene sequence, and replace them with synthetic DNA, Nature News reports.

One of the sequences that Ekker and his colleagues inserted into… read more

Topics: Biotech

Comments (8)

Optical waveguide connects semiconductor chips

September 24, 2012

Photonic Wire Bond Transmits Data in the Terabit Range

A team of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) researchers directed by Professor Christian Koos has succeeded in developing a novel optical connection between semiconductor chips.

“Photonic wire bonding” reaches data transmission rates in the range of several terabits per second and is suited perfectly for production on the industrial scale.

In the future, this technology may be used in high-performance emitter-receiver systems for optical… read more

Topics: Electronics | Nanotech/Materials Science | Physics/Cosmology

Comments (4)

Using artificial intelligence to chart the universe

September 25, 2012

cosmic_web

Astronomers at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics have developed an AI algorithm to help them chart and explain the distribution of dark matter with unprecedented accuracy.

The algorithm starts with the fluctuations in the density of the universe seen in the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR), then models the way matter collapses into today’s galaxies over the subsequent 13 billion years. The results of the algorithm are… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Physics/Cosmology

Comments (8)

Robotic tuna developed for Homeland Security

September 25, 2012

BIOSwimmer (credit:

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security‘s (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) is funding the development of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) modeled on the tuna, called the BIOSwimmer.

BIOSwimmer is designed for high maneuverability in harsh environments, with a flexible aft section and appropriately placed sets of pectoral and other fins.

For cluttered and hard-to-reach underwater places where inspection is necessary, the tuna-inspired frame design is… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Survival/Defense

Comments (5)

Worm mind control

Using precisely-targeted lasers, researchers manipulate neurons in worms' brains and take control of their behavior
September 25, 2012

CelegansGoldsteinLabUNC

In the quest to understand how the brain turns sensory input into behavior, scientists have crossed a major threshold.

Using precisely-targeted lasers, Harvard researchers have taken over an animal’s brain, instructing miniature nematode worms Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) to turn in any direction they choose by manipulating neurons in the worms’ “brain.”

They even implanted false sensory information, fooling the animal into thinking food was nearby.… read more

Topics: Biotech | Computers/Infotech/UI | Electronics

Comments (8)

A space-time crystal clock that will last forever

Berkeley Lab researchers propose a way to build the first space-time crystal
September 25, 2012

Zhang-space-time-crystal

Imagine a clock that will keep perfect time forever, even after the heat-death of the universe — a four-dimensional “space-time crystal” with periodic structure in time as well as space.

With such a 4D crystal, scientists would have a new and more effective way to study how complex physical properties and behaviors emerge from the collective interactions of large numbers of individual particles, the “many-body problem” of physics. A space-time crystal… read more

Topics: Nanotech/Materials Science | Physics/Cosmology | Quantum

Comments (1)

Page 955 of 1,027First102030951952953954955956957958959960970980990Last
close and return to Home