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Robots recognize the shape of an arena by messaging each other

Humans can create loose maps of environments they are exploring in their minds, using their senses and navigation skills. Many robots, on the other hand, rely on set maps of known environments or new maps produced using data collected by their sensors.

Researchers at Sorbonne University’s Institute of Intelligent Systems and Robotics (ISIR), the University of Tokyo and other institutions recently introduced a framework that could allow a swarm of tiny robots to recognize the shape of an enclosure they are in without a map. Their approach, outlined in a paper published in Science Robotics, allows robots to identify the enclosure from a set of known shapes by repeatedly exchanging messages with nearby robots.

“The project addressed a fundamental question in swarm robotics: how can a group of simple robots perceive something that none of its members can observe alone?” Leo Cazenille, first author of the paper, told Tech Xplore.

AI helps digital humans move more naturally as they speak

People communicate with more than words. A raised hand, a change in posture or a facial expression can help convey meaning and emotion. Now, researchers have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system that can translate speech into coordinated movements of the body, hands and face, potentially making digital characters and virtual presenters more expressive and lifelike.

Developed by researchers at Tohoku University and the University of Hong Kong, DynaConTalk generates three-dimensional (3D) human movements that correspond to spoken content.

Unlike approaches that generate only individual gestures, the system coordinates different parts of the body while maintaining smooth movement over longer speeches. Users can also guide the generated motion by specifying poses or providing reference examples.

Simulations reveal design rules for high-performance DNA particle motors

DNA-nano/microparticle motors are among the fastest artificial molecular motors reported to date, moving at approximately 30 nm per second. However, they are still slower than natural motor proteins (approximately 100–1,000 nm per second), and further improvements in design and performance are required.

Researchers at the Institute for Molecular Science (IMS) and the Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Sokendai, performed geometry-based kinetic simulations that reproduce the motion of DNA-nano/microparticle motors with particle diameters of 100–5,000 nm and identified conditions for improving their speed, run length and unidirectionality.

The work was published in Biophysical Journal.

Preclinical findings show experimental drug eliminates 75% of aggressive pancreatic tumours and enhances immune system memory to fight other cancers

Many solid tumours, including many cancers of the pancreas, breast, colon and lung, protect themselves with a dense wall of scar-like tissue. That wall keeps the immune system’s cancer killing T cells out.

It is a major reason why immunotherapy drugs, which have transformed treatment for some patients, help only a minority of people with solid tumours.

A study published today in Cancer Cell describes an experimental drug that breaks down this barrier from inside the tumour and lets T cells in to attack.

Aaron Benanav on Automation, Technological Unemployment and UBI

Six years ago, two and a half years before ChatGPT, I spent nearly two hours with a historian of unemployment.

Not a futurist. A historian. Aaron Benanav has devoted his career to studying why people can’t find work, and how poorly we measure it when they can’t.

He told me the term “technological unemployment” is inaccurate and misleading.

That was contrarian in 2020. In 2026, with CEOs lining up to announce that #AI will hollow out white-collar work, it sounds almost like heresy. So I went back and listened again.

It holds up uncomfortably well.

We dug into the parts of the #automation debate that rarely make headlines: what the productivity data actually shows, why capital so often chooses to replace people rather than empower them, why the left and the right both champion #UBI for opposite reasons, and what Keynes promised his grandchildren (who, it turns out, are us).

Continue reading “Aaron Benanav on Automation, Technological Unemployment and UBI” | >

Scientists explain amazing theory why your heart doesn’t develop cancer

It was also found that the pumping action stimulated the production of a protein called Nesprin-2, transmitting a signal to the nucleus of a cancer cell to tell it to stop reproducing, as the environment is not suitable.

The study explains that collectively, ‘these results shed light on the role of mechanical forces in protecting the heart from cancer and may pave the way to cancer therapies based on mechanical stimulation’

The results may also suggest ‘potential strategies for cancer therapy based on mechanical stimulation’