Scientific Reports volume 12, Article number: 17,629 (2022) Cite this article.
Category: biological – Page 46
Axon-like active signal transmission
Dr. Tim Brown.
Taking…
Axon-mimicking Materials for Computing https://engineering.tamu.edu/news/2024/09/axon-mimicking-mat…uting.html.
Biology does things differently: some signals in the brain are also transmitted across centimeter distances, but through…
A method using semi-stable edge of chaos in LaCoO3 enables continuous signal amplification in metallic conductors without separate amplifiers, potentially revolutionizing electronic chip design.
Powered by renewable energy, microbes turn CO₂ into protein and vitamins
However, the yeast should be treated to rid compounds that can increase the risk of gout if consumed excessively. Even so, treated yeast still meets 41% of the daily protein requirement, comparable to traditional protein sources.
This technology aims to address several global challenges: environmental conservation, food security, and public health. Running on clean energy and CO2, the system reduces carbon emissions in food production. It uncouples land use from farming, freeing up space for conservation.
Angenent also stresses that it will not outcompete farmers. Instead, the technology will help farmers concentrate on producing vegetables and crops sustainably. The team’s yeast may also help developing nations overcome food scarcity and nutritional deficiencies by delivering protein and vitamin B9.
Nanoscale silver exhibits intrinsic self-healing abilities without external intervention
As an innovative concept in materials science and engineering, the inspiration for self-healing materials comes from living organisms that have the innate ability to self-heal. Along this line, the search for self-healing materials has been generally focused on “soft” materials like polymers and hydrogels. For solid-state metals, one may intuitively imagine that any form of self-healing will be much more difficult to achieve.
Unlocking the secrets of diamond: New insights into nitrogen-vacancy center formation
Research teams from Wuhan University and the China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) have revealed new insights into the formation mechanism of nitrogen-vacancies (NV) centers in type-Ib diamonds, a phenomenon critical to quantum sensing and computing advancements. Using a novel irradiation and annealing method, the teams demonstrated how controlled temperature and orientation can significantly increase the density and depth of NV centers, paving the way for new applications in biological imaging and quantum technologies.
Uncertainty Minimization and Pattern Recognition in Volvox Carteri and Volvox Aureus
Learning and a spectrum of other behavioral competencies allow organisms to rapidly adapt to dynamically changing environmental variations. The emerging field of diverse intelligence seeks to understand what systems, besides ones with complex brains, exhibit these capacities. Here, we tested predictions of a general computational framework based on the free energy principle in neuroscience but applied to aneural biological process as established previously, by demonstrating and manipulating pattern recognition in a simple aneural organism, the green algae Volvox. Our studies of the adaptive photoresponse in Volvox reveal that aneural organisms can distinguish between patterned and randomized inputs and indicate how this is achieved mechanistically.
Self-sensing cantilever design enhances microelectromechanical system performance in challenging environments
Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are tiny devices that integrate various components, such as miniature sensors, electronics and actuators, onto a single chip. These small devices have proved highly promising for precisely detecting biological signals, acceleration, force and other measurements.
Most of the MEMS developed to date are made of silicon and silicon nitride. While some of these devices have achieved promising results, their material composition and design limit their sensitivity and versatility, for instance limiting their use in wet environments.
In a recent Nature Electronics paper, researchers at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) introduced an innovative cantilever design for MEMS based on a polymer, a semiconductor and ceramic. Cantilevers are tiny flexible beams that can adapt their shape in response to external forces or molecular interactions, thus potentially serving as sensors or actuators.
A new method captures the stochastic dynamics in coherent X-ray imaging
Coherent X-ray imaging has emerged as a powerful tool for studying both nanoscale structures and dynamics in condensed matter and biological systems. The nanometric resolution together with chemical sensitivity and spectral information render X-ray imaging a powerful tool to understand processes such as catalysis, light harvesting or mechanics.
Unfortunately these processes might be random or stochastic in nature. In order to obtain freeze-frame images to study stochastic dynamics, the X-ray fluxes must be very high, potentially heating or even destroying the samples.
Also, detectors acquisition rates are insufficient to capture the fast nanoscale processes. Stroboscopic techniques allow imaging ultrafast repeated processes. But only mean dynamics can be extracted, ruling out measurement of stochastic processes, where the system evolves through a different path in phase space during each measurement. These two obstacles prevent coherent imaging from being applied to complex systems.