Lifeboat Foundation

Aqueous droplet formation by liquid-liquid phase separation (or coacervation) in macromolecules is a hot topic in life sciences research. Of these various macromolecules that form droplets, DNA is quite interesting because it is predictable and programmable, which are qualities useful in nanotechnology. Recently, the programmability of DNA was used to construct and regulate DNA droplets formed by coacervation of sequence designed DNAs.

A group of scientists at Tokyo University of Technology (Tokyo Tech) led by Prof. Masahiro Takinoue has developed a computational DNA droplet with the ability to recognize specific combinations of chemically synthesized microRNAs (miRNAs) that act as biomarkers of tumors. Using these miRNAs as molecular input, the droplets can give a DNA logic computing output through physical DNA droplet phase separation. Prof. Takinoue explains the need for such studies, “The applications of DNA droplets have been reported in cell-inspired microcompartments. Even though biological systems regulate their functions by combining biosensing with molecular logical computation, no literature is available on integration of DNA droplet with molecular computing.” Their findings were published in Advanced Functional Materials.

Developing this DNA droplet required a series of experiments. First, they designed three types of Y-shaped DNA nanostructures called Y-motifs A, B, and C with 3 sticky ends to make A, B, and C DNA droplets. Typically, similar droplets band together automatically while to join dissimilar droplets a special “linker” molecule is required. So, they used linker molecules to join the A droplet with the B and C droplets; these linker molecules were called AB and AC linkers, respectively.

Physicists have just taken an amazing step towards quantum devices that sound like something out of science fiction.

For the first time, isolated groups of particles behaving like bizarre states of matter known as time crystals have been linked into a single, evolving system that could be incredibly useful in quantum computing.

Following the first observation of the interaction between two time crystals, detailed in a paper two years ago, this is the next step towards potentially harnessing time crystals for practical purposes, such as quantum information processing.

While Taiwan still allows Russia and Belarus to purchase CPUs from businesses within the East Asian country, there are some big caveats: their clock frequencies cannot exceed 25 MHz, and performance is limited to under 5 GFLOPS.

DigiTimes reports that Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) published a list this week of strategic high-tech commodities banned from exportation to Russia and Belarus. The latter country is included as MOEA believes it could help Russia import such goods.

Continue reading “Taiwan export ban limits Russia and Belarus to chips with frequencies under 25 MHz” »

A computer capable of achieving quantum advantage – a demonstration of supremacy over conventional machines – is the first that anyone can use over the internet.

For the first ever time, MIT scientists have quantified the temporal coherence (lifetime) of graphene qubits-meaning to what extent it can keep up a special state that enables it to speak to two coherent states at the same time.

As of late, specialists have been incorporating graphene-based materials into superconducting quantum computing gadgets, which guarantee quicker, progressively proficient computing, among different advantages. Up to this point, be that as it may, there’s been no recorded coherence for these advanced qubits, so there’s no knowing whether they’re feasible for practical quantum computing.

In a new study, scientists demonstrated a coherent qubit made from graphene and exotic materials. These materials empower the qubit to change states through voltage, much like transistors in today’s traditional computer chips — and not at all like most different kinds of superconducting qubits. Also, the specialists put a number to that coherence, timing it at 55 nanoseconds, before the qubit comes back to its ground state.

No more Taiwan-made CPUs, microcontrollers for Russia and Belarus.

Taiwanese government effectively bans all high-tech exports to Russia and Belarus.

China has to have the capability to identify and destroy SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, according to Chinese military experts in a report released in April. The research, headed by Ren Yuanzhen of the Beijing Institute of Tracking and Telecommunications, was published in the Chinese peer-reviewed journal Modern Defence Technology. The publication inexplicably disappeared from the online version of The South China Morning Post after The South China Morning Post reported on its contents.

David Cowhig, a former US ambassador, was able to complete the translation of the document before it vanished, which allowed him to uncover a number of preventative steps that were suggested to be taken against Starlink. According to the study, China has to “use a mix of soft and hard kill measures to disrupt the operating system of the constellation and deactivate part of the Starlink satellites.”

We might be consumed with CPU news with AMD’s upcoming Zen 4-based Ryzen 7,000 series CPUs, teasing a 16-core engineering sample at 5.5GHz+ but now we’re back to GPU rumors again with NVIDIA reportedly launching the higher-end GeForce RTX 4,090 first.

According to the latest from leaker “kopite7kimi”, NVIDIA will reportedly launch the GeForce RTX 4,090 first, then the GeForce RTX 4,080 and GeForce RTX 4,070 after. This would break tradition, as NVIDIA normally launches the x080 and x070 series GPUs first, followed by the x090 series GPU… but the RTX 4,090 launching first makes sense.

Just as it’s hard to understand a conversation without knowing its context, it can be difficult for biologists to grasp the significance of gene expression without knowing a cell’s environment. To solve that problem, researchers at Princeton Engineering have developed a method to elucidate a cell’s surroundings so that biologists can make more meaning of gene expression information.

The researchers, led by Professor of Computer Science Ben Raphael, hope the new system will open the door to identifying rare cell types and choosing cancer treatment options with new precision. Raphael is the senior author of a paper describing the method published May 16 in Nature Methods.

The basic technique of linking gene expression with a cell’s environment, called spatial transcriptomics (ST), has been around for several years. Scientists break down tissue samples onto a microscale grid and link each spot on the grid with information about gene expression. The problem is that current computational tools can only analyze spatial patterns of gene expression in two dimensions. Experiments that use multiple slices from a single tissue sample—such as a region of a brain, heart or tumor—are difficult to synthesize into a complete picture of the cell types in the tissue.