Menu

Blog

Page 1021

Jan 6, 2024

Russell Manning

Posted by in category: futurism

Tarzan, by Russ Manning

Tarzan

After graduation from high school, Russell (Russ) Manning studied at the Los Angeles Art Institute. Soon after completing his studies, Manning was sent to Japan, with the intention of being shipped to Korea. Instead of fighting in the war, Manning drew cartoons for the base newspaper and took on map-making.

Jan 6, 2024

How memories are formed in the brain: A new role for the internal compass

Posted by in category: neuroscience

Since their discovery in the 1990s, the head-direction cells in the brain have been referred to as its “internal compass.” These cells are activated when the head of an animal or human points in a certain direction, and are thought to be important for spatial orientation and navigation.

Now a team of neuroscientists at the University of Tübingen has discovered that head-direction cells in mice do more than this. They may be involved in relaying sensory and that is used to form memories of experiences, called “episodic memory.”

The research team, led by Professor Andrea Burgalossi from the Institute of Neurobiology and the Werner Reichardt Center for Integrative Neuroscience (CIN), have published their study in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

Jan 6, 2024

The Fermi Paradox: Pancosmorio Theory

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, existential risks, media & arts

Go to https://brilliant.org/IsaacArthur/ to get a 30-day free trial + the first 200 people will get 20% off their annual subscription.\
Reaching new worlds is a difficult task, but transplanting ecosystems and civilizations to them may be even harder.\
\
Pancosmorio Paper: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/.…\
\
Visit our Website: http://www.isaacarthur.net\
Join Nebula: https://go.nebula.tv/isaacarthur\
Support us on Patreon: / isaacarthur \
Support us on Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/isaac-a…\
Facebook Group: / 1,583,992,725,237,264 \
Reddit: / isaacarthur \
Twitter: / isaac_a_arthur on Twitter and RT our future content.\
SFIA Discord Server: / discord \
\
Credits:\
The Fermi Paradox: Pancosmorio Theory\
Episode 428; January 4, 2024\
Produced, Written \& Narrated by: Isaac Arthur\
Editor: Briana Brownell\
\
Graphics:\
Jeremy Jozwik\
Ken York\
Mafic Studios\
\
Music Courtesy of:\
Epidemic Sound http://epidemicsound.com/creator

Jan 6, 2024

Horizontal gene transfer facilitates the molecular reverse-evolution of antibiotic sensitivity in experimental populations of H. pylori

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, evolution

The authors evolved antibiotic-resistant Helicobacter pylori in the absence of antibiotics and presence of DNA from antibiotic-sensitive strains. Horizontal gene transfer mediated the molecular reverse evolution of the antibiotic-resistance gene to the antibiotic-sensitive allele, and the authors used theoretical modelling to determine the evolutionary conditions that promote reverse evolution.

Jan 6, 2024

Freeform direct-write and rewritable photonic integrated circuits in phase-change thin films

Posted by in category: materials

In a thin film of phase-change materials, photonic circuits can be directly written, erased, and modified by a laser writer.

Jan 6, 2024

Metal-organic frameworks study unravels mechanism for capturing water from air

Posted by in categories: chemistry, physics, sustainability

Researchers from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf and Dresden University of Technology have unraveled the water adsorption mechanism in certain microporous materials—so-called hierarchical metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)—while probing them on the atomic scale.

Discovered only about 25 years ago, their special properties quickly led to a reputation as “miracle materials”—which, as it turned out, can even harvest water from air. The researchers describe how the material achieves this in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

“These very special materials are highly porous solids made of metals or metal-oxygen clusters which are connected in a modular way by pillars of organic chemicals. This 3D arrangement leads to networks of cavities reminiscent of the pores of a kitchen sponge. It is precisely these cavities that we are interested in,” says Dr. Ahmed Attallah of HZDR´s Institute of Radiation Physics.

Jan 6, 2024

Evolution May Not Be As Random As Previously Thought

Posted by in category: evolution

New research challenges the long-held idea that evolution is always random, and could have massive implications for addressing real-world issues.

Jan 6, 2024

Mathematicians Identify the Best Versions of Iconic Shapes

Posted by in category: mathematics

Researchers are discovering the shortest knots and fattest Möbius strips, among other “optimal shapes.”

Jan 6, 2024

Sleep restores an optimal computational regime in cortical networks

Posted by in categories: computing, neuroscience

Unraveling the Enigma of Sleep: A Critical Exploration of Cortical network Dynamics.

Sleep has long been recognized as a fundamental physiological process, crucial for the well-being of both humans and animals.


Xu et al. show that waking progressively disrupts neural dynamics criticality in the visual cortex and that sleep restores it. Deviations from criticality predict future sleep/wake behavior better than prior behavior and slow-wave activity.

Jan 6, 2024

A new laser amplification that breaks the 10-petawatt limit

Posted by in category: futurism

Tiled titanium: sapphire laser amplification.