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Jul 28, 2016

Exclusive Interview with a BioRobotics Researcher

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

An interview with the ever humble Francesco Corucci world re-known BioRobotics researcher with the BioRobotics Institute.


We had the unique opportunity to interview Francesco Corucci, a Phd Fellow at the BioRobotics Institute. As we aren’t researchers ourselves, here are the unedited answers by Francesco instead of paraphrasing or rewording his message.

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Jul 28, 2016

New theory explains how beta waves arise in the brain

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Beta rhythms, or waves of brain activity with an approximately 20 Hz frequency, accompany vital fundamental behaviors such as attention, sensation and motion and are associated with some disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. Scientists have debated how the spontaneous waves emerge, and they have not yet determined whether the waves are just a byproduct of activity, or play a causal role in brain functions. Now in a new paper led by Brown University neuroscientists, they have a specific new mechanistic explanation of beta waves to consider.

The new theory, presented in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the product of several lines of evidence: external brainwave readings from human subjects, sophisticated computational simulations and detailed electrical recordings from two mammalian model organisms.

“A first step to understanding beta’s causal role in behavior or pathology, and how to manipulate it for optimal function, is to understand where it comes from at the cellular and circuit level,” said corresponding author Stephanie Jones, research associate professor of neuroscience at Brown University. “Our study combined several techniques to address this question and proposed a novel mechanism for spontaneous neocortical beta. This discovery suggests several possible mechanisms through which beta may impact function.”

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Jul 28, 2016

Yale team designs gene modification system

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, genetics

A Yale research team has designed a system to modify multiple genes in the genome simultaneously, while also minimizing unintended effects. The gene-editing “toolbox” provides a user-friendly solution that scientists can apply to research on cancer and other disciplines, according to a news release from Yale.

The study was published on July 26 in Nucleic Acids Research.

The news release states that, with modern genetic engineering techniques, researchers can edit genes in experiments. This allows researchers to study important disease-related genes and may ultimately allow them to treat genetic diseases by making edits in specific sites of the human genome. However, progress has been hampered by several challenges, including the editing of unintended sites — referred to as off-target effects.

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Jul 28, 2016

Scientists Synthesize Liquid Fuel from Solar Energy

Posted by in categories: solar power, sustainability

The nextgen of Solar and fuel energy.


Scientists have just discovered a way to directly convert solar energy into a synthetic fuel using carbon dioxide. Current solar technologies operate in either photovoltaic solar or thermal solar. Photovoltaic solar energy is generated through solar panels, which are typically seen on the roofs of houses and many solar plants. The other method of thermal solar is typically only used in large-scale energy plants, as it used mirrors to focus solar energy to heat a liquid which then powers turbines. Both methods, however, involve the conversion of solar energy into electricity. While electricity is useful, much energy is lost in the storing of electricity, something that the conversion process to liquid fuel overcomes.

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Jul 28, 2016

Why Virtual Reality Will Be the Most Social Computing Platform Yet — By Kyle Russell | Andreessen Horowitz

Posted by in category: virtual reality

“The key to understanding why “social VR” will be important is to think about virtual (and augmented) reality as a computing platform, rather than as a PC peripheral for gaming.”

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Jul 28, 2016

How science could help cyclists to keep pedalling for longer

Posted by in categories: energy, food, military, science

Nice.


Elite endurance athletes could be able to keep going for longer thanks to a new drink developed to give soldiers extra energy in battle, a study using former Olympians has found.

Scientists found that cyclists using the drink, which temporarily switches the body’s energy source from glucose to ketones, could travel an extra quarter of a mile than those taking a different energy supplement.

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Jul 28, 2016

NIH-Funded Scientists Identify 97 Previously Unknown Regions of the Brain

Posted by in category: neuroscience

Last week, scientists funded by the NIH’s Human Connectome Project—a precursor to the BRAIN Initiative—identified 97 previously unknown areas of the brain’s cortex.

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Jul 28, 2016

Air Force awards contract for deceptive cyber research

Posted by in category: cybercrime/malcode

The Air Force awarded a contract for research in deceptive cyber to be used toward network defense.

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Jul 28, 2016

Dark Patterns are designed to trick you (and they’re all over the Web)

Posted by in category: internet

Risk Assessment —

Dark Patterns are designed to trick you (and they’re all over the Web)

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Jul 28, 2016

FBI’s Mass Hack Hit 50 Computers in Austria

Posted by in category: cybercrime/malcode

Revelations that the ‘Operation Pacifier’ child porn investigation extended to Austria too shows the extent of the FBI’s reach overseas.

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