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Blog – Page 11380

New methods to counter attack fraud.

“We have introduced the possibility of using blockchain technology to create a seamless and continued global process for the KP certification scheme,” he said.

Blockchain is one of the most significant elements of the revolution in financial technology – fintech – that has been enthusiastically adopted by the UAE. Both Dubai and Abu Dhabi are setting up centres of excellence in fintech.

Mr bin Sulayem has already had meetings with Dubai’s Blockchain Council and is working on a pilot project that would use the technology to monitor KP statistics.

Continue reading “UAE considers blockchain technology to prevent global trade of ‘conflict diamonds’” | >

Excellent progress.

The rapid progress that has been sweeping the field of crystal growth and related device technology is opening doors. Perhaps nowhere is the effect of this evolution being felt more than in the development of ultra-small structures whose material properties can be controlled on the nanoscale. The reason for this development: because solid-state nano–structures possess unique optical and electronic properties, they have the potential to be the launching pad of a new generation of devices.

Within the field, researchers are particularly focused on the properties of spins confined within the nano-structures – with the ultimate goal being to use spin nano-systems to develop, for example, robust quantum bits (qubits) capable of storing vast amounts of information. Here, the EU -funded S^3NANO project has successfully developed qubits in a new, innovative form. According to project researchers, these qubits could serve as the information units of the quantum computers of the future.

S^3NANO, which has recently published its full key findings, was a collaborative effort of studies and researchers. It brought together existing studies on the development of new device concepts in the field of few spin solid-state nano-systems with a team of leading international researchers and institutions. Over the course of four years, this ‘few spin solid state nano-system network’ achieved numerous breakthroughs in the understanding and successful utilisation of nanoscale systems in future devices via research, exchange programmes and training sessions.

Continue reading “Spin Nano-Systems Result in New Type of Quantum Bits” | >

Watching DNA self-repair itself.

After 2015’s Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded for advancements in our understanding of DNA repair, a recent Nature report characterises the mechanism in molecular detail. The implications for cancer research are vast.

Researchers in Paris, France, and Bristol, England, have leveraged recent advances in microscopy and fluorescent imaging to characterise the entire process of DNA repair at the molecular level. They were able to observe RNA polymerase, which ‘reads’ DNA and initiates its replication, as it moved along the DNA strand.

When it encountered damage inflicted by UV radiation, the enzyme stalled, and a number of proteins descended on the site. The team followed them as they acted in an ordered step-wise fashion and elucidated the critical steps of the DNA repair process: first, a protein called Mfd coordinates to RNA polymerase, then it directs a sort of relay team of UvrA, UvrB and UvrC. This deeper understanding of the mechanism could bolster efforts towards treatments for a variety of conditions.

Continue reading “Now we can watch DNA Repair itself!” | >

Another spin on AI in how it eradicates poverty; hmmm.

Eradicating extreme poverty, measured as people living on less than $1.25 US a day, by 2030 is among the sustainable development goals adopted by United Nations member states last year.

A team of computer scientists and satellite experts created a self-updating world map to locate poverty, said Marshall Burke, assistant professor in Stanford’s Department of Earth System Science.

It uses a computer algorithm that recognizes signs of poverty through a process called machine learning, a type of artificial intelligence, he said. Results of the two-year research effort have been published in the journal Science.

Continue reading “Artificial Intelligence could help eradicate global poverty” | >

Hmmm; I did know that the early day astronauts did practice the moon walk near one of the volcanoes in Hawaii.

Since August last year, six scientists have been living isolated from the outside world 8,200 feet up a dormant volcano in Hawaii. Confined to a dome 11 metre wide with a living area of about 1,000 square feet, the team is only allowed to venture outside when wearing NASA spacesuits, just like future astronauts on Mars will have to do.

It is the fourth and longest mission by the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog Simulation (HI-SEAS).

Continue reading “Yearlong simulation of Mars on Mauna Loa is coming to an end” | >