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Simple nasal swab test could cut costly virus screenings in high-risk settings

The COVID-19 pandemic yielded important advances in testing for respiratory viruses, but it also exposed important unmet needs in screening to prevent the spread of infections in high-risk settings.

While PCR () tests are the gold standard for detecting viral infections, they remain a challenge for large numbers of people in places vulnerable to outbreaks—such as health care centers and nursing homes—due to and the fact that different tests are required for each virus.

A new Yale study, however, finds that an alternate strategy—using a nasal swab to screen for an antiviral protein produced by the body as a defense against infection—can be an effective method for ruling out respiratory infections, limiting PCR testing only to those most likely to be infected, at a fraction of the cost.

Heart valve for young children shines in early-stage preclinical testing

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have successfully performed preclinical laboratory testing of a replacement heart valve intended for toddlers and young children with congenital cardiac defects, a key step toward obtaining approval for human use. The results of their study were published recently in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

The management of patients with who require surgical pulmonary valve replacement typically occurs between the ages of 2 and 10. To be eligible for a minimally invasive transcatheter pulmonary valve procedure, patients currently must weigh at least 45 pounds. For children to receive minimally , they must be large enough so that their veins can accommodate the size of a crimped replacement valve.

The Iris Valve, designed and developed by the UC Irvine team, can be implanted in children weighing as little as 17 to 22 pounds and gradually expanded to an adult diameter as they grow.

China’s new 2.47kW portable laser works in Arctic cold, Saharan desert

Chinese scientists have developed a portable 2-kilowatt (kW) fiber laser weapon that can operate in extreme temperatures. Reportedly capable of functioning in conditions between −58°F (−50°C) and 122°F (50°C), the new laser does not require cooling or heating systems. This breakthrough means the laser can be used anywhere on Earth, from the Arctic to the Sahara, without the need for bulky infrastructure.

If true, the innovation is an impressive feat as most lasers of this power class require massive cooling units (like air conditioners in a shipping container) to avoid overheating or freezing. The device has been developed to cater to defense and industrial sectors.

“We have achieved a technological breakthrough in the performance of wide-temperature operating fibre lasers,” Chen Jinbao, vice-president of the National University of Defence Technology which led the development of the laser, explained in the paper published in the Chinese-language journal Higher Power Laser and Particle Beams in July.

https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/china-2-47…ert-arctic Particle Beams in July.

The laser beams enough power to disable drones and cut through several kinds of materials from over 0.62 miles (1 km) away.

Continue reading “China’s new 2.47kW portable laser works in Arctic cold, Saharan desert” | >

First Ever Tesla Robotaxi Ride!

Questions to inspire discussion.

Affordability and Accessibility.

💰 Q: How affordable is Tesla’s robotaxi service? A: The robotaxi service is highly affordable, with a $4.20 fare for a ride from Terablax to St. Edwards University, making it a game-changer for downtrodden areas where car ownership is unaffordable.

🌐 Q: How scalable is the robotaxi service? A: The service is highly scalable, with potential to rapidly expand the network by deploying cars in new regions, enabling access to transportation for more people in the next couple of years.

User Experience and Integration.

🎵 Q: How is the user experience integrated across Tesla services? A: Tesla offers a unified single sign-on for all services, allowing users to log in and carry over their song from their Cyber Truck to the robotaxi, enhancing user experience.

Continue reading “First Ever Tesla Robotaxi Ride!” | >

PET imaging links brain inflammation to speech disorder and Parkinson-like syndrome

A novel PET imaging approach has revealed distinct patterns of brain inflammation in patients with progressive apraxia of speech (PAOS), a rare neurodegenerative disorder that affects speech planning. These findings provide new insight into how neuroinflammation and tau pathology may drive disease progression in PAOS, opening potential avenues for earlier diagnosis and targeted treatments.

This research was presented at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging 2025 Annual Meeting and published as a supplement in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

PAOS is a neurodegenerative disorder that impairs the brain’s ability to plan and coordinate speech. It is marked by a slow speaking rate, distorted sounds, and effortful facial movements during speech. Patients with PAOS are likely to have Parkinson-plus syndrome in the later stages, meeting criteria for or corticobasal syndrome, and typically have a 4-repeat tauopathy at autopsy.

Researchers Unravel Long-Standing Mystery of Collagen’s Instability

Using atomic force microscopy, scientists found that cysteines in collagen IV form bonds that help it resist heat and refold, highlighting a key feature of connective tissue. Researchers at Simon Fraser University (SFU) are gaining new insights into one of collagen’s most puzzling characteristics

TPU Deep Dive

Let’s dive in and look at TPU internals from the bottom up.

I’ve been working with TPUs a lot recently and it’s fun to see how they had such different design philosophies compared to GPUs.

The main strongpoint for TPUs is in their scalability. This is achieved through a co-design of both the hardware side (e.g. energy efficiency and modularity) and the software side (e.g. XLA compiler).

To give a brief tldr on TPUs, it’s Google’s ASIC that focuses on two factors: extreme matmul throughput + energy efficiency.

Vacuum fluctuations in optical cavities reveal hidden properties of embedded materials

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) have theoretically demonstrated that photons trapped inside an optical cavity carry detailed information about a material placed within it. By measuring the properties of the photons leaking out of the cavity, researchers can probe how an optical cavity modifies the properties of the embedded materials.

This insight opens new possibilities for experimental techniques to explore entangled light-matter systems. Their work has been published in Physical Review Letters.

According to basic quantum mechanics, empty space is not truly empty—it’s filled with particles that constantly pop in and out of existence, a phenomenon known as vacuum fluctuations. This process is somewhat analogous to atoms at the surface of boiling water, which continually jump in and out of the liquid.