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New maser in a ‘shoebox’ promises portable precision

Researchers in Imperial College London’s Department of Materials have developed a new portable maser that can fit the size of a shoebox.

Imperial College London pioneered the discovery of room-temperature solid-state masers in 2012, highlighting their ability to amplify extremely faint electrical signals and demonstrate high-frequency stability. This was a significant discovery because can pass through the Earth’s atmosphere more easily than other wavelengths of light. Additionally, microwaves have the capability to penetrate through the human body, a feat not achievable by lasers.

Masers have extensive applications in telecommunications systems—everything from mobile phone networks to satellite navigation systems. They also have a key role in advancing and improving medical imaging techniques, like MRI machines. They are typically large, bulky, stationary equipment found only in research laboratories.

Stanford Medicine uses augmented reality for real-time data visualization during surgery

A team of Stanford Medicine doctors and biomedical engineers are among the first to integrate a new augmented reality tool into surgical practice. The technology, Apple Vision Pro, is a headset that provides a form of human-computer interaction — it allows its wearer to navigate their surroundings using real-time visual data in combination with virtual elements.

“The novel use of augmented reality in the operating room exemplifies Stanford Medicine’s mission of serving patients in a digitally driven, human-centered care environment,” said Lloyd Minor, dean of the School of Medicine and vice president of medical affairs at Stanford University. “Our health system has long stood at the vanguard for the use of digital technologies in medicine, and I’m proud that through initiatives like RAISE Health, we also define the safe, responsible and equitable use of these innovations.”

A cardiologist used the technology, with the patient’s informed consent, to successfully perform an ablation procedure this week at Stanford Hospital to treat atrial fibrillation.

New antibodies target ‘dark side’ of influenza virus protein

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have identified antibodies targeting a hard-to-spot region of the influenza virus, shedding light on the relatively unexplored “dark side” of the neuraminidase (NA) protein head. The antibodies target a region of the NA protein that is common among many influenza viruses, including H3N2 subtype viruses, and could be a new target for countermeasures. The research, led by scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ Vaccine Research Center, part of NIH, was published today in Immunity.

Influenza, or flu, sickens millions of people across the globe each year and can lead to severe illness and death. While vaccination against influenza reduces the burden of the disease, updated vaccines are needed each season to provide protection against the many strains and subtypes of the rapidly evolving virus. Vaccines that provide protection against a broad range of could prevent outbreaks of new and reemerging flu viruses without the need for yearly reformulation or vaccinations.

One way to improve influenza vaccines and other countermeasures is to identify new targets on the virus’s surface proteins in “conserved” regions—portions that tend to be relatively unchanged between different strains of the virus. Influenza NA is a surface protein containing a globular head portion and a narrow stalk portion.

Motorola shows off a concept smartphone that can wrap around your wrist

During a demonstration, a Motorola representative showed how the phone could bend in various ways to wrap around a wrist or stand up on a table.

When the phone is wrapped around the wrist, the way information is displayed changes. For example, the apps appear at the top of the screen.

The representative said the phone is “contextually aware” so adapts depending on how it has been bent.

The Fastest AI Chip in the World Explained

Fast and cheap for AI inference (responding to chat prompts with very low latency at very high speeds.)

Discussing how it works, benchmarks, how it compares to other AI accelerators and the future outlook!

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AI Expert Says AGI Will Arrive December 2024

Alan Thompson is an AI expert who is closely tracking progress to AGI.

His definition is:

Artificial general intelligence (AGI) is a machine capable of understanding the world as well as—or better than—any human, in practically every field, including the ability to interact with the world via physical embodiment.

Fabrication of mechanochromic gallium nanostructures by capillary interactions

A process that leverages capillary interactions between oligomers in an elastomeric polydimethylsiloxane substrate and deposited Ga enables the formation of Ga nanodroplets with nanoscale gaps in a single step. Gap-plasmon resonances excited within the nanogaps give rise to structural colours that can be tuned by changing the oligomer content in the substrate or by mechanical stretching.

Exploring the Future of Computing: Neuromorphic Engineering

Understanding Neuromorphic Engineering.

Neuromorphic Engineering draws inspiration from the human brain’s architecture and functioning, aiming to create electronic systems that mimic the brain’s ability to process information in a parallel, energy-efficient, and adaptable manner. Unlike traditional computing, which relies on sequential processing, neuromorphic systems leverage neural networks to enable faster and more efficient computation.

Mimicking the Human Brain.