A massive burst of gamma rays produced by the explosion of a star almost two billion light-years away was so powerful that it changed Earth’s atmosphere, according to scientists.
The brightest gamma-ray burst ever seen and detected impacted Earth’s atmosphere. It came from a supernova and may reveal why Earth has had mass extinctions in its past.
Researchers at SLAC National Accelerator Lab, Stanford, and Toyota are revolutionizing hydrogen fuel cells by substituting costly platinum group metals with more economical silver.
Govind Oza/iStock.
The breakthrough involves a radical shift in the catalyst composition, traditionally reliant on expensive platinum group metals (PGM), according to an SLAC release.
The AI tool can indicate the risk of heart attacks, as well as information on narrowings of the arteries and other clinical risk factors.
Stevanovicigor/ iStock.
In a development that could help the people at risk, an artificial intelligence technology has been created that can gaze into the future and predict the 10-year risk of deadly heart attacks.
The unexpected aurora-like phenomenon was observed 40,000 km above a dark and cold region on the Sun.
Sijie Yu.
The surprising aurora-like display was seen at 40,000 km above a rather dark and cold area of the Sun known as a sunspot.
The “Science for Diplomacy” initiative is another way the Hong Kong Laureate Forum is advancing social impact.
Baba Tamim/Interesting Engineering.
HKLF brings the world’s greatest scientists and the next generation of scientific leaders together to share ideas, cooperate, and inspire social impact; read a press release handed out to Interesting Engineering (IE) on Monday, November 13, 2023.
Colon cancer remains a leading cause of cancer-related deaths, and there has been a rise in the incidence of early-onset colon cancer or colon cancer diagnosed before the age of 50 years old. Early-onset colon cancer has several differences in clinical presentation, as well as histopathology, genetic alteration, and molecular profiling. Early-onset colon cancer can be differentiated into familial type that includes hereditary familial syndrome and sporadic type. Demographic variance also exists in both developing and developed countries. Due to the rising incidence of colon cancer diagnosed in younger age, it is imperative to examine the available evidence regarding the mortality rate of early-onset colon cancer. Colon cancer is affected by numerous modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors.
Throughout history, sonar’s distinctive “ping” has been used to map oceans, spot enemy submarines and find sunken ships. Today, a variation of that technology – in miniature form, developed by Cornell researchers – is proving a game-changer in wearable body-sensing technology.
PoseSonic is the latest sonar-equipped wearable from Cornell’s Smart Computer Interfaces for Future Interactions (SciFi) lab. It consists of off-the-shelf eyeglasses outfitted with micro sonar that can track the wearer’s upper body movements in 3D through a combination of inaudible soundwaves and artificial intelligence (AI).
With further development, PoseSonic could enhance augmented reality and virtual reality, and track detailed physical and behavioral data for personal health, the researchers said.
An experimental computing system physically modeled after the biological brain has “learned” to identify handwritten numbers with an overall accuracy of 93.4%. The key innovation in the experiment was a new training algorithm that gave the system continuous information about its success at the task in real time while it learned. The study was published in Nature Communications.
The algorithm outperformed a conventional machine-learning approach in which training was performed after a batch of data had been processed, producing 91.4% accuracy. The researchers also showed that memory of past inputs stored in the system itself enhanced learning. In contrast, other computing approaches store memory within software or hardware separate from a device’s processor.
For 15 years, researchers at the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA, or CNSI, have been developing a new platform technology for computation. The technology is a brain-inspired system composed of a tangled-up network of wires containing silver, laid on a bed of electrodes. The system receives input and produces output via pulses of electricity. The individual wires are so small that their diameter is measured on the nanoscale, in billionths of a meter.
A recent study found that LLMs are incredibly good steganographers, able to obscure their own thought processes through “encoded reasoning.”
At Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), quantum biology, artificial intelligence, and bioengineering have collided to redefine the landscape of CRISPR Cas9 genome editing tools. This multidisciplinary approach, detailed in the journal Nucleic Acids Research, promises to elevate the precision and efficiency of genetic modifications in organisms, particularly microbes, paving the way for enhanced production of renewable fuels and chemicals.
CRISPR is adept at modifying genetic code to enhance an organism’s performance or correct mutations. CRISPR Cas9 requires a guide RNA (gRNA) to direct the enzyme to its target site to perform these modifications. However, existing computational models for predicting effective guide RNAs in CRISPR tools have shown limited efficiency when applied to microbes. ORNL’s Synthetic Biology group, led by Carrie Eckert, observed these disparities and set out to bridge the gap.
“A lot of the CRISPR tools have been developed for mammalian cells, fruit flies, or other model species. Few have been geared towards microbes where the chromosomal structures and sizes are very different,” explained Eckert.