Have you ever wondered how fast our brains work? Well, scientists have recently quantified the brain’s speed limit. They revealed that from sensory organs, the brain processes signals at only about 10 bits per second.
This speed is millions of times slower than the input rate, as the human body’s sensory systems gather data about the surrounding environment at a rate of a billion bits per second.
“I’m really happy to announce the successful accomplishment of the launch of PSLV 60 for the SpaDeX mission,” ISRO Chairman S. Somanath said shortly after the launch in a live webcast. “The rocket has placed the satellites in the right orbit.” If all goes well, the first docking attempt could occur by Jan. 7, he added.
The SpaDeX mission is made up of two satellites, a Target and a Chaser, on a mission to test autonomous docking technology in orbit. But ISRO hopes to do more than just test automatic docking gear.
The mission also includes a secondary payload module with 24 different experiments aboard, including a small robotic arm, which are riding aboard the PSLV rocket’s fourth stage independent of the SpaDeX satellites. Scientists hope to test the arm and other payloads after docking in a payload operations demonstration while also test dual spacecraft control and power transfer between the docked spacecraft.
Earlier, Director of the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology Alexander Gintsburg told TASS that the vaccine’s pre-clinical trials had shown that it suppresses tumor development and potential metastases.
MOSCOW, December 15. /TASS/. Russia has developed its own mRNA vaccine against cancer, it will be distributed to patients free of charge, General Director of the Radiology Medical Research Center of the Russian Ministry of Health Andrey Kaprin has told Radio Rossiya.
The vaccine was developed in collaboration with several research centers. It is planned to launch it in general circulation in early 2025.
Love this interview with Erika Alden DeBenedictis on her work towards terraforming Mars with engineered microorganisms, her thoughts about how to develop new funding structures for biotechnology, and her ideas on finding a balance between standardizing practices across biotechnology and retaining customizability. #biotech #mars #future #research
A conversation with Astera resident Erika Alden DeBenedictis.
What is the deepest level of reality? In this Quanta explainer, Vijay Balasubramanian, a physicist at the University of Pennsylvania, takes us on a journey through space-time to investigate what it’s made of, why it’s failing us, and where physics can go next.
00:00 — The Planck length, an intro to space-time. 1:23 — Descartes and Newton investigate space and time. 2:04 — Einstein’s special relativity. 2:32 — The geometry of space-time and the manifold. 3:16 — Einstein’s general relativity: space-time in four dimensions. 3:35 — The mathematical curvature of space-time. 4:57 — Einstein’s field equation. 6:04 — Singularities: where general relativity fails. 6:50 — Quantum mechanics (amplitudes, entanglement, Schrödinger equation) 8:32 — The problem of quantum gravity. 9:38 — Applying quantum mechanics to our manifold. 10:36 — Why particle accelerators can’t test quantum gravity. 11:28 — Is there something deeper than space-time? 11:45 — Hawking and Bekenstein discover black holes have entropy. 13:54 — The holographic principle. 14:49 — AdS/CFT duality. 16:06 — Space-time may emerge from entanglement. 17:44 — The path to quantum gravity.
Generative AI requires a new set of KPIs to measure success. These KPIs help track model accuracy, operational efficiency, user engagement, and financial impact, ensuring that AI investments deliver tangible ROI.
Living organisms monitor time—and react to it—in many different ways, from detecting light and sound in microseconds to responding physiologically in pre-programmed ways, via their daily sleep cycle, monthly menstrual cycle, or to changes in the seasons.
Such an ability to react at different timescales is made possible via molecular switches or nanomachines that act or communicate as precise molecular timers, programmed to turn on and off in response to the environment and time.
Now, scientists at Université de Montréal have successfully recreated and validated two distinct mechanisms that can program both the activation and deactivation rates of nanomachines in living organisms across multiple timescales.
The secret to cellular youth may lie in maintaining a small nucleolus—a dense structure within the cell nucleus—according to investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine. These findings were uncovered in yeast, a model organism renowned for its role in making bread and beer, yet surprisingly similar to humans at the cellular level.
The study, published Nov. 25 in Nature Aging, may lead to new longevity treatments that could extend human lifespan. It also establishes a mortality timer that reveals how long a cell has left before it dies.
As people get older, they are more likely to develop health conditions, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and neurodegenerative diseases.