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Jul 1, 2022

A Step Closer to Detecting Ancient Neutrinos

Posted by in category: particle physics

Using radioactive tritium, scientists improve laboratory constraints on the overdensity signal of cosmic relic neutrinos by a factor of 100, an advance that should improve the chances of spotting this elusive particle.

Jul 1, 2022

Manipulating Objects Using Air Bubbles and Sound Waves

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biological, particle physics, robotics/AI

Centimeter-scale objects in liquid can be manipulated using the mutual attraction of two arrays of air bubbles in the presence of sound waves.

Assembling small components into structures is a fiddly business often encountered in manufacturing, robotics, and bioengineering. Some existing approaches use magnetic, electrical, or optical forces to move and position objects without physical contact. Now a team has shown that acoustic waves can create attractive forces between centimeter-scale objects in water, enabling one such object to be accurately positioned above another [1]. The scheme uses arrays of tiny, vibrating air bubbles that provide the attractive force. This acoustic method requires only simple equipment and could provide a cheap, versatile, and gentle alternative technique for object manipulation.

Researchers are developing techniques that use acoustic waves to position objects such as colloidal particles or biological cells. Attractive forces are produced by the scattering of sound waves from the objects being manipulated. One limitation of this approach, however, is that positioning is more accurate with waves of higher frequency (and thus smaller wavelength), but higher frequencies are also more strongly absorbed and attenuated by many materials.

Jul 1, 2022

A longevity diet that hacks cell ageing could add years to your life

Posted by in categories: food, life extension

A new diet based on research into the body’s ageing process suggests you can increase your life expectancy by up to 20 years by changing what, when and how much you eat.

Jul 1, 2022

The Mere Sight of a Meal Triggers an Inflammatory Response in the Brain

Posted by in category: neuroscience

Summary: The simple sight and smell of a meal prior to consumption triggers insulin release. This insulin release depends on a short-term inflammatory response. In those who are overweight, this inflammatory response is so excessive it can impair insulin secretion.

Source: University of Basel.

Even before carbohydrates reach the bloodstream, the very sight and smell of a meal trigger the release of insulin.

Jul 1, 2022

Scientists develop first-of-its-kind implant that relieves pain without drugs

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Scientists at Northwestern University have developed a small, flexible implant that can relieve pain on-demand and disappear into the body’s biofluids.

Jul 1, 2022

Will Artificial Intelligence End Human Creativity?

Posted by in categories: business, robotics/AI

You and your business can try Onshape for free at https://Onshape.pro/DesignTheory. With recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence design tools, we are about to see the biggest creative and cultural explosion since the invention of electricity in the 1890s. By the end of this video, you will have a better understanding of how artificial intelligence will impact design, engineering, creativity, and culture as a whole. AI is a revolutionary game changer in design!

Become a patron of my channel on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/JohnMauriello.

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Jul 1, 2022

The Size of an Atom: How Scientists First Guessed It’s About Quantum Physics

Posted by in categories: particle physics, quantum physics

Atoms are all about a tenth of a billionth of a meter wide (give or take a factor of 2). What determines an atom’s size? This was on the minds of scientists at the turn of the 20th century. The particle called the “electron” had been discovered, but the rest of an atom was a mystery. Today we’ll look at how scientists realized that quantum physics, an idea which was still very new, plays a central role. (They did this using one of their favorite strategies: “dimensional analysis”, which I described in a recent post.)

Since atoms are electrically neutral, the small and negatively charged electrons in an atom had to be accompanied by something with the same amount of positive charge — what we now call “the nucleus”. Among many imagined visions for what atoms might be like was the 1904 model of J.J. Thompson, in which he imagined the electrons are embedded within a positively-charged sphere the size of the whole atom.

But Thompson’s former student Ernest Rutherford gradually disproved this model in 1909–1911, through experiments that showed the nucleus is tens of thousands of times smaller (in radius) than an atom, despite having most of the atom’s mass.

Jul 1, 2022

Borrowed gene helps maize adapt to high elevations, cold temperatures

Posted by in categories: chemistry, evolution, food

Researchers at North Carolina State University show that an important gene in maize called HPC1 modulates certain chemical processes that contribute to flowering time, and has its origins in “teosinte mexicana,” a precursor to modern-day corn that grows wild in the highlands of Mexico. The findings provide insight into plant evolution and trait selection, and could have implications for corn and other crops’ adaptation to low temperatures.

“We are broadly interested in understanding how natural variation of lipids are involved in the growth and development of plants, and how these compounds may help plants adapt to their immediate environments,” said Rubén Rellán-Álvarez, assistant professor of structural and molecular biochemistry at NC State and the corresponding author of a paper describing the research. “Specifically, we wanted to learn more about variation in lipids called phospholipids, which consist of phosphorus and fatty acids, and their role in adaptation to cold, low phosphorus, and the regulation of important processes for plant fitness and yield like flowering time.”

Maize grown at higher altitudes, like the highlands of Mexico, needs special accommodations in order to grow successfully. The colder temperatures in these mountainous regions put maize at a slight disadvantage when compared with maize grown at lower elevations and higher temperatures.

Jul 1, 2022

Internet on the go: FCC greenlights Starlink service on moving cars, boats and planes

Posted by in categories: internet, satellites

If you’re ready for connectivity on the move, SpaceX’s Starlink satellite broadband may soon be the answer. The US Federal Communications Commission on Thursday gave the internet provider the greenlight to provide service on moving vehicles, boats and planes.

The new authority should help SpaceX meet “the growing user demands that now require connectivity while on the move,” wrote FCC international bureau chief Tom Sullivan wrote in the approval, “whether driving an RV across the country, moving a freighter from Europe to a U.S. port, or while on a domestic or international flight.”

Earlier this year, Starlink began selling Starlink for RVs, but the service wasn’t designed to work on the move — it was intended for users traveling to areas with slow or no broadband alternatives.

Jul 1, 2022

AI predicts crime a week in advance with 90 per cent accuracy

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

An artificial intelligence can now predict the location and rate of crime across a city a week in advance with up to 90 per cent accuracy. Similar systems have been shown to perpetuate racist bias in policing, and the same could be true in this case, but the researchers who created this AI claim that it can also be used to expose those biases.

Ishanu Chattopadhyay at the University of Chicago and his colleagues created an AI model that analysed historical crime data from Chicago, Illinois, from 2014 to the end of 2016, then predicted crime levels for the weeks that followed this training period.

The model predicted the likelihood of certain crimes occurring across the city, which was divided into squares about 300 metres across, a week in advance with up to 90 per cent accuracy. It was also trained and tested on data for seven other major US cities, with a similar level of performance.