A new study shows that combining heavy alcohol use with burn trauma causes severe disruptions in the gut microbiome, leading to inflammation and a weakened gut barrier.
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Generative AI masters the art of scent creation
Addressing the challenges of fragrance design, researchers at the Institute of Science Tokyo (Science Tokyo) have developed an AI model that can automate the creation of new fragrances based on user-defined scent descriptors. The model uses mass spectrometry profiles of essential oils and corresponding odor descriptors to generate essential oil blends for new scents.
This advance could be a game-changer for the fragrance industry, moving beyond trial-and-error to enable rapid and scalable fragrance production. The findings are published in IEEE Access.
Designing new fragrances is crucial in industries like perfumery, food, and home products, where scent significantly influences the overall experience of these products. However, traditional fragrance creation can be time-consuming and often depends on the skill and expertise of specialized perfumers. The process is typically challenging and labor-intensive, requiring numerous trial-and-error attempts to achieve the desired scent.
First international cryonics conference in Israel: April 3rd, 2025
The first international conference on Cryonics in Israel, with presentations by heads of cryonics institutions globally00:00:00 — Opening remarks by Dr. Ilya…
Video game-inspired algorithm rapidly detects high-energy particle collisions for future fusion reactors
An innovative algorithm for detecting collisions of high-speed particles within nuclear fusion reactors has been developed, inspired by technologies used to determine whether bullets hit targets in video games. This advancement enables rapid predictions of collisions, significantly enhancing the stability and design efficiency of future fusion reactors.
Professor Eisung Yoon and his research team in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at UNIST announced that they have successfully developed a collision detection algorithm capable of quickly identifying collision points of high-speed particles within virtual fusion devices. The research is published in the journal Computer Physics Communications.
When applied to the Virtual KSTAR (V-KSTAR), this algorithm demonstrated a detection speed up to 15 times faster than previous methods. The V-KSTAR is a digital twin that replicates the Korean Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) fusion experiment in a three-dimensional virtual environment.
‘Periodic table of machine learning’ framework unifies AI models to accelerate innovation
MIT researchers have created a periodic table that shows how more than 20 classical machine-learning algorithms are connected. The new framework sheds light on how scientists could fuse strategies from different methods to improve existing AI models or come up with new ones.
For instance, the researchers used their framework to combine elements of two different algorithms to create a new image-classification algorithm that performed 8% better than current state-of-the-art approaches.
The periodic table stems from one key idea: All these algorithms learn a specific kind of relationship between data points. While each algorithm may accomplish that in a slightly different way, the core mathematics behind each approach is the same.
Scientists have found a way to ‘tattoo’ tardigrades
If you haven’t heard of a tardigrade before, prepare to be wowed. These clumsy, eight-legged creatures, nicknamed water bears, are about half a millimeter long and can survive practically anything: freezing temperatures, near starvation, high pressure, radiation exposure, outer space and more. Researchers reporting in the journal Nano Letters took advantage of the tardigrade’s nearly indestructible nature and gave the critters tiny “tattoos” to test a microfabrication technique to build microscopic, biocompatible devices.
“Through this technology, we’re not just creating micro-tattoos on tardigrades—we’re extending this capability to various living organisms, including bacteria,” explains Ding Zhao, a co-author of the paper.
Microfabrication has revolutionized electronics and photonics, creating micro-and nanoscale devices ranging from microprocessors and solar cells to biosensors that detect food contamination or cancerous cells. But the technology could also advance medicine and biomedical engineering, if researchers can adapt microfabrication techniques to make them compatible with the biological realm.
From beam to battery: Single-step laser printing supercharges high-performance lithium-sulfur batteries
A research team has developed an innovative single-step laser printing technique to accelerate the manufacturing of lithium-sulfur batteries. Integrating the commonly time-consuming active materials synthesis and cathode preparation in a nanosecond-scale laser-induced conversion process, this technique is set to revolutionize the future industrial production of printable electrochemical energy storage devices. The team was led by Prof. Mitch Li Guijun, Assistant Professor from the Division of Integrative Systems and Design at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST).
The findings of this study are published in the journal Nature Communications.
Lithium-sulfur batteries are expected to supersede existing lithium-ion batteries due to sulfur cathodes’ high theoretical energy density. To ensure the rapid conversion of sulfur species, these cathodes are typically composed of active materials, host materials (or catalysts), and conductive materials.