Summary: Researchers implicate neurons in the anterior insula cortex as a driving force for motivation in the brain, according to a new mouse study.
Source: CSHL
A characteristic of depression is a lack of motivation. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Professor Bo Li, in collaboration with CSHL Adjunct Professor Z. Josh Huang, discovered a group of neurons in the mouse brain that influences the animal’s motivation to perform tasks for rewards.
Cooled to almost absolute zero, atoms not only move in waves like light but also can be focused into shapes called caustics, similar to the reflecting or refracting patterns light makes on the bottom of a swimming pool or through a curved wine glass.
In experiments at Washington State University, scientists have developed a technique to see these matter wave caustics by placing attractive or repulsive obstacles in the path of a cold atom laser. The results are curving cusps or folds, upward or downward “V” shapes, which the researchers describe in a paper for Nature Communications.
While it is foundational research, these caustics have potential applications for highly precise measurement or timing devices such as interferometers and atomic clocks.
Experimental compound, which has received orphan drug and pediatric rare disease designations from the FDA, displays effectiveness in treating symptoms of Autism and Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers developed a novel model to assess the effect of this experimental drug on symptoms related to au.
An international study led by Monash University astronomers focusing on an infamous star in Orion may help to shed light on how the solar system formed.
In 1936, over the course of the year, a previously unremarkable faint star in Orion, FU Ori, became 250 times brighter.
“FU Ori has remained bright ever since,” said Elisabeth Borchert, the lead author of the study to be published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS).
Alphabet’s AI research company DeepMind has released the next generation of its language model, and it says that it has close to the reading comprehension of a high schooler — a startling claim.
It says the language model, called Gopher, was able to significantly improve its reading comprehension by ingesting massive repositories of texts online.
DeepMind boasts that its algorithm, an “ultra-large language model,” has 280 billion parameters, which are a measure of size and complexity. That means it falls somewhere between OpenAI’s GPT-3 (175 billion parameters) and Microsoft and NVIDIA’s Megatron, which features 530 billion parameters, The Verge points out.
Can you imagine sound travels in the same way as light does? A research team at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) discovered a new type of sound wave: the airborne sound wave vibrates transversely and carries both spin and orbital angular momentum like light does. The findings shattered scientists’ previous beliefs about the sound wave, opening an avenue to the development of novel applications in acoustic communications, acoustic sensing, and imaging.
The research was initiated and co-led by Dr. Wang Shubo, Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics at CityU, and conducted in collaboration with scientists from Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). It was published in Nature Communications, titled “Spin-orbit interactions of transverse sound.”
SpaceX has work to do, Tesla sells Cyberquad, Elon Musk gets a haircut.
SpaceX is granted three additional NASA missions, Tesla sells out a Cyberquad for kids, Cybertruck pending, and Elon Musk gets a heavily-memed haircut.
A new robotics startup, Petra, emerged from stealth today with funding of $33 million and a promising new technology for the mining industry.
According to Gates, tech such as VR goggles and motion-capture gloves would be needed to accurately capture a user’s body language and expressions.
The South African satellite, SumbandilaSat (Pathfinder in Venda) is reaching the end of its life and will deorbit on Friday 10 December 2021.
The satellite was launched in 2009 and took a total of 1,128 high-resolution, usable images. In addition, these imageries were applied in local research and on the Copernicus (previously GMES: Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) programme. The data also contributed towards disaster management such as flood monitoring in Namibia and fire campaigns in the Kruger National Park in South Africa. Furthermore, it also recorded timely images of the Fukushima nuclear disaster and the Tuscaloosa tornado in the USA.
In May 2005, the then DST (Department of Science and Technology) of the South African Government commissioned Stellenbosch University and SunSpace to develop the ZASat pathfinder satellite program (later renamed SumbandilaSat), a technology demonstrator in conjunction with the South African industry. Consequently, SumbandilaSat was delivered 15 months later and launched from Baikonur, Kazakhstan on September 17 2009 with monitoring and satellite support from the SANSA Space Operations facility in Hartebeesthoek.
