Menu

Blog

Page 8289

Sep 29, 2019

High-speed microscope illuminates biology at the speed of life

Posted by in categories: biological, genetics, neuroscience

The Columbia team behind the revolutionary 3D SCAPE microscope announces today a new version of this high-speed imaging technology. In collaboration with scientists from around the world, they used SCAPE 2.0 to reveal previously unseen details of living creatures—from neurons firing inside a wriggling worm to the 3D dynamics of the beating heart of a fish embryo, with far superior resolution and at speeds up to 30 times faster than their original demonstration.

These improvements to SCAPE, published today in Nature Methods, promise to impact fields as wide ranging as genetics, cardiology and neuroscience.

Why is having faster, 3D imaging so valuable? “The processes that drive living things are dynamic and ever-changing, from the way an animal’s cells communicate with one another, to how a creature moves and changes shape,” said Elizabeth Hillman, Ph.D., a principal investigator at Columbia’s Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute and the paper’s senior author. “The faster we can image, the more of these processes we can see—and imaging fast in 3D lets us see the whole biological system, rather than just a single plane, offering a clear advantage over traditional microscopes.”

Sep 29, 2019

Inside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates | Official Trailer | Netflix

Posted by in categories: education, internet, neuroscience

This three-part documentary tells Bill Gates’ life story, in-depth and unfiltered, as he pursues unique solutions to some of the world’s most complex problems. From Academy Award-winning director Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth, He Named Me Malala).

Watch Inside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates, Only On Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/80184771

Continue reading “Inside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates | Official Trailer | Netflix” »

Sep 29, 2019

Five patients die every minute from incorrect medical treatment, according to the World Health Organization

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, health

  • A recent report by the World Health Organization (WHO) claims 2.6 million people die every year in middle and low-income countries from incorrect medical care.
  • The report, which was published before the first-ever World Patient Safety Day on September 17, reveals that five people die every minute from incorrect medical care.
  • The health agency says the most common errors occur in diagnosis, prescription and use of medicines and that the deaths are completely preventable.
  • The cost of prescribing the wrong medication alone is $42 billion a year.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Every year, 2.6 million people die in middle and low-income countries because of incorrect medical care, according to a recent report published by the World Health Organization (WHO). The health agency is hoping to shed light on the issue by launching a campaign in solidarity with patients on the first-ever World Patient Safety Day on September 17.

“No one should be harmed while receiving health care. And yet globally, at least 5 patients die every minute because of unsafe care,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.

Sep 28, 2019

64 Core EPYC CPU – HOLY $H!T

Posted by in category: computing

Go to https://privacy.com/linus to get $5 off your first purchase!

Use code LINUS and get 25% off GlassWire at https://lmg.gg/glasswire

Continue reading “64 Core EPYC CPU – HOLY $H!T” »

Sep 28, 2019

Glowing Aliens Could Turn Harsh UV Radiation into Beautiful Radiance

Posted by in category: alien life

Stars constantly douse their planets with harsh ultraviolet radiation flares. However, some life-forms may have developed a protective glow, also known as biofluorescence, to survive powerful stellar bursts.

Sep 28, 2019

Elon Musk Unveils SpaceX’s New Starship Plans for Private Trips to the Moon, Mars and Beyond

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, space travel

This latest design has held to the present day; SpaceX is still shooting for a 387-foot-tall Starship-Super Heavy stack, with six Raptors on the spacecraft. The number of engines on Super Heavy could vary from flight to flight; Musk said the rocket has space for up to 37 Raptors, and each mission will probably require at least 24.

With the design nailed down, SpaceX plans to move fast. The company wants to reach Earth orbit with a Starship prototype in about six months. And people could start flying aboard the vehicle in the next year or so if the test program continues to go well, Musk said.

While Musk and SpaceX have been lauded by their ambitious push for a Starship capable of deep-space travel, the road has not always been smooth.

Sep 28, 2019

This New Chip Could Bridge The Gap Between Classical And Quantum Computing

Posted by in categories: computing, quantum physics

Quantum computers exist today, although they’re limited, cut-down versions of what we hope fully blown quantum computers are going to be able to do in the future.

But now, researchers have developed hardware for a ‘probabilistic computer’ – a device that might be able to bridge the gap between genuine quantum computers and the standard PCs and Macs we have today.

The special trick that a probabilistic computer can do is to solve quantum problems without actually going quantum, as it were. It does this using a p-bit, which the team behind this research describes as a “poor man’s qubit”.

Sep 28, 2019

Researchers make it possible for ultrasound to reveal gene expression in the body

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, genetics, neuroscience

Some of the most important tools in the toolbox of modern cell biologists are special chunks of DNA that act like spies, reporting on the cell’s function. The markers, known as reporter genes, allow researchers to get a sense for what cells are doing by watching genetic programs embedded in their DNA turn on and off.

Reporter genes work by encoding proteins that can be seen from outside the cell. One particularly popular reporter gene encodes something called the (GFP), which, true to its name, is a protein that glows bright green. So, if a researcher wants to learn more about how cells become neurons, they can insert the GFP gene alongside a neuronal gene into an embryo’s DNA. When the embryo’s cells turn on the neuron gene, they will also express the GFP gene, and the cells will glow green, making it easy for the researcher to see that the genetic program that encodes neuron formation is active.

As useful as this technique has been, it has a big limitation: Because light does not penetrate well through most living tissue, the GFP gene cannot be used for monitoring the activity of cells deep inside an organism. But now, Caltech’s Mikhail Shapiro has a solution. A team consisting of Shapiro, professor of chemical engineering and investigator with the Heritage Medical Research Institute, graduate student Arash Farhadi, and their colleagues, has developed a reporter gene that allows them to see genetic activity using ultrasound, which can penetrate deeply through tissue, instead of light.

Sep 28, 2019

Elevating the Human Condition What does it mean to be human in a technologically enhanced world

Posted by in categories: life extension, transhumanism

Humanity+ is the world’s largest transhumanist organization that advocates ethical use of technology and evidence-based science for radical life extension.

Sep 28, 2019

Be the first to comment on “Hand-Held Microwave Imaging – To See Through Walls or Detect Tumors – Possible With New Chip”

Posted by in categories: computing, mobile phones

Washington — Researchers have developed a new microwave imager chip that could one day enable low-cost handheld microwave imagers, or cameras. Because microwaves can travel through certain opaque objects, the new imagers could be useful for imaging through walls or detecting tumors through tissue in the body.

In Optica, The Optical Society’s (OSA) journal for high-impact research, the researchers describe how they used a standard semiconductor fabrication process to make a microwave imager chip containing more than 1,000 photonic components. The square chip measures just over 2 millimeters on each side, making it about half the width of a pencil eraser.

“Today’s practical microwave imagers are bench-top systems that are bulky and expensive,” said research team leader Firooz Aflatouni from the University of Pennsylvania, USA. “Our new near-field imager uses optical, rather than electronic, devices to process the microwave signal. This enabled us to make a chip-based imager similar to the optical camera chips in many smartphones.”