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Aug 27, 2018

In sync: How cells make connections could impact circadian rhythm

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, information science, neuroscience

If you’ve ever experienced jet lag, you are familiar with your circadian rhythm, which manages nearly all aspects of metabolism, from sleep-wake cycles to body temperature to digestion. Every cell in the body has a circadian clock, but researchers were unclear about how networks of cells connect with each other over time and how those time-varying connections impact network functions.

In research published Aug. 27 in PNAS, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and collaborating institutions developed a unified, data-driven computational approach to infer and reveal these connections in biological and chemical oscillatory networks, known as the topology of these , based on their time-series data. Once they establish the topology, they can infer how the agents, or cells, in the network work together in synchrony, an important state for the brain. Abnormal synchrony has been linked to a variety of brain disorders, such as epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.

Jr-Shin Li, professor of systems science & mathematics and an applied mathematician in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, developed an algorithm, called the ICON (infer connections of networks) method, that shows for the first time the strength of these connections over time. Previously, researchers could only determine whether a connection existed between networks.

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Aug 27, 2018

Here’s how to bend spaghetti to your will

Posted by in category: futurism

Researchers have discovered how to snap spaghetti sticks without sending bits of pasta flying.

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Aug 27, 2018

Why Tesla’s Autopilot Can’t See a Stopped Firetruck

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Semi-autonomous driving systems are designed to ignore unmoving obstacles because otherwise, they couldn’t work at all.

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Aug 27, 2018

Singapore hit by ‘most serious’ cyberattack, resulting in theft of health data of 1.5 million people – including the prime minister

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, cybercrime/malcode, government, health, military

Wealthy Singapore is hyper-connected and on a drive to digitise government records and essential services, including medical records which public hospitals and clinics can share via a centralised database.

But authorities have put the brakes on these plans while they investigate the cyberattack. A former judge will head a committee looking into the incident.

While the city state has some of the most advanced military weaponry in the region, the government says it fends off thousands of cyberattacks every day and has long warned of breaches by actors as varied as high-school students in their basements to nation states.

Continue reading “Singapore hit by ‘most serious’ cyberattack, resulting in theft of health data of 1.5 million people – including the prime minister” »

Aug 27, 2018

Bank of Spain’s website hit by cyber attack

Posted by in category: cybercrime/malcode

MADRID (Reuters) — The Bank of Spain’s website has been hit since Sunday by a cyber attack which has temporarily disrupted access to the site, a spokesman for the central bank said on Monday.

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Aug 27, 2018

Mysterious new brain cell found in people

Posted by in category: neuroscience

But newly discovered “rosehip” neuron is missing in mice.

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Aug 27, 2018

The Physics of Falling Into a Black Hole

Posted by in categories: cosmology, physics

This week, newspapers reported that a man had fallen into an art installation consisting of an 8-foot-deep circular hole painted black. It’s kinda not his fault.

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Aug 27, 2018

Diversity In Space Careers is a one day conference celebrating and promoting diversity and inclusion in the space industry

Posted by in category: space

Check out the new website and get your ticket now! https://ukseds.org/aurora/?p=disc2018

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Aug 27, 2018

Global race for transformative molten salt nuclear includes Bill Gates and China

Posted by in categories: government, nuclear energy

Unlike Nuclear fusion which has never had net generation of power, molten salt nuclear fission power had 2.5 megawatts of net power generation from a US nuclear prototype back in the 1960s. The US government had major work on molten salt nuclear reactors form the 1950s through the 1970s.

There is now a multi-billion race from many US companies and China and Canada and European countries to develop molten salt nuclear power.

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Aug 27, 2018

This bright blue dye is found in fabric. Could it also power batteries?

Posted by in categories: energy, habitats

A sapphire-colored dye called methylene blue is a common ingredient in wastewater from textile mills.

But University at Buffalo scientists think it may be possible to give this industrial pollutant a second life. In a new study, they show that the dye, when dissolved in water, is good at storing and releasing energy on cue.

Continue reading “This bright blue dye is found in fabric. Could it also power batteries?” »