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Jan 19, 2023

Our Solar System may be surrounded by a halo of 10 million interstellar objects

Posted by in category: space

A recent model suggests that passing interstellar objects should get pulled into our Sun’s orbit fairly often.

Jan 19, 2023

All in the Mind: Decoding Brainwaves to Identify the Music We Are Listening To

Posted by in categories: media & arts, robotics/AI

Summary: Combining neuroimaging and EEG data, researchers recorded the neural activity of people while listening to a piece of music. Using machine learning technology, the data was translated to reconstruct and identify the specific piece of music the test subjects were listening to.

Source: University of Essex.

A new technique for monitoring brain waves can identify the music someone is listening to.

Jan 19, 2023

Neural Prosthesis Uses Brain Activity to Decode Speech

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, cyborgs, robotics/AI

Summary: A newly developed machine learning model can predict the words a person is about to speak based on their neural activity recorded by a minimally invasive neuroprosthetic device.

Source: HSE

Researchers from HSE University and the Moscow State University of Medicine and Dentistry have developed a machine learning model that can predict the word about to be uttered by a subject based on their neural activity recorded with a small set of minimally invasive electrodes.

Jan 19, 2023

CRISPR gene editing may help treat heart disease after a heart attack

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical

Researchers say a new CRISPR gene editing therapy may help treat heart disease. The scientists also found evidence the therapy can help repair damaged tissue immediately after a heart attack.

Jan 19, 2023

Ransomware attack cuts 1,000 ships off from on-shore servers

Posted by in category: cybercrime/malcode

Get your eyepatch out: Cyber attacks on the high seas are trending.

Jan 19, 2023

Boston Dynamics’ Atlas robot grows a set of hands, attempts construction work

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Boston Dynamics’ Atlas—the world’s most advanced humanoid robot—is learning some new tricks. The company has finally given Atlas some proper hands, and in Boston Dynamics’ latest YouTube video, Atlas is attempting to do some actual work. It also released another behind-the-scenes video showing some of the work that goes into Atlas. And when things don’t go right, we see some spectacular slams the robot takes in its efforts to advance humanoid robotics.

As a humanoid robot, Atlas has mostly been focused on locomotion, starting with walking in a lab, then walking on every kind of unstable terrain imaginable, then doing some sick parkour tricks. Locomotion is all about the legs, though, and the upper half seemed mostly like an afterthought, with the arms only used to swing around for balance. Atlas previously didn’t even have hands— the last time we saw it, there were only two incomplete-looking ball grippers at the end of its arms.

This newest iteration of the robot has actual grippers. They’re simple clamp-style hands with a wrist and a single moving finger, but that’s good enough for picking things up. The goal of this video is moving “inertially significant” objects—not just picking up light boxes, but objects that are so heavy they can throw Atlas off-balance. This includes things like a big plank, a bag full of tools, and a barbell with two 10-pound weights. Atlas is learning all about those “equal and opposite forces” in the world.

Jan 19, 2023

Bowel cancer breakthrough as chemotherapy before surgery ‘cuts risk of return’

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, innovation

There are around 42,900 new bowel cancer cases in the UK every year Experts have hailed “remarkable” new research which shows that giving chemotherapy before surgery for early-stage bowel cancer cuts the chance of the disease coming back by 28%. The study, funded by Cancer Research UK, suggests at least 5,000 patients in the UK every year could benefit from a tweak to how they receive chemotherapy.

Jan 19, 2023

SpaceX Dragon capsule to be 5-person ‘lifeboat’ in event of ISS emergency

Posted by in category: space travel

A SpaceX Dragon capsule is being modified on orbit to carry an extra astronaut home to Earth if need be.

On Wednesday (Jan. 18), NASA plans to start moving agency astronaut Frank Rubio’s seat liner from a Russian Soyuz spacecraft over to Endurance, the Dragon spacecraft that’s flying SpaceX’s ongoing Crew-5 mission for NASA.

Jan 19, 2023

Scientists grow ‘perfect’ atom-thin materials on industrial silicon wafers

Posted by in categories: computing, particle physics

True to Moore’s Law, the number of transistors on a microchip has doubled every year since the 1960s. But this trajectory is predicted to soon plateau because silicon—the backbone of modern transistors—loses its electrical properties once devices made from this material dip below a certain size.

Enter 2D materials—delicate, two-dimensional sheets of perfect crystals that are as thin as a . At the scale of nanometers, 2D materials can conduct electrons far more efficiently than silicon. The search for next-generation transistor materials therefore has focused on 2D materials as potential successors to silicon.

But before the can transition to 2D materials, scientists have to first find a way to engineer the materials on industry-standard while preserving their perfect crystalline form. And MIT engineers may now have a solution.

Jan 19, 2023

First observation of the Cherenkov radiation phenomenon in 2D space

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing, engineering, quantum physics

Researchers from the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Technion—Israel Institute of Technology have presented the first experimental observation of Cherenkov radiation confined in two dimensions. The results represent a new record in electron-radiation coupling strength, revealing the quantum properties of the radiation.

Cherenkov is a unique physical phenomenon, which for many years has been used in medical imaging and in particle detection applications, as well as in laser-driven electron accelerators. The breakthrough achieved by the Technion researchers links this phenomenon to future photonic quantum computing applications and free-electron quantum light sources.

The study, which was published in Physical Review X, was headed by Ph.D. students Yuval Adiv and Shai Tsesses from the Technion, together with Hao Hu from the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore (today professor at Nanjing university in China). It was supervised by Prof. Ido Kaminer and Prof. Guy Bartal of the Technion, in collaboration with colleagues from China: Prof. Hongsheng Chen, and Prof. Xiao Lin from Zhejiang University.