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Jun 19, 2018

Could coffee replace insulin injections for diabetics?

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Scientists have developed an implant which releases diabetes medication when it senses caffeine in the blood.

Science editor.

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Jun 19, 2018

Interaction of paired and lined-up electrons can be manipulated in semiconductors

Posted by in categories: computing, particle physics, quantum physics

The way that electrons paired as composite particles or arranged in lines interact with each other within a semiconductor provides new design opportunities for electronics, according to recent findings in Nature Communications.

What this means for , such as those that send information throughout , is not yet clear, but hydrostatic can be used to tune the interaction so that electrons paired as composite particles switch between paired, or “superconductor-like,” and lined-up, or “nematic,” phases. Forcing these phases to interact also suggests that they can influence each other’s properties, like stability – opening up possibilities for manipulation in electronic devices and quantum computing.

“You can literally have hundreds of different phases of electrons organizing themselves in different ways in a semiconductor,” said Gábor Csáthy, Purdue professor of physics and astronomy. “We found that two in particular can actually talk to each other in the presence of hydrostatic pressure.”

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Jun 19, 2018

Cataract Removal Surgery

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

How surgeons remove cataract from the eye.

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Jun 19, 2018

IBM Debater supercomputer argues against a human in landmark AI debate

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, supercomputing

Neither the machine or nor the professional human debaters were given prior knowledge of the subject of the on-stage debate, which took place in San Francisco on Monday.

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Jun 19, 2018

Washington firm could create nuclear fusion power within decades

Posted by in category: nuclear energy

Olympia, Washington, firm Agni Energy has designed a nuclear fusion reactor that borrows elements from existing designs and could lead it to be the first to crack the Holy Grail of energy production.

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Jun 19, 2018

Google says its AI is better at predicting death than hospitals

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, information science, robotics/AI

Nature article presents an AI developed by Google’s Medical Brain team which outperforms hospitals’ own warning system in predicting the death risk among hospit…al patients.


Google’s Medical Brain team is now training its AI to predict the death risk among hospital patients — and its early results show it has slightly higher accuracy than a hospital’s own warning system.

Bloomberg describes the healthcare potential of the Medical Brain’s findings, including its ability to use previously unusable information in order to reach its predictions. The AI, once fed this data, made predictions about the likelihood of death, discharge, and readmission.

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Jun 19, 2018

Sugarcoating aging won’t fight ageism

Posted by in category: life extension

Glossing over the fact ageing is a chronic decline in function won’t help with anything, let alone ending ageism.


At times, I think that I have written enough rejuvenation advocacy articles and that every time I write a new one, I’m just repeating myself. I sometimes say to myself that I’ve written about concerns and misconceptions from so many angles that I’ve probably exhausted all the options. However, from time to time, there comes the bittersweet reassurance that I’m not going to be out of a job any time soon.

The culprit

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Jun 19, 2018

Black Holes Could Actually Be Colliding Wormholes

Posted by in categories: cosmology, physics

Like the gravitational waves left behind by merging black holes, detectable ripples in space-time could come from colliding wormholes.

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Jun 19, 2018

US military wants to know what synthetic-biology weapons could look like

Posted by in categories: biological, military

Re-created viruses, toxic bacteria top new ranking of risks.

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Jun 19, 2018

California lawmakers debate creating regional electric grid

Posted by in categories: energy, sustainability

A contentious proposal to link oversight of California’s electric grid with other western states faces a crucial test Tuesday in a state Senate committee.

Supporters say regionalizing the grid would make it easier and cheaper to deploy renewable energy across the western United States. But critics, including some environmentalists and consumer advocates, say California would jeopardize its efforts to require the expansion of renewables.

California has greatly expanded the use of , particularly wind and solar, but that’s brought new challenges for grid operators to manage supply and demand as weather patterns and sunlight vary.

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