SciTech #ScienceSunday Digest - 38/2016.
SciTech #ScienceSunday Digest - 38/2016.
Permalink here: http://www.scitechdigest.net/2016/09/beating-neurological-damage-3d.html
Beating neurological damage, Delivering bacteria, 3D electodeposition, Multicore computing accelerations, Fruit fly connectome, Characterising cell senescence, Novel semiconductor nanostructures, Nanoscale motion amplification, Machine learning tricks, Bonding etched metals.
1. Compensating for Neurological Damage
A new brain computer interface allows patients to control the movement of a cursor over a keyboard with just their thoughts, and by so doing type 12 words per minute http://news.stanford.edu/2016/09/12/typing-brain-sensing-technology/. The tests were carried out in monkeys but should translate well to people, and achieved a significant improvement in the rate of word transcription over previous systems to be conversationally useful. In other news recent quadriplegics might have significant limb movement restored by having 10 million (particular type of) stem cells injected into the site of spinal injury https://news.usc.edu/107047/experimental-stem-cell-therapy-helps-paralyzed-man-regains-use-of-arms-and-hands/, to the extent that three months later patients can feed themselves and operate their phone.
2. Controlled Bacterial Delivery to Intestines
A delivery method comprising alternately coating bacteria in layers of long chain polysaccharides chitosan and alginate, ensures their protection against stomach acids and into the intestine where these mucoadhesive sugars help adhere to the intestinal lining http://news.mit.edu/2016/delivering-beneficial-bacteria-stomach-gi-tract-0914. Coated bacteria had a survival rate six times higher than uncoated bacteria. Such improved oral probiotic delivery to the intestines could be widely beneficial considering the number diseases and treatments probiotic and even therapeutic bacteria are being proposed for.
3. Electrodeposition vs 3D Printing
The custom mass-produced devices create by Microfabrica’s electrodeposition technique are very impressive http://michaelbelfiore.com/2016/09/14/microfabricas-tiny-revolution/. Microfabrica’s process represents a synthesis of 3D printing capabilities with semiconductor electrodeposition fabrication techniques, and this enables a much greater level of device and scale precision - check out the comparison images with conventional metal sintering for example. The company is already commercially operational and sells devices for $1 - $100 depending on size and complexity.
4. Language & Hardware for Accelerated Computing
Milk is the name of a newly developed programming language that manages memory much more efficiently in programs that deal with scattered data across large data sets, so much so that it enables a four-fold speed-up in big data applications http://news.mit.edu/2016/faster-parallel-computing-big-data-0913. The Queue Management Device designed by Intel reduces certain optimisation software to a chip-based hardware design that at minimum results in core-to-core communication speed multi-core chips to be doubled http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/semiconductors/processors/new-circuits-break-bottleneck-in-microprocessors.
5. Fruit Fly Connectome
The first complete 3D map of a fruit fly brain connectome has been assembled https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602398/first-3-d-map-of-a-fruit-flys-brain-network/. This approach used x-ray tomography and worked by soaking the brain in a silver dye, then bombarding it with x-rays, measuring the x-ray scattering, and running the data through a computational model to generate a 3D map of neurons and their connections. This model has a resolution of 600nm and shows 100,000 neurons and is the first ever reproduction of a fly brain hemisphere mapped with 3D coordinates. It took 1,700 man hours to assemble so will need further automation if the technique is to tackle larger brains.
6. Characterising Genetic Causes of Cell Senescence
Recent work looked at dosing varying levels of a certain anti-cancer drug against cancer cells in order to induce varying cellular responses from senescence to apoptosis; in doing so identified 25 specific genes responsible for the senescent cell response as opposed to apoptosis or other responses https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2016/09/working-to-characterize-the-epigenetics-of-cellular-senescence/. Identifying these 25 genes provides 25 possible targets that can be investigated for targeting specific senescent cell clearance therapies - which some companies are already working on - in order to help rejuvenate aging tissues and reduce the age-related load of senescent cells.
7. Novel Semiconductor Nanostructures
An inorganic semiconducting material with a double helix nanostructure has been discovered http://www.tum.de/en/about-tum/news/press-releases/short/article/33350/, comprising non-toxic tin, iodine, and phosphorus, has been formed into centimerter-long fibers and possess exceptional flexibility while remaining stable at up to 500C. In related news quantum dot silicon nanoparticles can replace alternative semiconductor materials in a range of useful applications in displays and optoelectronics http://phys.org/news/2016-09-silicon-nanoparticles-expensive-semiconductors.html.
8. Nanoscale Motion Amplified to Microscale
A microelectromechanical system developed by NIST is able to measure the transfer of motion at nanometer scales https://www.nist.gov/video/measuring-nanoscale-motion-transfer-through-microscale-machine. As long as the electrical input driving the system was free of noise then the device performed reliably and repeatedly, and offer a platform that the team hopes to extend to far more complex systems with many moving parts. Advances like this have application in fabricating and operating various micro- and nanoelectromechanical systems used in sensors, switches, and automatic robotic systems.
9. Latest Machine Learning Tricks
Machine learning algorithms for driving autonomous vehicles are being accelerated and rapidly tested in consumer video games such as Grand Theft Auto, taking advantage of realistic environments, and enabled by a new way for extracting useful training data from the game environment for automatic object classification https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602317/self-driving-cars-can-learn-a-lot-by-playing-grand-theft-auto/. Machine learning algorithms are now generating short videos from static photos, aiming to predict what happens next in the scene captured in the image http://www.theverge.com/2016/9/12/12886698/machine-learning-video-image-prediction-mit, take a look for some “interesting” results.
10. Bonding Metals with Any Other Surface
A new electrochemical etching process produces metal surfaces with roughened micrometer scale features that allow metals to be joined with nearly all other materials, become water repellent, and exhibit improved biocompatibility http://www.uni-kiel.de/pressemeldungen/index.php?pmid=2016-285-nanosculpturing&lang=en. The etching process affects only the top 10 - 20 micrometers of the surface, removing those metal grains that are less chemically stable, creating a complex three dimensional surface that can be strongly bonded with polymer adhesives to connect other similarly-etched metal surfaces; in tests the metal or polymer would break before the interface. In thinking about the laminated wood being considered to build wooden skyscrapers because of its strength http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-16/the-race-for-the-wood-skyscraper-starts-here, I’m wondering about laminated interleaved metals and what you might build with them?
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Permalink here: http://www.scitechdigest.net/2016/09/beating-neurological-damage-3d.html
Beating neurological damage, Delivering bacteria, 3D electodeposition, Multicore computing accelerations, Fruit fly connectome, Characterising cell senescence, Novel semiconductor nanostructures, Nanoscale motion amplification, Machine learning tricks, Bonding etched metals.
1. Compensating for Neurological Damage
A new brain computer interface allows patients to control the movement of a cursor over a keyboard with just their thoughts, and by so doing type 12 words per minute http://news.stanford.edu/2016/09/12/typing-brain-sensing-technology/. The tests were carried out in monkeys but should translate well to people, and achieved a significant improvement in the rate of word transcription over previous systems to be conversationally useful. In other news recent quadriplegics might have significant limb movement restored by having 10 million (particular type of) stem cells injected into the site of spinal injury https://news.usc.edu/107047/experimental-stem-cell-therapy-helps-paralyzed-man-regains-use-of-arms-and-hands/, to the extent that three months later patients can feed themselves and operate their phone.
2. Controlled Bacterial Delivery to Intestines
A delivery method comprising alternately coating bacteria in layers of long chain polysaccharides chitosan and alginate, ensures their protection against stomach acids and into the intestine where these mucoadhesive sugars help adhere to the intestinal lining http://news.mit.edu/2016/delivering-beneficial-bacteria-stomach-gi-tract-0914. Coated bacteria had a survival rate six times higher than uncoated bacteria. Such improved oral probiotic delivery to the intestines could be widely beneficial considering the number diseases and treatments probiotic and even therapeutic bacteria are being proposed for.
3. Electrodeposition vs 3D Printing
The custom mass-produced devices create by Microfabrica’s electrodeposition technique are very impressive http://michaelbelfiore.com/2016/09/14/microfabricas-tiny-revolution/. Microfabrica’s process represents a synthesis of 3D printing capabilities with semiconductor electrodeposition fabrication techniques, and this enables a much greater level of device and scale precision - check out the comparison images with conventional metal sintering for example. The company is already commercially operational and sells devices for $1 - $100 depending on size and complexity.
4. Language & Hardware for Accelerated Computing
Milk is the name of a newly developed programming language that manages memory much more efficiently in programs that deal with scattered data across large data sets, so much so that it enables a four-fold speed-up in big data applications http://news.mit.edu/2016/faster-parallel-computing-big-data-0913. The Queue Management Device designed by Intel reduces certain optimisation software to a chip-based hardware design that at minimum results in core-to-core communication speed multi-core chips to be doubled http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/semiconductors/processors/new-circuits-break-bottleneck-in-microprocessors.
5. Fruit Fly Connectome
The first complete 3D map of a fruit fly brain connectome has been assembled https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602398/first-3-d-map-of-a-fruit-flys-brain-network/. This approach used x-ray tomography and worked by soaking the brain in a silver dye, then bombarding it with x-rays, measuring the x-ray scattering, and running the data through a computational model to generate a 3D map of neurons and their connections. This model has a resolution of 600nm and shows 100,000 neurons and is the first ever reproduction of a fly brain hemisphere mapped with 3D coordinates. It took 1,700 man hours to assemble so will need further automation if the technique is to tackle larger brains.
6. Characterising Genetic Causes of Cell Senescence
Recent work looked at dosing varying levels of a certain anti-cancer drug against cancer cells in order to induce varying cellular responses from senescence to apoptosis; in doing so identified 25 specific genes responsible for the senescent cell response as opposed to apoptosis or other responses https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2016/09/working-to-characterize-the-epigenetics-of-cellular-senescence/. Identifying these 25 genes provides 25 possible targets that can be investigated for targeting specific senescent cell clearance therapies - which some companies are already working on - in order to help rejuvenate aging tissues and reduce the age-related load of senescent cells.
7. Novel Semiconductor Nanostructures
An inorganic semiconducting material with a double helix nanostructure has been discovered http://www.tum.de/en/about-tum/news/press-releases/short/article/33350/, comprising non-toxic tin, iodine, and phosphorus, has been formed into centimerter-long fibers and possess exceptional flexibility while remaining stable at up to 500C. In related news quantum dot silicon nanoparticles can replace alternative semiconductor materials in a range of useful applications in displays and optoelectronics http://phys.org/news/2016-09-silicon-nanoparticles-expensive-semiconductors.html.
8. Nanoscale Motion Amplified to Microscale
A microelectromechanical system developed by NIST is able to measure the transfer of motion at nanometer scales https://www.nist.gov/video/measuring-nanoscale-motion-transfer-through-microscale-machine. As long as the electrical input driving the system was free of noise then the device performed reliably and repeatedly, and offer a platform that the team hopes to extend to far more complex systems with many moving parts. Advances like this have application in fabricating and operating various micro- and nanoelectromechanical systems used in sensors, switches, and automatic robotic systems.
9. Latest Machine Learning Tricks
Machine learning algorithms for driving autonomous vehicles are being accelerated and rapidly tested in consumer video games such as Grand Theft Auto, taking advantage of realistic environments, and enabled by a new way for extracting useful training data from the game environment for automatic object classification https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602317/self-driving-cars-can-learn-a-lot-by-playing-grand-theft-auto/. Machine learning algorithms are now generating short videos from static photos, aiming to predict what happens next in the scene captured in the image http://www.theverge.com/2016/9/12/12886698/machine-learning-video-image-prediction-mit, take a look for some “interesting” results.
10. Bonding Metals with Any Other Surface
A new electrochemical etching process produces metal surfaces with roughened micrometer scale features that allow metals to be joined with nearly all other materials, become water repellent, and exhibit improved biocompatibility http://www.uni-kiel.de/pressemeldungen/index.php?pmid=2016-285-nanosculpturing&lang=en. The etching process affects only the top 10 - 20 micrometers of the surface, removing those metal grains that are less chemically stable, creating a complex three dimensional surface that can be strongly bonded with polymer adhesives to connect other similarly-etched metal surfaces; in tests the metal or polymer would break before the interface. In thinking about the laminated wood being considered to build wooden skyscrapers because of its strength http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-16/the-race-for-the-wood-skyscraper-starts-here, I’m wondering about laminated interleaved metals and what you might build with them?
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Thnx
ReplyDeleteZahid
ReplyDeleteHi frends
ReplyDeleteAmici,
ReplyDeleteEmbryonic stem cells were injected into a 21 year old paralyzed man to restore some motor function. This procedure is inherently immoral and intrinsically evil because an unborn baby was murdered to harvest his (or her) stem cells for injection into an adult. Adult stem cells which do not require the death of the donor could have been used. The doctors involved did not do that. They are therefore guilty of the blood of an innocent baby whom they sacrificed on the altar of medical expediency and they will stand before God Almighty to answer for a crime against humanity exceeded in depravity by only their Nazi medical forefathers.