SciTech #ScienceSunday Digest - 51/2016.

SciTech #ScienceSunday Digest - 51/2016.
Permalink here: http://www.scitechdigest.net/2016/12/writing-dna-macro-quantum-effects-deep.html

Writing DNA, Macro quantum effects, Autonomous drone advances, Deep learning music, Reversing stem cell development, Reversing animal aging, Photovoltaic atomic veins, Noninvasive mind control, Microfluidic blood sensors, Deep learning supercomputing.

1. Writing DNA with Twist
Twist Bioscience has developed a new silicon chip for writing and synthesising DNA sequences, taking the conventional 96 well approach producing one gene to a new architecture that produces 9,600 genes that makes DNA synthesis significantly faster and cheaper https://medium.com/@Hello_Tomorrow/is-dna-the-next-silicon-c88e6e89754d#.v26ntfksi. Combined with rapid, cheap DNA sequencing chips, rapid, cheap DNA synthesis chips will accelerate the transformation of biotechnology, allowing custom DNA sequences to be produced for quickly engineering organisms of interest.

2. Quantum Effects in Macro Materials
A new type of topological insulator (conductor on surface, insulator in bulk) made from bismuth and selenium, happens to slightly rotate and change a beam of terahertz light shone through the material http://www.sciencealert.com/this-new-material-might-show-the-link-between-classical-and-quantum-physics. This quantum effect is typically observed only at atomic scales and never in macro materials; it obeyed the same mathematics and is the first time such a quantum effect has been observed in large topological insulators. It is hoped that the link might allow further probing between quantum and classical mechanics.

3. Advances with Autonomous Drones
First, an optimal reciprocal collision avoidance strategy has been developed to allow large numbers of drones to fly through the same airspace, dynamically avoid colliding, and all while minimising g-forces for the purpose of future passenger-transport drones http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/drones/limiting-jerks-for-comfortable-commuting-by-personal-drone. Second, Amazon demonstrated its first autonomous drone product delivery https://www.amazon.com/b?node=8037720011. Finally, drones are being used for cheap but difficult environmental monitoring applications such as methane monitoring, an area we can expect to rapidly expand into drone monitoring of a great many things http://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/environment/drones-take-to-the-skies-to-screen-for-methane-emissions.

4. Deep Learning Music Composition
A new deep learning system called DeepBach was trained and validated against music composed by the composer Bach, and is able to produce new music in the same style as Bach to the extent of convincing humans about 50% of the time that they were actually written by Bach https://www.technologyreview.com/s/603137/deep-learning-machine-listens-to-bach-then-writes-its-own-music-in-the-same-style/. Interestingly the same humans only picked 75% of the compositions actually written by Bach. This marks another big step on the way of machines producing creative outputs and artworks, suggesting that future deep learning systems might produce novel music (or other works) in any particular artist’s style given some general starting parameters.

5. Reversing Human Embryonic Stem Cell Development
A mixture of three different chemical inhibitors has been demonstrated to further wind back the developmental clock of human embryonic stem cells, finally achieving the same long-hoped-for flexibility that researchers have enjoyed with embryonic stem cells from mice https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-12/jhm-rtb121416.php. These stem cells are now much easier to keep alive and the technique successfully reset 25 human stem cell lines, showed more malleable gene expression profiles, avoided abnormal DNA changes sometimes characterised by other techniques, and could be subsequently differentiated into vascular or neural cell types (for example) at double or triple the frequencies of conventional human embryonic stem cells. Meanwhile stem cells are being used to create and study amniotic sac formation http://ns.umich.edu/new/releases/24415-how-does-the-amniotic-sac-form-u-m-team-uses-stem-cells-to-study-earliest-stages.

6. Reversing Aging in Animals
In related work using conventional reprogramming techniques with four factors that turn cells into induced pluripotent stem cells, researchers demonstrated that administering these factors for short durations had rejuvenating, anti-aging effects https://www.salk.edu/news-release/turning-back-time-salk-scientists-reverse-signs-aging/. Skin cells showed reversal of aging hallmarks while remaining skin cells, mice with progeria looked younger with improved organ function and lived 30% longer, while normally aged mice had improved regenerative and healing capacity. As promising as this is it should be approached with caution due to a number of reasons outlined here https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2016/12/temporarily-applying-pluripotency-reprogramming-factors-to-adult-mice/. Meanwhile microRNA levels over time appear to correlate well with life span https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2016/12/microrna-differences-across-the-course-of-aging-correlate-with-life-span/.

7. Atomic Veins Boost Photovoltaic Performance
Adding a network of linear atomic defects by removing atoms on two-dimensional material surfaces such as molybdenum diselenide creates the equivalent of atom-thick wires that can channel electrons and light http://phys.org/news/2016-12-lines-atoms-thin-electronic-materials.html. Early stage research but offering promising avenues to boost photovoltaic performance and explore new properties on these surfaces that influence electrical and optical performance and both semi- and super-conductivity.

8. Noninvasive Mind Control of Robotic Hands
A new 64 electrode EEG system allows people to operate a robotic arm to reach and grasp objects using just their thoughts and without an invasive brain implant https://twin-cities.umn.edu/news-events/umn-research-shows-people-can-control-robotic-arm-their-minds. Studies with human volunteers required them to devote time with the system to learn to imagine moving their own arm, and the robotic arm, without actually moving their arm. In related news a soft prosthetic hand utilises stretchable optical waveguides to detect curvature, elongation, and force and designed to give robots and prosthetics a much better sense of touch http://mediarelations.cornell.edu/2016/12/12/new-robot-has-a-human-touch/.

9. Sensors & Microfluidics for Real-time Blood Monitoring
A microfluidic biosensor chip uses gold electrodes patterned with DNA aptamers to measure molecules of interest in real-time, significantly boosting the accuracy and frequency of measurements and solving other problems that an earlier prototype chip possessed http://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/biomedical/devices/sensor-system-offers-realtime-control-of-drug-levels-in-blood. In one demonstration the concentration of a chemotherapy drug was monitored in rabbits in order to continuously dose the animal with precise amounts of the drug to maintain optimal therapeutic effect while minimising side effects. Different DNA aptamers can be engineered to capture just about any molecule (or combination) of interest, so this is a very interesting platform. In related news another microfluidic chip rapidly detects metastatic cancers cells in drops of blood https://www.wpi.edu/news/wpi-researchers-build-%E2%80%9Cliquid-biopsy%E2%80%9D-chip-detects-metastatic-cancer-cells-drop-blood.

10. Big & Small Supercomputing Initiatives
First, Cray announced the results of a deep learning supercomputing collaboration with Microsoft and the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre that runs larger deep learning models and significantly accelerating the deep learning training process, obtaining results in hours that previously might have taken weeks or months http://investors.cray.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=98390&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2228098. Second, Nvidia’s DGX-1 supercomputer is a complete dedicated package for machine learning, the size of a briefcase and costing $129,000 that seems to be producing decent advances for ever-more customers https://www.technologyreview.com/s/603075/the-pint-sized-supercomputer-that-companies-are-scrambling-to-get/.

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SciTech #ScienceSunday Digest - 49/2016.

SciTech #ScienceSunday Digest - 49/2016.
Permalink here: http://www.scitechdigest.net/2016/12/allen-crispr-cells-advanced-synbio.html

Allen CRISPR cells, Advanced Synbio tools, Radioelectric diamond power, High temperature ice, Programmably disordered DNA, Endohedral fullerene clocks, Dendrimer atom mimicry, Linked enzyme molecular synthesis, Wireless optogenetic control, Nvidia’s Xavier chips.

1. Allen CRISPR Stem Cell Collection
The Allen Institute for Cell Science has released the Allen Cell Collection, comprising five induced pluripotent stem cell lines genetically engineered with CRISPR to fluorescently tag or label critical structural proteins in the cell http://www.alleninstitute.org/what-we-do/cell-science/news-press/press-releases/allen-institute-cell-science-releases-gene-edited-human-stem-cell-lines. Tagged structures that can be easily visualised include the nucleus, mitochondria, microtubules, cell junctions, and cell adhesion complexes. Because these are human stem cells the differentiation into specialised cells and tissues can also be tracked with the same ease and efficiency. Additional collections will be released next year. These tools provide a very useful means by which to study the effects of other mutations and genetic modifications.

2. Advancing Synthetic Biology Tools
First, a number of easy, convenient mini-laboratories are being developed and launched to better allow people to edit, engineer, create, and test their own modified cells http://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/biomedical/devices/tools-for-would-be-biohackers-here-come-3-mini-labs. The core ethos here is to continually reduce the cost and complexity required to tinker and edit cells, in the same way that the cost and complexity of computers was reduced, and so better unleash biological innovations. Second, at the industrial scale synthetic biology development is being driven by advances in automation http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/devices/the-robot-revolution-comes-to-synthetic-biology, for driving high-throughput screening and selection to build organisms to required specifications. I feel like we’re approaching a tipping point here.

3. Radioelectric Diamond Energy Generators
Like thermoelectric materials that generate electricity from heat and piezoelectric materials that generate electricity from movement, a new prototype diamond-based material functions as a radioelectric material to generate electricity from radioactive sources http://www.bris.ac.uk/news/2016/november/diamond-power.html. The prototype synthetic diamonds use Nickel-63 as the radioactive source, but the next version should use Carbon-14 from radioactive graphite nuclear waste as the source incorporated into the synthetic diamonds. One gram of Carbon-14 in a battery would generate 15 Joules of energy per day, and would take over 5,000 years to reach half power. I wonder if future variations might increase the energy output for proportionally lower lifetimes. In other news work continues to develop diamonds as the ultimate semiconductors http://www.titech.ac.jp/english/research/stories/faces21_hatano.html.

4. High Temperature Ice in Nanotubes
When inside carbon nanotubes water remains “frozen” solid even at temperatures above the boiling point of water http://news.mit.edu/2016/carbon-nanotubes-water-solid-boiling-1128. The behaviour of the water at these temperatures is dependent on the diameter of the carbon nanotube, such that 1.05nm tubes vs 1.06nm tubes resulted in a tens-of-degrees temperature difference in the apparent freezing point - the team claim an ice-like phase for the solid water but need additional experiments to confirm it is ice. A couple of thoughts: first, the pressure exerted by the nanotubes must be significant, second, I wonder if there are superconducting applications here for example, confining materials to a superconducting phase that otherwise would not be possible at high temperatures.

5. Programmably Disordered DNA Origami
For the first time DNA origami building blocks or tiles have been engineered to self-assemble in both deterministic and random ways in order to generate large-scale emergent features with tunable statistical properties - what is known as programmable disorder http://www.caltech.edu/news/programmable-disorder-53104. An example of these designs include Truchet tiles, which fit together deterministically, but in one of two different random ways, in order to generate complex patterns. The structures formed are more organic, like trees or dendrites. In related programmable materials news shape-memory polymers are enabling new applications http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2016/Q4/programmable-materiels-showing-future-potential-for-industry.html.

6. Endohedral Fullerenes as Atomic Clocks
Endohedral fullerenes, which are buckyball cages encasing a particular atom or ion, are being produced industrially for a range of miniature devices and applications http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2016/11/millimeter-accurate-gps-in-smartphones.html. Endohedral fullerenes encapsulating nitrogen atoms might be used to produce tiny low-power on-chip atomic clocks that might provide cars and phones with GPS accuracy to 1mm, which would be a game changer. I’ve also wondered for about 15 years how arrays of suitable endohedral fullerenes might be used as high density digital memory devices. Other applications include energy harvesting and sensing.

7. Atom Mimicry with Dendrimers
Dendrimers, large molecules with precise branches extending from a central core, can now not only be engineered to mimic the electron valency of atoms but also linked into dendrimer arrays that mimic the covalent electron pair bonding between atoms in a molecule http://phys.org/news/2016-12-aspect-atom-mimicry-nanotechnology-applications.html. The group produced large 2D arrays of these “molecules” whose geometry and pitch can be controlled by the design of the dendrimer and linker molecules. This is a fascinating new atom-mimicry tool, similar to certain types of quantum dots, with applications no one has yet thought of.

8. Daisy-Chained Sperm Enzymes for Molecular Synthesis
A precise ten-step biological synthesis pathway for converting glucose into lactate has been demonstrated with a system that mimics the way enzymes in sperm tails rapidly ferry molecules and metabolites along the length of the tail http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2016/12/fast-efficient-sperm-tails-inspire-nanobiotechnology. Instead of enzymes vibrating in solution and randomly encountering their particular molecule, the group tethered all of the necessary enzymes to nanoparticles, which resulted in much lower concentrations of intermediate molecular products in solution. This is another step on the path towards atomically precise manufacturing. Add the particular enzymes for your synthetic pathway of interest to nanoparticles (perhaps further advances will lock in precise positions to ensure molecule-by-molecule handoff and transfer with no wastage) and drop into a solution or environment of choice, or inject into blood in order to perform the needed reaction as therapy, sensor, stimulant, industrial production or clean up agent.

9. Latest Wireless Optogenetic Animal Control
This week saw a nice update and review of wireless optogenetic animal control tools that we’ve covered previously over the years http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/devices/neuroscientists-wirelessly-control-the-brain-of-a-scampering-lab-mouse. The key development has been tiny LEDs that can be implanted and wirelessly powered and controlled, requiring the mice or rats to be observed in cages equipped with radio frequency generators that can both power and send control signals to the tiny implanted chips connected to the LEDs. Instead of needing large receiving antennas new devices are able to track and use the body of the animal itself for resonant coupling.

10. Towards Exascale Computing with Nvidia
Nvidia has introduced Xavier, its most ambitious single-chip computer, which has 7 billion transistors and computes at 20 trillion operations per second (OPS) for just 20 watts of power. 50 of these chips would provide a petaOPS of processing for 1 kilowatt of power, while in 2018 50,000 units would reach exaOPS for 1 megawatt of power. Coverage at NBF here http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2016/11/nvidia-xavier-chip-20-trillion.html and here http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2016/11/50000-nvidia-xavier-chips-would-deliver.html. Commercial drivers include ramping up AI, deep learning, and autonomous vehicle data processing applications.

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SciTech #ScienceSunday Digest - 47/2016.

SciTech #ScienceSunday Digest - 47/2016.
Permalink here: http://www.scitechdigest.net/2016/11/compartmentalised-gene-circuits-crispr.html

Compartmentalised gene circuits, CRISPR human trial, Google’s machine learning, Parabiosis twist, Carbon nanotube terahertz scanner, Automated drug discovery, DNA origami muscles, Magnetic hand tracking, Photonic neuromorphic computing, Nanoantenna optical switches.

1. Compartmentalised Synthetic Gene Circuits
The utility and power of synthetic biology has been boosted with new modular tools that involve placing different genetic circuits into separate liposomes within the modified cells http://news.mit.edu/2016/synthetic-cells-isolate-genetic-circuits-1114. This solves the potential problem of too many genetic circuits interfering with each other, while allowing the same circuit to be used in a different way at the same time. As a demonstration a circuit in one liposome reacted to a drug by releasing another molecule from its liposome, which entered a second liposome and genetic circuit that responded by producing a light-emitting protein. Other triggers include forcing the liposomes to merge and combine contents. I think of this system as producing basic little custom-engineered and custom-programmed nanofactories in cells. Such modularity makes this a very powerful platform for pushing synthetic biology applications forward.

2. CRISPR Therapy in First Human Trial
A Chinese group has introduced a CRISPR-based therapy into humans as part of a human trial for the first time http://www.nature.com/news/crispr-gene-editing-tested-in-a-person-for-the-first-time-1.20988. In this case the CRISPR modification took place in immune cells extracted from the patient, disabling the PD-1 gene that inhibits cellular immune response, and then these cells were reintroduced back into patients with lung cancer in the hope that the unhindered immune cells would defeat it. 2017 will see an number of other CRISPR human trials begin, most of which will be targeting various cancers. As CRISPR tools get better I’m expecting this space to explode.

3. Google Machine Learning Advances
First, Google demonstrates RAISR, a machine learning based tool that upscales low resolution images to high resolution copies, which might improve the viewability of low resolution images or otherwise preserve bandwidth http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/11/14/google-announces-raisr-method-upscaling-images-machine-learning/. Second, better machine learning is powering the latest iteration of Google Translate, which can now translate whole sentences at a time rather than piece by piece, and resulting in much smoother grammatically correct translations https://blog.google/products/translate/found-translation-more-accurate-fluent-sentences-google-translate/.

4. Surprising Twist with Parabiosis
Parabiosis is the term for connecting the circulatory systems of two animals together, and when done with an old and young mouse the older mouse shows signs of regeneration to a more youthful state. In an interesting twist, the blood plasma from young (18 year old) humans was taken and injected into old mice (1 year old, ~50 year human equivalent) and this also rejuvenated the old mice to a more youthful state as measured by movement, memory function, and increased neurogenesis https://www.newscientist.com/article/2112829-blood-from-human-teens-rejuvenates-body-and-brains-of-old-mice/. Interesting both for the fact that an 18 year old human’s blood rejuvenated a one year old mouse, and also for the promise this general procedure and the isolation of specific factors has for human health applications.

5. Portable Carbon Nanotube Terahertz Scanner
A portable, flexible, wearable, terahertz scanner has been created from thin films of carbon nanotubes http://spectrum.ieee.org/nanoclast/semiconductors/nanotechnology/flexible-portable-terahertz-scanner-made-from-carbon-nanotubes2. This effectively amounts to a flexible terahertz camera that in tests was able to detect and image a wide band of terahertz rays. Given terahertz light passes through many materials the promise has always been to use such devices for security as part of high-resolution non-invasive imaging to detect hidden objects.

6. Automated Drug Discovery
First, iPANDA is a machine learning system for discovering new drugs from gene expression data and which outputs the pharmacological properties of new potential drugs and biomarkers for further development https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-11/imi-ian111616.php. Second, another machine learning system was being used to study antimicrobial compounds and helped discover general peptides and protein features that can cross cell membranes, thus not only enabling the design of different and better antimicrobial peptides but also peptides that can ferry drugs and other molecules into cells http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/computers-learn-to-recognize-molecules-that-can-enter-cells.

7. DNA Origami Muscles
Nanoscale muscles have been built from gold nanoparticles linked in sheets by different single strand DNA sequences and with these sheets stacked in many layers https://news.upenn.edu/news/penn-engineers-make-nanoscale-muscles-powered-dna. By introducing different complementary strands induces the formation of double-stranded DNA bridges in precise locations, which are different lengths to single strands, and this causes the stacked sheets to twist and flex and roll up in controllable shapes. This controllable flexing behaviour could be used in nanoscale diagnostics, for example, recognising a certain type of RNA in the cell by changing the spacing between layers in the sheet and so interacting with light differently to provide a signal of the event.

8. VR Magnetic Hand Tracking
Ommo is developing a system to provide millimeter resolution gesture tracking in virtual reality environments magnetic fields and sensors http://spectrum.ieee.org/view-from-the-valley/at-work/start-ups/for-precise-hand-tracking-in-virtual-reality-start-with-a-magnetic-field. This includes a small magnetic field generator that is worn in the pocket and sensors on key points of a glove worn on the hands. Developer prototypes are expected next year. I’ve been playing with Daydream View lately and it would be pretty amazing to have this type of control and gesture interface in these environments.

9. Photonic Neuromorphic Computing
Neuromorphic computer hardware has taken a big step with the development of the first photonic neuromorphic chip for processing neural networks and deep learning algorithms at ultrafast speeds https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602938/worlds-first-photonic-neural-network-unveiled/. For certain types of information processing, types of recurrent neural networks for example, the photonic circuits have been demonstrated to be 2,000 times faster than conventional processing. The photonic circuits are comprised of nodes that respond in a similar manner to a neuron and consist of circular waveguides that trap light, which when released modulates the output of an associated laser.

10. Nanoantenna Switches for Optical Computing
On the topic of photonic chips, new nanoantennas made from silicon nanoparticles efficiently switch the direction of incoming light depending on the intensity of that light http://spectrum.ieee.org/nanoclast/semiconductors/nanotechnology/nanoantenna-changes-direction-of-light-and-the-prospects-of-optical-computing. Low intensity light is unaffected, while high intensity light generates a type of electron plasma around the silicon nanoparticles, resulting in a significant change to the refractive index of the nanoantennas, and so bending the light in a measurable and different way. These nanoantennas can support data rates up to 250 gigabits per second and offer a great platform for developing optical computing applications and chips in future.

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SciTech #ScienceSunday Digest - 48/2016.

SciTech #ScienceSunday Digest - 48/2016.
Permalink here: http://www.scitechdigest.net/2016/11/deep-learning-criminal-recognition.html

Deep learning criminal recognition, Mapping the epigenome, Friction on graphene, Single atom memory, Parabiosis twist, Thermoelectric paint, MEMS ultrasound interfaces, Reducing water from air, Nanochannel genome mapping, Inducing mitophagy.

1. Criminal Face Recognition by Deep Learning
A deep learning system, after being suitably trained on 1,500 images of faces, half of which were criminals, half of which were not, can predict which subsequent faces are criminals with 90% accuracy https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602955/neural-network-learns-to-identify-criminals-by-their-faces/. This follows work in 2011 that showed that humans are also adept at picking criminals from a random collection of faces. I’ll emphasise the fact that there are no guarantees in biology, just predispositions and likelihoods, and that a lot more work is needed, but this opens up some pretty interesting (potentially worrying) possibilities in future with regards to automatic screening for measures of criminality, trustworthiness, and other factors, either by individuals or by states. Imagine a Facebook plug-in that tagged everyone based on these assessments, or surveillance systems that directed personnel attention to specific individuals.

2. Mapping the Human Epigenome
The human epigenome, that pattern of methylation tags on DNA that help regulate gene expression, has been mapped to extraordinary detail in BLUEPRINT studies on how hematopoietic stem cells differentiate and produce the various types of blood cells https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-11/crcf-btd111716.php. Different epigenomic maps help dictate the particular gene expression blueprint that is to be followed to produce cells of a particular type, while disruption or changes to epigenetic markers can often result in disease states. Apart from raw knowledge, applications include cancer diagnostics, personalised medicine, and improved cellular reprogramming.

3. Understanding Graphene Friction
The possible applications for using graphene and graphite as lubricants takes a step forward with a far more sophisticated understanding of how friction operates on graphene surfaces http://news.mit.edu/2016/sliding-flexible-graphene-surfaces-1123. It turns out that in addition to quantity of contact (how much area between the two surfaces actually touch) the group discovered that quality of contact (how well individual carbon atoms make contact with other atoms in the material) plays a large role and causing the counter-intuitive spike in friction as movement begins before levelling off. The new understanding opens up possibilities in tuning graphene interfaces to provide a desired level of friction. In other 2D materials news, indium selenide appears to offer some interesting “goldilocks” properties http://spectrum.ieee.org/nanoclast/semiconductors/materials/indium-selenide-takes-on-the-mantle-of-the-new-wonder-material.

4. Single Atom Magnet Superlattice
Building on single-atom work announced earlier this year a group has now produced monomer layer superlattices of single (dysprosium) atom magnets on graphene-iridium sheets with a theoretical information density of 115 terabits per square inch http://phys.org/news/2016-11-superlattice-single-atom-magnets-aims-ultimate.html. The surfaces are prepared at 40K, allowing the atoms to find the lowest energy states in the lattice with an atomic spacing of 2.5nm, although stable magnet performance is only possible below 10K. This very low temperature prototype isn’t going to be useful anytime soon, which will require massive improvements in temperature stability.

5. Another Parabiosis Twist
Following on from the interesting parabiosis work last week showing rejuvenation effects of young blood on old mice, this latest parabiosis work with a counter-narrative deserves a strong mention. This latest study on mice, conducted with a different blood transfer procedure, suggests that young blood does not by itself help rejuvenate older animals and that older blood in young mice causes declines in the functioning of most organs and tissues http://news.berkeley.edu/2016/11/22/young-blood-does-not-reverse-aging-in-old-mice-uc-berkeley-study-finds/. This suggests that blood transfusions using blood from older individuals may carry a number of risks. Also, it appears that better ways to filter blood or otherwise remove accumulating factors in older blood will lead to rejuvenation benefits for older individuals.

6. Thermoelectric Paint
Thermoelectric paints (that convert heat into electricity) that can be quickly applied to any surface have been developed for the first time, in order to generate electricity from large temperature differences http://news.unist.ac.kr/unist-engineers-thermoelectric-material-in-paintable-liquid-form/. Like paint-on photovoltaics and LEDs this is a good initial demonstration that provides a platform for development: better efficiencies, lower operating temperatures, etc. Applications include any machine subject to high temperatures including cars, satellites, computer chips, and many others.

7. MEMS Ultrasound Interfaces
Recent advances and improvements in MEMS technology and devices will soon result in consumer level MEMS chips that function as ultrasonic gesture interfaces http://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/devices/beyond-touch-tomorrows-devices-will-use-mems-ultrasound-to-hear-your-gestures. This is like Google’s Soli technology (radar) or infrared LEDs, but makes use of ultrasound to do the same and much more at much lower power and avoiding a range of potential interference sources from the environment. Earlier MEMS-based ultrasound devices include digital pens and styluses, but the new devices coming incorporate embedded piezoelectrics and promise a whole new way to interact with our digital devices and sensors.

8. Easy Access to Water from Air
A great little student project developed a simple device, predominantly 3D printed, that is able to produce just under two litres of water per hour from humid air (lower volumes from drier air) http://newworldwow.com/index.php/2016/11/17/student-creates-3d-printed-gadget-turns-air-1-8-liters-drinkable-water-just-one-hour/. The electric fans incorporated into the device circulate air and cool it below its dew point, producing water vapour that is subsequently collected, and all while powered by a 12 volt energy source. As far as compact atmospheric water generators go this is pretty neat. Perhaps Tesla should make a similar device to be sold alongside its Power Wall energy storage batteries, a Water Wall for on-site water production from excess energy.

9. Genome Mapping with Nanochannels
While nanopores are showing great promise as a long-read DNA sequencing technology, a new device and approach using nanochannels is showing great promise for high-resolution genome mapping as a useful complementary technology http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=45129.php. In this approach photostable fluorophores are combined with blinking dyes to mitigate the effects of thermal fluctuations of DNA to facilitate a 15-fold improvement in mapping resolution. The benefits of rapid genome mapping include determining gene location and distance, genetic rearrangements, better accuracy for discriminating repeat numbers of long strings of identical bases that sequencing struggles to resolve.

10. Clearing Defective Mitochondria
Increasing numbers of defective mitochondria in our cells are one of the major causes of aging-related damage; while work continues to try migrate mitochondrial genes to the nucleus to mitigate this, interim measures are also being developed including co-opting mitophagy, the cells natural quality control mechanism, to induce cells to remove defective mitochondria https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2016/11/manipulating-existing-methods-of-cellular-quality-control-to-clear-mutant-mitochondria/. Recent work demonstrates several different interventions that might be developed into human therapies in future in order to accelerate and boost this quality control mechanism.

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SciTech #ScienceSunday Digest - 45/2016.

SciTech #ScienceSunday Digest - 45/2016.
Permalink here: http://www.scitechdigest.net/2016/11/synthetic-biology-devices-biohub-cell.html

Synthetic biology devices, Biohub cell atlas, Neuronal interfaces, Neuronal transplants, DIY senolytics, Precise atom arrays, Solid metallic hydrogen, Regenerating spinal injuries, UV lithography, One shot deep learning.

1. Synthetic Biology Devices
The latest round of the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition has produced a number of synthetic biology devices in the form of genetically modified bacteria, and including a biological heat induced light bulb, a microbial fuel cell with higher electrical output, a biological capacitor, and light-dependent resistors http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2016/10/synthetic-biology-competition-team.html. Good to see DIY BIO with basic microfluidic chips becoming more sophisticated. In related news there are attempts to engineer bacteria to create biocement out of soils in order to form natural foundations for buildings and other structures http://www.ncl.ac.uk/press/news/2016/10/thinkingsoils/.

2. Quake’s BioHub Cell Atlas
I’ve long admired Stephen Quake’s groundbreaking work on microfluidics and it is good to see his latest effort to run BioHub in creating the most comprehensive human cell atlas ever assembled https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602732/mark-zuckerberg-is-funding-a-facebook-for-human-cells/. There are good reasons to suspect that there are thousands of different types of cells with distinct functions that are otherwise difficult to tell apart, and in any case many more than the typical 300 types of cells quoted. BioHub’s human cell atlas project is possible thanks to some of Quake’s microfluidic inventions allowing individual cells to be captured and analysed, and will enable high throughput inspection and mapping of tens of millions of human cells and their distinct molecular signatures.

3. Neuronal Interfaces
A new electrically controlled ion pump is able to deliver neurotransmitter chemicals such as acetylcholine at almost the same rate as live neurons http://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/biomedical/devices/highspeed-electronic-pump-mimics-neural-signaling. The device exploits thin films that are a few hundred nanometers thick, using an induced electrical current to push the neurotransmitters through tiny channels to where they need to go, making the journey in 50ms, and activating subsets of neurons at these locations. Interesting applications in stimulating neurons with neurotransmitters instead of crude electrodes. In related news the smallest ever extracellular needle-electrodes have been developed http://www.medindia.net/news/worlds-smallest-extracellular-needle-electrodes-developed-164729-1.htm.

4. Neuronal Transplants Integrate into Brain Networks
Recent demonstrations in mice have shown that transplanted embryonic neurons integrate into the host brain, replacing damaged neurons and successfully carrying out those functions in existing networks https://www.neuro.mpg.de/3378043/news_publication_10801776. This work demonstrated functional integration into the damaged visual cortex of mice, showed that the neurons survived, differentiated into the correct cell type, formed normal and appropriate synaptic connections, and for all intents and purposes replaced the damaged elements to restore normal signalling activity for the region. Very promising for many diseases and age-related neurodegeneration.

5. DIY Senolytics
One of the seven main causes of age related damage, the accumulation of senescent cells, is attracting serious investment and pharmaceutical efforts to develop senolytic therapies to target and clear these cells in order to restore the body to more youthful levels. However, there are drugs that already exist, such as Navitoclax, typically developed as cancer treatments and shown to selectively kill senescent cells, that people might be able to obtain and to pursue personal senescent cell clearance today https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2016/10/on-the-topic-of-senescent-cells-should-we-all-be-trying-to-take-navitoclax/. The clinical trial data showing dosing and side effects is available, the raw drug while expensive can be obtained and might be made cheaper, the assays to determine effectiveness are widely available. Something I should really look into.

6. Precise Large Scale Atom Arrays
Optical tweezer technology is becoming more sophisticated with the demonstration of a new system using laser tweezers to pick and hold individual atoms from a cloud, up to 50 atoms at a time, in a precisely ordered array, and to move these atoms around to different positions as needed http://news.mit.edu/2016/scientists-set-traps-atoms-single-particle-precision-1103. This new technique uses neutral atoms (ions are difficult to hold in dense arrays due to repulsion) and might find applications in creating new materials, information storage, processing, and possible quantum computations.

7. Solid Metallic Hydrogen
For the first time solid metallic hydrogen has been created in the laboratory http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2016/11/harvard-researchers-created-solid.html. This was achieved by subjecting a sample of hydrogen to pressures of 495 GPa. The material is believed to be metastable and once the pressure is released it may still exist as solid metallic hydrogen at room temperature; an experiment still to be conducted. If so it could potentially be transformative as solid metallic hydrogen is predicted to be a superconductor, and would also comprise a powerful rocket propellant. In related news superconductivity is being induced in non-superconducting materials http://www.uh.edu/news-events/stories/2016/October/10312016Paul-Chu-New-Discovery-Superconductivity.php.

8. Regenerating Spinal Injuries
A protein called connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) has been identified as crucial to allowing zebra fish to successfully regenerate injured and severed spinal cords https://today.duke.edu/2016/11/scientists-find-key-protein-spinal-cord-repair. The protein is 90% identical in humans and zebra fish, and human CTGF introduced into fish with a non-functional CTGF gene were able to regenerate severed spinal cords. CTGF is secreted by cells and grows across the injured site to form a bridge between the two spinal cord ends, allowing neurons and other support cells to migrate and reform a functional connection. It is hoped that this understanding leads to human therapies in future.

9. Pushing Computing Forward
First, major chip fabs are pushing extreme ultraviolet lithography technology forward for hopeful deployment by 2018 http://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/devices/leading-chipmakers-eye-euv-lithography-to-save-moores-law. Achieving this demands numerous sophisticated challenges are solved just to generate, control, and manage the light, which has a wavelength of 13.5nm compared to the current 193nm in use - which will nonetheless be used to produce 7nm features in 2018 from the current 14nm features in production; but the next generation of 5nm features will require ultraviolet. Second, Optalysys is producing a novel laser optical computing technology to speed up certain types of computations https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602765/computing-with-lasers-could-power-up-genomics-and-ai/.

10. Deep Learning After Seeing Objects Once
Google’s DeepMind group has developed new deep learning technology that is capable of “one-shot” learning, recognising objects from a single example https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602779/machines-can-now-recognize-something-after-seeing-it-once/. This builds on work to add memory components to deep learning systems, and must still be trained up on hundreds of categories of images, but after this training it can recognise new objects from just a single picture. The development and ongoing advances of deep learning technology continues to amaze.

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SciTech #ScienceSunday Digest - 46/2016.

SciTech #ScienceSunday Digest - 46/2016.
Permalink here: http://www.scitechdigest.net/2016/11/metamaterial-radar-metamaterial.html

Metamaterial radar, Metamaterial semiconductors, Hybrid anti-lasers, Machine learning advances, Cyclocopter microdrone, Clones age normally, Implants fix paralysis, fMRI lie detector, Zika virus therapies, Carbon nanomaterials pressurised.

1. Metamaterial Radar for Drones
Echodyne has demonstrated a metameterial radar device the size of a phone whose performance is comparable to expensive, bulky military-grade phased-array radars http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/drones/metamaterial-radar-is-exactly-what-delivery-drones-need. Next year the improved device will allow a drone to detect power lines 800m away, small drones 1km away, and small planes 3km away, and all regardless of the weather conditions. Their metamaterial, comprised of layers of patterned copper wiring with radar beam control facilitated by heating different regions, drastically reduces the size, complexity, and cost of effective high resolution radar applications powering sense-and-avoid capabilities for autonomous vehicles and other devices. Meanwhile Osram continues to shrink LIDAR systems http://spectrum.ieee.org/cars-that-think/transportation/sensors/osrams-laser-chip-for-lidar-promises-supershort-pulses-in-a-smaller-package.

2. Metamaterials Power Semiconductor-Free Electronics
In related metamaterial news, a microscale metamaterial device functions as a semiconductor via the application of a low voltage and low power laser, which boosts electrical conductivity by 1,000% http://jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/news/news_releases/release.sfe?id=2060. The metasurface is designed such that the influence of this light and low voltage causes certain spots to generate very high electric fields able to pull electrons from a metal and liberate them. An interesting novelty at this stage it’ll be interesting to see what applications are developed: where do you need semiconducting properties but can’t have semiconducting elements?

3. Hybrid Laser Anti-Lasers
A new device demonstrates both laser and anti-laser capabilities for telecommunications applications, and would enable the development of devices that can flexibly operate as lasers, amplifiers, modulators, absorbers, and detectors http://newscenter.lbl.gov/2016/11/07/lasers-anti-lasers-one-device/. While a laser amplifies a certain frequency of light, an anti-laser completely absorbs a certain frequency of light and can pick up signals among noisy backgrounds. The architecture of the device, a microscale alternating array of two materials, is the first to achieve what is known as “parity-time symmetry” in which an amplifying gain medium can also be a absorbing loss medium.

4. Latest Machine Learning Advances
First, LipNet is a deep learning system that can lipread from video to transcribe sentences with 93.4% accuracy, outperforming experienced human lipreaders http://prostheticknowledge.tumblr.com/post/152735696866/lipnet-deep-learning-research-from-the-university. Second, another system generates and suggests alternative promising drug molecules for investigation https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602756/software-dreams-up-new-molecules-in-quest-for-wonder-drugs/. Third, DeepMind and Blizzard are collaborating to open up and use StarCraft II as a formal AI and machine learning environment https://deepmind.com/blog/deepmind-and-blizzard-release-starcraft-ii-ai-research-environment/. Finally, a new system makes gains in automatic information extraction from text but automatically generating search queries and including new texts in its analysis http://news.mit.edu/2016/artificial-intelligence-system-surfs-web-improve-performance-1110.

5. Cyclocopter Microdrone
A tiny 29 gram cyclocopter drone has been developed that utilises a novel lift and thrust mechanism based on a single cycloidal rotor that can generate instant vector thrust http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/drones/worlds-smallest-cyclocopter-brings-unique-design-to-microdrones. Check out the video, it is pretty cool. The cyclorotor design provides excellent maneuverability and efficiency, as well as more stability, lower noise, and faster than helicopters. We might even see this design adapted to carry humans at some point given the key hurdle of large centrifugal bending loads can be overcome with better composite materials.

6. Cloned Animals Age Normally
Latest research suggests that cloned animals age at the same rate and achieve the same lifespan as normal animals https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2016/11/do-cloned-animals-age-normally/. There had been concerns over many years as to whether this was the case but it appears that once the cloned animal reaches adulthood most problems that might arise from the somatic cell nuclear transfer and reprogramming procedure are effectively overcome and a normal life outcome should be expected. Addressing the rates of reprogramming errors are of course important and an ongoing research area, but for those animals who reach maturity telomeres and other cellular degradations appear to be restored.

7. Brain & Spine Implants Circumvent Paralysis
Monkeys with partial spinal cord injuries were able to walk again thanks to a new system involving a brain implant and a spinal implant that bridged the injury with wireless data connection http://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/biomedical/bionics/brain-and-spine-implants-let-a-paralyzed-monkey-walk-again. The brain implant records specific activity in the motor cortex that coordinates leg movement, decodes these signals and sends to the spinal implant, which stimulates a specific location in the spinal cord in order to generate appropriate leg movement. Meanwhile NeuroGrid is an electrode grid on plastic wrap that can cover and cling to the brain to perform high-resolution recording and stimulation of neurons http://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/biomedical/devices/new-implant-safely-records-activity-from-individual-neurons.

8. Spotting Lies With fMRI
As expected, functional magnetic resonance imaging has proven to be significantly more effective at spotting lies than typical polygraph tests http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/11/langleben/. In the comparison study neuroscientists reviewing fMRI scans were 24% more likely to detect deception than professional polygraph examiners reviewing polygraph recordings. Interestingly, in 17 subjects in which the polygraph and fMRI agreed on the particular lie, they were 100% correct. Still, it is unsure whether fMRI scans will ever be admissible as evidence in court.

9. Zika Antibody Therapy
A new antibody has proven effective in tests in mice to protect babies in the womb from the effects of Zika Virus, effectively transferring from the mother’s blood, through the placenta, and into the baby’s brain http://www.bbc.com/news/health-37897617. This is in addition to a promising Zika Virus vaccine being developed to prevent infection in the first place http://www.defense.gov/News/Article/Article/999584/human-trials-begin-for-army-developed-zika-vaccine. While Zika proves catastrophic in babies with rapidly growing brains (by targeting neural stem cells), adults also have neural stem cells needed throughout life, and I suspect Zika may result in long-term neurological conditions so any therapy will be doubly beneficial.

10. Pressurising Carbon Nanomaterials
First, applying high pressure (55 GPa) to multi-walled carbon nanotubes results in the walls of different carbon nanotubes fusing together to create an ultrastrong bulk material and opening the possibility of covalent inter-tube bonding for polymerised carbon nanotubes https://mipt.ru/english/news/pressure_welding_nanotubes_creates_ultrastrong_material. Second, applying a pressure difference across graphene membranes results in the perceived colour of the graphene shifting colour (a type of strain-tronics or strain-optics in this case) and is a phenomena that might be exploited in displays http://phys.org/news/2016-11-graphene-balloons.html.

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SciTech #ScienceSunday Digest - 42/2016.

SciTech #ScienceSunday Digest - 42/2016.
Permalink here: http://www.scitechdigest.net/2016/10/posttranslational-mutagenesis-bio.html

Posttranslational mutagenesis, Bio-nanopore DNA sequencing, Nanoscale pumps, CRISPR sickle cell, DeepMind deep memory, Omnidirectional stereo video, Nanoscale memory switches, Nanoscale Lego Assembly, Full colour holograms, DNA single electrons.

1. Posttranslational Mutagenesis
The structural and functional capabilities of proteins can be significantly expanded by site-directed mutagenesis (chemical changes) of proteins after expression in the cell and without edits to the genome http://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2016/09/22/science.aag1465. This work is so recent I don’t think there is a more accessible summary yet apart from this original science article. This represents a new and robust chemical synthesis platform with novel chemistry for controlled modification of protein or amino acid side chains with a genuinely vast range of different chemicals, thus enabling the creation of proteins and enzymes with new and useful properties and functions.

2. Biological Nanopore DNA Sequencing
The latest advancement in DNA sequencing via protein/enzymatic nanopores involves the use of newly engineered proteins, called a sequencing engine, that combine seven protein subunits to create the pore and tether a DNA polymerase enzyme precisely at the opening http://wyss.harvard.edu/viewpressrelease/279. In this sequencing-by-synthesis approach, (i) the DNA polymerase copies the DNA strand of interest by (ii) incorporating nucleotides into the complementary strand that are each tagged with easily distinguishable (electrically) tag molecules and (iii) passing this synthetic complementary strand through the protein pore in a membrane with a voltage across it. The system now identifies the correct nucleotide 79% - 99% of the time. The group hope to improve accuracy and create multiplexed chips with hundreds of electrically-addressable nanopores for high throughput sequencing.

3. Nanoscale Pumps and Muscles
First, single carbon nanotubes can now be harnessed as an electrostatically driven nanopump, with alternating voltages squeezing and restoring the nanotube http://www.teknat.umu.se/english/about-the-faculty/news/newsdetailpage/static-electricity-can-control-nanoballoon.cid274687; this might be attached to molecular rods and cogs to drive various nanomachine mechanisms. Second, novel interlocked molecular structures quickly switch, expanding and contracting with the addition of zinc, to mimic artificial nanoscale muscles http://phys.org/news/2016-10-daisy-chain-like-molecular-mimic-artificial-muscles.html.

4. CRISPR Treats Sickle Cell Disease
CRISPR-based gene editing of the mutations responsible for sickle cell disease shows promise in mice http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/8/360/360ra134. In this work hematapoietic stem/progenitor cells with the mutation were isolated and treated with a CRISPR-Cas9 system to efficiently replace the mutation with the correct genetic sequence. When differentiated into erythroblasts the cells increased the production of normal hemoglobin, and when transplanted into mice the cells maintained normal hemoglobin production at levels likely to have clinical benefit. With further refinements such cures should be applicable to a wide range of similar diseases.

5. DeepMind’s Deep Learning Memory Boost
DeepMind has developed a differentiable neural computer that gives the neural networks that power deep learning an external memory for storing information for later use http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/computing/software/googles-deep-mind-boosts-memory-to-navigate-london-underground. The new system outperforms earlier approaches in path mapping and route-finding; in tests the earlier approaches achieved an average accuracy of 37% compared to 98.8% for the new approach. The architecture of the new deep learning approach is an example of convergent evolution as it resembles how the hippocampus of the brain works. This is believed to be just one of many novel neural learning architectures that are being explored.

6. Omnidirectional Stereo VR Video
Google’s Jump video platform has evolved to produce omnidirectional stereo video for VR video applications https://blog.google/products/google-vr/jump-using-omnidirectional-stereo-vr-video/. This new advance includes sophisticated auto-stitching algorithms to provide seamless video projection that is both panoramic (360) and stereoscopic (3D), so to allow the viewer to not only look in any direction but to see depth and distance cues naturally. This is a very difficult problem to solve and doing so will boost the sense of immersion for those viewing content made with this system; just in time too it seems as VR video consumption looks set to grow exponentially.

7. Nanoscale Memory Switches
First, by firing an electron beam at 50nm wide gold-silver hollow nanorods, silver can be moved around inside the rods to form different structures, which changes how the rods interact with light, which changes the plasmonic properties of the rods http://news.rice.edu/2016/10/10/core-technology-springs-from-nanoscale-rods-2/. Such technology might comprise reconfigurable memory units in future. Second, low energy electric fields can be used switch tiny magnets at picosecond speeds http://www.ru.nl/english/news-agenda/news/vm/imm/solid-state-physics/2016/electric-field-magnetic/. Again, such technology might be used in next generation memory.

8. New Nanoscale Lego Assembly
A novel Lego-like self assembly technique can join together a wide range of different nanomaterials including polymeric particles, metal nanoparticles, metal and polymer nanowires, nanosheets, nanocubes, and biological particles http://themelbourneengineer.eng.unimelb.edu.au/2016/10/nanoscale-engineering-transforms-particles-lego-like-building-blocks/. This works by coating the particles in a template of adhesive polyphenol molecules, which then allows the different particles to be assembled into a range of complex 3D structures that can include hybrid materials, hollow microstructures, hierarchically organised particles, and others.

9. Full Colour Holograms with Nanomaterials
Nanometer scale aluminum thin films treated with ion beam milling to create an array of precisely oriented rectangular holes produce a full colour holographic metasurface http://news.mst.edu/2016/10/researchers-create-3-d-full-color-holographic-images-with-nanomaterials/. The surface includes both phase and amplitude modulation that allows the full colour, high resolution, low noise holograms to be produced in almost any design or image desired. Applications include floating 3D displays, imaging, and security surface codes.

10. DNA Single Electron Device
The self assembly properties of DNA can be used to assemble metallic nanoparticles into precise chains that comprise single-electron conduction devices http://www.aka.fi/en/about-us/media/press-releases/2016/researchers-develop-dna-based-single-electron-electronic-devices/. The DNA itself is not conducting electrons in these devices but simply forms the desired scaffold that guides the assembly of the nanoparticles, chains of which were confirmed to conduct electrons one at a time at room temperature, whereas previous approaches had required cryogenic temperatures to work.

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SciTech #ScienceSunday Digest - 43/2016.

SciTech #ScienceSunday Digest - 43/2016.
Permalink here: http://www.scitechdigest.net/2016/10/reservoir-computing-analogue.html

Reservoir computing, Analogue neuromorphic chips, Network neuroscience, Eggs from skin cells, Conversational speech recognition, Fast FPGA chips, Diamond anvils, Smart 3D printers, Big data automation, Full colour epaper.

1. Reservoir Computing
Reservoir computing aims to perform useful computations on different bulk materials by exploiting the basic properties of physical systems; the basic idea is to input or stimulate the material and measure the output or change in state, which counts as a calculation - string these together and you can perform computations. A recent reservoir computer was built out of a bucket or water, while observations suggest the brain functions like a reservoir computer https://theconversation.com/theres-a-way-to-turn-almost-any-object-into-a-computer-and-it-could-cause-shockwaves-in-ai-62235. In related news artificial reservoir computing algorithms combined with backpropagation algorithms results in an analogue computer with some superior learning algorithms.

2. Analogue & Neuromorphic Chips
Analogue computing is picking up steam as it promises to provide a significant range of benefits to neuromorphic computing architectures http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/artificial-intelligence/analog-and-neuromorphic-chips-will-rule-robotic-age. Recent examples include analogue circuits that better see and hear while consuming a fraction of the power, computing systems that are much more resistant to noise, and deep neural networks using analogue approaches that use 100 times less energy to run. Watch this space; we haven’t seen anything yet.

3. Network Neuroscience & Control
Network control theory is seeking to go beyond communications, gene regulatory networks, and other systems to being applied to control the brain via network neuroscience https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602695/how-network-neuroscience-is-creating-a-new-era-of-mind-control/. This starts with simple manipulations that inject energy into one part of the network to alter activity in another part, for example the deep brain stimulation techniques employed with Parkinson’s disease patients. Combined with connectome data it is becoming apparent that the brain employs a range of different control strategies, each of which is a target for directed control to, for example, shift the brain into desirable patterns of activity.

4. Converting Skin Cells into Eggs into Adult Animals
For the first time skin cells from mice have been reprogrammed in a petri dish to form viable egg cells that have then been fertilised to produce healthy animals that proceeded to successfully birth a second generation of mice http://www.nature.com/news/mouse-eggs-made-from-skin-cells-in-a-dish-1.20817. One limitation is the need for an ovary-like support of cells isolated from ovaries to be present with the cells being transformed; the group are hoping to identify and create artificial reagents that would finally obviate the need for this. Combined with earlier techniques for producing sperm cells from skin cells the complete reproductive technology stack is coming together to allow a wide range of flexible reproductive (and industrial) strategies to be employed.

5. Human Level Conversational Speech Recognition
Microsoft demonstrated neural network speech recognition software that can transcribe conversational speech at human levels of proficiency and performance http://blogs.microsoft.com/next/2016/10/18/historic-achievement-microsoft-researchers-reach-human-parity-conversational-speech-recognition/#sm.0015hf9cv11bqfiqqwu1iixt8xitf. The system produces an error rate of 5.9% that is the same or less than professionals who transcribe conversational speech. This is expected to feed directly into Cortana and other software products. This advance was announced as another Microsoft Research group won first prize in an image segmentation competition for delineating specific objects in images.

6. Fast FPGA Optimisation Chips
Fujitsu demonstrated a new FPGA flexible circuit architecture for solving combinatorial optimisation problems that can perform these computations 10,000 times faster than a conventional computer http://www.fujitsu.com/global/about/resources/news/press-releases/2016/1020-02.html. The chips are made with conventional semiconductors, include features that allow the optimisation computations to escape local minimums, and running software processes called simulated annealing. The parallelisation incorporated into the design allows a pathway from the demonstration problems with 1,024 bits to 100,000 or more bits by 2018 that will start to allow practical implementation.

7. Latest Diamond Anvils
New microanvils made of diamond and adorned with a nanocrystalline diamond pillar measuring 30 micrometers wide and 15 micrometers tall has achieved some of the highest experimental pressures ever http://www.uab.edu/news/innovation/item/7702-working-under-pressure-diamond-micro-anvils-made-by-uab-will-produce-immense-pressures-to-make-new-materials. The anvils reached 264 gigapascals, about 75% of the pressure found at the centre of the Earth, and the ultimate goal of the group is to improve the anvils to reach 1 terapascal of pressure, or 147 million pounds per square inch - the pressure at the centre of Saturn. The nanocrystalline diamond anvils showed no sign of deformation and survived the immense pressures; applications include new materials analysis and development.

8. Intelligent 3D Printers
Ai Build is retrofitting robotic arms with 3D printers and AI algorithms to create machines that can see, create, and learn from mistakes http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/ai-build-wants-to-change-the-way-we-build-the-future/. The key innovation was attaching cameras to the arms with machine vision algorithms to analyse structures as they were being printed, establishing a feedback loop between the physical and virtual environments. The arm detected defects and compensated for them in later layers, and was able to print much larger complex structures about twice as quickly as a result. Partnerships with NVIDIA and robot manufacturer KUKA helped the startup make progress in this area.

9. Further Automating Big Data Analysis
A powerful automated big data analysis system has progressed since last year, moving beyond mere automated feature set selection to include automatic data presentation and specification of problems, and to perform in days what normally took months http://news.mit.edu/2016/automating-big-data-analysis-1021. The approach employs a new software language called Trane, works well with time series data, and significantly speeds up the process of finding what questions and problems are worth asking of the data. In tests on previous time-consuming work performed by humans the system reproduced every question that the researchers had asked of particular data sets and proposed hundreds of others that had not been considered.

10. Full Colour Flexible Electronic Paper
A new micrometer thin polymer material provides the basis for full colour flexible electronic paper capable of providing the full range of colours that a conventional LED display is capable of while needing significantly less energy than a Kindle tablet http://www.chalmers.se/en/departments/chem/news/Pages/Bendable-electronic-paper-shows-full-colour-scale-.aspx. This is a proof of concept with core pixels having been built, but a final product will require significant scale-up to large high pixel density screens and also drastically reduce the amount of gold used in manufacturing the films.

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SciTech #ScienceSunday Digest - 44/2016.

SciTech #ScienceSunday Digest - 44/2016.
Permalink here: http://www.scitechdigest.net/2016/10/evolved-metamaterial-lenses-machine.html

Evolved metamaterial lenses, Machine learning encryption explanations, Tank & drone tech, Multiple virus vaccine, Low power transistors, Printed heart on chip, Metallic DNA, Doubly effective immunotherapy, Machine controlled bacteria, 3D printed magnets.

1. Achromatic Lenses from Evolutionary Algorithms
Two-dimensional structured metasurfaces show great promise for high resolution imaging, holography, and other applications but suffer from chromatic aberration in which the focus shifts depending on the wavelength. A new approach encodes the desired optical properties as a fitness function and successfully uses evolutionary algorithms to find the structure with the optimised fitness value http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=44932.php. This resulted in the creation of achromatic two dimensional lattice lenses able to focus three distinct wavelengths by utilising the plasmonic properties of different sized and shaped gold nanoparticles arranged in a precise pattern. This provides a pathway to broadband achromatic lenses. Meanwhile metamaterials are paving the way to terahertz technologies http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/new-metamaterial-paves-way-for-terahertz-technologies and cool new acoustic holograms http://pratt.duke.edu/about/news/acoustic-hologram.

2. Machine Learning Encryption & Explanation
First, Google’s deep learning systems have invented basic cryptographic algorithms from scratch, able to send and receive encrypted messages https://www.newscientist.com/article/2110522-googles-neural-networks-invent-their-own-encryption/. One wonders how strong machine learning cryptography might get and whether we’ll see this rolled out to broader if it surpasses our current efforts. As usual the group doesn’t know exactly how the encryption method works or how the network achieves the result. In light of this we have related news in which a new training method for deep learning that results not only in the predictions and classifications desired but also the rationale or explanation for how the network achieves this http://news.mit.edu/2016/making-computers-explain-themselves-machine-learning-1028. This will be particularly useful for validation in medical and other fields.

3. Tank, Drone, and Gun Improvements
Some interesting military technological advances this week. First, a new active protection system carried by tanks can intercept depleted uranium armour-piercing shells http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2016/10/russia-claims-active-protection-system.html, which is considered a game-changing development. Second, DARPA and the Pentagon’s autonomous military drone program is progressing with autonomous drones able to distinguish between combatants carrying weapons and unarmed civilians http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/26/us/pentagon-artificial-intelligence-terminator.html?_r=2. Third, a new smart-rifle provides aim-stabilised, target-correction performance to completely remove and compensate for human error http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a23505/the-us-army-stabilized-weapons/.

4. Multiple Cold-Virus Vaccine
A new type of vaccine for rhinoviruses, combatting the common cold, has shown promising results in mice and monkey studies http://www.news.emory.edu/stories/2016/09/moore_rhinovirus_vaccine_natcomm/index.html. The sheer diversity of over 100 different rhinoviruses has hindered the development of any effective vaccine, but the new approach combines up to 50 different variants and successfully induced the production of antibodies against all 50 variants in the animals that were challenged. Stage 1 human volunteer studies will be needed next and the group believes that launching an effective all-purpose cold vaccine is now an engineering challenge related to manufacturing.

5. Low Power Transistors and Infinitesimal Computing
There were a couple of interesting fundamental computing advances this week. First, a new type of transistor has been created that can scavenge energy from the environment and harness tiny current leakage to function with ultra-low power for applications in which energy is more important than speed http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/engineers-design-ultralow-power-transistors-that-could-function-for-years-without-a-battery. Second, researchers have designed what they refer to as an “infinitesimal” computing element, involving stacked memristors in a 50nm by 50nm by 50nm volume form a functional 8-bit adder in a nanoscale computing element http://www.news.ucsb.edu/2016/017349/tiny-machine.

6. 3D Printed Heart-On-Chip
The field of human-organs-on-microfluidic chips takes another step with the development of the first completely 3D printed heart on a chip with integrated sensing components https://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2016/10/3d-printed-heart-on-chip-with-integrated-sensors. The advance utilised 6 new “inks” that integrated soft strain sensors within the structure of the tissue, while the prototype chips include multiple compartments with separate cardiac tissues that were tested via drug-effect studies and contractile stress changes. Such tools will help to shorten drug development, animal, and human trials in future and hopefully allow therapeutics to be made available much quicker.

7. Creating Metallic DNA
A new chemical reaction has been developed that replaces one of the hydrogen bonds between the DNA bases adenine and thymine with a silver atom http://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news/newsid=44930.php. The structure and properties of the DNA molecule otherwise remain unchanged and still undergo the same dynamics. However, this change greatly improves the stability of the molecule, for example, by significantly boosting the melting point or temperature sensitivity. You could form various DNA origami structures, such as the nanomachines and other blocks that have been demonstrated, then replace these bonds in this way to boost stability, strength, and improve the electrical conduction properties. The group are working on doing the same with the other base-binding of interest between guanine and cytosine to further boost performance.

8. Doubly Effective Immunotherapy
A new therapeutic treatment effectively induces both the innate and adaptive arms of the immune system to combat and destroy cancers and tumours http://news.mit.edu/2016/fighting-cancer-power-immunity-1024. This treatment, effective in mice, used an antibody targeted to the tumour of interest, a vaccine targeted to the tumour of interest, interleukin 2 (IL2), and programmed cell death molecule 1(PD1). The antibody recruits more immune cells, the vaccine stimulates T cell proliferation, the IL2 promotes T cell expansion, and PD1 prolongs T cell activity. In 75% of mice all large tumours were completely eliminated and any new cancer cells reintroduced 6 months later were completely cleared.

9. Machine Controlled Bacteria
A new system precisely controls the growth of genetically engineered bacteria placed within it and can ramp this up or down as required by adjusting the light exposure https://www.ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2016/10/cyborg-bacteria.html. The bacteria are engineered to respond to red and green light in different ways and the system measures bacterial cell density to ensure growth and concentration are kept at the desired level indefinitely (assuming nutrients are added) regardless of other environmental influences. This might find application in bioreactors for example, especially if additional levers are present such as differently modified cells or pathways, in order to control the production of more complex molecules.

10. 3D Printed Magnets
New inks comprising magnetic micro granules suspended in polymers have enabled 3D printers to produce custom magnets for the first time http://www.nanowerk.com/news2/gadget/newsid=44907.php. In this case the desired shape is printed, allowed to solidify, and then a powerful external magnet is used to set the orientation and strength of the magnetic field. Prototype magnets 90% magnet material and 10% polymer. I wonder how strong a magnetic force the polymer can withstand before the magnetic field threatens to break the grains apart or flip their rotations. Regardless there are still plenty of applications here from custom shaped magnet architectures that might otherwise not be able to be manufactured, as well as gradient or otherwise patterned magnetic fields from concentration and spacing of the granules.

Bonus: I found this proposed theoretical design for a room temperature superconductor based on units comprising a helium atom encased by a C60 fullerene molecule too interesting not to share http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2016/10/helium-encased-in-carbon-fullerene.html.

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SciTech #ScienceSunday Digest - 37/2016.

SciTech #ScienceSunday Digest - 37/2016.
Permalink here: http://www.scitechdigest.net/2016/09/optical-soliton-waves-microbiome-tissue.html

Sand into soil, Optical soliton waves, Microbiome tissue repair, Stem cell gun, RNA genome regulators, Prion structures, Deep learning speech, Thermal solid superatoms, Sophisticated drones, Synthetic wine.

1. Turning Sand into Soil
A formulation of plant cellulose added to sand helps the mixture retain water, nutrients, and air, with sandy hectares of land in Mongolia treated with the mixture proving successful in trials by growing rice, corn, tomatos, watermelon, and sunflowers http://english.cas.cn/newsroom/china_research/201609/t20160905_167428.shtml. This would be interesting not just for turning deserts into productive agricultural land, but also facilitating the recovery of native vegetation and forests onto desertified land, rejuvenating tired soils and even, at a futuristic stretch, helping to terraform the surfaces of other planets.

2. Optical Soliton Waves
A new optical phenomenon has been observed for the first time in the form of a new type of soliton wave https://www.caltech.edu/news/new-breed-optical-soliton-wave-discovered-52001. I’ve always found solitons fascinating; localised waves that act as particles, holding their shape as they travel instead of dispersing like standard waves. This new phenomena involves soliton waves riding the wake and path of another soliton wave, and the group can design microcavities to guarantee the properties of the solitons that will be produced; applications include optical clocks, navigation and radar systems, magnets, neurobiology, and fiber optic signalling generally.

3. Microbiome Impacts Tissue Repair and Regeneration
Recent work on very simple animal model organisms suggests a link between an organism’s microbiome and its immune system and ability to repair and regenerate its tissues http://www.stowers.org/media/news/aug-29-2016. Different microbial populations in the organism can significantly inhibit or enhance the processes of tissue repair and regeneration, and the immune system plays a key role in this, for example sometimes blocking regeneration if an infection is present. While yet to find similar definitive links in humans potential applications include: new drug candidates for boosting repair and regeneration and avenues to explore the creation of healthier and more beneficial microbiome populations.

4. Gun that Shoots Stem Cells
A SkinGun device developed by RenovaCare uses the company’s CellMist system to spray a patient’s own stem cells onto skin wounds in order to rapidly speed up repair and regeneration of skin in days instead of weeks http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2016/09/stem-cells-delivered-via-skin-gun-can.html. While it won’t work for third-degree burns and very deep wounds, it is effective against second-degree burns and other infected wounds. I also wonder if such an approach might facilitate a type of skin rejuvenation treatment in future, as well as modified versions able to repair the surfaces of internal structures such as lungs, stomach, intestine, etc.

5. New Genome Regulation from “Junk DNA”
A new type of RNA called long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) that is transcribed from what was thought to be “junk” DNA and which does not produce proteins, has been found to play crucial roles in cellular processes and genomic regulation and gene expression http://news.mit.edu/2016/linking-rna-structure-and-function-cell-fate-0908. In this work the structure of just one type of lncRNA was deciphered, which showed how this RNA structure is crucial to interacting with a specific protein to control the development of heart muscle cells. The work was done in mice, and while human and mouse proteins are usually similar lncRNA sequences are not conserved and the human counterpart in this case has not yet been found. The group hope to build a library of lncRNA structural motifs to push the field forward and help identify targets for disease.

6. Deciphering Prion Structure and Replication
In related structural biology work we have recent advances in understanding prion structure, formation, and replication, and how this new evidence refutes conventional theories of this process http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-09/p-nds090116.php. In the case of normal protein PrPC that can turn into misfolded infectious prion PrPSc and recruit normal versions to replicate itself, it was shown how these molecules self assemble two intertwined protofilaments that create the fibrils that are typically observed. At a basic level these misfolded proteins comprise repetitive elements of beta-sheet structures - four-rung beta-solenoids - that act as templates for new, unfolded proteins build on. It is hoped this understanding will help quickly understand other prion diseases and the development of therapeutics.

7. Deep Learning for Speech Production
Google’s DeepMind has demonstrated WaveNet, a deep learning system for generating speech that mimics any human voice while sounding more natural than any current speech-to-text system and reducing the gap between human performance by over 50% https://deepmind.com/blog/wavenet-generative-model-raw-audio/. The system can also synthesise music and automatically generate sample piano pieces. All of the examples are well worth a listen, including when the system makes up words and changes the identity for the same text. In related news physicists are exploring why deep neural networks are so effective at solving complex problems and how this is linked to fundamental physics https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602344/the-extraordinary-link-between-deep-neural-networks-and-the-nature-of-the-universe/.

8. Superatoms: Thermal Solids & Precise Clusters
Crystals comprised of superatoms of buckyballs and similar-sized inorganic molecular clusters exhibit variable, controllable thermal conductivity depending on whether the buckyballs are fixed and ordered (high conductivity) or rotationally disordered (low conductivity) http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-09/coec-rds090616.php. Adding magnetic properties to the superatoms might allow thermally switchable materials for example, and a range of complex yet tunable atomically precise structures. In related atomically precise materials news, the largest ever atomically precise silver nanoclusters have been synthesised and characterised, containing precisely 374 atoms in a 3nm core surrounded by a layer of silver atoms bound to thiol molecules http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-09/aof-rsa090916.php.

9. Interesting Drone Capabilities
First, effective designs for low-power autonomous robotic sailboats are now scouring the oceans collecting data and accessible remotely http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/05/technology/no-sailors-needed-robot-sailboats-scour-the-oceans-for-data.html?_r=0. Second, software is getting far more sophisticated at allowing swarms of robotic drones to coordinate and adaptively avoid collisions http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-software/swarms-of-robots-manage-to-not-run-into-each-other. Third, tree-planting drones are being used to speed up reforestation efforts http://newatlas.com/tree-planting-drones-droneseed/45259/. Finally, drones are being fitted with anti-laser lasers to avoid being shot down https://www.newscientist.com/article/2105362-drones-get-first-anti-laser-lasers-to-stop-being-shot-down/.

10. Synthesising Artificial Wine
Ava Winery is a company that appears to be getting very close to creating convincing synthetic artificial wine that can fool any human taster http://www.businessinsider.co.id/ava-winery-says-its-nearly-perfected-wine-in-a-lab-2016-9/. Wine is about 85% water and 13% alcohol plus a range of hundreds of other molecules that provide flavour, aroma, colour and other properties. Earlier this year 80% of people could differentiate between a control glass of wine and a glass of the artificial wine; as of today only 10% of people can and this is set to get smaller. There are many benefits here, aside from using 50x - 100x less water to produce the wine, the possibility of powdered wine mixed with water/ethanol solution, and generally disrupting the wine industry and others.

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