To distinguish motion patterns, a neuronal computation is performed three times in a row. Recognizing motion requires an enormous amount of computing power from the brain. A new study from Alexander Borst’s department at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence shows how the fly brain masters this task: By performing a neuronal computation on three network levels, it distributes the workload over several steps. This is the first time that researchers have deciphered a neuronal network in which one…
A study carried out in Tübingen and Bonn finds evidence of two separate processing mechanisms. When two, three or four apples are placed in front of us, we are able to recognize the number of apples very quickly. However, we need significantly more time if there are five or more apples and we often also guess the wrong number. In fact, the brain does actually register smaller numbers of things differently than larger ones. This has been demonstrated in a…
U Bremen Research Alliance partners develop future mars station. Aggressive space radiation, a toxic atmosphere, temperatures averaging minus 65 degrees Celsius, and very low atmospheric pressure: living conditions on Mars are everything but friendly. The Bremen-based “Humans on Mars” initiative is researching radically new solutions for surviving in this extreme setting. Numerous members of the U Bremen Research Alliance are involved with their expertise: the DLR Institute of Space Systems, the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM,…
By using sophisticated computer simulations at the atomic scale, a new study predicts the formation process of spin defects useful for quantum technologies. Researchers led by Giulia Galli at University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering report a computational study that predicts the conditions to create specific spin defects in silicon carbide. Their findings, published online in Nature Communications, represent an important step towards identifying fabrication parameters for spin defects useful for quantum technologies. Electronic spin defects in semiconductors…
Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have developed a proof-of-concept sensor that may usher in a new era for millimeter wave radars. In fact, they call its design a “mission impossible” made possible. Millimeter wave radars send fast-moving electromagnetic waves to targets to analyze their movement, position and speed from the waves bounced back. The benefits of millimeter waves are their natural sensitivity to small-scale movements and their ability to focus on and sense data from microscopic objects. The…
A team of researchers has made a breakthrough discovery in the world of Beyond 5G/6G (B5G/6G) signal transmission. Taku Nakajima and Kazuji Suzuki of Nagoya University in Japan, along with their collaborators, created a waveguide made of niobium that speeds up the transition of B5G/6G signals. The frequency of data waves has continued to increase as B5G/6G technologies have been introduced. Although the currently used metal transmission lines can handle B5G/6G, research has focused on superconducting metals, such as niobium,…
University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers discover letting small amounts of DNA ‘dance’ can speed disease detection. UMass Amherst researchers have pushed forward the boundaries of biomedical engineering one hundredfold with a new method for DNA detection with unprecedented sensitivity. “DNA detection is in the center of bioengineering,” says Jinglei Ping, lead author of the paper that appeared in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Ping is an assistant professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, an adjunct assistant professor in…
Instant evolution: First AI capable of intelligently designing new robots that work in the real world. Inventor of xenobots unveils new advance toward artificial life New AI algorithm compresses billions of years of evolution into seconds The evolved robot has three legs and rear fins, something a human engineer would never devise Researcher: ‘Now anyone can watch evolution in action as AI generates better and better robot bodies in real time.’ A team led by Northwestern University researchers has developed…
A device has been created that could carry out Clinical Breast Examinations (CBE). The manipulator, designed by a team at the University of Bristol and based at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory, is able to apply very specific forces over a range similar to forces used by human examiners and can detect lumps using sensor technology at larger depths than before. This could revolutionise how women monitor their breast health by giving them access to safe electronic CBEs, located in easily…
Scientists have created a new zebrafish xenograft platform to screen for novel treatments for an aggressive brain tumor called glioblastoma, according to a new study by the Gerhardt and De Smet labs published in EMBO Molecular Medicine. Joint press release – Max Delbrück Center, VIB, and KU Leuven Glioblastoma is an aggressive and difficult-to-treat brain tumor in adults. On average, patients survive for only 1.5 years. The standard of care treatment for this disease, which includes surgery followed by radiation…
A chloroplast enzyme safeguards plants against pathological protein aggregation that causes Huntington’s and other neurodegenerative diseases / new research reported in “Nature Aging” may have found a way to “copy” the mechanism for application in human cells. Researchers at the University of Cologne’s CECAD Cluster of Excellence for Aging Research and the CEPLAS Cluster of Excellence for Plant Sciences have found a promising synthetic plant biology approach for the development of a therapy to treat human neurodegenerative diseases, especially Huntington’s…
Genetic quality or genetic compatibility? What do female fruit flies prioritize when mating? Researchers at the University of Zurich show that both factors are important at different stages of the reproductive process and that females use targeted strategies to optimize the fitness of their offspring. Breeding female fruit flies face a difficult decision: do they mate with the male that has the best genes, or with the one whose genes best match their own? Evolutionary biologists from the University of…
Research project DAIOR: A research team of scientists from the Fraunhofer IPA, the Bosch Digital Innovation Hub at Bosch Health Campus and the Institute of Image-Guided Surgery (IHU) of Strasbourg has jointly launched the DAIOR project (»Distributed Artificial Intelligence for the Operating Room«). Within the framework of the project, the project partners are working on realizing the operating room (OR) of the future with help of artificial intelligence (AI) and robot assisted telemedicine. To achieve this, the research team is…
Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, and the Hospital for Special Surgery Research Institute have uncovered new details about how the immune system prevents the production of antibodies that can recognize and damage the body’s own, healthy tissues. The study, to be published September 29 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (JEM), also reveals how this process is impaired in autoimmune disorders such as systemic sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosus and suggests potential new…
Hydrogels used to cultivate vascular sprouting from mouse lung tissue provide new insight. Using a new recipe for growing blood vessels from living lung tissue in the lab, a University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science research team has developed an analytical tool that could lead to a cure for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, or IPF, a lung-destroying disease. Fibrosis is chronic scarring of tissue and it can strike nearly every system in the body. According to the National…
Newly engineered CRISPR enzyme for editing DNA is more compact yet just as efficient as current popular tool, and could improve patient treatment. A new CRISPR-based gene-editing tool has been developed which could lead to better treatments for patients with genetic disorders. The tool is an enzyme, AsCas12f, which has been modified to offer the same effectiveness but at one-third the size of the Cas9 enzyme commonly used for gene editing. The compact size means that more of it can…
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