A team from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Stanford University and Purdue University developed and demonstrated a novel, fully functional quantum local area network, or QLAN, to enable real-time adjustments to information shared with geographically isolated systems at ORNL using entangled photons passing through optical fiber. This network exemplifies how experts might routinely connect quantum computers and sensors at a practical scale, thereby realizing the full potential of these next-generation technologies on the path toward the…

Bone screws and plates that dissolve on their own after a broken bone has healed promise to be of great benefit – they could save some patients from having to undergo follow-up surgery. A research team led by the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon has now used a 3D X-ray method to determine for the first time quantitatively how different of magnesium alloys dissolve over time under body-like conditions. The result provides indications of which materials are particularly suitable for certain types of…

Jellyfish have voracious appetites, and they aren’t considered the most selective eaters. Almost anything that gets stuck to their tentacles winds up in the gelatinous sack that they use to digest their food. This “take what comes” feeding strategy has clouded our understanding of which foods jellyfish survive on and how they fit in food webs. However, new research from the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries (IOF) used two biochemical tools, stable isotopes and fatty acids, to begin unlocking…

Mount Sinai study suggests a new self-learning algorithm may detect blood pumping problems by reading electrocardiograms. A special artificial intelligence (AI)-based computer algorithm created by Mount Sinai researchers was able to learn how to identify subtle changes in electrocardiograms (also known as ECGs or EKGs) to predict whether a patient was experiencing heart failure. “We showed that deep-learning algorithms can recognize blood pumping problems on both sides of the heart from ECG waveform data,” said Benjamin S. Glicksberg, PhD, Assistant…

As a robotics engineer, Yasemin Ozkan-Aydin, assistant professor of electrical engineering at the University of Notre Dame, gets her inspiration from biological systems. The collective behaviors of ants, honeybees and birds to solve problems and overcome obstacles is something researchers have developed in aerial and underwater robotics. Developing small-scale swarm robots with the capability to traverse complex terrain, however, comes with a unique set of challenges. In research published in Science Robotics, Ozkan-Aydin presents how she was able to build multi-legged robots capable of…

Novel theorem demonstrates convolutional neural networks can always be trained on quantum computers, overcoming threat of ‘barren plateaus’ in optimization problems. Convolutional neural networks running on quantum computers have generated significant buzz for their potential to analyze quantum data better than classical computers can. While a fundamental solvability problem known as “barren plateaus” has limited the application of these neural networks for large data sets, new research overcomes that Achilles heel with a rigorous proof that guarantees scalability. “The way…

Vanderbilt and Penn State engineers have developed a novel approach to design and fabricate thin-film infrared light sources with near-arbitrary spectral output driven by heat, along with a machine learning methodology called inverse design that reduced the optimization time for these devices from weeks or months on a multi-core computer to a few minutes on a consumer-grade desktop. The ability to develop inexpensive, efficient, designer infrared light sources could revolutionize molecular sensing technologies. Additional applications include free-space communications, infrared beacons…

Scientists from Skoltech, Philips Research, and Goethe University Frankfurt have trained a neural network to detect anomalies in medical images to assist physicians in sifting through countless scans in search of pathologies. Reported in ​​IEEE Access, the new method is adapted to the nature of medical imaging and is more successful in spotting abnormalities than general-purpose solutions. Image anomaly detection is a task that comes up in data analysis in many industries. Medical scans, however, pose a particular challenge. It is way…

Existing analysis software fails to detect missing gene building blocks. Automated gene analyses of Sars-CoV-2 samples consistently miss gene segments in the virus genome that have undergone deletion due to mutations. This is revealed in a new study by researchers at Bielefeld University’s Center for Biotechnology (CeBiTec) and the Evangelical Hospital Bethel (EvKB), one of the supporting hospitals of Medical School OWL. The research team was able to show that a large part of the ORF8 gene segment was missing…

Advances make high-density, 5D optical storage practical for long-term data archiving. Researchers have developed a fast and energy-efficient laser-writing method for producing high-density nanostructures in silica glass. These tiny structures can be used for long-term five-dimensional (5D) optical data storage that is more than 10,000 times denser than Blue-Ray optical disc storage technology. “Individuals and organizations are generating ever-larger datasets, creating the desperate need for more efficient forms of data storage with a high capacity, low energy consumption and long…

Seagrasses provide a vital habitat in shallow coastal seas. They also remove large amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere. Up to now, researchers have assumed that the plants take up nitrogen necessary for growth primarily from the seawater and sediment. However, in many regions where seagrasses thrive little nitrogen is available. Researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology show that seagrass in the Mediterranean Sea lives in symbiosis with bacteria that reside in their roots and provide the…

Study suggests a way to curb clonal hematopoiesis — and prevent leukemia — by targeting rogue clones’ anti-inflammatory defenses. As we age, many of us acquire mutations that cause some of our blood stem cells to multiply faster than others, forming their own distinct populations or “clones.” This is known as clonal hematopoiesis. In some cases, a single clone originating from a single genetically altered or mutated stem cell can expand to make up as many as 30 percent of…

Forming planets are one possible explanation for the rings and gaps observed in disks of gas and dust around young stars. But this theory has trouble explaining why it is rare to find planets associated with rings. New supercomputer simulations show that after creating a ring, a planet can move away and leave the ring behind. Not only does this bolster the planet theory for ring formation, the simulations show that a migrating planet can produce a variety of patterns…

International research team led by Kiel develops a new method for the generation of controllable electrical explosions. Theoretically, it only takes 450 grams of this material to lift an elephant: “Aerographene” owes this ability to its unique structure at the nano level. Visually similar to a black foam, it actually consists of a finely-structured tubular network based on graphene with numerous cavities. This makes it extremely stable, conductive and almost as lightweight as air. An international research team led by…

First microfluidic organ-on-a-chip model of the disease could help bring much needed drugs, and personalized medicine approaches to patients. The inherited progressive disorder cystic fibrosis (CF) causes severe damage to the lungs, and other tissues in the body by affecting the cells that produce mucus, sweat, and digestive juices. In individuals carrying mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene, which encodes an ion channel controlling the flow of ions and water in and out of cells, the…

Technique likely safe for human cells; has potential for sterilizing wounds, blood products. Life-threatening bacteria are becoming ever more resistant to antibiotics, making the search for alternatives to antibiotics an increasingly urgent challenge. For certain applications, one alternative may be a special type of laser. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that lasers that emit ultrashort pulses of light can kill multidrug-resistant bacteria and hardy bacterial spores. The findings, available online in the Journal…

As far as extrasolar planets go, ‘GJ 367 b’ is a featherweight. With half the mass of Earth, the newly discovered planet is one of the lightest among the nearly 5000 exoplanets known today. It takes the extrasolar planet approximately eight hours to orbit its parent star. With a diameter of just over 9000 kilometres, GJ 367 b is slightly larger than Mars. The planetary system is located just under 31 light years from Earth and is thus ideal for…

Breakthrough research on human embryo models paves the way for improving in vitro fertilization success rate and new non-hormonal, user-friendly contraception. Being able to recapitulate in a dish what human embryos normally do hidden within the womb opens avenues for improving In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) procedures and developing better contraceptives. Hormonal contraceptives have long been used and work for many women. However, they have unpleasant side-effects, and their efficiency decreases if they are not faithfully taken on a daily basis….

Research team with new development pipeline for RNA-based drugs successful in Europe-wide competition. Viruses are a major problem for human health worldwide – and not just since the outbreak of the SARS-CoV2 pandemic. Despite successful vaccine development, there are still no effective drugs for most viral diseases. This should change as quickly as possible. With the project “iGUARD (integrated Guided Ultrafast Antiviral RNAi Drug development)”, a research team led by Professor Dr. Dr. Axel Schambach, head of the Institute for…

The method lets researchers more easily study factors that can lead to cell death, in conditions including neurodegenerative diseases. It’s surprisingly hard to tell when a brain cell is dead. Neurons that appear inactive and fragmented under the microscope can persist in a kind of life-or-death limbo for days, and some suddenly begin signaling again after appearing inert. For researchers who study neurodegeneration, this lack of a precise “time of death” declaration for neurons makes it hard to pin down…