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NIH grants $1.6 million to Virginia Tech to study ‘one of the final frontiers of science’ – the brain

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Of all the worlds still to be explored, among the most mysterious may be closest to home. Indeed, it may be right between your ears.

A type of cell called the astrocyte accounts for more than 25 percent of the human brain, yet a small percentage of how this cell function contributes to brain function is actually understood.

Virginia Tech neuroscientist Michelle Olsen seeks to change that through a new five-year, $1.6 million grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of the National Institutes of Health.

She hopes her work will one day allow scientists to more deeply understand how this cell develops and functions in the healthy brain so that they can better treat neurodevelopmental disorders and neurological disease. [Read more…] about NIH grants $1.6 million to Virginia Tech to study ‘one of the final frontiers of science’ – the brain

New AI-based versatile software for tracking many cells in 3D microscope videos

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Automatic tracking of cells in microscope videos will contribute to basic life science research and drug discovery by easily analyzing critical cellular activities

In modern basic life science research as well as in drug discovery, recording and analyzing the images of cells over time using 3D microscopy has become extremely important.

Once the images have been recorded, the same cell in different images at different time points has to be accurately identified (“cell tracking”) because the living cells captured in the images are in motion.

However, tracking many cells automatically in 3D microscope videos has been considerably difficult. [Read more…] about New AI-based versatile software for tracking many cells in 3D microscope videos

The Earth is flat. Everything else is just fake news. Or is it?

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‘Is Western culture balancing on a tightrope between science and humanities?’ asks Carlos Elias, author of new book Science on the Ropes, which explains why science has been dethroned from its prestigious position in Western culture and replaced by pseudoscientific conjecture and fake news

Pseudoscience is on the rise and so is the constant clamour of “fake news”. Should we, therefore, be questioning the West’s grip on rational, empirical evidence-based reason?

While the West is fending off resurgent claims of a flat Earth – last dispelled by Magellan and Elcano’s circumnavigation in the early 16th century – as well as persistent climate change deniers, Asia is making rapid technological and scientific progress.

In his book, Carlos Elías discusses why Western countries are losing interest in the STEM subjects, which once reigned as the beacon of civil development and culture, in favour of post-truths, alternative facts and, occasionally, irrationality. [Read more…] about The Earth is flat. Everything else is just fake news. Or is it?

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Earth has a hot new neighbour – and it’s an astronomer’s dream

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A newly discovered planet could be our best chance yet of studying rocky planet atmospheres outside the solar system, a new international study involving UNSW Sydney shows.

The planet, called Gliese 486b (pronounced Glee-seh), is a “super-Earth”: that is, a rocky planet bigger than Earth but smaller than ice giants like Neptune and Uranus. It orbits a red dwarf star around 26 light-years away, making it a close neighbour – galactically speaking.

With a piping-hot surface temperature of 430 degrees Celsius, Gliese 486b is too hot to support human life. But studying its atmosphere could help us learn whether similar planets might be habitable for humans – or if they’re likely to hold other signs of life. [Read more…] about Earth has a hot new neighbour – and it’s an astronomer’s dream

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    On the quest for other EarthsIn the search for planets capable of sustaining life, an international research team with members from ETH has taken a significant step forward. As the researchers reported recently in the journal Nature Communications, they found signs of a Neptune-sized planet in the Alpha Centauri star system, a mere 4.4 light years…
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Does watching Netflix or having Zoom meetings leave a carbon footprint?

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When you think about your carbon footprint, what comes to mind? Driving and flying, probably. Perhaps home energy consumption or those daily Amazon deliveries.

But what about watching Netflix or having Zoom meetings? Ever thought about the carbon footprint of the silicon chips inside your phone, smartwatch or the countless other devices inside your home?

Every aspect of modern computing, from the smallest chip to the largest data center comes with a carbon price tag. For the better part of a century, the tech industry and the field of computation as a whole have focused on building smaller, faster, more powerful devices – but few have considered their overall environmental impact. [Read more…] about Does watching Netflix or having Zoom meetings leave a carbon footprint?

Neanderthals and Homo sapiens used identical Nubian technology

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Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History

Long held in a private collection, the newly analysed tooth of an approximately nine-year-old Neanderthal child marks the hominin’s southernmost known range. Analysis of the associated archaeological assemblage suggests Neanderthals used Nubian Levallois technology, previously thought to be restricted to Homo sapiens.

With a high concentration of cave sites harbouring evidence of past populations and their behaviour, the Levant is a major centre for human origins research. For over a century, archaeological excavations in the Levant have produced human fossils and stone tool assemblages that reveal landscapes inhabited by both Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, making this region a potential mixing ground between populations. Distinguishing these populations by stone tool assemblages alone is difficult, but one technology, the distinct Nubian Levallois method, is argued to have been produced only by Homo sapiens.

In a new study published in Scientific Reports, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History teamed up with international partners to re-examine the fossil and archaeological record of Shukbah Cave. Their findings extend the southernmost known range of Neanderthals and suggest that our now-extinct relatives made use of a technology previously argued to be a trademark of modern humans. This study marks the first time the lone human tooth from the site has been studied in detail, in combination with a major comparative study examining the stone tool assemblage. [Read more…] about Neanderthals and Homo sapiens used identical Nubian technology

Mobile game that uses implicit learning improved children’s short-term food choices

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Rates of overweight and obesity in children are rising around the world, with serious long-term consequences for health and health care costs.

In prior research, video and mobile games have helped children eat healthier and exercise more. A new study examined how Indian 10- and 11-year-olds’ food choices were affected by playing a pediatric dietary mobile game that uses implicit learning – educating players without making them aware of the lessons through innovations in neurocognitive training and immersive technology.

The study found that the game significantly improved children’s food choices immediately after play. [Read more…] about Mobile game that uses implicit learning improved children’s short-term food choices

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Robots sense human touch using camera and shadows

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Soft robots may not be in touch with human feelings, but they are getting better at feeling human touch.

Cornell University researchers have created a low-cost method for soft, deformable robots to detect a range of physical interactions, from pats to punches to hugs, without relying on touch at all. Instead, a USB camera located inside the robot captures the shadow movements of hand gestures on the robot’s skin and classifies them with machine-learning software.

The group’s paper, ShadowSense: Detecting Human Touch in a Social Robot Using Shadow Image Classification, published in the Proceedings of the Association for Computing Machinery on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies. The paper’s lead author is doctoral student, Yuhan Hu. [Read more…] about Robots sense human touch using camera and shadows

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Yes, of course we are living in a computer simulation

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A new film – a documentary called A Glitch in the Matrix – is again opening up the debate about whether we all live in a simulated world. 

Our conclusion at this website, arrived at through no serious research whatsoever, is that yes, we absolutely live in a computer simulation.

Our caveats are that:

  • the physical world is not a simulation – it is physically real. It is our everyday lives – where we go, what we do, and so on – that are part of a computer program or simulation, designed by a real-life version of “the Architect” in the original Matrix movies; and
  • that not all of us live in the simulation – some people are outside or peripheral to the simulation. Our “architect” appears to be interested in anyone and anything that threatens its existence and course of action – everyone else can just go about their business provided they don’t break off from the “strings” – or computer instructions – that tie them to the matrix. [Read more…] about Yes, of course we are living in a computer simulation

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  • The Earth is flat. Everything else is just fake news. Or is it?
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    The Earth is flat. Everything else is just fake news. Or is it?‘Is Western culture balancing on a tightrope between science and humanities?’ asks Carlos Elias, author of new book Science on the Ropes, which explains why science has been dethroned from its prestigious position in Western culture and replaced by pseudoscientific conjecture and fake news Pseudoscience is on the rise and…
    Tags: science, earth, will, features, opinion

How the brain is programmed for computer programming

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Countries around the world are seeing a surge in the number of computer science students. Enrolment in related university programs in the U.S. and Canada tripled between 2006-2016 and Europe too has seen rising numbers.

At the same time, the age to start coding is becoming younger and younger because governments in many different countries are pushing K-12 computer science education. Despite the increasing popularity of computer programming, little is known about how our brains adapt to this relatively new activity.

A new study by researchers in Japan has examined the brain activity of thirty programmers of diverse levels of expertise, finding that seven regions of the frontal, parietal and temporal cortices in expert programmer’s brain are fine-tuned for programming. The finding suggests that higher programming skills are built upon fine-tuned brain activities on a network of multiple distributed brain regions. [Read more…] about How the brain is programmed for computer programming