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Russian researchers present ultra-precise brain imaging tool

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A joint team from the Russian Quantum Center, Skoltech, and the Higher School of Economics has presented a novel supersensitive solid-state magnetometer operating at room temperature. The researchers for the first time used it to detect and record brain electrical activity with a technique called magnetoencephalography, which could become dozens of times cheaper with the new device. The paper was published in Human Brain Mapping.

High accuracy is a key advantage of magnetoencephalography (MEG) over other similar techniques used for studying the electrical activity of the brain. Biological tissues are transparent for magnetic fields. However, only a very limited number of laboratories around the world have MEG equipment, which uses either extremely cold liquid helium or high-temperature gas and is very expensive and difficult to manufacture.

A team from the Russian Quantum Center (RQC) developed a new sensor using yttrium-iron garnet films. This is the first solid-state supersensitive room-temperature magnetometer in the world. It is based on a quantum sensor and is capable of registering very weak or deep electrical sources in the brain. Owing to its wide dynamic range, the device requires less magnetic shielding, which means a lower cost of both the hardware and the entire research infrastructure. [Read more…] about Russian researchers present ultra-precise brain imaging tool

Study takes unprecedented peek into life of 17,000-year-old mammoth

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An international research team has retraced the astonishing lifetime journey of an Arctic woolly mammoth, which covered enough of the Alaska landscape during its 28 years to almost circle the Earth twice.

Scientists gathered unprecedented details of its life through analysis of a 17,000-year-old fossil from the University of Alaska Museum of the North. By generating and studying isotopic data in the mammoth’s tusk, they were able to match its movements and diet with isotopic maps of the region.

Few details have been known about the lives and movements of woolly mammoths, and the study offers the first evidence that they traveled vast distances. An outline of the mammoth’s life is detailed in the new issue of the journal Science. [Read more…] about Study takes unprecedented peek into life of 17,000-year-old mammoth

Like humans, apes communicate to start and end social interactions

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When we’re talking to another person, we probably wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye; that would just be impolite. Apes seem to do something similar, researchers report in a study publishing August 11 in the journal iScience, in which they documented apes purposefully using signals to start and then end interactions – a behavior not seen outside of the human species until now.

They also found that the social and power dynamics between the interacting apes affected the communication efforts used, which the researchers say mirrors patterns similar to human politeness.

“We were able to launch rockets and land on the moon because we have the ability to share our intentions, which allows us to achieve things so much bigger than a single individual can achieve alone. This ability has been suggested to be at the heart of human nature,” says Raphaela Heesen, a postdoctoral researcher at Durham University in the United Kingdom. [Read more…] about Like humans, apes communicate to start and end social interactions

Development of a novel technology to check body temperature with smartphone camera

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Thermal-imaging sensors that detect and capture images of the heat signatures of human bodies and other objects have recently sprung into use in thermostats to check facial temperatures in a contactless attempt to screen for COVID-19 at several building entrances.

Under these circumstances, the smartphone industry is actively considering the incorporation of such sensors as portable features to create the add-on function of measuring temperature in real time.

Additionally, the application of such technology to autonomous vehicles may facilitate safer autonomous driving. [Read more…] about Development of a novel technology to check body temperature with smartphone camera

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Changes in Earth’s orbit enabled the emergence of complex life

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Scientists at the University of Southampton have discovered that changes in Earth’s orbit may have allowed complex life to emerge and thrive during the most hostile climate episode the planet has ever experienced.

The researchers – working with colleagues in the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Curtin University, University of Hong Kong, and the University of Tübingen – studied a succession of rocks laid down when most of Earth’s surface was covered in ice during a severe glaciation, dubbed ‘Snowball Earth’, that lasted over 50 million years.

Their findings are published in the journal Nature Communications. [Read more…] about Changes in Earth’s orbit enabled the emergence of complex life

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Building a better biosensor polymer

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A new organic (carbon-based) semiconducting material has been developed that outperforms existing options for building the next generation of biosensors. An international research team led by KAUST is the first to overcome some critical challenges in developing this polymer.

Much research effort is currently expended into novel types of biosensors that interact directly with the body to detect key biochemicals and serve as indicators of health and disease.

“For a sensor to be compatible with the body, we need to use soft organic materials with mechanical properties that match those of biological tissues,” says Rawad Hallani, a former research scientist in the KAUST team, who developed the polymer along with researchers at several universities in the U.S. and the U.K. [Read more…] about Building a better biosensor polymer

Observation, simulation, and AI join forces to reveal a clear universe

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Japanese astronomers have developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) technique to remove noise in astronomical data due to random variations in galaxy shapes.

After extensive training and testing on large mock data created by supercomputer simulations, they then applied this new tool to actual data from Japan’s Subaru Telescope and found that the mass distribution derived from using this method is consistent with the currently accepted models of the Universe.

This is a powerful new tool for analyzing big data from current and planned astronomy surveys. [Read more…] about Observation, simulation, and AI join forces to reveal a clear universe

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    Hubble data confirms galaxies lacking dark matterThe most accurate distance measurement yet of ultra-diffuse galaxy (UDG) NGC1052-DF2 (DF2) confirms beyond any shadow of a doubt that it is lacking in dark matter. The newly measured distance of 22.1 +/-1.2 megaparsecs was obtained by an international team of researchers led by Zili Shen and Pieter van Dokkum…
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Unbroken: New soft electronics don’t break, even when punctured

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Want a smartphone that stretches, takes damage, and still doesn’t miss a call?

A team of Virginia Tech researchers from the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Macromolecules Innovation Institute has created a new type of soft electronics, paving the way for devices that are self-healing, reconfigurable, and recyclable.

These skin-like circuits are soft and stretchy, sustain numerous damage events under load without losing electrical conductivity, and can be recycled to generate new circuits at the end of a product’s life. [Read more…] about Unbroken: New soft electronics don’t break, even when punctured

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Leopard gecko skin tumors traced to cancer gene

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The leopard gecko’s name was Mr. Frosty, and he was hard to miss.

Yellow bands striped his back, and uncommonly white skin peeked out from speckles on his head and tail. “It’s this really striking coloration pattern,” says Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator Leonid Kruglyak, a geneticist at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

A California reptile shop began breeding Mr. Frosty in 2016 and produced a colony of lemon-yellow lizards. The color variety was known as Lemon Frost – with their bold bands and snazzy spots, the rare animals could fetch upwards of $2,000. [Read more…] about Leopard gecko skin tumors traced to cancer gene

Artificial intelligence breakthrough gives longer advance warning of ozone issues

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Ozone levels in the earth’s troposphere (the lowest level of our atmosphere) can now be forecasted with accuracy up to two weeks in advance, a remarkable improvement over current systems that can accurately predict ozone levels only three days ahead.

The new artificial intelligence system developed in the University of Houston’s Air Quality Forecasting and Modeling Lab could lead to improved ways to control high ozone problems and even contribute to solutions for climate change issues.

“This was very challenging. Nobody had done this previously. I believe we are the first to try to forecast surface ozone levels two weeks in advance,” said Yunsoo Choi, professor of atmospheric chemistry and AI deep learning at UH’s College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. The findings are published online in the scientific journal, Scientific Reports-Nature. [Read more…] about Artificial intelligence breakthrough gives longer advance warning of ozone issues