ScienceDaily: Technology - October 09, 2023
Top technology research news
Astronomers discover first step toward planet formation
Astronomers have gotten very good at spotting the signs of planet formation around stars. But for a complete understanding of planet formation, we also need to study examples where planet formation has not yet started. Looking for something and not finding it can be even more difficult than finding it sometimes, but new detailed observations of the young star DG Taurus show that it has a smooth protoplanetary disk without signs of planet formation. This successful non-detection of planet formation may indicate that DG Taurus is on the eve of planet formation.
Lukasz Pawel Szczepanski/shutterstock.com
Pulsars may make dark matter glow
The central question in the ongoing hunt for dark matter is: what is it made of? One possible answer is that dark matter consists of particles known as axions. A team of astrophysicists has now shown that if dark matter consists of axions, it may reveal itself in the form of a subtle additional glow coming from pulsating stars.
A team of computer scientists has created a neural network that can explain how it reaches its predictions. The work reveals what accounts for the functionality of neural networks--the engines that drive artificial intelligence and machine learning--thereby illuminating a process that has largely been concealed from users.
Twisted science: New quantum ruler to explore exotic matter
Researchers have developed a 'quantum ruler' to measure and explore the strange properties of multilayered sheets of graphene, a form of carbon. The work may also lead to a new, miniaturized standard for electrical resistance that could calibrate electronic devices directly on the factory floor, eliminating the need to send them to an off-site standards laboratory.
Discovery made about Fischer Tropsch process could help improve fuel production
A fundamental discovery about the Fischer Tropsch process, a catalytic reaction used in industry to convert coal, natural gas or biomass to liquid fuels, could someday allow for more efficient fuel production. Researchers discovered previously unknown self-sustained oscillations in the Fischer Tropsch process. They found that unlike many catalytic reactions which have one steady state, this reaction periodically moves back and forth from a high to a low activity state. The discovery means that these well-controlled oscillatory states might be used in the future to control the reaction rate and the yields of desired products.
Groundbreaking study shows defects spreading through diamond faster than the speed of sound
Settling a half century of debate, researchers have discovered that tiny linear defects can propagate through a material faster than sound waves do. These linear defects, or dislocations, are what give metals their strength and workability, but they can also make materials fail catastrophically – which is what happens every time you pop the pull tab on a can of soda. The fact that they can travel so fast gives scientists a new appreciation of the unusual types of damage they might do to a broad range of materials in extreme conditions.
AI-driven earthquake forecasting shows promise in trials
A new attempt to predict earthquakes has raised hopes that artificial intelligence could one day be used to limit earthquakes’ impact on lives and economies. The AI algorithm correctly predicted 70% of earthquakes a week before they happened during a seven-month trial in China. The system is limited because the AI needs an extensive database and years of seismic recordings to train itself on, but researchers said the effort is nonetheless a milestone for AI-driven earthquake forecasting. Researchers will soon begin testing the system at other locations.
The medicine of the future could be artificial life forms
Imagine a life form that doesn't resemble any of the organisms found on the tree of life. One that has its own unique control system, and that a doctor would want to send into your body. It sounds like a science fiction movie, but according to nanoscientists, it can—and should—happen in the future.
Scientists discover the highest energy gamma-rays ever from a pulsar
Scientists have detected the highest energy gamma rays ever from a dead star called a pulsar. The energy of these gamma rays clocked in at 20 tera-electronvolts, or about ten trillion times the energy of visible light. This observation is hard to reconcile with the theory of the production of such pulsed gamma rays, as the international team reports.
Physicists find evidence for magnetically bound excitons
Physicists have experimentally detected how so-called Hubbard excitons form in real-time.
Plot thickens in hunt for ninth planet
A pair of theoretical physicists are reporting that the same observations inspiring the hunt for a ninth planet might instead be evidence within the solar system of a modified law of gravity originally developed to understand the rotation of galaxies.
New open-source method to improve decoding of single-cell data
Researchers have developed a new open-source computational method, dubbed Spectra, which improves the analysis of single-cell transcriptomic data. By guiding data analysis in a unique way, Spectra can offer new insights into the complex interplay between cells — like the interactions between cancer cells and immune cells, which are critical to improving immunotherapy treatments.
Successful morphing of inorganic perovskites without damaging their functional properties
A research team has successfully morphed all-inorganic perovskites at room temperature without compromising their functional properties. Their findings demonstrate the potential of this class of semiconductors for manufacturing next-generation deformable electronics and energy systems in the future.
New research may make future design of nanotechnology safer with fewer side effects
A new study may offer a strategy that mitigates negative side effects associated with intravenous injection of nanoparticles commonly used in medicine.
Two-dimensional compounds can capture carbon from the air
Some of the thinnest materials known to humankind -- MXene and MBene compounds -- may provide solutions to scientists in their quest to curb the effects of global warming. These substances are only a few atoms thick, making them two-dimensional. Because of their large surface area, the materials have the potential to absorb carbon dioxide molecules from the atmosphere, which could help reduce the harmful effects of climate change by safely sequestering carbon dioxide, according to a review study.
New technology could reduce lag, improve reliability of online gaming, meetings
Whether you’re battling foes in a virtual arena or collaborating with colleagues across the globe, lag-induced disruptions can be a major hindrance to seamless communication and immersive experiences. That’s why researchers have developed new technology to make data transfer over optical fiber communication faster and more efficient.
New wound healing research produces full thickness human bioprinted skin
A research article presents a significant breakthrough in the area of skin regeneration and wound healing.
Staying dry for months underwater
Researchers have developed a superhydrophobic surface with a stable plastron that can last for months under water. The team’s general strategy to create long-lasting underwater superhydrophobic surfaces, which repel blood and drastically reduce or prevent the adhesion of bacterial and marine organisms such as barnacles and mussels, opens a range of applications in biomedicine and industry.
New 'Assembly Theory' unifies physics and biology to explain evolution and complexity
An international team of researchers has developed a new theoretical framework that bridges physics and biology to provide a unified approach for understanding how complexity and evolution emerge in nature. This new work on 'Assembly Theory' represents a major advance in our fundamental comprehension of biological evolution and how it is governed by the physical laws of the universe.
Machine learning used to probe the building blocks of shapes
Applying machine learning to find the properties of atomic pieces of geometry shows how AI has the power to accelerate discoveries in maths.
Volcanic ash effects on Earth systems
To bridge the knowledge gap between volcanologists and atmospheric scientists working on climate change and observing global systems, researchers have characterized volcanic ash samples from many explosive eruptions of a broad compositional range.
Birders and AI push bird conservation to the next level
Big data and artificial intelligence (AI) are being used to model hidden patterns in nature, not just for one bird species, but for entire ecological communities across continents. And the models follow each species’ full annual life cycle, from breeding to fall migration to non-breeding grounds, and back north again during spring migration.
Could future AI crave a favorite food?
Can artificial intelligence (AI) get hungry? Develop a taste for certain foods? Not yet, but a team of researchers is developing a novel electronic tongue that mimics how taste influences what we eat based on both needs and wants, providing a possible blueprint for AI that processes information more like a human being.
These robots helped explain how insects evolved two distinct strategies for flight
Robots helped achieve a major breakthrough in our understanding of how insect flight evolved. The study is a result of a six-year long collaboration between roboticists and biophysicists.
Study raises concerns over powdered infant formula preparation machines
A new study raises concerns over powdered infant formula preparation machines.
AI drones to help farmers optimize vegetable yields
For reasons of food security and economic incentive, farmers continuously seek to maximize their marketable crop yields. As plants grow inconsistently, at the time of harvesting, there will inevitably be variations in quality and size of individual crops. Finding the optimal time to harvest is therefore a priority for farmers. A new approach making heavy use of drones and artificial intelligence demonstrably improves this estimation by carefully and accurately analyzing individual crops to assess their likely growth characteristics.
Insect cyborgs: Towards precision movement
Insect cyborgs may sound like something straight out of the movies, but hybrid insect computer robots, as they are scientifically called, could pioneer a new future for robotics. It involves using electrical stimuli to control an insect’s movement. Now, an international research group has conducted a study on the relationship between electrical stimulation in stick insects' leg muscles and the resulting torque (the twisting force that causes the leg to move).
Graphene oxide reduces the toxicity of Alzheimer's proteins
A probable early driver of Alzheimer's disease is the accumulation of molecules called amyloid peptides. These cause cell death, and are commonly found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. Researchers have now shown that yeast cells that accumulate these misfolded amyloid peptides can recover after being treated with graphene oxide nanoflakes.
A prehistoric cosmic airburst preceded the advent of agriculture in the Levant
Agriculture in Syria started with a bang 12,800 years ago as a fragmented comet slammed into the Earth’s atmosphere. The explosion and subsequent environmental changes forced hunter-gatherers in the prehistoric settlement of Abu Hureyra to adopt agricultural practices to boost their chances for survival.
Power of rhythm as a design element in evolution and robotics
As the internet quickly fills with viral videos of futuristic robots darting and racing around like the animals they’re built to mimic, researchers say that there’s an element of their movement’s programming that should not be overlooked: rhythm.
Human disease simulator lets scientists choose their own adventure
Scientists have developed a device smaller than a toddler's shoebox -- called Lattice --that can simulate any human disease in up to eight organs (cell cultures from a human organ) or test new drugs without ever entering -- or harming -- the body. It is a major advancement from current in vitro systems, which can only study two cell cultures simultaneously.
Carbon capture method plucks CO2 straight from the air
Even as the world slowly begins to decarbonize industrial processes, achieving lower concentrations of atmospheric carbon requires technologies that remove existing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere — rather than just prevent the creation of it.
Instant evolution: AI designs new robot from scratch in seconds
Researchers developed the first AI to date that can intelligently design robots from scratch by compressing billions of years of evolution into mere seconds. It's not only fast but also runs on a lightweight computer and designs wholly novel structures from scratch — without human-labeled, bias-filled datasets.
Large mound structures on Kuiper belt object Arrokoth may have common origin
A new study posits that the large, approximately 5-kilometer-long mounds that dominate the appearance of the larger lobe of the pristine Kuiper Belt object Arrokoth are similar enough to suggest a common origin. The study suggests that these “building blocks” could guide further work on planetesimal formational models.
Electronic sensor the size of a single molecule a potential game-changer
Researchers have developed a molecular-sized, more efficient version of a widely used electronic sensor, in a breakthrough that could bring widespread benefits.
Using a novel method, beams of laser light can be deflected using air alone. An invisible grating made only of air is not only immune to damage from the laser light, but it also preserves the original quality of the beam.
Bioengineering breakthrough increases DNA detection sensitivity by 100 times
Researchers have pushed forward the boundaries of biomedical engineering one hundredfold with a new method for DNA detection with unprecedented sensitivity.
Study quantifies satellite brightness, challenges ground-based astronomy
The ability to have access to the Internet or use a mobile phone anywhere in the world is taken more and more for granted, but the brightness of Internet and telecommunications satellites that enable global communications networks could pose problems for ground-based astronomy. Scientists confirm that recently deployed satellites are as bright as stars seen by the unaided eye.
Wearable sensor to monitor 'last line of defense' antibiotic
Researchers have combined earlier work on painless microneedles with nanoscale sensors to create a wearable sensor patch capable of continuously monitoring the levels of a ‘last line of defense’ antibiotic.
Bursts of star formation explain mysterious brightness at cosmic dawn
In the James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) first images of the universe’s earliest galaxies, the young galaxies appear too bright, too massive and too mature to have formed so soon after the Big Bang. Using new simulations, a team of astrophysicists now has discovered that these galaxies likely are not so massive after all. Although a galaxy’s brightness is typically determined by its mass, the new findings suggest that less massive galaxies can glow just as brightly from irregular, brilliant bursts of star formation.
Disaster-proofing sustainable neighborhoods requires thorough long-term planning
Engineers and scientists look at how thoughtful design can reduce a sustainably-designed neighborhood’s energy vulnerability during power disruptions, as well as which design characteristics are needed if and when local populations need to move to shelters. Researchers analyzed the design and energy characteristics of particular kinds of buildings and neighborhoods to assess their vulnerabilities and their access to alternative and renewable energy sources. The authors use several scenarios involving different lengths of power disruption to see which kind of response is most beneficial to the populations affected.
Metal-loving microbes could replace chemical processing of rare earths
Scientists have characterized the genome of a metal-loving bacteria with an affinity for rare earth elements. The research paves the way towards replacing the harsh chemical processing of these elements with a benign practice called biosorption.
Fair and sustainable futures beyond mining
Mining brings huge social and environmental change to communities: landscapes, livelihoods and the social fabric evolve alongside the industry. But what happens when the mines close? What problems face communities that lose their main employer and the very core of their identity and social networks?
Not the usual suspects: New interactive lineup boosts eyewitness accuracy
Allowing eyewitnesses to dynamically explore digital faces using a new interactive procedure can significantly improve identification accuracy compared to the video lineup and photo array procedures used by police worldwide, a new study reveals.
Examining the superconducting diode effect
Scientists have reviewed the superconducting diode effect, a quantum effect enabling dissipationless supercurrent to flow in only one direction. The SDE provides new functionalities for superconducting circuits and future ultra-low energy superconducting/hybrid devices, with potential for quantum technologies in both classical and quantum computing.
Next-generation printing: Precise and direct, using optical vortices
Researchers have succeeded in printing uniformly sized droplets with a diameter of approximately 100 µm using a liquid film of fluorescent ink. This ink, with a viscosity roughly 100 times that of water, was irradiated with an optical vortex, resulting in prints of exceptional positional accuracy at the micrometer scale.
New internet addiction spectrum: Where are you on the scale?
Young people (24 years and younger) spend an average of six hours a day online, primarily using their smartphones, according to new research. Older people (those 24 years and older) spend 4.6 hours online.
Colliding neutron stars provide a new way to measure the expansion of the Universe
In recent years, astronomy has seen itself in a bit of crisis: Although we know that the Universe expands, and although we know approximately how fast, the two primary ways to measure this expansion do not agree. Now astrophysicists suggest a novel method which may help resolve this tension.
Engineering study employs deep learning to explain extreme events
At the core of uncovering extreme events such as floods is the physics of fluids – specifically turbulent flows. Researchers leveraged a computer-vision deep learning technique and adapted it for nonlinear analysis of extreme events in wall-bounded turbulent flows, which are pervasive in numerous physics and engineering applications and impact wind and hydrokinetic energy, among others. Results show the technique employed can be invaluable for accurately identifying the sources of extreme events in a completely data-driven manner.
Researchers blow whistle on forensic science method
If forensic experts have access to a suspect's gun, they can compare the microscopic markings from discarded shell casings with those found at a crime scene. Finding and reporting a mismatch can help free the innocent, just as a match can incriminate the guilty. But new research reveals mismatches are more likely than matches to be reported as 'inconclusive' in cartridge-case comparisons.
Is AI in the eye of the beholder?
Priming users about the motives of an AI agent had a significant impact on their perceptions of that agent and how effective they believed this AI mental health companion was, according to a new study. Not only did priming change users’ perceptions, it also changed how they interacted with the chatbot and how the chatbot responded, creating a feedback loop.
A more effective experimental design for engineering a cell into a new state
A new machine-learning approach helps scientists more efficiently identify the optimal intervention to achieve a certain outcome in a complex system, such as genome regulation, requiring far fewer experimental trials than other methods.
Researchers propose a unified, scalable framework to measure agricultural greenhouse gas emissions
Increased government investment in climate change mitigation is prompting agricultural sectors to find reliable methods for measuring their contribution to climate change. With that in mind, scientists have proposed a supercomputing solution to help measure individual farm field-level greenhouse gas emissions.
