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One of the biggest breakthrough in the Advances of Science whilst the world is plagued with a virus impacting the whole world. 

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There are many different COVID-19 vaccines in development using different technologies because it
is not yet known which ones will be effective and safe.

Based on experience, roughly 7% of vaccines in preclinical studies succeed. Candidates that reach clinical trials have about a 20% chance of succeeding.
Different vaccine types may be needed for different population group. For example, some vaccines may work in older persons and some may not, as the immune system weakens with older age.

Several vaccines are needed to allow countries with as much vaccine as possible to increase the supply.

Continuous dialogue between developers and regulatory experts and early scientific advice helps speed up vaccine development.

Advising companies on regulatory requirements helps ensure that
standards of safety and efficacy are embedded early in the process and are not compromised by fast-track development.

https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/risk-comms-updates/update45-vaccines-developement.pdf?sfvrsn=13098bfc_5

-KLYDE PATALINGHUG

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Launched on December 25, 2021, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is now at its observing spot, helping out in the study of early stars and the farther parts of the universe. The said observing spot is at the second Lagrange point (L2). It was launched by an Ariane 5 rocket, which is known to be one of the world's most reliable launch vehicles. The telescope was said to be folded just to fit in the rocket. On June 9, 2022, it reportedly experienced its first micrometeoroid impact. Although it seems alarming, it is said that it will not make any meaningful changes to the timeline of the mission set by NASA.

References

NASA. (n.d.). The launch - webb/NASA. NASA. Retrieved June 12, 2022, from https://webb.nasa.gov/content/about/launch.html

Staff, S. (2022, June 8). NASA's James Webb Space Telescope mission: Live updates. Space.com. Retrieved June 12, 2022, from https://www.space.com/news/live/james-webb-space-telescope-updates

- DMI Osmena

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Study examines why the memory of fear is seared into our brains - Ma. Isabel Astacaan

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Study examines why the memory of fear is seared into our brains - Ma. Isabel Astacaan

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A team of neuroscientists from the Tulane University School of Science and Engineering and Tufts University School of Medicine have been studying the formation of fear memories in the emotional hub of the brain -- the amygdala -- and think they have a mechanism.

In a nutshell, the researchers found that the stress neurotransmitter norepinephrine, also known as noradrenaline, facilitates fear processing in the brain by stimulating a certain population of inhibitory neurons in the amygdala to generate a repetitive bursting pattern of electrical discharges. This bursting pattern of electrical activity changes the frequency of brain wave oscillation in the amygdala from a resting state to an aroused state that promotes the formation of fear memories.

Published recently in Nature Communications, the research was led by Tulane cell and molecular biology professor Jeffrey Tasker, the Catherine and Hunter Pierson Chair in Neuroscience, and his PhD student Xin Fu.

Tasker used the example of an armed robbery. "If you are held up at gunpoint, your brain secretes a bunch of the stress neurotransmitter norepinephrine, akin to an adrenaline rush," he said.

"This changes the electrical discharge pattern in specific circuits in your emotional brain, centered in the amygdala, which in turn transitions the brain to a state of heightened arousal that facilitates memory formation, fear memory, since it's scary. This is the same process, we think, that goes awry in PTSD and makes it so you cannot forget traumatic experiences."

This research was led by Tasker's lab and was conducted in collaboration with the Jonathan Fadok lab of Tulane and the Jamie Maguire lab of Tufts. Fadok is an assistant professor of psychology who holds the Burk-Kleinpeter Inc. Professorship in Science and Engineering at Tulane. Maguire is an associate professor of neuroscience at the Tufts School of Medicine.

Story Source:

Materials provided by Tulane University. Original written by Barri Bronston. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference:

1. Xin Fu, Eric Teboul, Grant L. Weiss, Pantelis Antonoudiou, Chandrashekhar D. Borkar, Jonathan P. Fadok, Jamie Maguire, Jeffrey G. Tasker. Gq neuromodulation of BLA parvalbumin interneurons induces burst firing and mediates fear-associated network and behavioral state transition in mice. Nature Communications, 2022; 13 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-28928-y

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The most powerful quantum processor yet has been launched on November 2021. This computer can process information a whole lot faster than what today’s fastest computer can process. This means that the speed of technical advancement and evolution will speed up as well. This can be a good news to well developed country and a bad news for countries suffering from poverty. Due to the limited access, it can cause further widening of the economical gap between countries. However, if the system was able to consider other countries, this can help the third-world countries to be more develop and improve the over all living environment.

Su, Wen-Chi

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Here are 10 science breakthroughs of 2021 that you need to know about.

Science news of 2021 was dominated by Covid-19 with good reason and the next year may also likely be the same. But the pandemic wasn't all that science was dealing with in 2021. The year saw many interesting and important science breakthroughs, many of which we will be hearing more about in the coming years.

As we bring in the new year amidst rising cases of Omicron, let us take a step back and see how far we have come in the field of science with these 10 science news and science breakthroughs of 2021:

1. The Covid-19 vaccine

The development of the Covid-19 vaccines is actually part of the science news of 2020, but it is in 2021 that they were rolled out.

The Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines were rolled out for emergency use for adults in record time last December, followed by Johnson & Johnson's single-shot vaccine in February 2021.

The Covid-19 vaccine has now become available for children as young as five.

The fastest vaccine development-to-deployment period before this was the Mumps vaccine in the 1960s and that took four years.

2. Malaria vaccine for kids

Malaria is still one of the most dangerous diseases on the planet that kills around half a million people annually. Over half of those are children under the age of five.

The World Health Organization (WHO) in October approved the world's first malaria vaccine for kids, which is also the first vaccine against any parasitic disease.

Mosquirix-the brand name of the drug-cost more than USD 750 million to develop and test since 1987.

The new vaccine fights the deadliest of five malaria pathogens and is delivered in a series of four injections. This science breakthrough could prevent around 5.3 million malaria cases every year.

3. Launch of the James Webb Telescope

The James Webb Space Telescope, the largest and most powerful space telescope ever developed, launched in December.

It will travel nearly 1 million miles over 30 days to a stable spot in space, and then take another six months to unfold its instruments, align, and calibrate.

The work to create the telescope started in 1996 by NASA, the Canadian Space Agency and the European Space Agency, and it cost around USD 500 million. The launch was delayed several times.

For the next several decades, it will track Earth's orbit around the sun. Previously unseeable parts of the universe would now be observable and it would be able to do things the Hubble Space Telescope cannot.

Humans will soon be able to see possible signs of live on other planet, watch the birth of stars, and discover how early galaxies formed.

4. New findings on Mars

Three missions arrived at Mars in February 2021, taking advantage of the Earth-Mars orbit alignment, something that happens once every 26 months.

The United Arab Emirates' Hope orbiter aimed to study the past and present climate of Mars from orbit by monitoring the Red Planet's daily, monthly and yearly changes.

The Chinese National Space Agency's (CNSA) Tianwen-1 surveyed the surface of Mars from orbit and then set down the Zhurong rover in the large Utopia Planitia on Mars. The goal was to test China's ability to move around on the Martian surface.

NASA's Perseverance lander, which is based on the design of the Curiosity but comes with a suite of instruments to drill and store rock samples, will spend the next few years travelling across Jezero Crater.

It will collect up to 43 rock samples which will them be sent back in caches in the Sample Return mission which is still being planned.

One of the biggest science breakthroughs on Mars is the test to see if we can fly through the Martian atmosphere.

The Ingenuity Helicopter, which came along with Perseverance as a technology demonstration mission, is a small drone-like rotocraft. It has now travelled more than 2 km.

Perseverance's journey is being helped by the Ingenuity Helicopter which is scouting ahead and highlighting potential hazards or objects of interest with its equipped camera.

This year on Mars, the UAE learned how to orbit, China learned how to land, and NASA learned how to fly.

5. Closer than ever to finding ET

Cambridge researchers in a paper in August speculated about the existence of a world falling into the category of Hycean planets which could support life.

The world they spoke about would be around 2.6 times the size of Earth, with a Hydrogen-rich atmosphere, hot and covered with oceans. Humans wouldn't be able to survive in such a world but other creatures would.

Since it is easier to detect biosignatures from Hycean planets (such as methyl chloride and dimethyl sulphide) than from Earth-like planets (such as oxygen, methane, etc.) it is possible to detect and confirm extra-terrestrial life in the next two or three tears.

A lot of the exoplanets we already know of would belong to the class of Hycean planets.

6. CRISPR gene editing injected into blood

The concept of gene editing is rapidly taking strides and in June 2021, the CRISPR Cas-9 gene editor was injected directly into the bloodstream of a patient with a rare inherited disease.

Usually, cells are extracted from a patient and CISPR works on them in a lab setting before the edited genes are returned into the body.

It is a time-consuming and expensive process and often, the patients often need to undergo chemotherapy afterwards.

This case concerning the previously untreatable condition of transthyretin amyloidosis was quick and successful, and the treatment even saw a decline in the destructive proteins that build up in the tissues and organs of someone with this disease.

7. New species of early humans

Ninety years ago, a skull fossil was discovered in China and then hidden by a family until a farmer gave it to a university museum in 2018.

Researchers from China analysed the skill using uranium series dating, and X-ray fluorescence and declared it a new species of early humans.

The skull had a large cranium which can hold a big brain, a thick brow and almost square eye sockets these differentiate it from the other Homo species.

Homo longi or 'dragon man', as this new species has been named, was earlier suggested to be a later Pleistocene human, joining Homo sapiens and Neanderthals.

However, the debate still continues about whether it should be called a new species, and we need to wait for ore fossils to fill the holes in the early human history.

A related science breakthrough of 2021 involves Neanderthals palaeontologists from Madrid who created 3D-models of the ear structures of Neanderthals claimed that they possibly had the capacity to speak and hear just like Homo sapiens, the modern human species.

Our concepts about early human species have certainly been shifting as we uncover more data,

8. Most powerful quantum processor yet

Quantum computers can do in seconds what the best supercomputers of today would take several days or weeks to process.

Quantum computer uses the laws of quantum physics for incredible processing capabilities which can revolutionise meteorology, cybersecurity, manufacturing, national defense, and much more.

In November 2021, IBM launched its 127-qubit Eagle. This is the most powerful quantum processor yet.

Later, the company Quantinuum launched a cloud-based cybersecurity platform called Quantum Origin, the world's first commercial product built from quantum computing.

Quantum computing is now set to evolve rapidly.

9. Humans are affecting animal evolution

Humans have been affecting animal evolution directly and indirectly. Studies have shown a sharp rise in tuskless African elephants after years of poaching activities.

This is because poachers killed so many elephants with giant tusks during the Mozambican Civil War from 1977 to 1992, that it was the females without huge tusks that were more likely to pass on their genes.

Before the war, around 20 percent were tuskless and now around half of the female elephants are tuskless.

Apart from killing animals, one of the indirect ways animal evolution is being impacted thanks to humans is how they are dealing with rising temperatures caused by global warming.

A study in Trends in Ecology and Evolution found that bats have been growing bigger wings and rabbits growing longer ears both of these are likely to dissipate more heat into the surrounding air.

Science Advances published more evidence on these lines. Most likely as a result of rising temperatures and changes in rainfall patterns, 77 species of birds from a remote patch in the Amazon rainforest were observed to weight lesser and have longer wings over a period of 40 years.

10. Artificial titanium heart developed

Scientists have been trying to build an artificial heart for over 50 years now. Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) take an estimated 17.9 million lives around the world each year and are the leading causes of deaths globally.

An Australian research team has created BiVACOR, a titanium heart that utilises spinning disc technology.

It doesn't work exactly like a human heart but tries to surpass evolution with a better mechanism to pump blood around the human body. It has a circular pump suspended between magnets in an artificial heart made of titanium.

A full human trial is yet to be conducted. Till now, it has been tested only temporarily on heart transplant patients and has undergone animal trials.
Read: Scientists discover new jaw muscle after dissecting 12 human cadaver heads Read: 30 Unbelievable facts about human body

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10 science breakthroughs of 2021 that you need to know about

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Here are 10 science breakthroughs of 2021 that you need to know about. Science news of 2021 was dominated by Covid-19 with good reason and the next year may also likely be the same. But the pandemic wasn't all that science was dealing with in 2021.

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More room for improvement: First pig-to-human heart transplant failure

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More room for improvement: First pig-to-human heart transplant failure

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One of the recent groundbreaking discoveries in science is the transplant of a gene-edited pig heart to a patient who was on the verge of dying, which was deemed as a success — at first. However, the first person to receive a heart transplant from a pig died two months after the innovative experiment.

According to transplant specialists, it carried a porcine virus, which may have sabotaged the experiment that led to the patient's death. The patient's heart was infected with porcine cytomegalovirus, a preventable illness associated with severe consequences on transplants. The infection was a likely contributor to the patient's death and a possible explanation for why the heart did not endure longer. Nonetheless, the patient's son expressed gratitude to the hospital for offering the last-ditch trial with the hope that it would aid future efforts to alleviate the organ shortage. Medical doctors have also gained invaluable insights from the experiment, which provides them with more room for improvement.

The next challenge is whether scientists have learned enough from Bennett's and other recent trials with gene-edited pig organs to persuade the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to allow a clinical trial, perhaps with a kidney that isn't immediately lethal if it fails.

References
A man who got the 1st pig heart transplant has died after 2 months. (2022, March 9). NPR. https://www.npr.org/2022/03/09/1085420836/pig-heart-transplant
Regalado, A. (2022, May 4). The gene-edited pig heart given to a dying patient was infected with a pig virus. Technology Review. https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/05/04/1051725/xenotransplant-patient-died-received-heart-infected-with-pig-virus/

- Langomes, K.A.

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New imaging method makes tiny robots visible in the body

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New imaging method makes tiny robots visible in the body

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The researchers from Max Planck ETH Centre for Learning Systems have now developed an imaging technology that detects cell-sized microrobots individually and at high resolution in a live body for the first time.

Tiny robots have the potential to drastically alter future medical treatments, wherein they may travel through a patient's vasculature to eradicate tumors, battle infections, or offer accurate diagnostic information completely noninvasively.

Although there are lots of obstacles the researchers had to overcome before this becomes a reality.

Microrobots must be no bigger than a biological cell in order to conduct the required medical procedures safely and reliably. If the microrobots are to travel through the tiniest blood arteries undisturbed, they must be comparably tiny. However, their small size renders them undetectable to the naked eye, and research has yet to develop a technology method to identify and monitor the micron-sized robots as they circulate throughout the body.

"Precise visualization and tracking of these tiny devices is essential before this future scenario becomes a reality and microrobots are really deployed in people," said Paul Wrede, a doctoral associate at the Max Planck ETH Center for Learning Systems (CLS).

"Without imaging, microrobotics are virtually blind," says Daniel Razansky, ETH Zurich and University of Zurich Professor of Biomedical Imaging and CLS member. "Real-time, high-resolution imaging is thus crucial for identifying and operating cell-sized microrobots in a living organism," the researchers note. Imaging is also required for evaluating therapeutic interventions done by the robots and ensuring that they completed their tasks correctly. "The inability of the microrobots to deliver real-time input was therefore a substantial impediment to clinical implementation."

The team has now achieved an important breakthrough in efficiently merging microrobotics and imaging, thanks to Metin Sitti, a world-leading microrobotics expert who is also a CLS member as Director at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) and ETH Professor of Physical Intelligence, and other researchers. They used a non-invasive imaging technology to identify and track tiny robots as small as five micrometers in real time in the brain arteries of mice, in a study just published in the scientific journal Science Advances.

Find out more here:
https://ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2022/05/new-imaging-method-makes-tiny-medical-robots-visible-in-the-body.html
https://funancial.news/new-imaging-method-makes-tiny-robots-visible-in-the-body/

References:
Meyer, F. (2022). New imaging method makes tiny robots visible in the body. Phys Org. https://phys.org/news/2022-05-imaging-method-tiny-robots-visible.html

-MTACang

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A breakthrough: Tiny circulating microrobots, which are as small as red blood cells (left picture), were visualised one-by-one in the blood vessels of mice with optoacoustic imaging (right picture). Credit: ETH Zurich / Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems

Microrobots have the potential to revolutionize medicine. Researchers at the Max Planck ETH Centre for Learning Systems have now developed an imaging technique that for the first time recognizes cell-sized microrobots individually and at high resolution in a living organism.

How can a blood clot be removed from the brain without any major surgical intervention? How can a drug be delivered precisely into a diseased organ that is difficult to reach? Those are just two examples of the countless innovations envisioned by the researchers in the field of medical microrobotics. Tiny robots promise to fundamentally change future medical treatments: one day, they could move through patient's vasculature to eliminate malignancies, fight infections or provide precise diagnostic information entirely noninvasively. In principle, so the researchers argue, the circulatory system might serve as an ideal delivery route for the microrobots, since it reaches all organs and tissues in the body.

For such microrobots to be able to perform the intended medical interventions safely and reliably, they must not be larger than a biological cell. In humans, a cell has an average diameter of 25 micrometers-a micrometer is one millionth of a meter. The smallest blood vessels in humans, the capillaries, are even thinner: their average diameter is only 8 micrometers. The microrobots must be correspondingly small if they are to pass through the smallest blood vessels unhindered. However, such a small size also makes them invisible to the naked eye -and science too, has not yet found a technical solution to detect and track the micron-sized robots individually as they circulate in the body.
Tracking circulating microrobots for the first time
"Before this future scenario becomes reality and microrobots are actually used in humans, the precise visualization and tracking of these tiny machines is absolutely necessary," says Paul Wrede, who is a doctoral fellow at the Max Planck ETH Center for Learnings Systems (CLS).

"Without imaging, microrobotics is essentially blind," adds Daniel Razansky, Professor of Biomedical Imaging at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich and a member of the CLS. "Real-time, high-resolution imaging is thus essential for detecting and controlling cell-sized microrobots in a living organism." Further, imaging is also a prerequisite for monitoring therapeutic interventions performed by the robots and verifying that they have carried out their task as intended. "The lack of ability to provide real-time feedback on the microrobots was therefore a major obstacle on the way to clinical application."

Together with Metin Sitti, a world-leading microrobotics expert who is also a CLS member as Director at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) and ETH Professor of Physical Intelligence, and other researchers, the team has now achieved an important breakthrough in efficiently merging microrobotics and imaging. In a study just published in the scientific journal Science Advances, they managed for the first time to clearly detect and track tiny robots as small as five micrometers in real time in the brain vessels of mice using a non-invasive imaging technique.

The spherical microrobots consist of silica-based particles and have been coated half with nickel (Ni) and half with gold (Au) and loaded with green-dyed nanobubbles (liposomes). In this way, they can be detected individually with the new optoacoustic imaging technique. Credit: ETH Zurich / MPI-IS

The researchers used microrobots with sizes ranging from 5 to 20 micrometers. The tiniest robots are about the size of red blood cells, which are 7 to 8 micrometers in diameter. This size makes it possible for the intravenously injected microrobots to travel even through the thinnest microcapillaries in the mouse brain.

The researchers also developed a dedicated optoacoustic tomography technology in order to actually detect the tiny robots one by one, in high resolution and in real time. This unique imaging method makes it possible to detect the tiny robots in deep and hard-to-reach regions of the body and brain, which would not have been possible with optical microscopy or any other imaging technique. The method is called optoacoustic because light is first emitted and absorbed by the respective tissue. The absorption then produces tiny ultrasound waves that can be detected and analyzed to result in high-resolution volumetric images.
Janus-faced robots with gold layer
To make the microrobots highly visible in the images, the researchers needed a suitable contrast material. For their study, they therefore used spherical, silica particle-based microrobots with a so-called Janus-type coating. This type of robot has a very robust design and is very well qualified for complex medical tasks. It is named after the Roman god Janus, who had two faces. In the robots, the two halves of the sphere are coated differently. In the current study, the researchers coated one half of the robot with nickel and the other half with gold.

"Gold is a very good contrast agent for optoacoustic imaging," explains Razansky, "without the golden layer, the signal generated by the microrobots is just too weak to be detected." In addition to gold, the researchers also tested the use of small bubbles called nanoliposomes, which contained a fluorescent green dye that also served as a contrast agent. "Liposomes also have the advantage that you can load them with potent drugs, which is important for future approaches to targeted drug delivery," says Wrede, the first author of the study. The potential uses of liposomes will be investigated in a follow-up study.

Furthermore, the gold also allows to minimize the cytotoxic effect of the nickel coating-after all, if in the future microrobots are to operate in living animals or humans, they must be made biocompatible and non-toxic, which is part of an ongoing research. In the present study, the researchers used nickel as a magnetic drive medium and a simple permanent magnet to pull the robots. In follow-up studies, they want to test the optoacoustic imaging with more complex manipulations using rotating magnetic fields.

"This would give us the ability to precisely control and move the microrobots even in strongly flowing blood," says Metin Sitti. "In the present study we focused on visualizing the microrobots. The project was tremendously successful thanks to the excellent collaborative environment at the CLS that allowed combining the expertise of the two research groups at MPI-IS in Stuttgart for the robotic part and ETH Zurich for the imaging part," Sitti concludes.

More information: Paul Wrede et al, Real-time 3D optoacoustic tracking of cell-sized magnetic microrobots circulating in the mouse brain vasculature, Science Advances (2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abm9132

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New imaging method makes tiny robots visible in the body

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Microrobots have the potential to revolutionize medicine. Researchers at the Max Planck ETH Centre for Learning Systems have now developed an imaging technique that for the first time recognizes cell-sized microrobots individually and at high resolution in a living organism.

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Mercury's surface is covered in diamond dust

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Mercury's surface is covered in diamond dust

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While we wouldn't want to live there, it might be worth visiting for a little treasure hunting.

Kevin Cannon explained at the 53rd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, recent simulations of Mercury's surface and impact interactions over the last four billion years have revealed that the surface of the planet might be coated in microscopic diamonds.

Unlike diamonds on Earth, these wouldn't be the large, clear gems we're accustomed to seeing in jewelry. Instead, microscopic diamond dust would have been scattered over the surface.

https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2022/pdf/1557.pdf

https://www.slashgear.com/817901/the-12-coolest-scientific-discoveries-of-march-2022/

- Terence Clarit

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Advances in extended reality have already changed the way we work, live and play, and it’s just getting started.

Extended reality, or XR, is an umbrella category that covers a spectrum of newer, immersive technologies, including virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality.

From gaming to virtual production to product design, XR has enabled people to create, collaborate and explore in computer-generated environments like never before.
- Jayco Eden
https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2022/05/20/what-is-extended-reality/

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Advances in extended reality have already changed the way we work, live and play, and it's just getting started.

Extended reality, or XR, is an umbrella category that covers a spectrum of newer, immersive technologies, including virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality.

From gaming to virtual production to product design, XR has enabled people to create, collaborate and explore in computer-generated environments like never before.

What Is Extended Reality?

Virtual, augmented and mixed reality are all elements of XR technology.

Virtual reality puts users inside a virtual environment. VR users typically wear a headset that transports them into a virtual world - one moment they're standing in a physical room, and the next they're immersed in a simulated environment.

The latest VR technologies push these boundaries, making these environments look and behave more like the real world. They're also adding support for additional senses, including touch, sound and smell.

With VR, gamers can become fully immersed in a video game, designers and customers can review building projects to finalize details prior to construction, and retailers can test virtual displays before committing to a physical one.

Augmented reality is when a rendered image is overlaid onto the real world. The mobile game Pokémon GO famously brought AR to the mainstream by showing computer-rendered monsters standing on lawns and sidewalks as players roam their neighborhoods.

AR graphics are visible through cell phones, tablets and other devices, bringing a new kind of interactive experience to users. Navigating directions, for example, can be improved with AR. Rather than following a 2D map, a windshield can superimpose directions over one's view of the road, with simulated arrows directing the driver exactly where to turn.

Mixed reality is a seamless integration of the real world and rendered graphics, which creates an environment in which users can directly interact with the digital and physical worlds together.

With MR, real and virtual objects blend, and are presented together within a single display. Users can experience MR environments through a headset, phone or tablet, and can interact with digital objects by moving them around or placing them in the physical world.

There are two types of MR:

Mixing virtual objects into the real world - for instance, where a user sees the real world through cameras in a VR headset with virtual objects seamlessly mixed into the view.

Mixing real-world objects into virtual worlds - for example, a camera view of a VR participant mixed into the virtual world, like watching a VR gamer playing in a virtual world.

The History of XR

To understand how far XR has come, consider its origins in VR.

VR began in the federal sector, where it was used to train people in flight simulators. The energy and automotive design industries were also early adopters. These simulation and visualization VR use cases required large supercomputers. It also needed dedicated spaces, including powerwalls, which are ultra-high-resolution displays, and VR CAVEs, which are empty rooms that have the VR environment projected on each surface, from the walls to the ceiling.

For decades, VR remained unaffordable for most users, and the small VR ecosystem was mainly composed of large institutions and academic researchers.

But early in the previous decade, several key component technologies reached a tipping point, which precipitated the launch of the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift head-mounted displays (HMDs), along with the SteamVR runtime.

Individuals could now purchase personal HMDs to experience great immersive content. And they could drive those HMDs and experiences from an individual PC or workstation with a powerful GPU.

Suddenly, VR was accessible to millions of individuals, and a large ecosystem quickly sprung up, filled with innovation and enthusiasm.

In recent years, a new wave of VR innovation started with the launch of all-in-one (AIO) headsets. Previously, fully immersive VR experiences required a physical connection to a powerful PC. The HMD couldn't operate as a self-contained device, as it had no operating system and no ability to compute the image.

But with AIO headsets, users gained access to a dedicated device with a simple setup that could deliver fully tracked VR anywhere, anytime. Coupled with the innovation of VR streaming technology, users could now experience powerful VR environments, even while on the go.

Latest Trends in XR

High-quality XR is becoming increasingly accessible. Consumers worldwide are purchasing AIOs to experience XR, from immersive gaming to remote learning to virtual training. Large enterprises are adding XR into their workflows and design processes. XR drastically improves design implementation with the inclusion of a digital twin.

And one of today's biggest trends is streaming XR experiences through 5G from the cloud. This removes the need to be tethered to workstations or limit experiences to a single space.

By streaming over 5G from the cloud, people can use XR devices and get the computational power to run XR experiences from a data center, regardless of location and time. Advanced solutions like NVIDIA CloudXR are making immersive streaming more accessible, so more XR users can experience high-fidelity environments from anywhere.

AR is also becoming more common. After Pokémon GO became a household name, AR emerged in a number of additional consumer-focused areas. Many social media platforms added filters that users could overlay on their faces. Organizations in retail incorporated AR to showcase photorealistic rendered 3D products, enabling customers to place these products in a room and visualize it in any space.

Plus, enterprises in various industries like architecture, manufacturing, healthcare and more are using the technology to vastly improve workflows and create unique, interactive experiences. For example, architects and design teams are integrating AR for construction project monitoring, so they can see onsite progress and compare it to digital designs.

And though it's still fairly new, MR is developing in the XR space. Trends are shown through the emergence of many new headsets built for MR, including the Varjo XR-3. With MR headsets, professionals in engineering, design, simulation and research can develop and interact with their 3D models in real life.

The Future of XR

As XR technology advances, another technology is propelling users into a new era: artificial intelligence.

AI will play a major role in the XR space, from virtual assistants helping designers in VR to intelligent AR overlays that can walk individuals through do-it-yourself projects.

For example, imagine wearing a headset and telling the content what to do through natural speech and gestures. With hands-free and speech-driven virtual agents at the ready, even non-experts will be able to create amazing designs, complete exceedingly complex projects and harness the capabilities of powerful applications.

Platforms like NVIDIA Omniverse have already changed how users create 3D simulations and virtual worlds. Omniverse allows users from across the globe to develop and operate digital twin simulations. The platform provides users with the flexibility to portal into the physically accurate, fully ray-traced virtual world through 2D monitors, or their preferred XR experience, so they can experience vast virtual worlds immersively.

Entering the next evolution of XR, the possibilities are virtually limitless.

Learn more and see how organizations can integrate XR with NVIDIA technologies.
Featured blog image includes KPF and Lenovo.

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Advances in extended reality have already changed the way we work, live and play, and it's just getting started. Extended reality, or XR, is an umbrella category that covers a spectrum of newer, immersive technologies, including virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality.

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Shark Intestines Function Like Tesla Valves - Dave Domingo

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Shark Intestines Function Like Tesla Valves - Dave Domingo

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Intestines do the same thing: they absorb nutrients from meals and flush out trash that shouldn't be going out the same way it came in.

Intestines exist in a variety of sizes and forms in animals. Tubular intestines are found in most animals, including humans, and require muscular contractions to propel food through. However, depending on the species, shark intestines gently shuttle digested food through spring-shaped spirals or nested funnels to extract every last calorie and eliminate the remainder.

Researchers discovered this year that these spiralling organs had a design and function similar to Tesla valves. The twists, curves, and funnels help fluids go ahead, which might offer a more energy-efficient digestive method.

"Sharks have all these minor modifications to the Tesla valve design that might be making a difference."

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2284554-sharks-spiral-shaped-intestines-resemble-a-nikola-tesla-invention/#:~:text=Sharks%20have%20spiral%2Dshaped%20intestines,squeezing%20a%20tube%20of%20toothpaste.

- Dave Domingo

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Every patient treated for rectal cancer with an experimental immunotherapy drug went into remission, in findings that researchers have hailed as a breakthrough.

All 14 patients who were given the new drug, dostarlimab, were found after six months to have no trace of cancer. Researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering cancer center in New York could find no sign of the disease through physical examination, endoscopies, MRIs or other scans.

The researchers described the results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, as “breakthrough findings” and said they were astonished by the universal success rate. “I believe this is the first time this has happened in the history of cancer,” Dr Luis Diaz, a leading member of the team, told the New York Times.

This is a very exciting step towards finding a cure of Colorectal Cancer. When I saw this news, I was jumping up and down for joy.  This drug is one of the best breakthroughs for rectal cancer thusfar. This means that for patients with specific types of rectal cancer, it allowed them to avoid further surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. This drug is known as a checkpoint inhibitor. It actually works by removing the shield that cancer cells put around them. Without the shield, the cancer cells are exposed to the immune system and vulnerable to being destroyed.

The findings fall within one of the most promising areas of frontier experimental cancer research that combines personalised medicine with immunotherapy. The ambition is to train the immune system to destroy cancer cells by helping it detect specific mutations in the genetic makeup of an individual patient’s own tumour.

- ANGELIQUE LIGARAY

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Every patient treated for rectal cancer with an experimental immunotherapy drug went into remission, in findings that researchers have hailed as a breakthrough.

All 14 patients who were given the new drug, dostarlimab, were found after six months to have no trace of cancer. Researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering cancer center in New York could find no sign of the disease through physical examination, endoscopies, MRIs or other scans.

The researchers described the results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, as "breakthrough findings" and said they were astonished by the universal success rate. "I believe this is the first time this has happened in the history of cancer," Dr Luis Diaz, a leading member of the team, told the New York Times.

For the patients involved - and potentially for other patients with specific types of rectal cancer who come after them - the outcome was dramatic. It allowed them to avoid further surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, proceeding under observation alone.

That could have far-reaching implications, particularly for young adults.

"Surgery and radiation have permanent effects on fertility, sexual health, bowel and bladder function and the implications for quality of life are substantial, especially in those where standard treatment would impact childbearing potential," another lead researcher, Dr Andrea Cercek, said. "As the incidence of rectal cancer is rising in young adults, this approach can have a major impact."

Dostarlimab has been developed by the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline. The drug was given to the patients every three to six months at a cost of $11,000 each dose.

The drug is known as a checkpoint inhibitor. It works by removing the shield that cancer cells put around them that blocks T-cells in the body's immune system from attacking them.

Without the shield, the cancer cells are exposed to the immune system and vulnerable to being destroyed.

The findings fall within one of the most promising areas of frontier experimental cancer research that combines personalised medicine with immunotherapy. The ambition is to train the immune system to destroy cancer cells by helping it detect specific mutations in the genetic makeup of an individual patient's own tumour.

The Sloan Kettering researchers designed the clinical trial to apply to a specific sub-group of renal cancer patients. All 14 patients had a rare mutation in their tumour cells known as "mismatch repair deficiency", meaning that the cells' DNA repair system is not working.

As a result, the cancer cells produce proteins with higher levels of genetic errors in them which makes them more visible to the body's immune system once the shield has been removed.

The scientists involved in the dostarlimab trial are at pains not to present the findings as a cure. The patients will be kept under close medical assessment to see how long they remain cancer-free.

But they are optimistic about these first results. Diaz said the new treatment would be "practice-changing" for people with the relevant type of rectal cancer.

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Rectal cancer: researchers hail 'breakthrough' experimental treatment

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Every patient treated for rectal cancer with an experimental immunotherapy drug went into remission, in findings that researchers have hailed as a breakthrough. All 14 patients who were given the new drug, dostarlimab, were found after six months to have no trace of cancer.

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Smart hearing ai
Smart hearing aids: Starkey launches the first AI-enabled device in the UK

Starkey’s Livio AI, which was recently launched in the UK, is a hearing aid innovation. The rechargeable device marks a transition “from hearing aids being a standalone device, to a connected one…to multi-purpose, multi-function [devices],” according to Starkey chief innovation officer and audiologist Dave Fabry, speaking at a launch event for the product in London on 20 March.

It is described by the company as a ‘healthable’ device, which combines the best hearing audio quality of any Starkey device alongside the use of sensors and AI to monitor both body and brain health, which can be tracked from the linked Thrive app.

Source: https://www.medicaldevice-network.com/analysis/hearing-aid-innovations-2019-starkey-ai-enabled-device/

~CB TEQUIL

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Smart hearing aids: Starkey launches the first AI-enabled device in the UK

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Starkey has revolutionised the smart hearing aid market with its new hearing aid innovation the Livio AI based on both sensors and AI technology.

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A Cancer-Defying Gecko and His 900 Babies Could Inspire New Melanoma Treatments

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A Cancer-Defying Gecko and His 900 Babies Could Inspire New Melanoma Treatments

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At an auction in 2015, reptile breeder purchased a rare pair of “lemon frost” geckos. But when he started breeding the male gecko, Mr. Frosty, he noticed many of the offspring had small, white tumors growing on their skin. Nearly 80 percent of lemon frost geckos—a type of genetic morph bred for their sunny color—will develop this skin cancer that arises from pigment-producing cells called iridophores.

geneticist Longhua Guo happened to reach out to Sykes to study gecko morphs and decided to look into the genetic mystery of the lemon frost geckos. Guo and his team found a gene called SPINT1, which is linked to skin cancer in humans, is also responsible for both the geckos’ golden glow and their tumors. Studying SPINT1 further could help scientists better understand how certain cancers develop in humans—and perhaps lead to new ways to treat the illness.

sources: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/reptiles-frosty-yellow-skin-may-reveal-future-treatments-skin-cancers-humans-180978075/

-KCKanen

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Leopard geckos, native to the Middle East and Asia, are the most common reptiles kept as pets. The lizards are easily bred in captivity, and breeders often create morphs, or variants, with unique color patterns that occasionally sell for thousands of dollars.

When reptile breeder Steve Sykes saw two leopard gecko morphs with an unusual, lemon-sorbet hue and small, black dots at an auction in 2015, he purchased them on the spot, reports Christie Wilcox for The Scientist. (The pair sold for a whopping $10,000.)

Sykes named the reptiles Mr. and Ms. Frosty because they belong to a rare variety of so-called "lemon frost" leopard geckos. When observing their offspring, Sykes noticed small, white lumps growing on some of baby lizards' bodies, reports Maddie Bender for Scientific American.

As Sykes bred Mr. Frosty with other female lizards, he soon created a colony of more than 900 babies, reports Maria Temming for Science News. Out of all Mr. Frosty's offspring, 80 percent developed tumors before they were five years old.

Then, Sykes received an email from Longhua Guo, a geneticist at the University of California, Los Angeles. Guo and his team were interested in learning more about the genetics behind color variations in geckos. Instead, Sykes immediately suggested that Guo's team investigate what was going on with his lemon frost geckos, The Scientists reports.

Now, in a new study published in this month in PLOS Genetics, the researchers found a gene linked to melanoma in humans is also responsible for both the lemon frost leopard geckos' buttery hue and their deadly tumors. With further research, Mr. Frosty and his descendants may help scientists better understand skin cancer progression in humans and design future treatment methods, The Scientist reports.

Through genetic testing, the researchers found that the lizards had developed a mutation on one copy of the gene SPINT1, which has previously been linked to cancer in humans, The Scientist reports.

"It turns out that SPINT1 can explain what is going on here because SPINT1 has been reported in zebrafish, in mice, and humans. [Mutations in the gene] are associated with skin-cell tumors," Guo tells Scientific American.

The mutated gene causes an overproduction of iridophores, or pigment-producing cells in lizard scales, Scientific American reports. Iridophore overproduction gives the lizards their unique pastel color, but seems to cause tumors.

However, one mystery remains: some lizards developed large tumors that quickly grew within months, while others had slow-growing, small tumors that developed over the course of several years. (And some, like Mr. Frosty himself, never develop visible tumors at all.) Guo and his team suspect other genes may influence the more rapid form of tumor progression, reports The Scientist.

Per Scientific American, a tumor suppressor gene may be preventing the spread of cancer in some cases, which could be an intriguing avenue for future study, says conservation genomics expert Lara Urban of the University of Otago in New Zealand, who was not involved with the study.

"I do think it will have an impact on cancer research, in that we understand the conservedness of this [ SPINT1 genetic] pathway a little bit better now," Urban tells Scientific American. "It will also be a potential new model organism for studying the development of skin cancer and contributing to actual therapeutic development."

To further study the tumors and possible treatments, Guo hopes to culture cancerous iridophores in the lab, The Scientist reports.

As for Mr. Frosty and his lineage, Sykes donated the geckos to science and no longer breeds lemon frost leopard geckos as pets.

"We've stopped breeding lemon frosts, and we have no intentions to start it up again in the future," Sykes tells Scientific American. "My goal is to produce beautiful, perfect, healthy geckos. And it doesn't appear that it's possible to separate the lemon frost gene from this tumor phenotype."

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This Gecko Named Mr. Frosty and His 900 Babies May Inspire Human Skin Cancer Treatments

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Leopard geckos, native to the Middle East and Asia, are the most common reptiles kept as pets. The lizards are easily bred in captivity, and breeders often create morphs, or variants, with unique color patterns that occasionally sell for thousands of dollars.

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The latest addition to the diagnostician's tool best is a small piece of plastic filled with worms. Specifically, the nematode C. elegans.

Nematodes are relatively simple creatures, so simple that they are a favored model organism for all kinds of research (per NCBI), but they have an advanced sense of smell which they use to navigate the world. That sense of smell is apparently fine-tuned for sniffing out certain types of cancers. Researchers working with the National Research Foundation of Korea put the worms to work detecting cultured lung cancer cells. Their device, which they call "worm-on-a-chip" consists of a small rectangular piece of elastomer with a chamber carved out of its interior. The worms are placed in the middle and have the option to travel down one of two paths. On one end there are healthy cells, on the other end, the cells are cancerous. Researchers found that the worms successfully moved toward the cancerous sample about 70% of the time.

Source: https://www.slashgear.com/817901/the-12-coolest-scientific-discoveries-of-march-2022/?utm_campaign=clip

-H.A. Matsuura

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Human blood stem cells grown in the lab for the first time

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Human blood stem cells grown in the lab for the first time

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For the first time, the stem cells that form human blood have been grown in the laboratory. These may one day be utilized to treat patients with blood disorders like leukemia using their own cells rather than bone marrow transplants from a donor. Additionally, they could be utilized to generate blood for transfusions. Carolina Guibentif at the University of Cambridge, although not involved in the research, says that this medical breakthrough could help patients receive blood transfusion without needing a donor.

Blood stem cells are present in the bone marrow of a healthy adult, where they renew the supply of red and white blood cells, as well as platelets. "They are sort of master cells," explains Harvard Medical School's George Daley. When these cells do not function properly, they are unable to maintain an appropriate blood cell supply. As a result, the body's tissues receive insufficient oxygen. This can result in catastrophic sickness if it affects vital organs such as the heart. Chemotherapy for leukemia and other malignancies can potentially destroy blood stem cells.

So, how did they manage to create blood stem cells in the laboratory?

To make blood stem cells in the laboratory, Daley and his colleagues began with human pluripotent stem cells,  which have the capacity to differentiate into practically any other type of body cell. The team then looked for substances that could induce these cells to differentiate into blood stem cells. The researchers found proteins that control the genes involved in blood production and applied them to their stem cells after examining the genes involved in blood formation. They tried numerous combinations of the proteins and discovered five that acted synergistically to promote the development of their stem cells into blood stem cells. When these were injected into mice, they produced new red and white blood cells, as well as platelets.

Reference:
Hamzelou, J. (2017). Human blood stem cells grown in the lab for the first time. NewScientist.  https://www.newscientist.com/article/2131517-human-blood-stem-cells-grown-in-the-lab-for-the-first-time/

RABRonato

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Burger/Phanie/REX/Shutterstock

The stem cells that produce our blood have been created in the lab for the first time. These could one day be used to treat people who have blood diseases and leukaemia with their own cells, rather than bone marrow transplants from a donor. They could also be used to create blood for transfusions.

"This is a very big deal," says Carolina Guibentif at the University of Cambridge, who was not involved in the research. "If you can develop [these cells] in the lab in a safe way and in high enough numbers, you wouldn't be dependent on donors."

In a healthy adult, blood stem cells are found in bone marrow, where they replenish the supply of red and white blood cells and platelets. "They are sort of master cells," says George Daley at Harvard Medical School.

When these cells don't work properly, they fail to maintain an adequate supply of blood cells. As a result, not enough oxygen reaches the body's tissues. This can cause serious disease if organs such as the heart are affected. Blood stem cells can also be wiped out by chemotherapy for leukaemia and other cancers.

People with these disorders tend to be treated with bone marrow - complete with blood stem cells - from a healthy donor. The difficulty is finding a match. There is a one in four chance of achieving this from a healthy sibling, but the odds are slashed to one in a million if a stranger needs to be found, says Daley.

Making cells

In an attempt to create blood stem cells in the lab, Daley and his colleagues started with human pluripotent stem cells - which have the potential to form almost any other type of body cell.

The team then searched for chemicals that might encourage these to become blood stem cells.

After studying the genes involved in blood production, the researchers identified proteins that control these genes and applied them to their stem cells.

They tested many combinations of the proteins, and found five that worked together to encourage their stem cells to become blood stem cells. When they put these into mice, they went on to produce new red and white blood cells and platelets. "It's very cool," says Daley. "We're very excited about the results."

A separate team has achieved the same feat with stem cells taken from adult mice. Raphael Lis at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York and his colleagues started with cells taken from the walls of the animals' lungs, based on the idea that similar cells in an embryo eventually form the body's first blood stem cells. The team identified a set of four factors that could encourage these lung stem cells to make them.

Big step forward

Both sets of results represent a "breakthrough", says Guibentif. "This is something people have been trying to achieve for a long time," she says. By working with adult mouse epithelial cells, Lis and his team show that the feat could potentially be achieved with cells taken from an adult person. Daley's team used human stem cells that could in theory be made from skin cells, bolstering the prospect that lab-made human blood could be next.

The lab-made stem cells are not quite ready to be used in people just yet, says Daley. Although all of his mice were healthy throughout the experiments, there is a risk that the cells could mutate and cause cancer. And the cells are not quite as efficient at making blood as those found in the body.

But once Daley and his team have honed their procedure, they might be able to make platelets and red blood cells for hospital use. These cell types don't have a nucleus, so are unable to divide and potentially cause cancer. He hopes this procedure could be used within the next couple of years.

Eventually, Daley hopes his cells could be used to create whole blood suitable for transfusions. Not only would such a supply be more reliable than that from donors, but it would also be free of disease. "When new pathogens like Zika pop up, you have to make sure that blood is safe," says Daley. "We'd be able to have more quality control."

Journal references: Nature, DOI: 10.1038/nature22326; Nature, DOI: 10.1038/nature22370

Read more: Synthetic bone implant can make blood cells in its marrow;
Lab-grown blood given to volunteer for the first time

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Human blood stem cells grown in the lab for the first time

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The stem cells that produce our blood have been created in the lab for the first time. These could one day be used to treat people who have blood diseases and leukaemia with their own cells, rather than bone marrow transplants from a donor. They could also be used to create blood for transfusions.

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Researchers generate the first complete, gapless sequence of a human genome Date: March 31, 2022Source:National Institutes of Health

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It's been two decades since the Human Genome Project revealed the first draft human genome sequence. A gap-free sequence of our DNA's about 3 billion bases (or "letters") is crucial for researchers to comprehend the full spectrum of human genomic variation and the genetic contributions to particular disorders. The Telomere to Telomere (T2T) consortium featured leaders from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), University of California, Santa Cruz, and University of Washington, Seattle. The work was funded by NHGRI.

With the entire genome sequence, we will have more accurate maps for five chromosome arms, which opens new study avenues. This helps answer questions about chromosome segregation and division. The T2T consortium utilized the now-complete genome sequence as a reference to find nearly 2 million new human genome variations. These research improve our understanding of 622 medically important genes' genetic variations.

"Generating a genuinely complete human genome sequence is a remarkable scientific achievement," stated NHGRI director Eric Green, M.D., Ph.D. "This basic knowledge will support ongoing attempts to grasp the human genome's functional intricacies, enabling genetic investigations of human disease."

The now-complete human genome sequence will be useful for investigations aiming to create comprehensive views of human genetic diversity. These insights are critical for understanding the genetic contributions to particular disorders and for future clinical use of genome sequencing. Many research teams are already using a pre-release version of the human genome sequence.

The entire sequencing builds on the Human Genome Project's 92 percent genome mapping and subsequent study. Deciphering the complicated sequence has taken thousands of researchers years of effort. The sequence is published in Science, with companion publications in other journals.

This last 8% contains many genes and repetitive DNA and is the size of a chromosome. A unique cell line with two identical copies of each chromosome, unlike typical human cells with two slightly different copies, was used to construct the genome sequencing. The novel DNA sequences were mostly found around repeated telomeres and centromeres (long, trailing ends of chromosomes) (dense middle sections of each chromosome).

"Determining the exact sequence of complicated genomic areas has been tough since we received the first draft human genome sequence," stated Evan Eichler, Ph.D., T2T consortium co-chair. "I'm glad we got it done. The full blueprint will change our understanding of human genetic diversity, disease, and evolution."

It costs only a few hundred dollars to sequence a human genome utilizing "short-read" technology that yield several hundred bases of DNA sequence at a time. Short-read techniques alone leave gaps in assembled genomic sequences. Longer DNA sequence reads without compromising accuracy are now possible thanks to huge reductions in DNA sequencing costs.

A decade ago, two new DNA sequencing technologies emerged with substantially longer sequence reads. For example, the Oxford Nanopore DNA sequencing method can read up to 1 million letters of DNA in a single read with moderate accuracy, whereas the PacBio HiFi DNA sequencing method can read roughly 20,000 letters with near-perfect The T2T consortium employed both DNA sequencing technologies to sequence the human genome.

"We have achieved breakthroughs in comprehending the most complex, repeat-rich sections of the human genome," says Karen Miga, Ph.D., co-chair of the T2T consortium and NHGRI-funded researcher at UC Santa Cruz. "I am excited about the next decade of findings concerning these newly discovered locations."

Sequencing a person's entire genome should become less expensive and simpler in the future years, says project co-chair Adam Phillippy, Ph.D.

"We will be able to discover all of the mutations in their DNA and use that information to better manage their healthcare in the future," Phillippy added. "Completing the human genome sequencing was like getting new glasses. Now that we can see everything clearly, we can begin to comprehend its significance."

Some of the key players were early-career researchers from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg. This achievement is reported in six papers in today's Science, as well as in other journals.

For more, visit Genome.gov/T2T and follow @Genome_gov.

Story Source:

Materials provided by National Institutes of Health. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220331151517.htm

MCA~BEBITA

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Quantum computers can do in seconds what the best supercomputers of today would take several days or weeks to process.

Quantum computer uses the laws of quantum physics for incredible processing capabilities which can revolutionize meteorology, cybersecurity, manufacturing, national defense, and much more.

In November 2021, IBM launched its 127-qubit Eagle. This is the most powerful quantum processor yet.

Later, the company Quantinuum launched a cloud-based cybersecurity platform called Quantum Origin, the world’s first commercial product built from quantum computing. Quantum computing is now set to evolve rapidly.

The second announcement IBM made at its Quantum Summit may help towards that goal. The IBM Quantum System Two is designed to work with processors exceeding 1,000 qubits and will feature a more modular design with an overhauled cryogenic platform to optimise cooling performance.

IBM is on track to launch the system by 2023 which will help increase the scale of its chips.

https://www.itpro.co.uk/server-storage/high-performance-computing-hpc/361542/ibm-launches-most-powerful-quantum-chip#:~:text=IBM%20has%20unveiled%20its%20latest,What%20is%20quantum%20computing%3F

AKLSolano

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Artificial meat, often known as cultured or cell-based meat, is made in a lab from animal cells. This kind of food production eliminates the need to raise and farm animals. However, none of these are now commercially available. Artificial meat can be grown in a variety of methods, but the majority of them use adult stem cells from a living animal. Under local anaesthetic, a little muscle sample from a cow is obtained for meat. To release the stem cells, the muscle is sliced into smaller pieces and digested using enzymes. The stem cells are immersed in a broth containing salts, vitamins, carbohydrates, and proteins, as well as growth stimulants, in a large vat known as a bioreactor. Cells can then proliferate rapidly in an oxygen-rich, temperature-controlled environment. With the help of scaffolding material, the stem cells develop into muscle fibers that bunch together. Cultivated meat is made up of the same cell types as animal tissues, grouped in a comparable or same structure, and hence mimics the sensory and nutritional characteristics of traditional meat. In just a few weeks, the meat will be ready for processing or frying.

Reference:
Davies, E. (2021). What is lab grown meat? A scientist explains the taste, production and safety of artificial foods. ScienceFocus. https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/what-is-lab-grown-meat-a-scientist-explains-the-taste-production-and-safety-of-artificial-foods/

Swartz, E. (2022). The science of cultivated meat | GFI. The Good Food Institute. https://gfi.org/science/the-science-of-cultivated-meat/

-KVEAustria

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Slime Mold Stores “Memories” Without Even Having a Brain

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Slime Mold Stores “Memories” Without Even Having a Brain

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Slime molds are described as globby, soil-dwelling amoebas which come in a variety of strange shapes and vivid hues.They can navigate a maze and remember the place of food despite the lack of a brain or the nervous system.

When scientists examined Physarum polycephalum, a bright yellow slime mold, under a microscope, they noticed that the tubes became thicker when they are exposed to food and thinner when they are not. These changes are most likely the result of a chemical signal. The persistence of this imprint in polycephalum's highly dynamic network reorganization led to the idea that the network architecture itself might serve as memories of the past, says one biophysicist, Karen Alim. Similarly, slime mold tubes that locate food grow, while dead ends wither.

Researchers could adapt this type of memory storage and chemical signaling in artificial intelligence without the use of electronics by using protein-based polymers, gels, or other biological materials. As explained by the biophysicist, “making the robots out of responsive material that expands in response to the concentration of signaling molecules would be a direct implementation of the memory mechanism seen in Physarum.”
Such soft robotics, which lack such hardware, could benefit from this.She believes that if the rest of the bot is made of biomaterial, a slime mold–inspired system could be used in situations where toxicity is a concern, such as medical applications or water processing.

Source:
Lallensack, R. (2021, December 29). Ten Scientific Discoveries From 2021 That May Lead to New Inventions. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/ten-scientific-discoveries-from-2021-that-may-lead-to-new-inventions-180979285/

- AMGeonzon

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Malaria is one of the long-standing illnesses that we have been fighting. RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine (Mosquirix) received WHO's clearance for rollout in October 2021 after 30 years of study. Since 1987, Mosquirix has cost more than USD 750 million to develop and test. Children in high-transmission regions with a high mortality rate have been prioritized. According to WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, "using this vaccine on top of existing malaria prevention tools could save tens of thousands of young lives each year." This has reached the children of Sub-Saharan Africa, where malaria affects more than 260,000 African children under the age of five yearly. The new vaccine, which fights the deadliest of five malaria pathogens, is administered in four shots. This scientific breakthrough has the potential to avert around 5.3 million malaria infections each year.

Sources:
[1] https://www.mmv.org/newsroom/news/first-ever-malaria-vaccine-get-who-recommendation-roll-out?gclid=CjwKCAjw0a-SBhBkEiwApljU0kyq-QH10rHe31BLFh2JT2ZwdFpYczbZzBDoc13j84O2MPQepPfW9hoCC_cQAvD_BwE
[2] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31545128/#:~:text=The%20vaccine%20was%20created%20in,areas%20where%20mortality%20is%20high.
[3] https://www.who.int/news/item/06-10-2021-who-recommends-groundbreaking-malaria-vaccine-for-children-at-risk
[4] https://www.indiatvnews.com/news/world/malaria-vaccine-for-children-who-approved-vaccine-739536

MGDSSingh

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Highly efficient modulation doping: A path toward superior organic thermoelectric devices

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Highly efficient modulation doping: A path toward superior organic thermoelectric devices

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Researchers have introduce a new path towards superior organic thermoelectric devices: highly efficient modulation doping of highly ordered organic semiconductor.

Can you image charging your mobile phone by simply using your body heat? It may still sound rather futuristic, but thermoelectric certainly can do. Thermoelectric is all about transforming heat into useful energy, mostly using inorganic materials.

Because of their mechanical flexibility, light-weight and low thermal conductivity, organic semiconductors have emerged as a promising material system especially for flexible thermoelectric applications. Efficient doping for charge-carrier creation is the key in thermoelectric device performance. Conventional bulk doping typically introduces disorder at high doping concentration limiting the electrical conductivity. "In our study, we employed the modulation-doping approach to highly ordered organic thin films, where the dopant impurity is separated from the conduction channel. With this method, we are able to achieve highly efficient doping even at high doping densities without influencing the charge transport in the thin films," explains first author Dr. Shu-Jen Wang from the Institute of Applied Physics at TU Dresden.

The team around Prof. Karl Leo investigated the charge and thermoelectric transport in modulation-doped large-area rubrene thin-film crystals with different crystal phases. They were able to show that modulation doping allows achieving superior doping efficiencies even for high doping densities, when conventional bulk doping runs into the reserve regime. Modulation-doped orthorhombic rubrene achieves much improved thermoelectric power factors. "Our results show that modulation doping together with high-mobility crystalline organic semiconductor films is a novel strategy for achieving high-performance organic thermoelectric. The main advantage of the modulation doping technique is the avoidance of ionized impurity scattering in the highly ordered undoped narrow bandgap semiconductor allowing both carrier concentration and mobility to be independently maximized," states Shu-Jen Wang and Prof. Karl Leo adds: "Our work paves new ways to achieve flexible thermoelectric devices which allow to directly generate electrical power from heat in an elegant way and efficient way. We believe our work will stimulate further work on high performance organic thermoelectric using the modulation doping approach with high mobility organic semiconductors."

References:
Highly efficient modulation doping: A path toward superior organic thermoelectric devices - PubMed. (2022, April 1). PubMed; pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35353575/

-RHROBLE

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To develop a coronavirus vaccine, synthetic biologists try to outdo nature

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Artificial Proteins Never Seen in the Natural World Are Becoming New COVID Vaccines and Medicines

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Artificial Proteins Never Seen in the Natural World Are Becoming New COVID Vaccines and Medicines

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Covid-19 virus has leave a permanent mark in the world of science where the next generation approaches are necessary for the future prevention of COVID. Scientists have collaborated in developing a way in using artificial proteins as becoming new COVID Vaccines and Medicines.

Scientists are now forging biochemical tools that could transform our world. With these tools, we can use proteins to build nanobots that can engage infectious diseases in single-particle combat, or send signals throughout the body, or dismantle toxic molecules like tiny repo units, or harvest light.

Although protein vaccines are not yet in widespread use for COVID-19, late-stage clinical-trial data so far look promising, demonstrating strong protection with fewer side effects than other COVID-19 shots typically cause.

With all due respect to nature, synthetic biologists believe they can do better. Using computers, they are designing new, self-assembling protein nanoparticles studded with viral proteins, called antigens: these porcupine-like particles would be the guts of a vaccine. The first-generation COVID vaccines, including the mRNA vaccines that have been such lifesavers, work by introducing the virus’s spike into the body, without a functional coronavirus attached, so the immune system can learn to recognize the RBD and rally its troops. A receptor-binding domain (RBD) is a key part of a virus located on its ‘spike’ domain that allows it to dock to body receptors to gain entry into cells and lead to infection. These are also the primary targets in the prevention and treatment of viral infections, including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – the virus that causes COVID-19.

References:

Jacobsen R. (2021). Artificial Proteins Never Seen in the Natural World Are Becoming New COVID Vaccines and Medicines. Scientific American. Retrieved from: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/artificial-proteins-never-seen-in-the-natural-world-are-becoming-new-covid-vaccines-and-medicines/

Additional sources:

https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/09/coronavirus-scientists-play-legos-with-proteins-to-build-next-gen-vaccine/

- AGAManatad

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Artificial hearts made from magnets and titanium could save many lives

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Artificial hearts made from magnets and titanium could save many lives

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The first artificial heart implantation was conducted in 1969 at the Texas Heart Institute, in Houston. When the patient survived for 64 hours without the heart he was born with, it was seen as a success; hopes were high that artificial heart transplants would become commonplace in the decades to come. But it simply hasn’t happened. Over half a century later, cardiac doctors are seeing more patients with heart failure every year, but are still waiting for a device that can reliably do the job of the organ beating away constantly in our chests.

Since 2019, BiVACOR has been working with NASA, using their expertise in building ultra-reliable hardware for situations where failure means certain death. The device has been tested in a cow, which reportedly not only remained alive, but was also able to run on a treadmill, as well as other animals. And last year, after decades of development, doctors temporarily fitted BiVACOR devices into human patients undergoing heart transplant operations, as a first step towards human trials. Custom-made devices, tailored to the patients’ anatomical dimensions, were fitted to see if they’d work, before real donor hearts were implanted.

The company is now working towards its first proper human trials. The plan is to implant the devices into patients who can’t find a suitable heart donor, for three months, and monitor how they perform. Long term, it’s hoped that BiVACOR hearts can replace the total function of the patients’ hearts and offer hope to the millions of people who are waiting or unsuitable for heart transplants. If successful, it will end one of the great challenges of biomedical engineering.

Reference:
Artificial hearts made from magnets and titanium could save many lives. (n.d.). BBC Science Focus Magazine. Retrieved March 28, 2022, from https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/artificial-hearts-made-from-magnets-and-titanium-could-save-many-lives/#:~:text=The%20first%20artificial%20heart%20implantation

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-JBABayless

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Artificial hearts made from magnets and titanium could save many lives

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The revolutionary design, which was first patched together using plumbing supplies, could begin human trials soon.

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One of the technology that is abundant in our society is transportation which makes moving from one place to another convenient. Unfortunately, due to it being powered by fuel, it is one of major contributor to our carbon emissions which also leads to air pollution.

Luckily, there is a new trend in the automotive industry to try to address that problem which is the rise of electric vehicles. Since it has no tailpipe, purely electric vehicles produce little to no carbon dioxide. In a year, one electric car on the roads can save an average 1.5 million grams of carbon dioxide which translates to the reduction of air pollution and improving air quality.

However, this technology is still not widespread and is only starting to roll out in 1st-world countries such as the US and UK. Hopefully, one day it will become mainstream in other countries such as the Philippines so that the worldwide carbon emission from transportation will significantly decrease.

Sources:
https://www.edfenergy.com/for-home/energywise/electric-cars-and-environment#:~:text=The%20major%20benefit%20of%20electric,This%20reduces%20air%20pollution%20considerably.

https://www.theverge.com/2022/2/4/22917801/emissions-new-cars-record-low-uk-electric-vehicles

-BJRaquiza

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Shark Intestines Function Like Tesla Valves

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Shark Intestines Function Like Tesla Valves

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In 1920, Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla designed a device without any moving parts that allows fluid to move in one direction while preventing backflow; but it was forgotten due to some unforeseen circumstances.

Intestines serve a similar purpose: absorb nutrients from food and flush out waste, which certainly shouldn’t go out the way it came in.

Compared to most creatures including human with tubular intestines, Sharks have a spring-shaped spirals or nested funnels intestines. This year, researchers found that these spiraled organs also resemble the design and function of Tesla valves.
The twists, turns and funnels ease fluids forward, which could be an energy-saving form of digestion.

Studying these natural wonders of engineering in shark intestines could improve wastewater filtration systems for removing microplastics.

Source:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/ten-scientific-discoveries-from-2021-that-may-lead-to-new-inventions-180979285/

-KMVLusoc

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In science, inspiration can come from anywhere.

A researcher might wonder about the thrust produced by butterfly wings as they flit through a meadow. Maybe watching squirrels navigate campus trees like parkour artists sparks curiosity about what goes through their furry little minds as they decide to jump from branch to branch.

Others, of course, get their spark from less likely sources: analyzing shark intestines or studying how microscopic water bears walk.

These scenarios and more inspired scientists to take a closer look at the natural world this year, but their influence won't stop there. Discoveries in nature often inspire new designs for water filtration, solar panels, building materials and lots and lots of robots.

Here are ten findings from 2021 that could one day lead to new inventions.

Shark Intestines Function Like Tesla Valves

In 1920, Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla designed a device without any moving parts that allows fluid to move in one direction while preventing backflow. These valvular conduits, as Tesla himself called them, are made of a series of fixed, tear-shaped loops that allow fluid to easily travel through the device, but slow and block any returning liquids. He made the valves as part of a ​​new steam engine he was working on, but filed for bankruptcy several months later, leaving the patent forgotten for decades.

Intestines serve a similar purpose: absorb nutrients from food and flush out waste, which certainly shouldn't go out the way it came in.

In the animal kingdom, intestines come in all shapes and sizes. Most creatures-including humans-have tubular intestines that require muscle contractions to push food through. But shark intestines slowly move digested meals through spring-shaped spirals or nested funnels, depending on the species, to eke out every last calorie and get rid of the rest.

This year, researchers found that these spiraled organs also resemble the design and function of Tesla valves. The twists, turns and funnels ease fluids forward, which could be an energy-saving form of digestion.

"Sharks have all these different little tweaks to the Tesla valve design that could be making them more efficient," study author Samantha Leigh, an animal physiologist at California State University, Dominguez Hills, told New Scientist in July.

Studying these natural wonders of engineering could improve wastewater filtration systems for removing microplastics. "We plan on doing work this upcoming year to determine how effective the different morphologies are at filtering out various size particles," Leigh tells Smithsonian via email. "Depending on the results, we might be able to 'tweak' the spiral intestine design to make filters that are as effective as possible at filtering out microplastics from storm [or] wastewater."

Squirrels Can Teach Robots a Lesson About Agility and Recovery

When navigating treetops, squirrels will risk a long-distance leap if there's a sturdy branch to land on. But even if their next stop is flimsy, a squirrel's expert-level recovery skills-possibly developed from past mistakes-almost always help them stick the landing.

These two lessons from our fuzzy friends could be useful in designing how agile robots analyze a target to jump toward and how they recoup missed marks, according to research published in August.

"Like squirrels, the next generation of fast, agile legged robots could perceive opportunities to exploit specific aspects of the world around them that directly complement their own capabilities," study author Nathaniel Hunt, a biomechanics engineer at the University of Nebraska, says via email. "Sensors and perception may be designed to directly identify only the critical information that supports movement decisions and control while ignoring a huge amount of irrelevant information."

To learn more about how squirrels successfully navigate from branch to branch, scientists put wild fox squirrels to the test on an obstacle course in a eucalyptus grove on the University of California, Berkeley campus. The team analyzed how the squirrels altered their jumps depending on branch flexibility-timing their launch a bit earlier-and how they geared up for distance and height variation-twisting mid-air to find something to bounce off of to give them a boost. After going through a tricky jump a few times, they eventually nailed the stunt with ease.

Engineers designing robots for "inspection and maintenance, working in the home, and even exploration" can learn a few things from these bushy-tailed rodents, explains Hunt.

"As robots move out of laboratories and start to do work in the real world, somehow they have to deal with the complexity of interacting with different surfaces and objects, various materials that are hard or soft, smooth or rough, and they must react appropriately when they bump into something, lose traction or some other unexpected thing happens," he says.

Scavenger Beetles Walk Upside-Down Beneath the Water's Surface

Thanks to surface tension, spiders, ants, snails and lizards can all walk on water, but water scavenger beetles perform a trickier feat. These bugs flip upside-down and scuttle along just beneath the water's surface -as if they're clinging to the underside of a glass table.

"The moment I realized the beetle was moving across the underside of the water's surface, I knew I had found something truly bizarre," says behavioral biologist John Gould, per Live Science.

In the first study to analyze this skill in depth, researchers filmed the insects' inverted crawling technique. These beetles are known to trap air bubbles with their leg hairs to keep them oxygenated, but video footage shows this behavior may also keep them afloat and pinned to the surface. The bubble likely gives the bug enough support to put some pressure on the water-air boundary without breaking through. The beetle's footsteps even push up "tiny hills" of water along the surface as they go, Gould tells Science News.

Scientists still have plenty of questions about the physiology of the beetle itself, like how its foot anatomy affects this skill or whether different parts of its body are water resistant. Studying the scavenger beetle's talents could inspire tiny, upside-down surfing aquatic robots, Gould says via email.

Some water-skimming micro-robots already exist, and engineers are also building bots that can move between terrestrial and aquatic environments. However, current models require "multiple locomotion styles or inhibit the locomotion in one environment for the sake of the other," Gould says. A beetle-bot could eliminate the need for hybrid models because the device would walk on land the same way it can walk underwater. "We believe that this could further advance robot locomotive capabilities for military or search and rescue purposes," he adds.

Not only could the beetle in the study move beneath the surface, it could also remain motionless in one spot. A beetle-inspired aquatic adhesive or structural design could also be a solution for keeping objects at the surface of the water to measure vibrations, take temperature readings or collect other data.

"It could be possible to synthesize materials which can exploit this feat and remain passively at the water's surface without the expenditure of energy," Gould says. "Devices made of these materials could remain at the surface of the water while remaining entirely submerged and without piercing through or disrupting the water's surface, unlike other devices which require a flotation device that sits above the water."

A Cancer-Defying Gecko and His 900 Babies Could Inspire New Melanoma Treatments

At an auction in 2015, reptile breeder Steve Sykes purchased a rare pair of "lemon frost" geckos for $10,000. But when he started breeding the male gecko, Mr. Frosty, he noticed many of the offspring had small, white tumors growing on their skin. Nearly 80 percent of lemon frost geckos-a type of genetic morph bred for their sunny color-will develop this skin cancer that arises from pigment-producing cells called iridophores.

University of California, Los Angeles geneticist Longhua Guo happened to reach out to Sykes to study gecko morphs and decided to look into the genetic mystery of the lemon frost geckos. Guo and his team found a gene called SPINT1, which is linked to skin cancer in humans, is also responsible for both the geckos' golden glow and their tumors. Studying SPINT1 further could help scientists better understand how certain cancers develop in humans-and perhaps lead to new ways to treat the illness.

Guo would like to "try culturing the cancerous iridophores to develop a new cell line for investigating tumor pathways as well as potential treatments," per The Scientist.

Speaking with Scientific American in June, Lara Urban, a genome researcher at the University of Otago in New Zealand who was not involved in the study, says studying how the gene is expressed in geckos that never develop cancer could be one path for future study.

"I do think it will have an impact on cancer research, in that we understand the conservedness of this [SPINT1 genetic] pathway a little bit better now," Urban says. "It will also be a potential new model organism for studying the development of skin cancer and contributing to actual therapeutic development."

Scientists Watch Butterfly Wings Grow Scales for the First Time

For the first time ever, MIT researchers peered into a chrysalis while the colorful scales on a butterfly wing formed-and captured continuous images of the process, according to a study published this month in the journal PNAS. Studying this process could one day inspire new multi-functional materials in vibrant colors that also provide temperature control and water resistance, says study author Mathias Kolle, a mechanical engineer at MIT.

"We believe that being able to see and understand the processes and control levers at the core of the butterflies' ability to tailor material structure and performance will help us to sustainably translate them into strategies for forming the next generation of advanced functional materials," he tells Smithsonian via email.

First, the team raised painted lady ( Vanessa cardui) caterpillars until they entered metamorphosis and developed a chrysalis. Then, they carefully removed part of the outer casing and placed a transparent coverslip over the opening using a bioadhesive. With a window into the transformation, the team used speckle-correlation reflection phase microscopy to get a closer look. Instead of using a wide-beam light that could be phototoxic to the delicate wing, speckle-correlation reflection phase microscopy peppers small points of light over specific locations, creating a field of illumination like fireflies in a meadow at dusk.

Within days, cells lined up to form rows of scales in an alternating pattern above and beneath the wing, like shingles on a roof. Each scale then developed nanometer-high grooves. Researchers suspect these ridges help the butterflies shed water like microscopic rain gutters as well as collect heat to keep them dry.

"We think this work could lead to new inventions because butterfly scales are a great biological example of a material solution with multiple coveted functions, all enabled by the same structure," Kolle says. "These functions include control over optical appearance and color, thermoregulation, wetting characteristics, and flight dynamics."

Because each scale is made of chitin, "the second most abundant biopolymer on Earth after cellulose," says Kolle, a new material inspired by butterfly wings could also be biodegradable and easy to change or refresh. He envisions, perhaps, a sprayable version of the scales that could be used on buildings, vehicles or clothing to provide waterproofing and add a little color.

"Either way, imagine how cool that would be, if we'd just had a drum in which we grow the cells that form scales, and then spray them on a surface and supply a trigger that makes the cells grow scales of a desired color, texture, and wetting behavior," Kolle says.

Fat-Tailed Dwarf Lemurs Hibernate in Captivity for the First Time

Fat-tailed dwarf lemurs are our closest primate relatives who hibernate in the wild. For the first time ever, researchers were able to recreate the conditions needed to coax the lemurs into hibernation at Duke University's Lemur Center, which gave them a front row seat to learn about this unique metabolic process-and what it could teach us about humans. Primate behavioral specialist Marina Blanco and her team reported their findings in March in the journal Scientific Reports.

To set the mood for a really good nap, researchers made a makeshift tree hollow for the lemurs to settle into in their enclosure. They exposed the critters to 9.5 hours of light instead of a summery 11 hours to mimic winter's shortened daylight. They also lowered the enclosure's temperature to 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

For four months, the sleepy lemurs had dulled metabolisms, cooler body temperatures and much lighter appetites. Their heart rates slowed to eight beats per minute. When they arose again in spring, they bounced right back.

"It is important to remark that hibernators' metabolic reduction is controlled, meaning that they can tolerate these extremes without ill effects," says Blanco via email. Despite not moving or eating for months, these animals maintain muscle mass and organ function.

Learning about how another primate hibernates could improve our current methods for slowing down the body's processes during life-saving surgeries or perhaps even long-term space travel, explains a Duke press release.

"Successful space travel [to distant destinations] will require months or years spent inactive in transit," Blanco explains. "The closest to the needed suspended animation would be to induce hibernation-like states in astronauts."

Scientists Decode the "Clap" of Butterfly Wings

A butterfly is shaped unlike any other flying animal, which makes analyzing their flight all the more exciting and inspiring to scientists. A study published in January 2021 found that butterflies use an efficient cupping and clapping method to generate thrust.

First, a pair of biologists from Lund University, Christoffer Johansson and Per Henningsson, conducted an aerodynamic analysis of free-flying butterflies. From these observations, they found that the broad-winged insects clap their wings together on upstrokes-but the wings don't press flat together like a pair of hands mid-applause. Instead, butterfly wings bend, which researchers suspected might cup air between them to strengthen their downstroke.

To put their suspicions to the test, the scientists compared the flapping capabilities of two robotic clappers: one with rigid wings and one with flexible wings. They found that flexibility increased wing efficiency by 28 percent and added 22 percent more force to their flaps.

In nature, a butterfly's wing clap probably gives them the extra boost they need to escape predators. Back in the lab, the pair hope their observations inspire new flying and swimming robots.

"Already today there are flapping drones that clap wings together, such as the DelFly, but they do not use the clap for propulsion, but instead mainly produce forces from the flapping," Johansson says via email.

Making flexible flapping robots could be a low-energy way to boost thrust. Likewise, the addition of flexibility could be a boon for underwater robotics in cramped environments-perhaps for underwater archaeology.

"A drone designed for slow and precise maneuvering using paddling fins could improve performance by clapping the fins against the body," he says. "Flexible fins could then create a cupped shape of the fin, similar to what we have seen in the butterfly wings, improving the directionality of the jet produced and the efficiency of the thrust production."

Tardigrades Have an Insect-Like Walk

How inspiring are tardigrades? Let us count the ways.

First, they look like tiny, eight-legged, chunky bears-hence their nickname, water bears. These near-microscopic, aquatic extremophiles can survive in the most inhospitable places on Earth, including frigid absolute zero temperatures, boiling hot hydrothermal vents, a vacuum of space, and pressure six times more crushing than the deep ocean, per National Geographic.

While other soft-bodied creatures thrash, slither and wriggle like worms, tardigrades are the only soft-bodied animal that can walk. In a study published in the journal PNAS in August, researchers watched hours of footage of water bears walking on different surfaces from glass to gels.

The team found that tardigrades walk like insects 500,000 times their size. Though they move only half of their already-miniscule body length (0.5 millimeters) per second on average, they can move two body lengths in the same amount of time at top speed. Slow as they may be, they also seem to adjust their steps according to the terrain they're navigating.

Because their strut has taken them to the far reaches of Earth, studying their gait could inspire new forms of locomotion for micro-scale robots.

"They have some simple, and highly effective ways of coordinating how their eight legs move, and they do this with minimal brain power using some simple rules that are strikingly similar to those used in certain much larger insect species," says study author Daniel Cohen, a mechanical engineer at Princeton University. "This is great for inspiration because it shows that tiny robots, where computational power and weight are limitations, don't need much to walk well."

Tardigrade-inspired nanobots could be injected into damaged tissue to repair it or into an artery to remove plaque build-up-sort of like the shrunken submarine crew in the 1966 sci-fi film Fantastic Voyage.

"And for a completely sci-fi approach: Water bears show us what's possible at that size when you look like they do. They are sort of like the 'minimum model' of what you can do with legs," Cohen explains. "Perhaps we might someday be able to actually tissue-engineer our own multicellular 'bio-bots' made out of living cells and inspired by water bears."

Slime Mold Stores "Memories" Without Even Having a Brain

Though they may occasionally resemble fungi, slime molds are globby, soil-dwelling amoebas that come in many odd shapes and bright colors. Despite lacking a brain or nervous system, slime mold can navigate a maze or recall the location of food.

Like gooey fractals, the single-celled organisms unleash tubular tendrils, which also transport fluid and nutrients throughout their sprawling network-like body plan, to explore new environments. In a study published in the journal in February, researchers found that they record important details of their surroundings by changing the diameter of these outstretched tubes.

When scientists studied a sunny yellow slime mold called Physarum polycephalum under a microscope, they observed the tubes become thicker when they encountered food and thinner when they found none. Some sort of chemical signal likely triggers these changes.

"Given P. polycephalum's highly dynamic network reorganization, the persistence of this imprint sparked the idea that the network architecture itself could serve as memory of the past," says study author Karen Alim, a biophysicist at the Technical University of Munich, in a statement.

This network sort of mimics how our brain stores memory using synaptic plasticity, meaning synapses become stronger or weaker based on use. Likewise, slime mold tubes that find food grow and dead ends wither away.

Using protein-based polymers, gels or other biological materials, researchers could adapt this sort of memory storage and chemical signalingin artificial intelligence without the need for electronics, Alim explains, which could be a boon for soft robotics that lack such hardware. If the rest of the bot is made using biomaterial, she says, a slime mold-inspired system could be used in situations when toxicity is of concern, like for medical applications or water processing.

"Here, fluid flows are an exciting method to both drive mobility but also encode decision making required for autonomous behavior," Alim explains via email. "Building the robots out of responsive material that expands in response to the concentration of signaling molecules would here be a direct implementation of the memory mechanism we observed in Physarum."

With a Soap-Like Protein, Human Cells Can Ward Off Bacteria

Our immune system has specialized cellular soldiers-like T-cells and B-cells-ready to fight off bacterial invasions. However, non-immune cells aren't entirely defenseless. Research published in in July found certain proteins literally have a detergent-like ability to wipe out bacteria like a grease stain. Investigating these proteins further could inspire a totally new kind of antibiotic.

"This is a case where humans make their own antibiotic in the form of a protein that acts like a detergent," says study author John MacMicking, an immunobiologist at Yale University, in a statement. "We can learn from that."

First, the team infected non-immune cells with Salmonella, a rod-shaped bacteria that affects the intestines. Then, they screened the cell's genes for protective proteins and found a match: APOL3. This protein has parts drawn to water and other parts drawn to fats-just like laundry detergent. APOL3 attacks the greasy lipids lining the inner bacterial membrane with precision, never mistaking a human cell membrane for the invader.

As resistance to antibiotics surges, an alternative option is needed. Pathogens may have their own proteins that interfere with APOL3's counterattacks, but researchers could design a new antibiotic that targets those pesky proteins so APOL3 can do its thing. Cohen also suggests designing small molecules that mimic APOL3's actions using what's called host-directed therapy, which creates a harsh environment for the pathogen instead of directly disarming it.

But first, the scientists have to understand the breadth of infections controlled by APOL3 and other immune defense proteins. "That will incentivize the research effort in tackling important human bacterial, viral, and parasitic pathogens, especially if antibiotic resistance is already prevalent for those microbes and we need new drugs," MacMicking says via email.

"Inventions that mimic host protein activities are still relatively understudied," MacMicking explains. "This could be fertile ground since our immune defenses are largely indifferent to whether pathogens are currently sensitive or resistant to known antibiotics."

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Ten Scientific Discoveries From 2021 That May Lead to New Inventions

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In science, inspiration can come from anywhere. A researcher might wonder about the thrust produced by butterfly wings as they flit through a meadow. Maybe watching squirrels navigate campus trees like parkour artists sparks curiosity about what goes through their furry little minds as they decide to jump from branch to branch.

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Human cells that suppress renegade immune responses have been discovered in a study.

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New class of killer T cells may prevent autoimmune diseases

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New class of killer T cells may prevent autoimmune diseases

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Scientists have discovered a new form of human T cell that suppresses attacks on healthy tissues, which might lead to therapies for illnesses ranging from lupus to cancer.

Immunologists previously knew that mice and humans use one kind of regulatory T cell—a fraction known as Tregs, which carry the antigen CD4 and inhibit autoimmune assaults. The newest enforcers are classified as T cells with a different surface protein, CD8. CD8 T cells are well known for their ability to kill contaminated or malignant cells, but in mice, some of them also kill T cells that coordinate autoimmune responses.

One barrier was that humans do not produce the unique receptors that distinguish the fraction of CD8 cells in mice. However, certain human CD8 T cells have similar receptors known as KIR proteins. According to a study published today in Science, the cells were more abundant in patients' blood than in healthy people's blood, according to a study. Tissue samples indicated that they gathered in areas of the body affected by the autoimmune onslaught, such as the joints in rheumatoid arthritis and the small intestine in celiac disease.

The researchers discovered an increase in KIR-positive CD8 T cells in patients with autoimmune disorders or COVID-19, which might be an attempt to reign in harmful immune reactions—the immunological response to the new coronavirus is what ultimately kills many COVID-19 patients. One of the unsolved questions is how suppressive CD8 cells differentiate T cells with self-destructive tendencies.

Reference:
Leslie, M. (2022, March 8). New class of killer T cells may prevent autoimmune diseases. Science. Retrieved from https://www.science.org/content/article/new-class-killer-t-cells-may-prevent-autoimmune-diseases

VAMKangleon

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'Fitbit for the face' can turn any face mask into smart monitoring device

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'Fitbit for the face' can turn any face mask into smart monitoring device

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FITamarra

Reference:
“Fitbit for the face” can turn any face mask into smart monitoring device. (2022). Retrieved March 21, 2022, from Nsf.gov website: https://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=304345

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Similar Article:                                                  https://facebit.health/
Reference:
FaceBit. (2021). Retrieved March 21, 2022, from Facebit.health website: https://facebit.health/

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‘Fitbit for the face’ can turn any face mask into smart monitoring device

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FaceBit can monitor wearer’s health, sense heartbeat through the face

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A discovery that has the potential to transform the treatment for Osteoarthritis.

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A discovery that has the potential to transform the treatment for Osteoarthritis.

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Injectable recombinant block polymer gel for sustained delivery of therapeutic protein in post-traumatic osteoarthritis.

The most common type of arthritis, Osteoarthritis (OA), impacts the lives of individuals around the globe. It is a degenerative disease that affects more than 32 million Americans and this occurs when the protective cartilage that cushions the ends of the bones breaks down with time. Except for over-the-counter analgesics, there are no effective therapy procedures for Post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA), a prominent type of osteoarthritis causing articular cartilage damage that occurs after a joint injury, very common among military personnel which costs the U.S. healthcare system more than $3 billion per year.

This year, National Science Foundation-funded researchers at New York University developed a molecular mechanism and therapeutic payload for delivering pharmacologic treatment directly to damaged joints, successfully reducing the possibility and progression of post-traumatic osteoarthritis. The researchers used a combination of compounds to generate a protein-based gel (E ₅ C) that can reach and encapsulate damaged joints reducing inflammation and stimulating regeneration, without any toxic effects on human cells, and decomposes in just a few weeks.

The researchers plan to do more studies to see if higher doses of Atsttrin, an engineered protein combined with the E ₅ C gel, are effective for both preventive and therapeutic purposes.

References:
Priya Katyal et al, Injectable recombinant block polymer gel for sustained delivery of therapeutic protein in post-traumatic osteoarthritis, Biomaterials (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2022.121370

Scientists develop gel that delivers drugs directly to diseased joints

IPMaligro

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Discovery could revolutionize osteoarthritis treatment

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a progressive condition affecting the lives of more than 32 million Americans. Post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA), a major subset of osteoarthritis that comprises 10% of diagnoses and disproportionally affects injured military personnel, has no effective therapeutic protocols that slow or stop the progression except for over-the-counter analgesics. Post-traumatic osteoarthritis leads to articular cartilage damage and results in more than $3 billion in health care costs each year.

U.S. National Science Foundation-funded researchers based at New York University identified the molecular mechanism and therapeutic payload for delivering pharmacologic treatment directly to affected joints, effectively halting the onset and progression of post-traumatic osteoarthritis. The team published its findings in Biomaterials.

The researchers combined compounds to develop a porous gel that can reach and envelop affected joints, reduce inflammation and induce regeneration. The substance, referred to as E ₅C, is a protein-based gel that contains native, not synthetic, cartilage components that are nontoxic and biodegradable. The properties of E ₅ C make it a viable candidate for injectable biomaterials.

"We have developed a unique protein-based gel capable of minimally invasive, sustained delivery of prospective therapeutics in OA," said researcher and co-author Jin Kim Montclare.

The researchers are planning subsequent studies to determine the efficacy of higher doses of Atsttrin in the E ₅ C gel for preventive and therapeutic applications.

Guebre Tessema, a program director in NSF's Division of Materials Research, added, "Critical information about the topography of biomaterials was obtained using an NSF-funded scanning electron microscope. The result is a clear demonstration of the vital impact NSF-funded instrumentation has on research."

-- NSFPublicAffairs, researchnews@nsf.gov

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Scientists develop gel that delivers drugs directly to diseased joints

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Discovery could revolutionize osteoarthritis treatment Osteoarthritis (OA) is a progressive condition affecting the lives of more than 32 million Americans. Post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA), a major subset of osteoarthritis that comprises 10% of diagnoses and disproportionally affects injured military personnel, has no effective therapeutic protocols that slow or stop the progression except for over-the-counter analgesics.

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The potential pancreatic cancer treatment combines ultrasound and immunotherapy, with substantial “anti-cancer” benefits seen in lab mice.

According to Guiseppe Lippi, a professor in University Hospital of Verona, Italy: “Pancreatic cancer is still considered one of the most lethal malignancies, since it remains silent (i.e., does not cause suggestive signs or symptoms) for a rather long time. Then, when patients become symptomatic, the cancer has usually reached an advanced and very frequently incurable stage.” Most immunotherapy drugs work on a type of immune cell called T cells. Drugs called checkpoint inhibitors "release the brakes" on these cells, spurring them on to launch an attack against a tumor. Researchers have found that checkpoint inhibitors seem to work best in people whose tumors have been infected by T cells that contain perceive some kind of threat from cancer before treatment begins. Although this study has been described as groundbreaking, there is still more ground to break before it reaches patients. The team is preparing for more trials, in order to advance to clinical studies involving humans.

Ref:
Scientists discover new treatment to fight pancreatic cancer (openaccessgovernment.org)

Another source with same content:
Newly discovered immune cell type may be key to improving pancreatic cancer immunotherapy (2020, February 21) retrieved 19 March 2022 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-02-newly-immune-cell-key-pancreatic.htm

MAYCastillote

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The potential pancreatic cancer treatment combines ultrasound and immunotherapy, with substantial "anti-cancer" benefits seen in lab mice

Pancreatic cancer is notoriously bleak, with five year survival rates among the lowest in contrast to other cancers.

According to Professor Giuseppe Lippi, University Hospital of Verona, Italy: "Pancreatic cancer is still considered one of the most lethal malignancies, since it remains silent (i.e., does not cause suggestive signs or symptoms) for a rather long time. Then, when patients become symptomatic, the cancer has usually reached an advanced and very frequently incurable stage."

Over 25 years going back from 2020, data compiled by Professor Lippi suggests that pancreatic cancer prevalence increased by 55% globally. In 2017, there were nearly half a million new cases documented. With ongoing levels of pandemic healthcare backlog faced by countries across the globe, this "silent" cancer has even more room to devastate.

A team of scientists, led by The Institute of Cancer Research, London, investigated pancreatic tumours in mice - with hopeful and interesting results.

What is the new potential treatment for pancreatic cancer?

A combination of ultrasound and immunotherapy.

Essentially, sound waves (in this case, pulsed HIFU exposure) are used to break the tumour into a more fragile state, with cavities - which allows the boosted immune cells to enter those tumours via the newly created spaces.

In their study, published in the Royal Society Interface, the team used pulsed focused ultrasound, 'pHIFU', alongside injections of antibodies that mimic the effects of immune checkpoint inhibiting drugs.

The researchers found that mice receiving the HIFU-antibody combination lived longer than mice treated with neither or just one of the treatments.

What is acoustic cavitation?

A key point that excites researchers about these findings, is the evidence that sound waves can create significant weakness in an ordinarily dense tumour.

This is called acoustic cavitation.

Acoustic cavitation is the term used to describe the rapid vibration of tiny 'microbubbles' of gas by the sound waves, and it is this which is thought to be enhancing the uptake of immune cells into the tumours by breaking them up - the shaking breaks up the tumour cells, causing them to spill their contents.

The spill then also alerts the immune system, attracting immune cells to the site to fight the cancer.

Study lead Professor Gail ter Haar, Professor of Therapeutic Ultrasound at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, said: "This is the first ever study to show the anti-cancer benefit of these two treatments, HIFU in combination with immunotherapy, in pancreatic cancer. This study paves the way for clinical trials of treating pancreatic cancer patients with HIFU, and we will be developing HIFU-delivery platforms to achieve that."

When will this treatment be available?

While this study has been described as ground-breaking, there is yet more ground to break before it reaches patients en masse. The team are prepping to do more trials, in order to progress to clinical studies involving humans.

Study author Dr Petros Mouratidis, Higher Scientific Officer in Therapeutic Ultrasound at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, said: "High intensity focused ultrasound has shown potential in a range of cancer types and is of particular interest in pancreatic cancer - because tumours can be hard to access for surgery, and sound waves can physically weaken tumours and could allow other treatments, including immunotherapies, to have greater effect.

"We hope our study ultimately leads to a new type of treatment for patients with pancreatic cancer."

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Scientists discover new treatment to fight pancreatic cancer

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Pancreatic cancer is notoriously bleak, with five year survival rates among the lowest in contrast to other cancers. According to Professor Giuseppe Lippi, University Hospital of Verona, Italy: "Pancreatic cancer is still considered one of the most lethal malignancies, since it remains silent (i.e., does not cause suggestive signs or symptoms) for a rather long time.

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The super-enzyme breaks down plastics faster (6 times faster) than previous enzymes that were discovered (which took a few days to degrade plastics). The super-enzyme was man-made or engineered by scientists after linking two separate plastic-eating enzymes resulting in a speedy degradation while working at a room temperature compared to a previous enzyme that breaks down 90% of the plastic within 10 hours but at a heat of 70 degrees celsius.

One of the previous enzyme that is also in the super-enzyme is called the PETease (PET hydrolase) that attacks the PET (polyethylene terephthalate) polymer, which is used to produce clothing fibers and plastic containers, and breaks it down to its building blocks TPA (petroleum-derived terephthalic acid) and EG (ethylene glycol), then further broken down to simpler forms of a carbon and energy source.

This is thought to be a solution for the ongiong problem of plastic pollution that has contributed to different environmental issues. It is observed that with the low recycling rate and the said reduced use of plastic being the key to the problem, it could not keep up with the amount of plastics being produced and still being used on a daily basis thus it is not a sustainable solution. The newest engineered enzyme, on the other hand, degrades plastics at a faster rate that it turns back to its original building block where it can be made and resued endlessly.

Aside from this new discovery of a faster plastic eating enzyme, scientists are also looking into creating an enzyme that would degrade mixed-fabric clothing as it is also becoming a pressing problem for the fashion industry.

https://www.cas.org/resource/blog/plastic-eating-enzymes
https://e360.yale.edu/digest/new-super-enzyme-can-break-down-plastic-at-rapid-pace#:~:text=A%20super%2Denzyme%20that%20degrades,full%20recycling%20of%20the%20bottles.

SATPitogo

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New Super-Enzyme Can Break Down Plastic at Rapid Pace

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This article was originally published by The Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

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Dear Everyone,
Please write your name together with your article.

MLSSuico

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CRISPRs are specialized stretches of DNA and the protein Cas9  is an enzyme that acts like a pair of molecular scissors, capable of cutting strands of DNA. It is a powerful tool for editing genomes, allowing researchers to easily alter DNA sequences and modify gene functions. Some of its potential applications are correcting genetic defects, treating and preventing the spread of diseases, and improving the growth and resilience of crops.

Researchers have injected CRISPR in the blood of people born with a disease that causes fatal nerve and heart disease and shown that in three of them, it nearly shut off the production of toxic protein from their livers. The clinical trial aims to deactivate a mutated gene that causes liver cells to churn out misfolded forms of a protein called transthyretin, which build up on nerves and the heart and lead to pain, numbness, and heart disease.

The study gives way for treating other liver diseases using CRISPR, by either knocking out a gene or modifying it with the help of a DNA template.

https://www.science.org/content/article/crispr-injected-blood-treats-genetic-disease-first-time

By: ET Aranas

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The outbreak of SARS-CoV 2 virus affected the whole world and became a global pandemic. As an advancement in science, Covid-19 vaccine was created to end the spread and transmission of the virus that has taken away millions of lives.

Covid-19 vaccine is used to fight against severe illness and death caused by Covid-19 variants. It has a genetic instruction manual that tells our immune system how to respond and protect us from exposure to the virus.

An example of this would be Pfizer and Moderna vaccines or also known as mRNA vaccines which are studied by biochemists as active components of the vaccines. These vaccines have been known to be safe and effective in preventing Covid-19.

FMRHiramis

https://thedaily.case.edu/how-do-the-covid-19-vaccines-work-chemistrys-blanton-s-tolbert-explains/

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A transparent layer of graphene, just a few atoms thick, can prevent pigments in paintings from fading by protecting them from ultraviolet light, moisture and air pollutants.

Colour fading is a major problem for painted artworks. Vincent van Gogh’s famous Sunflowers paintings, for example, contain photosensitive lead pigments. Originally bright yellow, they have turned greenish-brown over time.

A graphene veil can prevent up to 70% of colour fading, the researchers behind the work suggest.

‘Graphene absorbs a considerable amount of ultraviolet light, depending on the number of layers, and is a very good barrier against oxygen and moisture,’ Galiotis explains. ‘It prevents colour fading by simultaneously reducing the incident harmful radiation and by delaying the diffusion of oxidising agents.’

https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/invisible-graphene-veil-protects-paintings-from-fading/4013992.article