Articles from May 2019
May 31, 2019
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Wearing a sensor-packed glove while handling a variety of objects, MIT researchers have compiled a massive dataset that enables an AI system to recognize objects through touch alone. The information could be leveraged to help robots identify and manipulate objects, and may aid in prosthetics design.
The researchers developed a low-cost knitted glove, called “scalable tactile glove” (STAG), equipped with about 550 tiny sensors across nearly the entire hand. Each sensor captures pressure signals as humans interact with objects in various ways. A neural network processes the signals to “learn” a dataset of pressure-signal patterns related to specific objects. Then, the system uses that dataset to classify the objects and predict their weights by feel alone, with no visual input needed.
In a paper published today in Nature, the researchers describe a dataset they compiled using STAG for 26 common objects — including a soda can, scissors, tennis ball, spoon, pen, and mug. Using the dataset, the system predicted the objects’ identities with up to 76 percent accuracy. The system can also predict the correct weights of most objects within about 60 grams.
Similar sensor-based gloves used today run thousands of dollars and often contain only around 50 sensors that capture less information. Even though STAG produces very high-resolution data, it’s made from commercially available materials totaling around $10.
The tactile sensing system could be used in combination with traditional computer vision and image-based datasets to give robots a more human-like understanding of interacting with objects.
“Humans can identify and handle objects well because we have tactile feedback. As we touch objects, we feel around and realize what they are. Robots don’t have that rich feedback,” says Subramanian Sundaram PhD ’18, a former graduate student in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). “We’ve always wanted robots to do what humans can do, like doing the dishes or other chores. If you want robots to do these things, they must be able to manipulate objects really well.”
The researchers also used the dataset to measure the cooperation between regions of the hand during object interactions. For example, when someone uses the middle joint of their index finger, they rarely use their thumb. But the tips of the index and middle fingers always correspond to thumb usage. “We quantifiably show, for the first time, that, if I’m using one part of my hand, how likely I am to use another part of my hand,” he says.
Source: http://news.mit.edu/
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Tags: AI, computer, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, CSAIL, ensor-packed glove, MIT, neural network, prosthetics, robot, scalable tactile glove, STAG, touch
May 30, 2019
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Superfast data processing using light pulses instead of electricity has been created by scientists.The invention uses magnets to record computer data which consume virtually zero energy, solving the dilemma of how to create faster data processing speeds without the accompanying high energy costs. Today’s data centre servers consume between 2 to 5% of global electricity consumption, producing heat which in turn requires more power to cool the servers. The problem is so acute that Microsoft has even submerged hundreds of its data centre services in the ocean in an effort to keep them cool and cut costs. Most data are encoded as binary information (0 or 1 respectively) through the orientation of tiny magnets, called spins, in magnetic hard-drives. The magnetic read/write head is used to set or retrieve information using electrical currents which dissipate huge amounts of energy.
Using ultrashort pulses of light enables extremely economical switching of a magnet from one stable orientation (red arrow) to another (white arrow). This concept enables ultrafast information storage with unprecedented energy efficiency
Now an international team publishing in Nature has solved the problem by replacing electricity with extremely short pulses of light – the duration of one trillionth of a second – concentrated by special antennas on top of a magnet. This new method is superfast but so energy efficient that the temperature of the magnet does not increase at all. The researchers demonstrated this new method by pulsing a magnet with ultrashort light bursts (the duration of a millionth of a millionth of a second) at frequencies in the far infrared, the so called terahertz spectral range. However, even the strongest existing sources of the terahertz light did not provide strong enough pulses to switch the orientation of a magnet to date.
The breakthrough was achieved by utilizing the efficient interaction mechanism of coupling between spins and terahertz electric field, which was discovered by the same team. The scientists then developed and fabricated a very small antenna on top of the magnet to concentrate and thereby enhance the electric field of light. This strongest local electric field was sufficient to navigate the magnetization of the magnet to its new orientation in just one trillionth of a second. The temperature of the magnet did not increase at all as this process requires energy of only one quantum of the terahertz light – a photon – per spin.
Dr Mikhaylovskiy from Lancaster University in UK said: “The record-low energy loss makes this approach scalable. Future storage devices would also exploit the excellent spatial definition of antenna structures enabling practical magnetic memories with simultaneously maximal energy efficiency and speed.” He plans to carry out further research using the new ultrafast laser at Lancaster University together with accelerators at the Cockroft Institute which are able to generate intense pulses of light to allow switching magnets and to determine the practical and fundamental speed and energy limits of magnetic recording.
The team includes Dr Rostislav Mikhaylovskiy, formerly at Radboud University and now Lancaster University, Stefan Schlauderer, Dr Christoph Lange and Professor Rupert Huber from Regensburg University, Professor Alexey Kimel from Radboud University and Professor Anatoly Zvezdin from the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Source: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/
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| Tags: antennas, Cockroft Institute, computer, data processing, electricity, far infrared, heat, ight pulses, Lancaster University, magnetic hard-drives, magnets, nergy, pulse of light, Radboud university, Regensburg University, Russian Academy of Sciences, spin, terahertz
May 29, 2019
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A new compound which visualises and kills antibiotic-resistant superbugs has been discovered by scientists at the University of Sheffield and Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL). The team, led by Professor Jim Thomas, from the University of Sheffield’s Department of Chemistry, is testing new compounds developed by his PhD student Kirsty Smitten on antibiotic resistant gram-negative bacteria, including pathogenic E. coli.
Gram-negative bacteria strains can cause infections including pneumonia, urinary tract infections and bloodstream infections. They are difficult to treat as the cell wall of the bacteria prevents drugs from getting into the microbe. Antimicrobial resistance is already responsible for 25,000 deaths in the EU each year, and unless this rapidly emerging threat is addressed, it’s estimated by 2050 more than 10 million people could die every year due to antibiotic resistant infections. Doctors have not had a new treatment for gram-negative bacteria in the last 50 years, and no potential drugs have entered clinical trials since 2010.
The new drug compound has a range of exciting opportunities. As Professor Jim Thomas explains: “As the compound is luminescent it glows when exposed to light. This means the uptake and effect on bacteria can be followed by the advanced microscope techniques available at RAL.
Gram negative bacteria. Credit: University of Sheffield
“As the compound is luminescent it glows when exposed to light. This means the uptake and effect on bacteria can be followed by the advanced microscope techniques available at RAL“, explains Professor Jim Thomas. “This breakthrough could lead to vital new treatments to life-threatening superbugs and the growing risk posed by antimicrobial resistance.”
The studies at Sheffield and RAL have shown the compound seems to have several modes of action, making it more difficult for resistance to emerge in the bacteria. The next step of the research will be to test it against other multi-resistant bacteria.
Source: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/
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| Tags: (University of Sheffield, antibiotic resistant gram-negative bacteria, antibiotic-resistant superbugs, Antimicrobial resistance, bloodstream, cell wall, compound, drugs, E.coli, infections, pneumonia, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, urinary tract infections
May 28, 2019
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Forget UPS and FedEx: Tiny golden delivery trucks created at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center can ship CRISPR into human blood stem cells, offering a potential way to treat diseases like HIV and sickle cell anemia. And the researchers behind those trucks have even bigger distribution dreams. Gene therapy — the editing of our DNA to treat disease — is a clinical reality today, but only in a handful of rich countries. Fred Hutch scientists think their new CRISPR courier could help deliver gene therapy to patients around the world.
A new paper published in Nature Materials describes how the scientists loaded CRISPR onto spherical gold nanoparticles. These tiny shuttles then deposited the gene-editing tool into blood stem cells donated by healthy individuals and isolated in test tubes, where CRISPR altered genes related to HIV and certain blood disorders. It is the first time that nanoparticles have successfully ferried CRISPR into blood stem cells to edit DNA, the researchers said. And it’s a promising step toward addressing CRISPR’s critical delivery problems. The first of these problems has vexed the field since the gene-editing technique was discovered. Scientists need to deliver CRISPR into the right spot in a cell. That is proving tricky enough. DNA represents the body’s crown jewels, and CRISPR must sneak past all sorts of security systems to gain access.
And then CRISPR must go global. Gene editing could benefit millions of people worldwide. But as the treatment process stands right now, the vast majority won’t. That process depends almost entirely on highly engineered viruses made in high-tech, multimillion-dollar facilities.
The researchers think their golden nanoparticles can solve both problems. As efficient couriers, they could reduce the need for engineered viruses and specialized research centers. And that could help make these emerging, high-tech treatments accessible and affordable, said senior scientist Dr. Jennifer Adair of Fred Hutch.
“Gene therapy has a lot of potential across many diseases, but the process we have right now is just not feasible in every place in the world,” Adair said. “We want to end up delivering gene therapy in a syringe. This gold nanoparticle represents the first possibility we have to do that for blood stem cells.”
Source: https://www.fredhutch.org/
Categories: Uncategorized
| Tags: blood stem cells, cell anemia, CRISPR, DNA, engineered viruses, Fred Hutch, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, gene therapy, Gene-editing, gold, HIV, nanoparticles, stem cells
May 27, 2019
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From moods to memory, the brain in our guts has a big impact on the brain in our heads. Pioneering neuroscientist Associate Professor Elisa Hill-Yardin from RMIT in Australia has spent years delving deep into the gut-brain connection, an emerging field in health research. Here she shares the five critical things we should know about our “gut brain”.
The gut has similar types of neurons to the brain. The gut brain is a big nervous system, about the same size as the spinal cord, which controls the contractions of the gut and its secretions. There are very rare gene mutations that affect brain connectivity and we’ve learned that the vast majority of those gene mutations are also found in the gut. If those mutations change the wiring in the brain, they’re also likely to change the wiring and the action of the gut brain – the enteric nervous system. To date, we’ve only ever examined the effect of those mutations in the brain. Now we’re starting to look at them in our second brain, the gut.
We now know that microbes in the gut do change our mood and behaviour, and microbes even change brain activity. There’s a great study that looked at women, doing MRI brain scans and showing that if they ate yoghurt for a certain number of days their resting brain activity was different – which is amazing! But we also know from animal studies that microbes have an impact on mental health. You can breed mice that are germ free and we know that those mice show differences in their anxiety behaviours – in other words, they’re less anxious without the microbes. So you could say we’re being controlled by the microbes in our gut. They’re much more important to our feelings than we ever thought.
What’s come out in research in recent years, though it’s been known for a long time in the autism community, is that the majority of children with autism have serious gut problems. Now we don’t know the cause of autism but we do know that there are hundreds and hundreds of rare gene mutations that alter brain connectivity. And we now know that some of those mutated genes are also found in the gut. We’re also learning that diseases that affect cognition and memory, like dementia, may also have a gut component. Researchers are starting to look at traditional brain diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis, and finding difference in the microbes in the gut. So they’re starting to think about how we can make changes in our microbes to make changes to our brain health.
The Gut-Brain Axis team that I lead at RMIT is focused on understanding how the enteric nervous system is altered in neurological disorders such as autism. This includes researching how the gut nervous system interacts with microbes in the intestine and changes in inflammatory pathways. We’re trying to identify the basic mechanisms, examining the connections between the gastrointestinal tract and changes in mood and behaviour, including the impact of genetics on microbiota in the gut. The ultimate the aim is to find novel therapies that can improve daily life for people with autism, but our work also has broader application for other neurological disorders, such Parkinson’s disease.
Many of the great enteric physiologist pioneers are in Australia and they were the first to describe different types of neurons based on their activity and neurochemical content. This work has been done on animal models, due to the possibilities of emulating human genetic diseases in these models. So, a lot of basic anatomy and physiology has been studied. But what we need now is to move the field towards using the latest sophisticated techniques and capitalising on the recent interest in the gut-brain axis, which of course involves understanding how the gastrointestinal tract works in concert with the trillions of microbes that live inside it.
Professor Elisa Hill-Yardin has presented her work to the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research
Source: https://www.rmit.edu.au/
Categories: Uncategorized
| Tags: Alzheimer's, autism, behaviour, brain, dementia, enteric nervous system, gastrointestinal tract, gene mutations, genetics, GUT, Gut-Brain Axis, gut-brain connection, memory, microbe, microbiota, mood, moods, Multiple Sclerosis, mutated genes, nervous system, neurons, Parkinson's, RMIT
May 24, 2019
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The Department of Defense’s research and development wing, DARPA, is working on technology to read and write to the human brain. The focus isn’t on mind control but rather machine control, allowing the human brain to directly send instructions to machines. The goal of the process is to streamline thought control of machines to the point where humans could control them with a simple helmet or head-mounted device, making operating such systems easier.
The brain makes physical events happen by turning thoughts into action, sending instructions through the nervous system to organs, limbs, and other parts of the body. It effortlessly sends out a constant stream of commands to do everything from drive a car to make breakfast. To operate today’s machines, humans being need a middleman of sorts, a physical control system manipulated by hands, fingers, and feet.
What if human beings could cut out the middleman, operating a machine simply by thinking at it? So DARPA is funding the (Next Generation Nonsurgical Neurotechnology (N3) initiative. N3’s goal is to create a control system for machines—including weapons—that can directly interact with the human brain. According to IEEE Spectrum, DARPA is experimenting with “magnetic fields, electric fields, acoustic fields (ultrasound) and light” as a means of controlling machines.
The implications of such a technology are huge. Instead of designing complicated controls and control systems for every machine or weapon devised, engineers could instead just create a thought-operated control system. Wearable technology becomes easier to operate as it doesn’t require a separate control system. This could also apply to notifications and data: as IEEE Spectrum points out, network administrators could feel intrusions into computer networks. DAPRA is, of course, an arm of the Pentagon, and a neurotechnological interface would almost certainly find its way into weapons.
DARPA has awarded development contracts to six groups for amounts of up to $19.48 million each. Each group has one year to prove their ability to read and write to brain tissue with an 18-month animal testing period to follow.
Source: https://www.popularmechanics.com/
Categories: Uncategorized
| Tags: acoustic fields, brain tissue, DARPA, electric fields, helmet, human brain, light, magnetic fields, mind control, N3, neurotechnological interface, Next Generation Nonsurgical Neurotechnology, ultrasound, Wearable technology
May 23, 2019
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Design Computation Lab is a new research laboratory at The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London (UCL) developing design methods for the utilization of computational technologies in architectural design, fabrication and assembly. Design Computation Lab has cross-faculty partnerships in the The Institute for Digital Innovation in the Built Environment, UCL and The School of Construction + Project Management, UCL.
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In a recent installation, Real Virtuality, Gilles Retsin Architecture and the Design Computation Lab proved that timber could indeed become the material of the 21st century by using augmented reality to fabricate algorithmically designed structures with LEGO-like timber blocks.
Construction relies heavily on cement, the production of which is responsible for approximately 8 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. Architect Gilles Retsin suggests that we should look into timber for an alternative.
Sustainable cities can’t rely on concrete. Let’s try algorithmically designed timber buildings.
Source: https://designcomputationlab.org/
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https://mashable.com/
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| Tags: algorithmically designed structures, architectural design, augmented realit, carbon dioxide emissions, cement, computational technologies, concrete, design, Design Computation Lab, The Bartlett School of Architecture, The Institute for Digital Innovation in the Built Environmen, The School of Construction + Project Management, timber, UCL, University College London
May 22, 2019
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Final preparations are underway for a 12-meter-long ship to set sail from Canada and attempt the world’s first transatlantic crossing without a crew. The USV Maxlimer, an unmanned surface vessel, is bound for the south coast of England and will conduct deep sea surveys on the way, guided by a skipper in a control station in Britain. The voyage is expected to take about 35 days.
The ship was built by Sea-Kit International, which develops vessels for the maritime and research industries, for the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE, a competition to autonomously survey the sea bed. It can launch and recover autonomous underwater vehicles but has the potential to operate in different roles with different cargo. “(It is) almost like a utility pick-up vehicle of the sea, it’s robust, it’s adaptable, it’s got a huge range,” said SEA-KIT International Managing Director Ben Simpson.
The vessel is operated by a hand-held remote control when in harbor and when at sea it can stream live data to the controller via multiple satellite links.
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“What is now available through technology is very, very similar to what you have on the bridge of a ship and in many ways, I would argue, even more comprehensive,” said James Fanshawe, a director of SEA-KIT. “The controller here in this station can actually see all the way round on the horizon near real-time and in many ships it’s quite difficult to actually even see what’s behind you from the bridge of that ship,” explained Fanshawe.
The company said it sees a future for unmanned vessels as they can remove humans from harm’s way. The team said ships that do not need to accommodate people also have significant economic and environmental benefits. “You don’t need a bridge, you don’t need a galley, you don’t need water supplies, you don’t need air conditioning and suddenly the size of that vessel becomes a fraction of the size of vessels currently being used offshore,” Simpson said. The combination of size and hybrid diesel-electric propulsion cuts fuel use by around 95 percent, the company said.
Source: http://www.reuters.com
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| Tags: sea bed, SEA-KIT, Sea-Kit International, Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE, unmanned ship, USV Maxlimer
May 21, 2019
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Imagine a technology that could target pesticides to treat specific spots deep within the soil, making them more effective at controlling infestations while limiting their toxicity to the environment.
Researchers at the University of California San Diego and Case Western Reserve University have taken a step toward that goal. They discovered that a biological nanoparticle—a plant virus—is capable of delivering pesticide molecules deeper below the ground, to places that are normally beyond their reach.
The work could help farmers better manage difficult pests, like parasitic nematodes that wreak havoc on plant roots deep in the soil, with less pesticide. The work is published May 20 in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.
“It sounds counterintuitive that we can use a plant virus to treat plant health,” said Nicole Steinmetz, a professor of nanoengineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering and senior author of the study. “This is an emerging field of research in nanotechnology showing that we can use plant viruses as pesticide delivery systems. It’s similar to how we’re using nanoparticles in medicine to target drugs towards sites of disease and reduce their side effects in patients.”
Pesticides are very sticky molecules when applied in the field, Steinmetz explained. They bind strongly to organic matter in the soil, making it difficult to get enough to penetrate deep down into the root level where pests like nematodes reside and cause damage. To compensate, farmers end up applying large amounts of pesticides, which cause harmful residues to build up in the soil and leach into groundwater.
Steinmetz and her team are working to address this problem. In a new study, they discovered that a particular plant virus, Tobacco mild green mosaic virus, can transport small amounts of pesticide deep through the soil with ease.
Source: https://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/
Categories: Uncategorized
| Tags: biological nanoparticle, Case Western Reserve University, parasitic nematodes, pesticides, plant virus, Tobacco mild green mosaic virus, UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, University of California San Diego
May 20, 2019
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Some viruses, no matter how hard we try, remain resistant to vaccines. Now, researchers are using a different method, gene editing, as a way to make cells immune to mankind’s most difficult viruses. Led by Dr. Justin Taylor, a team at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has targeted four infections for which there’s no protective vaccine: HIV, influenza, the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
The researchers used CRISPR/Cas9 technology to modify B cells, a class of white blood cells that produce antibodies to protect us from diseases. By coding the cells with genes that create specific antibodies, the team was able to make them immune without the use of a vaccine.
The researchers tested the method in both human cells in a test tube and in living mice. On average, about 30 percent of the cells produced the desired antibody. Taylor said that the mice remained protected for 83 days following the procedure, an important benchmark given that patients who receive stem cell transplants can have weakened immune systems for three to six months. To be clear, Taylor doesn’t have anything against traditional vaccination. “Vaccines are great,” he said. “I wish we had more of them.”
Instead, Taylor thinks the gene editing method could work one day for diseases where we don’t have a vaccine. It may help patients who are immuno-compromised, meaning their bodies can no longer fight infections, as well as older patients whose bodies aren’t as receptive to vaccines. Gene-edited immunity might also be used to protect people faster than can be done with traditional vaccines, which could be useful during unexpected outbreaks.
Taylor’s team included Fred Hutch researchers and co-authors Howell Moffett, Carson Harms, Kristin Fitzpatrick, Marti Tooley and Jim Boonyaratanakornkit. The results will be published in the journal Science Immunology.
Source: https://www.fredhutch.org/
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https://www.geekwire.com/
Categories: Uncategorized
| Tags: antibodies, B cells, cells, CRISPR-Cas9, EBV, Epstein-Barr virus, Fred Hutch, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Gene-editing, HIV, influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, RSV, vaccine, virus
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