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Category: cyborgs – Page 22

Bioprinted Skin Heals Wounds in Pigs With Minimal Scarring—Humans Are Next

Given these perks, it’s no wonder scientists have tried recreating skin in the lab. Artificial skin could, for example, cover robots or prosthetics to give them the ability to “feel” temperature, touch, or even heal when damaged.

It could also be a lifesaver. The skin’s self-healing powers have limits. People who suffer from severe burns often need a skin transplant taken from another body part. While effective, the procedure is painful and increases the chances of infection. In some cases, there might not be enough undamaged skin left. A similar dilemma haunts soldiers wounded in battle or those with inherited skin disorders.

Recreating all the skin’s superpowers is tough, to say the least. But last week, a team from Wake Forest University took a large step towards artificial skin that heals large wounds when transplanted into mice and pigs.

Bionic hand solves user’s pains in more than one way

It might sound scary, but it has given the first recipient a new lease on life, with more independence and lesser dependence on pain medication.

A collaborative effort of researchers from Italy, Australia, Sweden, and the US has led to the development of a bionic arm that can fuse with the bones and work with the neurons in the body to deliver high functionality, a press release said.

In a farming accident twenty years ago in Sweden, Karin lost her right arm. She was given a conventional prosthesis that she found not only uncomfortable but also unreliable. Karin did not find the prosthesis was helping her carry on with her routine life in a meaningful way.

High-strength and ultra-tough whole spider silk fibers spun from transgenic silkworms

Lightweight materials with super strength and toughness are highly sought after. Spider silk, a sustainable material, meets these requirements but faces challenges in commercialization due to scientific understanding of its spinning mechanism, technical complexities in the process, and engineering hurdles in low-cost mass production. Here, drawing inspiration from nylon and Kevlar, we propose a theory on the nature of toughness and strength, unveiling the basic structure of silk fibers. Using these theories, we successfully produce the first “localized” full-length spider silk fiber via transgenic silkworms, showcasing high tensile strength (1,299 MPa) and exceptional toughness (319 MJ/m3). This breakthrough overcomes scientific, technical, and engineering obstacles, paving the way for spider silk’s commercialization as a sustainable substitute for synthetic fibers. Moreover, our theories provide essential guidance for developing super materials.

Developing sustainable materials with high strength and ultra-toughness is vital for ecological civilization. Using transgenic silkworms, we have successfully produced the first full-length spider silk, overcoming the scientific challenge of understanding the essence of toughness and strength. The resulting bionic spider silk exhibits high strength (1,299 MPa) and ultra-toughness (319 MJ/m3), offering a potentially sustainable substitute for synthetic commercial fibers. This breakthrough provides valuable insights for the development of super materials, including those for a space elevator, driving the advancement of civilization.

Scientists discover neurons that act as brain ‘glue’ to recall memories

Scientists have discovered new insights into how our brain stores episodic memories—a type of long-term, conscious memory of a previous experience—that could be critical to the development of new neuroprosthetic devices to help patients with memory problems, like Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

The new study—led by the University of Glasgow, in collaboration with the University of Birmingham and University of Erlangen—used special electrodes, implanted directly into the brains of epilepsy patients requiring surgery, to allow scientists to observe the activity of individual neurons in the hippocampus region of the brain.

The hippocampus is a challenging area to study, due to its location deep within the brain, yet this area is critical for our memory, acting as the librarian to the memory library in our brain.

Robotic Exoskeletons and Neurorehabilitation for Acquired Brain Injury: Determining the Potential for Recovery of Overground Walking

A team of New Jersey researchers reviewed the evidence for the impact of robotic exoskeleton devices on recovery of ambulation among individuals with acquired brain injury, laying out a systematic framework for the evaluation of such devices that is needed for rigorous research studies. The open access article, “Lower extremity robotic exoskeleton devices for overground ambulation recovery in acquired brain injury – A review” (doi: 10.3389/fnbot.2023/1014616), was published May 25, 2023 in Frontiers in Neurorobotics.

New Jersey researchers provide framework for evaluating lower extremity robotic exoskeletons and their role in neurorehabilitation following acquired brain injury East Hanover, NJ. August 14, 2023.

This robotic exoskeleton can help runners sprint faster

It encourages wearers to take more steps, covering distances more quickly than they could without it.

A wearable exoskeleton can help runners increase their speed by encouraging them to take more steps, allowing them to cover short distances more quickly.

While previous studies have focused on how wearable exoskeletons can help people reduce the energy they expend while running, the new study, published today in Science Robotics, examines how wearable robots can assist runners as they sprint.

A non-invasive way to turn a cockroach into a cyborg

A team of mechanical engineers at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore has found a way to electronically control cockroaches without injuring them. In their paper published in the journal npj Flexible Electronics, the group describes the new technology they used to remotely control the cockroaches and the benefits of doing so.

Prior research teams have created a variety of cyborg , but they all had one feature in common—they all involved attaching probes to the insect’s nervous system—procedures that led to damage to the insect, and likely some degree of pain.

In this new effort, the researchers noted that damaging cockroaches during attempts to control them results in a very short life expectancy, which then results in very little payoff for a lot of work. They also suggest such research is unethical because of the pain inflicted on the cockroaches. In this new effort, they have found a way to control cockroaches that does not involve cutting into them, resulting in a much longer lifespan.

Intel unveils Meteor Lake CPUs, features dedicated AI engine

This processor is the first to be built on the Intel 4 (7nm) architecture.

Intel, the PC silicon giant, has recently made a significant announcement that’s set to revolutionize its mobile processor line. On Tuesday, at the Intel Innovation event, the company unveiled its highly anticipated Meteor Lake processors, now known as Core Ultra chips. This is after Intel decided to do away with the Core “i” designation in June 2023. It is slated for release on December 14, and laptops coming out in the first quarter of 2024 should start adopting the new chips. While this news is undoubtedly exciting for tech enthusiasts, it also raises important questions for consumers: Will Intel-powered Windows… More.

Source: Intel Corporation.

Meteor Lake isn’t just another processor in Intel’s lineup; it represents a pivotal moment in the company’s evolution. This processor is the first to be built on the “Intel 4” (7nm) architecture, a significant leap forward in terms of efficiency and power from the 12th and 13th gen Alder Lake and Raptor Lake CPUs. Competitors like Apple already leapfrogged into the world’s first 3nm process with the announcement of Apple’s A17 Bionic Pro on the iPhone 15 Pro lineup. But those are based on ARM architecture, while Intel is on the classic x86-64 ones.

China aims to replicate human brain in bid to dominate global AI

Aiming to be first in the world to have the most advanced forms of artificial intelligence while also maintaining control over more than a billion people, elite Chinese scientists and their government have turned to something new, and very old, for inspiration—the human brain.

Equipped with surveillance and visual processing capabilities modelled on human vision, the new “brain” will be more effective, less energy hungry, and will “improve governance,” its developers say. “We call it bionic retina computing,” Gao Wen, a leading artificial intelligence researcher, wrote in the paper “City Brain: Challenges and Solution.”

Exploring transhumanism

What do pacemakers, prosthetic limbs, Iron Man and flu vaccines all have in common? They are examples of an old idea that’s been gaining in significance in the last several decades: transhumanism. The word denotes a set of ideas relating to the increasing integration of humans with their technologies. At the heart of the transhuman conversation, however, lies the oldest question of all: What does it mean to be human?

When talking about transhumanism, it’s easy to get lost because the definition is imprecise. “Transhumanism” can refer to the Transhumanist (with a capital T) movement, which actively pursues a technologically enhanced future, or an amorphous body of ideas and technologies that are closing the bio-techno gap, such as a robotic exoskeleton that enhances the natural strength of the wearer.

At Arizona State University, a diverse set of researchers has been critically examining transhumanism since 2004.