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May 4, 2023
Scientists have developed a new way to fight a nearly untreatable brain cancer
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience
https://youtube.com/watch?v=KSDhqhKL-JQ
Sound waves can cross the blood-brain barrier and could deliver chemotherapy to complex and treatment-resistant glioblastomas.
May 4, 2023
Researchers detect and classify multiple objects without images
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: computing
Researchers have developed a new high-speed way to detect the location, size and category of multiple objects without acquiring images or requiring complex scene reconstruction. Because the new approach greatly decreases the computing power necessary for object detection, it could be useful for identifying hazards while driving.
“Our technique is based on a single-pixel detector, which enables efficient and robust multi–object detection directly from a small number of 2D measurements,” said research team leader Liheng Bian from the Beijing Institute of Technology in China. “This type of image-free sensing technology is expected to solve the problems of heavy communication load, high computing overhead and low perception rate of existing visual perception systems.”
Today’s image-free perception methods can only achieve classification, single object recognition or tracking. To accomplish all three at once, the researchers developed a technique known as image-free single-pixel object detection (SPOD). In Optics Letters, they report that SPOD can achieve an object detection accuracy of just over 80%.
May 4, 2023
Glioblastoma remodelling of human neural circuits decreases survival
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience
High-grade gliomas functionally remodel neural circuits in the human brain, promoting tumour progression and impairing cognition.
May 4, 2023
Lilly drug slows Alzheimer’s
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience
CHICAGO, May 3 (Reuters) — An experimental Alzheimer’s drug developed by Eli Lilly and Co (LLY.N) slowed cognitive decline by 35% in a late-stage trial, the company said on Wednesday, providing what experts say is the strongest evidence yet that removing sticky amyloid plaques from the brain benefits patients with the fatal disease.
Lilly’s drug, donanemab, met all goals of the trial, the company said. It slowed progression of Alzheimer’s by 35% compared to a placebo in 1,182 people with early-stage disease whose brains had deposits of two key Alzheimer’s proteins, beta amyloid as well as intermediate levels of tau, a protein linked with disease progression and brain cell death.
The study also evaluated the drug in 552 patients with high levels of tau and found that when both groups were combined, donanemab slowed progression by 29% based on a commonly used scale of dementia progression known as the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDR-SB).
May 4, 2023
Beautiful Golden Fossils Reveal Process Of Fossilization 183 Million Years Ago
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: futurism
All that glitters isn’t usually gold, and the same is true for 183 million-year-old fossils found in the Posidonia Shale. Moreover, while the researchers used to think the shiny gold coating on the fossils was fool’s gold, new research has revealed a more surprising answer.
The Posidonia Shale in southwest Germany is the source of many of these golden-hued fossils, particularly those of soft-bodied sea life such as squid and ichthyosaur embryos that were around in the early Jurassic. These geological deposits containing soft-bodied preserves are known as Konservat-Lagerstätten and are extremely rare.
Previously it was thought that anoxic conditions helped to fossilize these specimens. While pyrite, also known as fool’s gold, was thought to be the source of this shine, a closer inspection has revealed more about the conditions in which these fossils were formed.
May 4, 2023
Scientists find link between photosynthesis and ‘fifth state of matter’
Posted by Paul Battista in categories: materials, particle physics
Inside a lab, scientists marvel at a strange state that forms when they cool down atoms to nearly absolute zero. Outside their window, trees gather sunlight and turn them into new leaves. The two seem unrelated—but a new study from the University of Chicago suggests that these processes aren’t so different as they might appear on the surface.
The study, published in PRX Energy on April 28, found links at the atomic level between photosynthesis and exciton condensates—a strange state of physics that allows energy to flow frictionlessly through a material. The finding is scientifically intriguing and may suggest new ways to think about designing electronics, the authors said.
“As far as we know, these areas have never been connected before, so we found this very compelling and exciting,” said study co-author Prof. David Mazziotti.
May 4, 2023
At Last, Scientists Have Measured a Paradoxical Quantum Phenomenon
Posted by Paul Battista in category: quantum physics
May 4, 2023
Astronomers witness star devouring a planet: Possible preview of the ultimate fate of Earth
Posted by 21st Century Tech Blog in categories: energy, space
With the power of the Gemini South Adaptive Optics Imager (GSAOI) on Gemini South, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, operated by NSF’s NOIRLab, astronomers have observed the first direct evidence of a dying star expanding to engulf one of its planets. Evidence for this event was found in a telltale “long and low-energy” outburst from a star in the Milky Way about 13,000 light-years from Earth. This event, the devouring of a planet by an engorged star, likely presages the ultimate fate of Mercury, Venus, and Earth when our sun begins its death throes in about five billion years.
“These observations provide a new perspective on finding and studying the billions of stars in our Milky Way that have already consumed their planets,” says Ryan Lau, NOIRLab astronomer and co-author on this study, which is published in the journal Nature.
May 4, 2023
Parkinson’s disease-like gut dysbiosis detected in early stages of the disease
Posted by Shubham Ghosh Roy in category: biotech/medical
In a recent article published in the journal Nature Communications, researchers performed a large cross-sectional study to profile gut microbiota dysbiosis across prodromal and early stages of Parkinson’s disease (PD), REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD), first-degree relatives of RBD (RBD-FDR), and healthy controls.
Study: Gut microbiome dysbiosis across early Parkinson’s disease, REM sleep behavior disorder and their first-degree relatives. Image Credit: Anatomy Image / Shutterstock.