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Feb 10, 2021

World’s first robotic kitchen

Posted by in categories: food, robotics/AI

Would you like your own personal robo-cook? 😃


The future of cooking at home.

Feb 10, 2021

Pioneers in the Desert: A Tech-Infused Road Trip

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, business, robotics/AI, space

In this special episode of Hello World, best-selling author and Bloomberg Businessweek journalist Ashlee Vance goes on a RV road trip through California in the midst of a pandemic and sweeping forest fires. Along the way, he hangs out with a Tesla co-founder who wants to recycle all the world’s batteries, some robotic farmers, a test pilot who almost lost his life and desert space-geeks building a lunar lander.

#HelloWorld #BloombergBusinessweek #California.

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Feb 10, 2021

‘Stem cells in hyperdrive’: Monash University researchers’ breakthrough in the hunt for a healing secret

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, innovation

A team of Australian researchers believe they have taken a significant step towards unlocking the regenerative power of the stem cells in our bodies.

Feb 10, 2021

The Plasma Compression Fusion Device—Enabling Nuclear Fusion Ignition

Posted by in categories: engineering, military, nuclear energy, particle physics

The plasma compression fusion device (PCFD) generates the energy gain by plasma compression-induced nuclear fusion. This concept has the capability of maximizing the product of plasma pressure and energy confinement time to maximize the energy gain, and thus give rise to fusion ignition conditions. The preferred embodiment of this original concept uses a hollow cross-duct configuration of circular cross section in which the concentrated magnetic energy flux from two pairs of opposing curved-headed counter-spinning conical structures (possibly made from an alloy of tungsten with high capacitance) whose outer surfaces are electrically charged compresses a gaseous mixture of fusion fuel into a plasma, heated to extreme temperatures and pressures. The generated high-intensity electromagnetic (EM) radiation heats the plasma and the produced magnetic fields confine it in between the counter-spinning conical structures, named the dynamic fusors (four of them-smoothly curved apex sections opposing each other in pairs). The dynamic fusors can be assemblies of electrified grids and toroidal magnetic coils, arranged within a conical structure whose outer surface is electrically charged. The cross-duct inner surface surrounding the plasma core region is also electrically charged and vibrated in an accelerated mode to minimize the flux of plasma particles (including neutrals) from impacting the PCFD surfaces and initiating a plasma quench. The fusion fuel (preferably deuterium gas) is introduced into the plasma core through the counterspinning conical structures, namely, injected through orifices in the dynamic fusor heads. There is envisioned another even more compact version of this concept, which uses accelerated vibration in a linear-duct configuration (using two counterspinning dynamic fusors only) and would best be suited for fusion power generation on aircraft, or main battle tanks. The concept uses controlled motion of electrically charged matter through accelerated vibration and/or accelerated spin subjected to smooth, yet rapid acceleration transients, to generate extremely high-energy/high-intensity EM radiation (fields of high-energy photons) which not only confines the plasma but also greatly compresses itso as to produce a high power density plasma burn, leading to ignition. The PCFD concept can produce power in the gigawatt to terawatt range (and higher) with input power in the kilowatt to megawatt range and can possibly lead to ignition (selfsustained) plasma burn. Several important practical engineering and operational issues with operating a device such as the PCFD are discussed.

Feb 10, 2021

Soft subdermal implant capable of wireless battery charging and programmable controls for applications in optogenetics

Posted by in categories: genetics, neuroscience

Although wireless optogenetic technologies enable brain circuit investigation in freely moving animals, existing devices have limited their full potential, requiring special power setups. Here, the authors report fully implantable optogenetic systems that allow intervention-free wireless charging and controls for operation in any environment.

Feb 10, 2021

Single-neuronal predictions of others’ beliefs in humans

Posted by in category: neuroscience

Recordings of cells in the human dorsomedial prefrontal cortex identify a population of neurons that encode information about others’ beliefs and distinguish them from self-belief-related representations, providing insight into cellular-level processing underlying human theory of mind.

Feb 10, 2021

Ultrasonic thalamic stimulation in chronic disorders of consciousness

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Despite great advances in the field of intensive care, when patients survive a severe.

Brain injury but remain in a chronic Vegetative State (VS) or Minimally Conscious.

State (MCS) (i.e., a disorder of consciousness; DOC), little can be done to promote.

Continue reading “Ultrasonic thalamic stimulation in chronic disorders of consciousness” »

Feb 10, 2021

Central Regulation of Branched-Chain Amino Acids Is Mediated by AgRP Neurons

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, food, genetics, neuroscience

Circulating branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) are elevated in obesity and diabetes, and recent studies support a causal role for BCAAs in insulin resistance and defective glycemic control. The physiological mechanisms underlying BCAA regulation are poorly understood. Here we show that insulin signaling in the mediobasal hypothalamus (MBH) of rats is mandatory for lowering plasma BCAAs, most probably by inducing hepatic BCAA catabolism. Insulin receptor deletion only in agouti-related protein (AgRP)–expressing neurons (AgRP neurons) in the MBH impaired hepatic BCAA breakdown and suppression of plasma BCAAs during hyperinsulinemic clamps in mice. In support of this, chemogenetic stimulation of AgRP neurons in the absence of food significantly raised plasma BCAAs and impaired hepatic BCAA degradation.

Feb 10, 2021

Seeking the “Beauty Center” in the Brain: A Meta-Analysis of fMRI Studies of Beautiful Human Faces and Visual Art

Posted by in category: neuroscience

During the past two decades, cognitive neuroscientists have sought to elucidate the common neural basis of the experience of beauty. Still, empirical evidence for such common neural basis of different forms of beauty is not conclusive. To address this question, we performed an activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis on the existing neuroimaging studies of beauty appreciation of faces and visual art by nonexpert adults (49 studies, 982 participants, meta-data are available at https://osf.io/s9xds/). We observed that perceiving these two forms of beauty activated distinct brain regions: While the beauty of faces convergently activated the left ventral striatum, the beauty of visual art convergently activated the anterior medial prefrontal cortex (aMPFC). However, a conjunction analysis failed to reveal any common brain regions for the beauty of visual art and faces.

Feb 10, 2021

Inside Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, space travel