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A great analogy can often be the key to innovation, making it possible to transfer knowledge from one domain to another. Now researchers have shown that rather than relying on eureka moments, crowdsourcing and AI can dramatically speed up the search for these parallels.

Examples of analogies leading to major breakthroughs range from Edison’s early work in motion pictures to Kepler’s elucidation of the laws of planetary motion. But being able to strip away superficial differences and understand the underlying similarities between solutions to diverse problems has so far largely relied on individual genius.

That doesn’t need to be the case, though, according to the authors of a recent paper in PNAS. By splitting the task up and leveraging the strengths of both crowdsourcing and AI, they were able to find novel analogies that could help solve a variety of problems in creative ways.

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A genome-wide study led by Dean Pierre Magistretti sheds light on the mechanisms through which lactate regulates long-term memory formation and neuroprotection.

The breakdown of sugar in non-neuronal cells, called astrocytes, produces , which gets shuttled to neurons as a source of energy. This lactate not only supports the energy demands of neurons, but also rapidly and transiently activates multiple genes that modulate and regulate brain function.

Previous studies have shown that lactate stimulates the expression of genes encoding proteins involved in neuronal activity by signaling through N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors. Magistretti’s latest study reveals the extent to which lactate modifies in cortical neurons and also points to the mechanisms through which lactate modulates brain function.

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As part of its effort to upgrade its manufacturing sector, the Chinese government started a campaign in 2014 with the overall aim gradually replace manual labour with robots, with the heavily industrialised provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Guangdong among those introducing the new technology on a massive scale.

Companies, including iPhone manufacturer Foxconn, are turning to robots with around 100 million workers in China’s manufacturing industry under threat.

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Mechanical devices for steering optical beams such as gimbal-mounted mirrors or rotating Risley prisms are subject to fatigue and mechanical breakdown, and also suffer from large size, weight, and power (SWaP) requirements. To avoid these drawbacks, researchers from the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL; Washington, DC) have devised a voltage-controlled, nonmechanicalbeam steering device that routes mid-wavelength infrared (MWIR or mid-IR) beams in two dimensions.1 This solid-state, mid-IR optical component relies on liquid-crystal-clad optical waveguides.

A solid-state, compact on-chip device that incorporates waveguides and liquid-crystal elements can steer mid-infrared light beams without relying on mechanical components.

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Alvin Retamar, Chief Science Research Specialist and Project Leader of Philippine Earth Data Resource and Observation Center (PEDRO) said some institutions they have been helping are even calling for higher level training in the space sciences.

“In some areas where we are providing support they are already keen on developing aerospace engineering degree programs,” Retamar said.

Original post from ABS-CBN News

MANILA — The Philippines has enough brainpower to staff a proposed space agency, officials from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) said Wednesday.

Continue reading “PH has brainpower for a space agency: DOST officials” | >

Love: The Glue That Holds the Universe Together. “Love contrasts with fear, light with dark, black implies white, self implies other, suffering implies ecstasy, death implies life. We can devise and apprehend something only in terms of what it is not. This is the cosmic binary code: Ying/Yang, True/False, Infinite/Finite, Masculine/Feminine, On/Off, Yes/No… There are really only two opposing forces at play: love as universal integrating force and fear as universal disintegrating force… Like in Conway’s Game of Life information flows along the path of the least resistance influenced by the bigger motivator – either love factor of fear factor (or, rather, their sophisticated gradients like pleasure and pain) – Go or No go. Love and its contrasting opposite fear is what makes us feel alive… Love is recognized self-similarity in the other, a fractal algorithm of the least resistance. And love, as the finest intelligence, is obviously an extreme form of collaboration… collectively ascending to higher love, “becoming one planet of love.” Love is the glue that holds the Universe together…” –Excerpt from ‘The Syntellect Hypothesis: Five Paradigms of the Mind’s Evolution’ by Alex Vikoulov, available now on Amazon.

#SyntellectHypothesis #AlexVikoulov #Love

P.S. Extra For Digitalists: “In this quantum [computational] multiverse the essence of digital IS quantum entanglement. The totality of your digital reality is what your conscious mind implicitly or explicitly chooses to experience out of the infinite -\-\ a cocktail of love response and fear response.”

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Facebook is aggressively being used by anti-vaccination advocates to target pregnant women with sponsored advertisements to spread false information and conspiracy theories as the US battles a climbing measles outbreak.

A sponsored ad found by Quartz journalist Jeremy Merrill shows the anti-vaccination organisation Stop Mandatory Vaccination targeting women ages 20 to 60 who have expressed interest in pregnancy living in the state of Washington – where the governor recently declared a state of emergency over the measles outbreak.

Nearly 50 children and young adults in Clark County, Washington have become sickened by the disease since January.