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Month: March 2019

Biologically inspired circuitry could help build future low-power AI chips—if some obstacles are overcome.

The news: Researchers at the US National Institute of Standards and Technology built a new magnetically controlled electronic synapse, an artificial equivalent of the ones that link neurons. They fire millions of times faster than the ones in your brain, while using 1,000th as much energy (which is also less than any other artificial synapse to date).

Why it matters: Synthetic synapses, which gather multiple signals and fire electronic pulses at a threshold, may be an alternative to transistors in regular processors. They can be assembled to create so-called neuromorphic chips that work more like a brain. Such devices can run artificial neural networks, which underpin modern AI, more efficiently than regular chips. This new synapse could make them even more energy-efficient.

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A bizarre theory could explain dark matter.

Mirror Image

The Big Bang didn’t just result in our familiar universe, according to a mind-bending new theory — it also generated a second “anti-universe” that extended backwards in time, like a mirror image of our own.

A new story in Physics World explores the new theory, which was proposed by a trio of Canadian physicists who say that it could explain the existence of dark matter.

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Rwanda’s advancements on the technological front have been dazzling, with that enviable touch of innovation. Ever since deliveries of health supplies through drones commenced in 2016, the stats have been phenomenal.

To date, over 10,000 health supply deliveries have been completed and this is such a huge feat. Medical drones were launched in October 2016, in partnership with #Zipline Inc. Rwanda is the first country on the continent, and in the world to have such services in the health sector. Such monumental success easily makes Rwanda’s healthcare system among the best in Africa.

Rwanda has completed over 10,000 deliveries of health supplies by medical drones.

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Zombie Bacteria that sounds like a Netflix Series…not really, but a bacteria that devours roundworms has been found. #karma A new species of bacterium Chryseobacterium nematophagum, has been found to digest its hosts—roundworm parasites—from the inside out. The findings, which are presented in the open access journal BMC Biology, suggest that the bacteria may potentially be used in future, to control roundworm infections in animals, plants, and, potentially, humans.

A new species of bacterium, Chryseobacterium nematophagum, has been found to digest its hosts—roundworm parasites—from the inside out. The findings, which are presented in the open access journal BMC Biology, suggest that the bacteria may potentially be used in future, to control roundworm infections in animals, plants, and, potentially, humans.

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Accumulation of fat in the liver, known as fatty liver disease, is experienced by over 5.5 million Australians, including more than 40% of all adults over the age of 50.

Fatty liver develops from a combination of both genetic and environmental causes, which influence the age of onset and severity of the disease. Experts are now describing the condition as a hidden epidemic, which is driving up rates of liver transplant, contributing to a range of illnesses and ultimately death.

Fatty liver disease usually has no early symptoms and diagnoses with current technologies mostly comes when it’s too late to prevent major illness. But now, for the first time in a study published in the prestigious scientific journal, Nature, a team of researchers from the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, University of California, and University of Sydney, have discovered biomarkers in the blood that can predict the accumulation of toxic fats in the liver, which are a sign of early fatty liver disease. These predictions can be made based on the lipid (fats) profile in the blood.

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In the fight against cancer, there is a surprising tool in the arsenal: the food we eat. That’s because some nutrients in food have been found to play a role in preventing cancer, and it’s relevant because the World Cancer Research Fund reports that 30 to 50 percent of cancer cases are preventable, putting a focus on stopping cancer from developing in the first place.

Xiang-Dong Wang, a senior scientist and associate director of the Jean Mayer USDA Human Research Center on Aging at Tufts, studies how food can help prevent development, particularly lung, liver, and colon cancer.

Although the rate of most cancers is dropping, there is increasing concern about the rise in both incidence and death rate of liver cancer in the United States, partially due to the parallel rise in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, obesity, and diabetes.

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Are we alone in the universe?

Using data on the UV levels required to make the molecular structures needed within a functioning cell, scientists may have just found a pair of planets capable of supporting life — both exo-planets receive similar UV levels from stars needed to promote cell function, one of which is Kepler-452b.

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As it travels through space, Pioneer 10 carries a unique payload: a 6.0 x 9.0 in gold-anodized aluminum plaque with images of two nude human figures (one male and one female) and information on the probe’s origin. It was designed by astronomers Carl Sagan and Frank Drake, just in case intelligent life finds the spacecraft. #FlipFacts

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