Studying Ancient Ice {NICL} | Science Nation National Science Foundation News 2012-09-27 | It's a freezing cold day inside the National Ice Core Laboratory (NICL) in Denver, Colo., as it is every day of the year. That's because the NICL is a facility for storing and studying ice cores recovered from the polar regions of the world. It's minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit inside, so everyone is bundled up in ski parkas, insulated gloves and boots. And, saws are buzzing, as scientists from all over the U.S. are measuring and cutting pieces of precious Antarctic glacier ice to take back to their labs for research. While their research goals vary, all the scientists are here on this day for same thing - ice cores from the WAIS Divide Ice Core project. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), project manager Mark Twickler and a team of scientists, engineers, and support personnel traveled to the bottom of the world to drill and bring back these ice cores, which are perfectly preserved records of the distant past. The team drilled down more than two miles to retrieve the oldest pieces of ice in an ice sheet that's more than 70.000 years old. Twickler says ice core layers are like tree rings because each layer represents a year of weather. From the ice core layers, the scientists can learns all sort of information, from how rough the oceans were around Antarctica to how dusty it was in Australia.
Bioplastics from Bacteria | Podcast National Science Foundation News 2024-10-21 | Plastics are foundational in modern life, but only a fraction of those produced are recycled.WashU researchers Arpita Bose, associate professor of biology; Eric Conners, a graduate student; and Tahina Ranaivoarisoa, a lab manager in the Bose Lab, discuss purple bacteria and how they might be used to produce biodegradable bioplastics.
Losing Your Cool #shorts #science #mood National Science Foundation News 2024-10-18 | Overall, researchers found that the actual temperature at which the majority of people felt uncomfortable during a hot summer depended on the individual. When they did feel discomfort, it often negatively affected their mood. The exception: older adults on average became more uncomfortable in high heat more quickly, but it did not affect their mood as much as it did younger adults.
AI Enters Biomedicine #news #science #biomedical National Science Foundation News 2024-10-17 | From user facing language models to real-time, in-depth analysis of massive amounts of information, Artificial Intelligence is transforming technologies and the ways researchers are approaching societal challenges. We’ll explore a new AI training technique with biomedical applications in the U.S. National Science Foundation’s “Discovery Files”.Artificial Intelligence holds tremendous potential for addressing major global challenges. In biomedical research, for example, AI can improve the time and resources needed to conduct the research necessary for new drugs and treatment approaches. NSF-supported researchers from the University of Texas at Austin have developed a new system for training AI models called Evolutionary Ranking or EvoRank that seeks to accelerate the development of less toxic treatments and new preventative strategies in medicine. Proteins have evolved over billions of years, mutating and swapping out amino acids in beneficial ways. EvoRank training distills protein evolution into AI models that use those principles to inform what changes are most plausible in nature during biotechnology development.This new training technique seizes on the ability of AI models to synthesize large databases and generate new designs, suggesting how to alter amino acids to create new proteins and new biotechnologies. This approach could be commercially adapted to save time, some of the massive expenses of drug development, and could enable new biotechnology markets.
Hurricanes & Kelvin Waves #shorts #science #hurricane National Science Foundation News 2024-10-16 | Could we better predict hurricanes?
Your Brain #shorts #science #brain National Science Foundation News 2024-10-15 | Walking, we don't think much about it. It just gets us from point A to point B. But now, an NSF-invested team of engineers at Florida Atlantic University has developed a way to glean important clues about our brain's health from how we walk.The research specifically targets older individuals and the early detection of mild cognitive impairment, or MCI, that sometimes can lead to Alzheimer's.Until now, memory testing has been the traditional method of detecting MCI in older adults.
Global AI Research Agenda (PART 2) | Podcast National Science Foundation News 2024-10-14 | An interagency effort has crafted a document to support the entire artificial intelligence research ecosystem, from foundational discoveries to societal applications. Jillian Mammino, a contractor at the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs; Mary Beech, director of workers and technology policy in the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy; and Craig Jolley, a senior data scientist in the Bureau for Inclusive Growth, Partnerships, and Innovation at the U.S. Agency for International Development discuss the Global AI Research Agenda.
Vela Supernova Remnant #shorts #space #astro National Science Foundation News 2024-10-11 | With the powerful, 570-megapixel Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera, astronomers have constructed a massive 1.3 gigapixel image showcasing the central part of the Vela Supernova Remnant, the cosmic corpse of a gigantic star that exploded as a supernova 11,000 years ago. DECam is one of the highest-performing wide-field imaging instruments in the world and is mounted on the US National Science Foundation's Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab.Credit: Credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURAImage Processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab), M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab) & D. de Martin (NSF’s NOIRLab)
Farmer Ants #shorts #ants #farming #asteroid National Science Foundation News 2024-10-10 | Ant agriculture began 66 million years ago in the aftermath of the asteroid that doomed the dinosaurs
Fresh Food #news #science #food National Science Foundation News 2024-10-10 | When shopping for fruits and vegetables, the lighting conditions at a grocery store can manipulate how you perceive the items you are looking at. But could a well-trained app make a better decision? We’ll explore in the U.S. National Science Foundation’s “Discovery Files”.In the computer vision community, human perception is highly regarded as the basis for training machine vision models. But human perception can be manipulated by lighting and other sensory variations.NSF-supported researchers from University of Arkansas have developed a new training method that demonstrates a 20 percent performance improvement by using data incorporating human perceptions of photos taken under different lighting conditions. The study started with 89 participants without color or other vision problems, evaluating and grading the freshness of Romaine lettuce based on photographs taken over the course of 8 days. The pictures showed various states of browning and were taken with different color temperatures, resulting in pictures ranging from more bluish cool tones to more orangey warm tones.The human participants’ input from this survey were incorporated into several well-established machine learning models to better mimic human perception and factor in the improved dataset.This new method of training machine vision-based computers may help improve a wide variety of visual analysis applications from consumer tools and the jewelry industry to grocery stores and food processing facilities.
Dinosaurs #shorts #science #dinosaur National Science Foundation News 2024-10-09 | Bergmann's rule is a scientific principle that states that animals in cooler climates are generally larger than their relatives in warmer climates. However, studies of dinosaurs and other animals have shown that Bergmann's rule does not apply to all animals or in all cases.
Crocodila #shorts #podcast #science #crocodile National Science Foundation News 2024-10-09 | Crocodilian species first appeared during the Mesozoic era 252-66 million years ago and have since adapted to survive changing environments and mass extinction events. We are joined by Greg Erickson, professor of anatomy and vertebrate paleobiology at Florida State University and curator at FSU's Biological Science Museum, who shares how he measured crocodilian bite strength, what happens if a crocodile bites you, and how they inform the understanding of dinosaurs.
Nobel Prize [microRNA] #shorts #science #nobelprize National Science Foundation News 2024-10-08 | Two scientists won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for their discovery of microRNA, tiny bits of genetic material that serve as on and off switches inside cells that help control what the cells do and when they do it.
Warp to Distant Galaxy Cluster #shorts #space #spacexploration #universe National Science Foundation News 2024-10-08 | Zooming on NGC 1003 for press release noirlab2101: Deep Dive into a Galaxy Cluster. Credit:KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA, S. Brunier/Digitized Sky Survey 2, E. Slawik.Image Processing: Travis Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage), Mahdi Zamani & Davide de Martin.
Zooming into the Rosette Nebula National Science Foundation News 2024-10-07 | Cradled within the fiery petals of the Rosette Nebula is NGC 2244, the young star cluster which it nurtured. The cluster’s stars light up the nebula in vibrant hues of red, gold and purple, and opaque towers of dust rise from the billowing clouds around its excavated core. This image was captured by 570-megapixel Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera (DECam), mounted on the U.S. National Science Foundation Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, a Program of NSF NOIRLab.Credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURA/ESO/N. Bartmann/E. Slawik/S. GuisardImage Processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab), D. de Martin & M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)
Building Stuff with NOVA [PBS] | Podcast National Science Foundation News 2024-10-07 | Engineering is critical in modern society, from building bridges and homes to designing computers and life-saving medical devices. Nehemiah Mabry, a structural engineer and host of the NSF-supported series “Building Stuff with NOVA,” discusses streaming the live show every weekday and how it engages its audience through engineering news, games and interviews.
Future Earth #shorts #space #earth #astro National Science Foundation News 2024-10-06 | The discovery of an Earth-like planet 4,000 light years away in the Milky Way galaxy provides a preview of one possible fate for our planet billions of years in the future, when the sun has turned into a white dwarf, and a blasted and frozen Earth has migrated beyond the orbit of Mars.
Unconscious Pain #shorts #pain #science #medical National Science Foundation News 2024-10-04 | The degree to which a surgical patient’s subconscious processing of pain, or “nociception,” is properly managed by their anesthesiologist will directly affect the degree of post-operative drug side effects they’ll experience and the need for further pain management they’ll require. But pain is a subjective feeling to measure, even when patients are awake, much less when they are unconscious.
Zooming to Gods Hand #shorts #space #universe #astro National Science Foundation News 2024-10-03 | This cloudy, ominous structure is CG 4, a cometary globule nicknamed ‘God’s Hand’. CG 4 is one of many cometary globules present within the Milky Way, and how these objects get their distinct form is still a matter of debate among astronomers. Its dusty head and long, faint tail vaguely resemble the appearance of a comet, though they have nothing in common. Astronomers theorize that cometary globules get their structure from the stellar winds of nearby hot, massive stars. This image was captured by the Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera on the U.S. National Science Foundation Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, a Program of NSF NOIRLab. Credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/N. BartmannImage Processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab), M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab) & D. de Martin (NSF’s NOIRLab)
Cosmic Fireworks #shorts #space #universe #galaxy National Science Foundation News 2024-10-03 | A cosmic fireworks show is on display 13 million light-years away in the irregular starburst galaxy NGC 4449. This image from the Gemini North Telescope highlights that the galaxy is forming new stars at an exceptional rate. Astronomers have found clues indicating that NGC 4449 is in the process of absorbing two of its smaller satellite companions. These ongoing interactions compress and shock the gas in NGC 4449, triggering bright bursts of star formation. At the current rate, the gas supply that feeds NGC 4449’s stellar production will only last for another billion years or so.Gemini North Exterior: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/ J.PollardGemini North Interior: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/S. GoebelNGC 4449: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA, N. Bartmann (NSF NOIRLab)Image Processing:J. Miller (International Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab), M. Rodriguez (International Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab), T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab), M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)Acknowledgements: PI: P. Frank Winkler (Middlebury College), Knox S. Long (STScI/Eureka Scientific Inc), and William P. Blair (Johns Hopkins University)
Grading Brain Health on a Curve National Science Foundation News 2024-10-03 | Walking, we don't think much about it. It just gets us from point A to point B. But now, an NSF-invested team of engineers at Florida Atlantic University has developed a way to glean important clues about our brain's health from how we walk.The research specifically targets older individuals and the early detection of mild cognitive impairment, or MCI, that sometimes can lead to Alzheimer's.Until now, memory testing has been the traditional method of detecting MCI in older adults.
Tougher Concrete #news #science #concrete National Science Foundation News 2024-10-03 | In the construction materials used for buildings and infrastructure such as roads, strength relates to the ability to sustain weight while toughness relates to resistance to cracking. But what if there was a building material stronger and tougher than traditional materials. We’ll explore in the U.S. National Science Foundation’s “Discovery Files”.Modern society depends on the resilient materials that make up the civil infrastructure we rely on daily. Durability becomes essential in heavily used roads, buildings, and water systems. NSF-supported engineers from Princeton University havedemonstrated a new technique using a cement paste in a tube-like architecture to make materials resistant to cracking and sudden failures.Inspired by the architecture of human bone and its tough outer layer, the cement-based material is 5.6 times more damage-resistant than standard counterparts. In addition to improving fracture toughness, the researchers introduced a new method to quantify the statistical degree of disorder, an important quantity for design.The researchers hope to use advanced fabrication methods such as additive manufacturing to introduce combinations of hard and soft materials into the tube structures. This new approach could further expand the possible applications while helping engineers develop new concrete components.
Vocal Recognition #shorts #science #nsf #ai National Science Foundation News 2024-10-02 | Researchers asked an automatic speech recognizer to listen to 151 hours — almost six-and-a-half days — of recordings from people with speech disabilities related to Parkinson’s disease. Their model transcribed a new dataset of similar recordings with 30% more accuracy than a control model that had not listened to people with Parkinson’s disease.
What are Comets & Asteroids? [Part 2] Science For Kids National Science Foundation News 2024-10-02 | Let’s explore our solar system! A solar system is made up of a star and space objects that orbit it like planets, moons, asteroids and comets. In Part 2, we'll learn about asteroids and comets.Exploring Our Solar System! [Part 1] youtu.be/oHahGWzLpl0
Zooming to Stellar Nursery #shorts #space #universe #nebula National Science Foundation News 2024-10-01 | Cradled within the fiery petals of the Rosette Nebula is NGC 2244, the young star cluster which it nurtured. The cluster’s stars light up the nebula in vibrant hues of red, gold and purple, and opaque towers of dust rise from the billowing clouds around its excavated core. This image, captured by 570-megapixel Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera (DECam), mounted on the U.S. National Science Foundation Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, a Program of NSF NOIRLab, is being released in celebration of NOIRLab’s fifth anniversary.CREDIT: CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURA/ESO/N. Bartmann/E. Slawik/S. GuisardImage Processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab), D. de Martin & M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab),
Agricultural Robot Enhances Crop Productivity National Science Foundation News 2024-10-01 | The Farm-NG Amiga is an advanced agricultural management system designed to revolutionize farming practices and enhance productivity in the agricultural industry. It combines cutting-edge technologies and data-driven insights to provide farmers and agricultural professionals with comprehensive monitoring, control, and optimization capabilities for their farming operations.
Is the Milky Way Special? #shorts #space #galaxy #astro National Science Foundation News 2024-09-30 | Is our home galaxy, the Milky Way Galaxy, a special place? A team of scientists started a journey to answer this question more than a decade ago. Commenced in 2013, the Satellites Around Galactic Analogs (SAGA) Survey studies galaxy systems like the Milky Way. Now, the SAGA Survey just published three new research articles that provide us with new insights into the uniqueness of our own Milky Way Galaxy after completing the census of 101 satellite systems similar to the Milky Way’s.
Global AI Research Agenda (PART 1) | Podcast National Science Foundation News 2024-09-30 | An interagency effort has crafted a document to serve as a starting point to align an international artificial intelligence research vision. Michael Littman, the division director of the U.S. National Science Foundation Information and Intelligent Systems in the NSF Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering, and Joshua E. Porterfield, a Federation of American Scientists Impact Fellow in the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Critical and Emerging Technologies discuss the Global Artificial Intelligence Research Agenda.
Mars Atmosphere #shorts #mars #space National Science Foundation News 2024-09-29 | Mars wasn’t always the cold desert we see today. There’s increasing evidence that water once flowed on the Red Planet’s surface, billions of years ago. And if there was water, there must also have been a thick atmosphere to keep that water from freezing. But sometime around 3.5 billion years ago, the water dried up, and the air, once heavy with carbon dioxide, dramatically thinned, leaving only the wisp of an atmosphere that clings to the planet today. Where exactly did Mars’ atmosphere go? This question has been a central mystery of Mars’ 4.6-billion-year history.
Sahara Dust #shorts #rainforest #sahara National Science Foundation News 2024-09-27 | Iron is a micronutrient indispensable for life, enabling processes such as respiration, photosynthesis, and DNA synthesis. Iron availability is often a limiting resource in today’s oceans, which means that increasing the flow of iron into them can increase the amount of carbon fixed by phytoplankton, with consequences for the global climate.Iron ends up in oceans and terrestrial ecosystems through rivers, melting glaciers, hydrothermal activity, and especially wind. But not all its chemical forms are ‘bioreactive’, that is, available for organisms to take up from their environment.
Imaging the Sky #shorts #space #astro #universe National Science Foundation News 2024-09-26 | This animation shows how the Vera C. Rubin Observatory will cover the sky, first in tiles to image it once, then over and over to create multiple images of the entire visible sky. Jointly funded by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy, this telescope will allow Scientists to stack these images into ultra-long exposures to reveal very faint objects. They'll also be able to compare individual images with previous ones, to identify anything that has changed.Credit: O. Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Magnetic Cybersecurity #news #science #cybersecurity National Science Foundation News 2024-09-26 | Electronic systems can be weak spots in a security system, potential points of access for hackers and malicious users. But how might a new screen inspired by a unique ability of squids and octopi change cyber security? We’ll explore in the U.S. National Science Foundation’s “Discovery Files”.The increasing frequency, creativity, and variety of cybersecurity attacks means an understanding of threats and the ability to reduce them are vital to national security. NSF-supported engineers at University of Michigan have developed a new system of magnetic particle swarms that can act as pixels and bits for encrypted information. Partially inspired by the pigments that squid use to change the color of their skin, the flexible screen can display images like a computer by using magnetic fields to program specific patterns and information in a swarm of particles.The screen can show a public image for anyone to see or change to a secure encrypted image when read over a complex array of small magnets. This magnetic array acts like an encryption key without the need for electronic systems and the security liabilities inherent to them. The research could be further developed for soft computing devices, and multifunctional, reconfigurable display devices with a growing list of potential applications in national security, defense, camouflage and anti-counterfeiting technologies.
Fighting Cancer #shorts #cancer #cancerawareness National Science Foundation News 2024-09-25 | AI unlocks new path to personalized cancer treatments
Primordial Black Holes #shorts #space #darkmatter #mars National Science Foundation News 2024-09-24 | Could Mars hold the secret to dark matter and black holes?
AI Robot [ASMR] #shorts #ai #robot #asmr National Science Foundation News 2024-09-23 | As next-generation technologies, such as robots, are developed, operational challenges come to light that need specialized solutions. Hao Zhang, associate professor of computer science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, discusses perception strategies, ethics and other challenges in human-centered robotics.
The Wall of Wind | Podcast National Science Foundation News 2024-09-23 | At the U.S. National Science Foundation Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure Wall of Wind Experimental Facility, researchers seek to better understand wind effects on civil infrastructure systems and to prevent wind hazards from becoming community disasters. Arindam Chowdhury, director and principal investigator at the facility, discusses hurricane-force winds and how they are studied.
Young Magnetar #shorts #science #space #astro National Science Foundation News 2024-09-22 | A team of international astronomers using the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), part of the U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), have gathered the most precise and detailed position and velocity measurements yet recorded for the youngest and fastest known nearby magnetar, Swift J1818.0-1617. These new measurements may help illuminate the mysterious conditions under which magnetars form.Magnetars are the result of a particularly high-mass star collapse that causes a supernova explosion and initiates formation conditions for a neutron star. Neutron stars that develop a strong magnetic field — typically thousands of times stronger than a "regular" neutron star — are classified as magnetars, which are considered the most magnetic objects in the universe.
Robot Inspiration #shorts #robot #transformers #podcast National Science Foundation News 2024-09-20 | As next-generation technologies, such as robots, are developed, operational challenges come to light that need specialized solutions. Hao Zhang, associate professor of computer science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, discusses perception strategies, ethics and other challenges in human-centered robotics.
Migrating Birds #shorts #birds #friends National Science Foundation News 2024-09-19 | New research supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation using two decades worth of data could change how scientists think about bird migrations and the interdependencies and relationships they involve.Driving any long distance usually includes at least one rest stop, such as for food or gas. Imagine that each time you stop during a trip you run into the same group of other cars and people travelling along the highway, perhaps with a different destination. You might eventually strike up a conversation. Now imagine that this happened year in and year out until you became friendly with the other travelers.
Concussion-proof Helmets #news #science #concussion National Science Foundation News 2024-09-19 | In the world of contact sports concussions can be common, and repeated head impacts can have devastating long-term neurological consequences. But researchers are working on new kinds of helmets that may lessen the impact in the U.S. National Science Foundation’s “Discovery Files”.Every year 15% of high school athletes are affected by concussions according to the CDC. These impacts can have severe long-term effects such as Chronic traumatic Encephalopathy or CTE, a degenerative brain disorder that is known to create behavioral and mood problems and can result in dementia. NSF-Supported researchers at Stanford University in association with Savior Brain Inc. are working to create the next generation of head protection. Taking advantage of recent engineering advancements in the creation of liquid shock absorbers, the researchers were able to model a helmet that dramatically reduced the severity of impacts to the head by a third.The researchers’ helmet with 21 liquid shock absorbers was demonstrated against an impact model made to replicate equipment used in the NFL’s Helmet test impact protocol. Striking the helmet in 6 specific locations, the model tested concussive and subconcussive impacts against the open-source models of 4 other popular helmets. The results show a promising ability of liquid shock absorbers to dramatically change the impact performance in football helmets. This could provide a considerable reduction in brain injuries pointing towards a safer future for athletes at all levels of play.
AI Robots Mission to Save Lives #shorts #ai #robot National Science Foundation News 2024-09-18 | Today, autonomous robots are everywhere. They entertain our children, clean our floors, deliver medicine, move heavy equipment, and are in manufacturing assembly lines. But this robot is different. MAMA BEAR, an autonomous robotic system on a quest to create the most efficient energy-absorbing shape ever, built to protect, leading to new life-saving applications.
Breakthrough in Solar Physics #shorts #space #sun #solar National Science Foundation News 2024-09-17 | Astronomers create first detailed map of sun's coronal magnetic fields - Researchers at the U.S. National Science Foundation National Solar Observatory have successfully mapped the magnetic fields of the sun's atmospheric corona using the NSF Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, the world's most powerful solar telescope. This breakthrough allows for closer study and tracking of solar space weather, which can impact Earth's technology-dependent society, from disrupting satellites to disabling power grids.
What Happens When AI Leads an Experiment? National Science Foundation News 2024-09-17 | Today, autonomous robots are everywhere. They entertain our children, clean our floors, deliver medicine, move heavy equipment, and are in manufacturing assembly lines. But this robot is different. MAMA BEAR, an autonomous robotic system on a quest to create the most efficient energy-absorbing shape ever, built to protect, leading to new life-saving applications.
Sharpest Image of Black Hole #shorts #astro #space #universe National Science Foundation News 2024-09-16 | The Event Horizon Telescope collaboration, a global network of radio telescopes funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and international partners, has achieved the highest resolution radio observations of astronomical objects ever obtained. For this experiment, the researchers detected radio waves from distant galaxies at a wavelength of 0.87 mm, a substantial improvement from the 1.3 mm wavelength observations the collaboration previously used to image supermassive black holes in two galaxies.
Common Food Dye Turns Skin Transparent | Podcast National Science Foundation News 2024-09-16 | Imaging is central to biology and medicine, but light refracts and scatters as it hits tissues and lipids. Zihao Ou, associate professor of physics at The University of Texas at Dallas, discusses his paper demonstrating a new technique to achieve optical transparency in live tissue, a project he worked on in Guosong Hong's research group as a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University.
Mimicking the Human Eye #shorts #science #robot National Science Foundation News 2024-09-15 | The camera mimics the involuntary movements of the human eye to create sharper, more accurate images for robots, smartphones and other image-capturing devices.#shorts #robot #science
Woolly Mammoth DNA Leads to Complete Genome #shorts #woollymammoth National Science Foundation News 2024-09-13 | Woolly Mammoths are ancient relatives of Elephants that went extinct around 4,000 years ago. But one specimen frozen in the Siberian permafrost is revealing some of its secrets.An international effort including researchers at the NSF Physics Frontiers Center for Theoretical Biological Physics at Rice University and the NSF Behavioral Plasticity Research Institute at Baylor College of Medicine have pieced together fossilized chromosomes found in a sample of skin from a woolly mammoth that died 52,000 years ago. In most cases, DNA from fossils has long since decayed, making it nearly impossible to put enough genetic material together to learn anything about the organism. In this case, the fragments were kept close together in a glassy state akin to what happens when things are freeze-dried. The fossil chromosomes allowed researchers to assemble the genome of an extinct species for the very first time. In the process, they found 28 pairs of chromosomes, the same number and with the same structure as modern elephants. This made it possible to reveal a new secret from ancient history, which genes made the hair grow on woolly mammoths.
SpaceX & Telescopes #shorts #space #astro National Science Foundation News 2024-09-12 | SpaceX is launching and operating its satellite constellation in low-Earth orbit to provide high-speed internet service. SpaceX's satellite network currently provides high-speed internet to more than 600,000 locations in the United States, often in remote or previously unserved and underserved areas. Some of the frequencies in which the satellites transmit towards Earth are adjacent to radio astronomy allocations. Operating the satellites without mitigations could impact ground-based radio, optical and infrared astronomy facilities.SpaceX worked with the U.S. National Science Foundation and its radio astronomy observatories to mitigate potential interference from SpaceX satellite transmissions, focusing on the 10.6 – 10.7 GHz radio astronomy band. NSF and SpaceX finalized a coordination agreement in 2019 to ensure the company’s Starlink satellite network meets international radio astronomy protection standards for that band.
Bioplastics #news #science #bioplastics National Science Foundation News 2024-09-12 | Plastics can be found in every corner of the world. Plastic components can be found in nearly everything we depend on every day, from food packaging to phones and computers, medical devices, and car parts. With nearly all plastic materials are made from petroleum, scientists are looking for more sustainable, biodegradable and less toxic alternatives. We’ll explore bioplastics in the U.S. National Science Foundation’s “Discovery Files”.Bioplastics are made from renewable sources such as sugarcane and corn, or from the digest of microbes such as yeast. Some are biodegradable or even compostable.Two new studies by NSF-supported biologists at Washington University in St. Louis, have found a game-changing source of bioplastics. Two relatively obscure species of purple bacteria produce natural polymers that can be purified to make plastic. The researchers additionally showed that genetic engineering could cause some species of purple bacteria to dramatically ramp up its production of these polymers. Potentially turning them into microscopic bioplastic factories.The aquatic purple bacteria microbes naturally produce the building blocks of bioplastics to store extra carbon. Under the right conditions, they can keep producing those polymers indefinitely. This research could revolutionize how we use plastics in modern life, demonstrating a potential source of completely biodegradable bioplastics that can be produced without adding carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Robotic Interactions #shorts #podcast #robotics National Science Foundation News 2024-09-11 | As next-generation technologies, such as robots, are developed, operational challenges come to light that need specialized solutions. Hao Zhang, associate professor of computer science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, discusses perception strategies, ethics and other challenges in human-centered robotics.
