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Motion capture is guiding the next generation of extraterrestrial robots

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“How do we build robots that can optimally explore space?” is the core question behind Dr Frances Zhu’s research at the University of Hawai’i. One part of the answer is, “with motion capture”.

“It is my hope that my research contributes to the way extraterrestrial robots move and make decisions on other planets,” explains Zhu (main picture), an assistant researcher and deputy director at the University’s Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology.

That research is in its early stages, but NASA has seen the value in it and awarded Zhu an EPSCoR grant by the name “Autonomous Rover Operations for Planetary Surface Exploration using Machine Learning Algorithms”. [Read more…] about Motion capture is guiding the next generation of extraterrestrial robots

New study shows Transcendental Meditation reduces emotional stress and improves academics

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Students who participated in a meditation-based Quiet Time program utilizing the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique for four months had significant improvements in overall emotional stress symptoms, quality of sleep, and English Language Arts (ELA) academic achievement according to a new randomized controlled trial published last month in Education.

The study was conducted by researchers from the Center for Wellness and Achievement in Education and Stanford University. This was the first randomized control trial to investigate the effects of TM on standardized academic tests.

“Students have been experiencing increased levels of stress and it’s impacting their academic performance,” said Laurent Valosek, lead author of the study and Executive Director of the Center for Wellness and Achievement in Education. [Read more…] about New study shows Transcendental Meditation reduces emotional stress and improves academics

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    How parental involvement affects children’s performance in schoolUsing data from the HSE University longitudinal study Trajectories in Education and Careers (TrEC), Ilya Prakhov, Olga Kotomina and Alexandra Sazhina determined which forms of family engagement in the school are useful and which are harmful to the student. This study makes it possible to monitor students' entire educational path…
    Tags: school, study, students, education, academic, high, performance, control

Study suggests scientists may need to rethink which genes control aging

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To better understand the role of bacteria in health and disease, National Institutes of Health researchers fed fruit flies antibiotics and monitored the lifetime activity of hundreds of genes that scientists have traditionally thought control aging.

To their surprise, the antibiotics not only extended the lives of the flies but also dramatically changed the activity of many of these genes. Their results suggested that only about 30% of the genes traditionally associated with aging set an animal’s internal clock while the rest reflect the body’s response to bacteria.

“For decades scientists have been developing a hit list of common aging genes. These genes are thought to control the aging process throughout the animal kingdom, from worms to mice to humans,” said Edward Giniger, Ph.D., senior investigator, at the NIH’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and the senior author of the study published in iScience. [Read more…] about Study suggests scientists may need to rethink which genes control aging

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  • Experiences of loneliness may differ by age
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    Experiences of loneliness may differ by ageLoneliness in adult life is experienced differently depending on age, according to a study published in the open access journal BMC Public Health.   The research concludes that there can be no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to reducing loneliness, as factors associated with it, such as contact with friends and family, perceived…
    Tags: age, features, life
  • Catholic gynecologists can face moral dilemmas in issues of family planning
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    Catholic gynecologists can face moral dilemmas in issues of family planningA study of Catholic obstetrician-gynecologists shows that many face moral dilemmas when dealing with issues of family planning and abortion due to their religious faith, according researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. The study, published this week in JAMA Network Open, revealed that some Catholic Ob/Gyn practitioners lean…
    Tags: study, control, features, life

Robot-assisted surgery: Putting the reality in virtual reality

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Cardiac surgeons may be able to better plan operations and improve their surgical field view with the help of a robot.

Controlled through a virtual reality parallel system as a digital twin, the robot can accurately image a patient through ultrasound without the hand cramping or radiation exposure that hinder human operators. The international research team published their method in IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica.

“Intra-operative ultrasound is especially useful, as it can guide the surgery by providing real-time images of otherwise hidden devices and anatomy,” said paper author Fei-Yue Wang, Director of the State Key Laboratory of Management and Control of Complex Systems, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences. [Read more…] about Robot-assisted surgery: Putting the reality in virtual reality

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  • ‘World’s first’ magnetic robotic-assisted surgeries performed with Levita Magnetics’ newest platform
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    ‘World’s first’ magnetic robotic-assisted surgeries performed with Levita Magnetics’ newest platformLevita Magnetics, a company with a mission to improve access to better surgery for more patients, says “the first ever” robotic-assisted surgical procedures have been performed using the company’s newest system in development, the Levita Robotic Platform. The first case was a reduced-incision laparoscopic cholecystectomy (gallbladder removal) completed by Dr…
    Tags: platform, robotic, surgical, procedures, surgery, clinical, system, improve, news
  • Robot performs laparoscopic surgery without guiding hand of a human
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    Robot performs laparoscopic surgery without guiding hand of a humanBy Catherine Graham, Johns Hopkins University In four experiments on pig tissues, the robot excelled at suturing two ends of intestine – one of the most intricate and delicate tasks in abdominal surgery A robot has performed laparoscopic surgery on the soft tissue of a pig without the guiding hand…
    Tags: surgical, surgery, robot, engineering, system, patient, human, team, hand, robotic
  • Versius receives ‘indication’ extended into thoracic surgery
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    Versius receives ‘indication’ extended into thoracic surgeryCMR Surgical says its Versius Surgical Robotic System has been “indicated” for thoracics to support surgeons providing minimally invasive surgery to patients undergoing operations in the lungs, thymus and oesophagus. In medicine, an “indication” is a valid reason to use a certain test, medication, procedure, or surgery. Following a gradual…
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  • A helping hand for working robots
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    A helping hand for working robotsUntil now, competing types of robotic hand designs offered a trade-off between strength and durability. One commonly used design, employing a rigid pin joint that mimics the mechanism in human finger joints, can lift heavy payloads, but is easily damaged in collisions, particularly if hit from the side. Meanwhile, fully…
    Tags: hand, robots, robotic, robot, team, human, researchers, engineering, news

Scientists explore Tesla roads not taken – and find new potential present-day utility

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A valve invented by engineer Nikola Tesla a century ago is not only more functional than previously realized, but also has other potential applications today, a team of researchers has found after conducting a series of experiments on replications of the early 20th-century design.

Its findings, reported in the journal Nature Communications, suggest that Tesla’s device, which he called a “valvular conduit”, could harness the vibrations in engines and other machinery to pump fuel, coolants, lubricants, and other gases and liquids.

Now known as the Tesla Valve, the patented device has inspired strategies for directing streams within flow networks and circuits. [Read more…] about Scientists explore Tesla roads not taken – and find new potential present-day utility

New CRISPR technology offers unrivaled control of epigenetic inheritance

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Scientists have figured out how to modify CRISPR’s basic architecture to extend its reach beyond the genome and into what’s known as the epigenome – proteins and small molecules that latch onto DNA and control when and where genes are switched on or off.

In a paper published April 9, 2021, in the journal Cell, researchers at UC San Francisco and the Whitehead Institute describe a novel CRISPR-based tool called “CRISPRoff,” which allows scientists to switch off almost any gene in human cells without making a single edit to the genetic code.

The researchers also show that once a gene is switched off, it remains inert in the cell’s descendants for hundreds of generations, unless it is switched back on with a complementary tool called CRISPRon, also described in the paper. [Read more…] about New CRISPR technology offers unrivaled control of epigenetic inheritance

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    What makes us human? The answer may be found in overlooked DNAOur DNA is very similar to that of the chimpanzee, which in evolutionary terms is our closest living relative. Stem cell researchers at Lund University in Sweden have now found a previously overlooked part of our DNA, so-called non-coded DNA, that appears to contribute to a difference which, despite all…
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Spin defects under control

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Boron nitride is a technologically interesting material because it is very compatible with other two-dimensional crystalline structures. It therefore opens up pathways to artificial heterostructures or electronic devices built on them with fundamentally new properties.

About a year ago, a team from the Institute of Physics at Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Wuerzburg in Bavaria, Germany, succeeded in creating spin defects, also known as qubits, in a layered crystal of boron nitride and identifying them experimentally.

Recently, the team led by Professor Vladimir Dyakonov, his PhD student Andreas Gottscholl and group leader PD Dr. Andreas Sperlich, succeeded in taking an important next step: the coherent control of such spin defects, and that even at room temperature. [Read more…] about Spin defects under control

Yes, of course we are living in a computer simulation

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A new film – a documentary called A Glitch in the Matrix – is again opening up the debate about whether we all live in a simulated world. 

Our conclusion at this website, arrived at through no serious research whatsoever, is that yes, we absolutely live in a computer simulation.

Our caveats are that:

  • the physical world is not a simulation – it is physically real. It is our everyday lives – where we go, what we do, and so on – that are part of a computer program or simulation, designed by a real-life version of “the Architect” in the original Matrix movies; and
  • that not all of us live in the simulation – some people are outside or peripheral to the simulation. Our “architect” appears to be interested in anyone and anything that threatens its existence and course of action – everyone else can just go about their business provided they don’t break off from the “strings” – or computer instructions – that tie them to the matrix. [Read more…] about Yes, of course we are living in a computer simulation

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  • The Earth is flat. Everything else is just fake news. Or is it?
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    The Earth is flat. Everything else is just fake news. Or is it?‘Is Western culture balancing on a tightrope between science and humanities?’ asks Carlos Elias, author of new book Science on the Ropes, which explains why science has been dethroned from its prestigious position in Western culture and replaced by pseudoscientific conjecture and fake news Pseudoscience is on the rise and…
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How modern robots are developed

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Today, neuroscience and robotics are developing hand in hand. Mikhail Lebedev, academic supervisor at HSE University’s Centre for Bioelectric Interfaces, spoke about how studying the brain inspires the development of robots.

Robots are interesting to neuroscience and neuroscience is interesting to robots – this is what the article “Neuroengineering challenges of fusing robotics and neuroscience” was about in the journal Science Robotics.

Such collaborative development contributes to progress in both fields, bringing us closer to developing more advanced android robots and a deeper understanding of the structure of the human brain. And, to some extent, to combining biological organisms with machines, to create cybernetic organisms (cyborgs). [Read more…] about How modern robots are developed

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  • Sense of smell is our most rapid warning system
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