84260919
submission
the_newsbeagle writes:
Technologists from IBM, Intel, and Microsoft recently joined academics at a meeting hosted by IARPA (the intelligence community's R&D wing), where they discussed the feasibility of storing data in the form of twisting strands of DNA. The tech companies are interested because DNA is the densest information storage medium we know: "By converting digital files into biological material, warehouse-size storage facilities could theoretically be replaced by diminutive test tubes." And the intelligence community is interested because all their surveillance is generating a lot of data that has to be stashed somewhere.
83882003
submission
the_newsbeagle writes:
Fancy surgical robots like the da Vinci are becoming standard features in hospitals. And when surgery patients hear that a robot is going to operate on them, they often assume that the robot is fully in charge. In fact, it has zero autonomy, and makes no independent decisions. The surgeon sits in another room and uses joysticks to control every motion that the machine makes.
But now researchers in academia and industry are pushing the envelope. They're inventing smart robots that can manage discrete surgical tasks like suturing on their own, sometimes even performing better than human surgeons. Some experts compare the evolution of surgical robotics to that of self-driving cars: First we let machines take care of routine and tedious tasks, but soon enough we'll let them take the wheel entirely.
83192581
submission
the_newsbeagle writes:
The pocket-sized gadget called SCiO offers at-home chemical analysis of the stuff that makes up our daily lives — things like the food on our plates and the leaves of our houseplants. That's the official pitch, anyway. But the SCiO and similar devices may be most attractive to a certain subset of consumers who are very interested in chemistry and don't have access to real labs: namely, people who take illegal or semi-legal drugs.
83019083
submission
the_newsbeagle writes:
More than 2.5 exabytes of data is created every day, and some experts estimate that 90% of all data in the world today was created in the last two years. Clearly, storing all this data is becoming an issue. One idea is DNA data storage, in which digital files are converted into the genetic code of four nucleotides (As, Cs, Gs, and Ts). Microsoft just announced that it's testing out this idea, getting synthetic bio company Twist Bioscience to produce 10 million strands of DNA that encode some mystery file the company provided. Using DNA for long-term data storage is attractive because it's durable and efficient. For example, scientists can read the genome from a woolly mammoth hair dating from 20,000 years ago.
82135041
submission
the_newsbeagle writes:
We don't often get insider accounts of hacks against major institutions like hospitals because they immediately go into damage control mode. But at a SXSW talk, a couple of experts told tales out of school. The experts (a hospital CIO and a cybersecurity researcher) recounted incidents in which hackers downloaded patient X-rays to China, took down entire networks, fooled Harvard doctors, and more.
81986261
submission
the_newsbeagle writes:
On the 5-year anniversary of the tsunami that began Fukushima Daiichi's nuclear meltdown, the state and location of the melted fuel inside the reactors is still a mystery. The meltdown zone is too dangerous for human workers to enter, and robots have had limited success navigating in the wreckage. So Japan is recruiting subatomic particles called muons to map the reactors' insides. These particles, born of cosmic rays, constantly stream down from the atmosphere, passing through most matter unimpeded. But their occasional interactions with the subatomic components of uranium allow physicists to locate the blobs of the deadly stuff.
80907007
submission
the_newsbeagle writes:
Epidemiologists working on Zika virus could benefit from portable genome sequencers, like these used during the Ebola outbreak. In spring 2015, researchers conducted the first experiment in real-time genetic surveillance during an infectious disease epidemic. The researchers packed all their equipment in a couple of suitcases and set up a mobile lab in Guinea, where they used palm-sized sequencing devices to analyze viral RNA from 142 patients. Genomic data can illuminate the chains of transmission in an outbreak, and can help scientists develop diagnostics and vaccines.
79991263
submission
the_newsbeagle writes:
Now that it's easy and cheap to build strands of DNA, what kinds of strange new organisms will scientists and start-ups build? That's the question raised as synthetic biology companies like Twist Bioscience and Zymergen start up their DNA manufacturing lines. Researchers who order DNA snippets typically pay on a cost-per-nucleobase basis. These companies say their mass-production techniques could bring prices down to 2 cents per base, which would allow researchers to scale up experiments and learn through trial and error.
79541921
submission
the_newsbeagle writes:
In October 2016, a stadium in Zurich will host the world's first cyborg Olympics. During this event, more officially called the Cybathlon, people with disabilities will use advanced technologies such as exoskeletons and powered prosthetic limbs to compete in the games.
This article chronicles one team's training for the bicycle race, where the athletes will be people with paralyzed legs. The team is composed of the paralyzed biker who has an electrical stimulation system implanted in his body, and the engineers who built the gear that energizes his nerves and muscles.
77523583
submission
the_newsbeagle writes:
Parsing the first human genome took a decade, but times have changed. Now, within 26 hours, doctors can scan a sick baby's entire genome and analyze the resulting list of mutations to produce a diagnosis. Since genetic diseases are the top cause of death for infants, rapidly diagnosing a rare genetic disease can be life-saving. The 26-hour pipeline results from automated technologies that handle everything from the genome sequencing to the diagnosis, says the doctor involved: “We want to take humans out of the equation, because we’re the bottleneck.”
77341299
submission
the_newsbeagle writes:
Researchers have demonstrated a laser-based pacemaker in fruit flies, and say that a human version is "not impossible."
The invention makes use of optogenetics, a technique in which the DNA that codes for a light-sensitive protein is inserted into certain cells, enabling those cells to be activated by pulses of light. Researchers often use this method to study neurons in the brain, but in this case the researchers altered flies' heart cells. Then they activated those cardiac cells using pulses of light, causing them to contract in time with the pulses. Voila, they had an optical pacemaker that worked on living adult fruit flies.
Don't worry, no one can control your heartbeat with a laser just yet. That would require inserting foreign DNA into your heart cells, and also finding a way to shine light through the impediment of your flesh and bones. But lead researcher Chao Zhou of Lehigh University is working on it.
77212369
submission
the_newsbeagle writes:
DARPA is sinking some cash into the buzzy new research field of "electroceuticals," which involves stimulating the nerves to control the activity of organs or bodily systems. The newest techniques have little in common with electroshock therapy, which sends a strong current broadly through the brain tissue; today's cutting-edge methods can target individual neurons, and turn them "on" and "off" with great precision. Under DARPA's new ElectRx program, seven research teams will explore different ways to modulate activity of the peripheral nervous system. Some will stimulate neurons directly with electricity, while others will take more roundabout routes involving light, acoustics, and magnetic fields.
76916119
submission
the_newsbeagle writes:
With electrodes implanted in their neural tissue and a new brain-computer interface, two paralyzed people with ALS used their thoughts to control a computer cursor with unprecedented accuracy and speed. They showed off their skills by using a predictive text-entering program to type sentences, achieving a rate of 6 words per minute. While paralyzed people can type faster using other assistive technologies that are already on the market, like eye-gaze trackers and air-puff controllers, a brain implant could be the only option for paralyzed people who can't reliably control their eyes or mouth muscles.
76763725
submission
the_newsbeagle writes:
"This is a parlor trick, not neuroscience," writes this DIY brain hacker — but it sure is a nifty trick. The hacker put electrodes on his scalp, fed the resulting EEG data into a specialized processor that makes sense of brain signals, and modified the remote control for a helium-filled shark balloon. Soon, he and his buddies were steering the shark around the room.
76718857
submission
the_newsbeagle writes:
Outbreaks of infectious diseases like Ebola follow a depressing pattern: People start to get sick, public health authorities get wind of the situation, and an all-out scramble begins to determine where the disease started and how it’s spreading. Barbara Han, a code-writing ecologist, hopes her algorithms will put an end to that reactive model. She wants to predict outbreaks and enable authorities to prevent the next pandemic. Han takes a big-data approach, using a machine-learning AI to identify the wild animal species that carry zoonotic diseases and transmit them to humans.
