UK (United Kingdom) leads world in ‘compassionate’ technology

I’m not sure they can claim world leadership status but some group which calls itself ‘Public’ has indicated the UK (United Kingdom) outpaces its European brethren where ‘compassionate’ technology is concerned according to a May 17, 2018 article by Rick Kelsey for BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) news only, The UK has more investments in compassionate technology companies than the rest of Europe put together, data from Public – which supports industry start-ups – suggests. These…

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Café Scientifique Vancouver (Canada) talk on October 30th, 2018: Solving some of Canada’s grandest challenges with synthetic biology

From an October 16, 2018 Café Scientifique Vancouver announcement (received via email), Our next café will happen on TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30TH at 7:30PM in the back room at YAGGER’S DOWNTOWN (433 W Pender). Our speaker for the evening will be DR. VIKRAMADITYA G. YADAV. His topic will be: SOLVING SOME OF CANADA’S GRANDEST CHALLENGES WITH SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY A warming climate, unrepressed mining and logging, contamination of our water resources, the uncertain price and tight supply…

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Brain Talks: Epigenetics and Early Life Experiences on October 22, 2018 in Vancouver (Canada)

An October 3, 2018 announcement arrived from the Brain Talks folks (Vancouver, Canada) in my email box, BrainTalks: Epigenetics and Early Life Experiences Monday, October 22, 2018 from 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM Join us on Monday, October 22nd for a talk on Epigenetics and Early Life Experiences. We are honoured to host three phenomenal presenters for the evening: Dr. Michael Kobor, Dr. Liisa Galea, and Dr. Adele Diamond. Dr. Michael Kobor is a senior…

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Crowdsourcing brain research at Princeton University to discover 6 new neuron types

Spritely music! There were already 1/4M registered players as of May 17, 2018 but I’m sure there’s room for more should you be inspired. A May 17, 2018 Princeton University news release (also on EurekAlert) reveals more about the game and about the neurons, With the help of a quarter-million video game players, Princeton researchers have created and shared detailed maps of more than 1,000 neurons — and they’re just getting started. “Working with Eyewirers…

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Revising history with science and art

Caption: The 2000-year-old pipe sculpture’s bulging neck is evidence of thyroid disease as a result of iodine deficient water and soil in the ancient Ohio Valley. Credit: Kenneth Tankersley An October 4, 2018 news item on ScienceDaily describes the analytic breakthrough, Art often imitates life, but when University of Cincinnati anthropologist and geologist Kenneth Tankersley investigated a 2000-year-old carved statue on a tobacco pipe, he exposed a truth he says will rewrite art history. Since…

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The sound of frogs (and other amphibians) and climate change

At least once a year I highlight some work about frogs. It’s usually about a new species but this time, it’s all about frog sounds (as well as, sounds from other amphibians). Caption: The calls of the midwife toad and other amphibians have served to test the sound classifier. Credit: Jaime Bosch (MNCN-CSIC) In any event, here’s more from an April 30, 2018 Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) press release (also on EurekAlert…

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Embedded AI (artificial intelligence) with a variant of a memristor?

I don’t entirely get how ReRAM (resistive random access memory) is a variant of a memristor but I’m assuming Samuel K. Moore knows what he’s writing about since his May 16, 2018 posting is on the Nanoclast blog (hosted by the IEEE [Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers]), Note: Links have been removed, Resistive RAM technology developer Crossbar says it has inked a deal with aerospace chip maker Microsemi allowing the latter to embed Crossbar’s…

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Embedded AI (artificial intelligence) with a variant of a memristor?

I don’t entirely get how ReRAM (resistive random access memory) is a variant of a memristor but I’m assuming Samuel K. Moore knows what he’s writing about since his May 16, 2018 posting is on the Nanoclast blog (hosted by the IEEE [Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers]), Note: Links have been removed, Resistive RAM technology developer Crossbar says it has inked a deal with aerospace chip maker Microsemi allowing the latter to embed Crossbar’s…

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The roles mathematics and light play in cellular communication

These are two entirely different types of research but taken together they help build a picture about how the cells in our bodies function. Cells and light An April 30, 2018 news item on phys.org describes work on controlling biology with light, Over the past five years, University of Chicago chemist Bozhi Tian has been figuring out how to control biology with light. A longterm science goal is devices to serve as the interface between…

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Donna Strickland, first female Nobel Prize winner in 55 years and one of only three (so far) in history

It’s been quite the fascinating week in the world of physics culminating with Donna Strickland’s shiny new Nobel Prize in physics. For my purposes, this week in physics started on Friday, September 28, 2018 with Allesanndro Strumia’s presentation at CERN’s (European Particle Physics Laboratory) “1st workshop on high energy theory and gender” where he claimed and proved ‘scientifically’ that physics has become “sexist against men.” I’ll get back to Strumia in a moment but, first,…

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