Lifeboat Foundation

The integration of mechanical memory in the form of springs has for hundreds of years proven to be a key enabling technology for mechanical devices (such as clocks), achieving advanced functionality through complex autonomous movements. Currently, the integration of springs in silicon-based microtechnology has opened the world of planar mass-producible mechatronic devices from which we all benefit, via air-bag sensors for example.

For a new generation of minimally and even non-invasive biomedical applications however, mobile devices that can safely interact mechanically with cells must be achieved at much smaller scales (10 microns) and with much softer forces (pico Newton scale, i.e., lifting weights less than one millionth of a mg) and in customized three-dimensional shapes.

Researchers at the Chemnitz University of Technology, the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Leibniz IFW Dresden, in a recent publication in Nature Nanotechnology, have demonstrated that controllable springs can be integrated at arbitrary chosen locations within soft three-dimensional structures using confocal photolithographic manufacturing (with nanoscale precision) of a novel magnetically active material in the form of a photoresist impregnated with customizable densities of magnetic nanoparticles.

Scientists have grown a tiny brain-like organoid out of human stem cells, hooked it up to a computer, and demonstrated its potential as a kind of organic machine learning chip, showing it can quickly pick up speech recognition and math predictions.

Clusters of brain cells grown in the lab have shown potential as a new type of hybrid bio-computer.

Until now, scientists somehow didn’t know exactly what made pee yellow.

But that just may have finally changed. In a new study published in the journal Nature Microbiology, a multidisciplinary group of scientists out of the University of Maryland reported on their findings about a middleman enzyme called bilirubin reductase, which had long evaded researchers as they tried to figure out which precise compounds resulted in urine’s distinct yellow hue.

To be clear, as Healthline reports, scientists had known for more than 125 years that on a high level, urine gets its color from the disposal of old red blood cells as they degrade in our livers.

This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)

A new report by Computer scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology presents new kinds of cyberattacks that can “poison” AI systems.

AI systems are being integrated into more and more aspects of our lives, from driving vehicles to helping doctors diagnose illnesses to interacting with customers as online chatbots. To perform these tasks the models are trained on vast amounts of data, which in turn helps the AI predict how to respond in a given situation.

Who knew tweezers could get an upgrade? Check out how a smart ‘tweezer’ machine is changing the game by selectively harvesting beneficial bacteria in our latest article!

Researchers introduce mEnrich-seq, a game-changing approach in microbiome investigation. See how it detects elusive microbes like Akkermansia muciniphila.

Investigators present findings from a double-blind randomized controlled trial of personalized stimulation of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex using transcranial magnetic stimulation to increase hypnotizability in a sample of patients with fibromyalgia syndrome.

A researcher explains the new ketamine trials in patients with depression, and why they show more promise than traditional anti-depressants.

A recent study in mice reveals that targeting ENPP1 could enhance immunotherapy effectiveness, offering hope for better breast cancer treatment outcomes. In Forbes:

What changes in cells lead to breast cancer? Scientists now have access to the world’s most comprehensive atlas of healthy breast tissue to help answer this question. 7 years in the making, the Human Breast Cell Atlas is helping scientists better understand breast cancer and other diseases to find new treatments.