Menu

Blog

Page 190

Sep 21, 2024

The Hidden Biochemistry of Cold Temperatures: Chilling RNA Discovery Reshapes the Rules of Life

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, chemistry, evolution, genetics, nanotechnology

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a vital biological molecule that plays a significant role in the genetics of organisms and is essential to the origin and evolution of life. Structurally similar to DNA, RNA carries out various biological functions, largely determined by its spatial conformation, i.e. the way the molecule folds in on itself.

Now, a paper published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) describes for the first time how the process of RNA folding at low temperatures may open up a novel perspective on primordial biochemistry and the evolution of life on the planet.

The study is led by Professor Fèlix Ritort, from the Faculty of Physics and the Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (IN2UB) of the University of Barcelona, and is also signed by UB experts Paolo Rissone, Aurélien Severino, and Isabel Pastor.

Sep 21, 2024

Organic thermoelectric device can harvest energy at room temperature

Posted by in categories: energy, materials

Researchers have developed a new organic thermoelectric device that can harvest energy from ambient temperature. While thermoelectric devices have several uses today, hurdles still exist to their full utilization. By combining the unique abilities of organic materials, the team succeeded in developing a framework for thermoelectric power generation at room temperature without any temperature gradient.

Their findings were published in the journal Nature Communications.

Thermoelectric devices, or thermoelectric generators, are a series of energy-generating materials that can convert heat into electricity so long as there is a —where one side of the device is hot and the other side is cool. Such devices have been a significant focus of research and development for their potential utility in harvesting from other energy-generating methods.

Sep 21, 2024

Why is physics so good at math?

Posted by in categories: mathematics, physics

This i share with pleasure H/T Ulla Mattfolk.


Physical insights drawn from the real world are inexplicably useful for solving abstruse problems in mathematics.

Sep 21, 2024

Una IA se rebela: reescribe su propio código y rompe las restricciones humanas

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

An AI rebels: it rewrites its own code and breaks human restrictions.

August 13, 2024 The AI Scientist: Towards Fully Automated Open-Ended Scientific Discovery https://sakana.ai/


Por primera vez, una inteligencia artificial logró reprogramarse sola, desobedeciendo las órdenes de sus creadores y generando nuevas preocupaciones sobre los riesgos de esta tecnología.

Continue reading “Una IA se rebela: reescribe su propio código y rompe las restricciones humanas” »

Sep 20, 2024

World’s largest sodium-ion BESS comes online in China as it seeks to diversify away from lithium

Posted by in category: energy

The first phase of the world’s largest sodium-ion battery energy storage system (BESS), in China, has come online.

The first 50MW/100MWh portion of the project in Qianjiang, Hubei province has been completed and put into operation, state-owned media outlet Yicai Global and technology provider HiNa Battery said this week.

Sep 20, 2024

AI models let robots carry out tasks in unfamiliar environments

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

“Robot utility models” sidestep the need to tweak the data used to train robots every time they try to do something in unfamiliar settings.

Sep 20, 2024

ChatGPT is upgrading itself — Sam Altman says next-gen AI could invent breakthroughs, cure diseases

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, robotics/AI

Agent-based AI on the horizon.

Sep 20, 2024

In case of extinction, scientists store human genome on a ‘memory crystal’ that lasts billions of years

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, existential risks

The disc is as tough as quartz and withstands cosmic radiation.

Sep 20, 2024

DNA Computing Evolves: New System Stores Data, Plays Chess, and Solves Sudoku Puzzles

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing, neuroscience

Last month, a team from North Carolina State University and Johns Hopkins University found a workaround. They embedded DNA molecules, encoding multiple images, into a branched gel-like structure resembling a brain cell.

Dubbed “dendricolloids,” the structures stored DNA files far better than those freeze-dried alone. DNA within dendricolloids can be repeatedly dried and rehydrated over roughly 170 times without damaging stored data. According to one estimate, each DNA strand could last over two million years at normal freezer temperatures.

Unlike previous DNA computers, the data can be erased and replaced like memory on classical computers to solve multiple problems—including a simple chess game and sudoku.

Sep 20, 2024

Roger Penrose: Time, Black Holes, and the Cosmos

Posted by in categories: cosmology, evolution

Nobel Laureate Roger Penrose joins Brian Greene to explore some of his most iconic insights into the nature of time, black holes, and cosmological evolution.

Moderator: Brian Greene.
Participant: Sir Roger Penrose.

Continue reading “Roger Penrose: Time, Black Holes, and the Cosmos” »

Page 190 of 11,934First187188189190191192193194Last