Mountains of used plastic bottles get thrown away every day, but microbes could potentially tackle this problem. Now, researchers report in ACS Central Science that they've developed a plastic-eating E. coli that can efficiently turn polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste into adipic acid, which is used to make nylon materials, drugs and fragrances. Previously, a team of researchers including [...]
Images that humans perceive as completely unrelated can be classified as the same by computational models. Human sensory systems are very good at recognizing objects that we see or words that we hear, even if the object is upside down or the word is spoken by a voice we’ve never heard. Computational models known [...]
Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed modular nanoparticles that can be easily customized to target different biological entities such as tumors, viruses or toxins. The surface of the nanoparticles is engineered to host any biological molecules of choice, making it possible to tailor the nanoparticles for a wide array of [...]
A new tool lets artists add invisible changes to the pixels in their art before they upload it online so that if it’s scraped into an AI training set, it can cause the resulting model to break in chaotic and unpredictable ways. The tool, called Nightshade, is intended as a way to fight back [...]
You can’t blame your brain for your actions! Neuroscientists at HSE University have challenged the famous studies that question the free will of our decisions. You can’t shift responsibility for your actions to the brain. The results of the new work were recently published in the journal Neuropsychologia. Historical Context of the Free Will Debate [...]
Summary: AI’s remarkable abilities, like those seen in ChatGPT, often seem conscious due to their human-like interactions. Yet, researchers suggest AI systems lack the intricacies of human consciousness. They argue that these systems don’t possess the embodied experiences or the neural mechanisms humans have. Therefore, equating AI’s abilities to genuine consciousness might be an oversimplification. [...]
COVID-19 is known to increase the risk of heart attack and stroke. The intense inflammation that occurs throughout the body in severe cases likely contributes to this increased risk. But it wasn’t clear whether SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, also affects blood vessels directly. Recent Findings on Blood Vessel Infection To find out, an NIH-funded [...]
Researchers have derived a new wave equation, linking wave mechanics with the general theory of relativity and the arrow of time, offering solutions to long-standing physics debates and introducing applications for novel materials. Researchers at Tampere University and the University of Eastern Finland have reached a milestone in a study where they derived a [...]
In a recent study published in npj Vaccines, a group of researchers demonstrated that a single-dose intranasal application of a modified Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) strain ∆3678 effectively induces robust immune responses, protecting mice against various forms of the virus, suggesting its potential as an efficient mucosal vaccine. Background Over three years, [...]
Scientists at UNSW Sydney have created a new material that could change the way human tissue can be grown in the lab and used in medical procedures. The new material belongs to a family of substances called hydrogels, the essence of life's "squishy" substances found in all living things, such as cartilage in animals and [...]
