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Friday March 13, 2015 WEEKLY EDITION LATEST SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY NEWS Turning smartphones into personal, real-time pollution-location monitors March 13, 2015 Scientists reporting in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology have used smartphone and sensing technology to better pinpoint times and locations of the worst air pollution, which is associated with respiratory and cardiovascular problems. Most such studies create a picture of exposure based on air pollution levels outside people’s homes. This approach ignores big differences in …more… Out of their minds: a thrilling ride that adapts to riders’ brain activity March 13, 2015 A new ride called Neurosis, based on research from The University of Nottingham, adapts the experience to the rider’s own brain activity. Its world premiere will be at the FutureFest festival taking place in London this weekend. It draws on research being conducted by performance artist/professor Brendan Walker, a principal research fellow in the University’s School of … more… Chameleon-like artificial ‘skin’ shifts color on demand March 13, 2015 Engineers from the University of California at Berkeley have created an incredibly thin, chameleon-like material that can be made to change color on demand by simply flexing it with a tiny amount of force. This new material-of-many-colors offers intriguing possibilities for an entirely new class of display technologies, color-shifting camouflage, and sensors that can detect … more… Vast underground ocean discovered on Jupiter’s largest moon March 13, 2015 "A deep ocean under the icy crust of Ganymede opens up further exciting possibilities for life beyond Earth” --- NASA NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has the best evidence yet for an underground saltwater ocean on Ganymede, Jupiter’s largest moon. The subterranean ocean is thought to have more water than all the water on Earth’s surface. Identifying liquid water is crucial in the search for habitable worlds beyond Earth and for the search of life as … more… A ‘visual Turing test’ of computer ‘understanding’ of images March 12, 2015 Researchers from Brown and Johns Hopkins universities have come up with a new way to evaluate how well computers can “understand” the relationships or implied activities between objects in photographs, videos, and other images, not just recognize objects — a “visual Turing test,” as they describe it. Traditional computer-vision benchmarks tend to measure an algorithm’s … more… The corrugated galaxy — Milky Way may be much larger than previously estimated March 12, 2015 The Milky Way galaxy is at least 50 percent larger than is commonly estimated, according to new findings that reveal that the galactic disk is contoured into several concentric ripples. The research, conducted by an international team led by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Professor Heidi Jo Newberg, revisits astronomical data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey … more… A ’3D printer’ for customized small molecules such as drugs March 12, 2015 Howard Hughes Medical Institute scientists have developed a simpler way to synthesize small molecules, eliminating a major bottleneck in creating new medicines. As the scientists note in the March 13, 2015, issue of the journal Science, “small-molecule syntheses typically employ strategies and purification methods that are highly customized for each target, thus requiring automation solutions to … more… Bio-inspired eye stabilizes robot’s flight, replaces inertial navigation system March 11, 2015 Biorobotics researchers have developed the first aerial robot able to fly over uneven terrain that is stabilized visually without an accelerometer. Called BeeRotor, it adjusts its speed and avoids obstacles thanks to optic flow sensors inspired by insect vision. It can fly along a tunnel with uneven, moving walls without measuring either speed or altitude. … more… Silk may be the new ‘green’ ultra-high-capacity material for batteries March 11, 2015 Scientists at Beijing Institute of Technology have developed a new “green” method to boost the performance of widely used lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, using a material derived from silk. Currently, graphite (a form of  carbon found in “lead” pencils) is used in Li-ion energy storage devices, including batteries and supercapacitors. Chuanbao Cao and colleagues found a … more… ‘Heart on a chip’ reduces time and cost in drug testing for safety and efficacy March 10, 2015 Replaces animal models, which have a high failure rate in predicting human reactions to new drugs A UC Berkeley research team led by bioengineering professor Kevin Healy has developed a network of pulsating cardiac muscle cells that models human heart tissue. They have also demonstrated the viability of this system as a drug-screening tool by testing it with cardiovascular medications. This “organ-on-a-chip,” housed in an inch-long silicone (a rubberlike material) device, … more… Drugs that dramatically increase healthy lifespan discovered by Scripps Research, Mayo Clinic March 10, 2015 A research team from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), Mayo Clinic and other institutions has identified a new class of drugs that in animal models dramatically slows the aging process, alleviating symptoms of frailty, improving cardiac function, and extending a healthy lifespan. They found two drugs — the cancer drug dasatinib (sold under the trade name Sprycel) and quercetin, …more… Future farming to be based on robots and big data March 9, 2015 The farm of the future will involve multiple lightweight, small, autonomous, energy-efficient machines (AgBots) operating collectively to weed, fertilize and control pest and diseases, while collecting vasts amount of data to enable better management decision making,” according to Queensland University of Technology (QUT) robotics Professor Tristan Perez. “We are starting to see automation in agriculture for … more… First detailed microscopy evidence of ‘nanobacteria’ at the lower size limit of life March 9, 2015 Scientists have captured the first detailed microscopy images of ultra-small bacteria believed to be about as small as life can get. The existence of ultra-small bacteria (aka “nanobacteria” or “nannobacteria”) has been debated for two decades, but there hasn’t been a comprehensive electron microscopy and DNA-based description of the microbes until now. They are about … more… Hidden toxins found in ‘green,’ ‘all-natural,’ and ‘organic’ products March 8, 2015 Fewer than three percent of volatile ingredients identified A University of Melbourne researcher has found that common consumer products, including those marketed as “green,” “all-natural,” “non-toxic,” and “organic,” emit a range of compounds that could harm human health and air quality. But most of these ingredients are not disclosed to the public. Prof. Anne Steinemann* investigated and compared volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted … more… NEW EVENTS FutureFest Dates: Mar 14 – 15, 2015 Location: London, England more... OFC Dates: Mar 22 – 26, 2015 Location: Los Angeles, CA more... AGI-15 @ Berlin Dates: Jul 22 – 25, 2015 Location: Berlin, Germany more... TEDMED 2015 Dates: Nov 18 – 20, 2015 Location: Palm Springs, CA more... Visit KurzweilAI.net KurzweilAINetwork, Inc. 733 Turnpike Street Suite 193 North Andover, MA 01845 USA.