Science & Technology

Cambridge scientists create world’s first living organism with fully redesigned DNA 0
- From Around the Web, Science & Technology
- May 16, 2019
Researchers create altered synthetic genome, in move with potential medical benefits

By David Aragorn
New AI sees like a human, filling in the blanks 0
- From Around the Web, Science & Technology
- May 15, 2019
Computer scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have taught an artificial intelligence agent how to do something that usually only humans can do — take a few quick glimpses around and infer its whole environment, a skill necessary for the development of effective search-and-rescue robots that one day can improve the effectiveness of dangerous missions. The team, led by professor Kristen Grauman, Ph.D. candidate Santhosh Ramakrishnan and former Ph.D. candidate Dinesh Jayaraman (now at the University of California, Berkeley) published their results today in the journal Science Robotics.

By David Aragorn
Tweaking one gene with CRISPR switched the way a snail shell spirals 0
- From Around the Web, Science & Technology
- May 14, 2019
The first gene-edited snails confirm which gene is responsible for how a shell swirls

By David Aragorn
Ancient DNA suggests that some Northern Europeans got their languages from Siberia 0
- Ancient Archeology, From Around the Web, Science & Technology
- May 14, 2019
Most Europeans descend from a combination of European hunter-gatherers, Anatolian early farmers, and Steppe herders. But only European speakers of Uralic languages like Estonian and Finnish also have DNA from ancient Siberians. Now, with the help of ancient DNA samples, researchers reporting in Current Biology on May 9 suggest that these languages may have arrived from Siberia by the beginning of the Iron Age, about 2,500 years ago, rather than evolving in Northern Europe.

By David Aragorn
A new AI acquired humanlike ‘number sense’ on its own 0
- From Around the Web, Science & Technology
- May 14, 2019
The neural network developed ‘number neurons’ similar to those in animal brains

By David Aragorn
Scientists bioengineer a cellular speedometer 0
- From Around the Web, Science & Technology
- May 14, 2019
An all-Princeton research team has identified bacteria that can detect the speed of flowing fluids.

By David Aragorn
A mathematical method for calculating black-hole properties from gravitational-wave data 0
- From Around the Web, Science & Technology, Space
- May 11, 2019
Sean McWilliams, an assistant professor at West Virginia University, has developed a mathematical method for calculating black hole properties from gravitational wave data. He has written a paper describing his method and posted it on the arXiv preprint server. The paper has been accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters.

By David Aragorn
NASA Develops Soft Robots for Future Space Missions 0
- From Around the Web, Science & Technology, Space
- May 10, 2019
Two interns are prototyping soft robots made using 3D printing and silicon.

By David Aragorn
This Man’s DNA Is the Oldest in North America 0
- Earth Mysteries, From Around the Web, Science & Technology
- May 9, 2019
A Native American man in Montana has what may be the oldest DNA native to the Americas, according to news reports.

By David Aragorn
Huge asteroid destroys New York in Nasa simulation after scientists fail to deflect it 0
- From Around the Web, Science & Technology, Space
- May 9, 2019
Fictional crash tests the ways that disaster response and space agencies would deal with such a natural disaster

By David Aragorn