Computers

A new mathematical model for predicting infectious disease outbreaks incorporates fear -- both of disease and of vaccines -- to better understand how pandemics can occur in multiple waves of infections, like those we are seeing with COVID-19. The "Triple Contagion" model of disease and fears, developed by researchers at NYU School of Global Public Health, is published in the … [Read more...] about ‘Triple contagion’: How fears influence coronavirus transmission: New mathematical model incorporates human behavior — and the fears that drive it — to better predict multiple waves of infections

Researchers from the Neuroimaging Center at NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) and Wisconsin Institute for the Discovery at University Wisconsin-Madison have developed the UW Virtual Brain Project™, producing unique, interactive, 3D narrated diagrams to help students learn about the structure and function of perceptual systems in the human brain. A new study exploring how students responded … [Read more...] about Using virtual reality to help students understand the brain’s complex systems, researchers demonstrate effectiveness of 3D visualization as a learning tool

Small electronics, including smartwatches and fitness trackers, aren't easily dismantled and recycled. So when a new model comes out, most users send the old devices into hazardous waste streams. To simplify small electronics recycling, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces have developed a two-metal nanocomposite for circuits that disintegrates when … [Read more...] about Dissolvable smartwatch makes for easier electronics recycling

Brains have evolved to do more with less. Take a tiny insect brain, which has less than a million neurons but shows a diversity of behaviors and is more energy-efficient than current AI systems. These tiny brains serve as models for computing systems that are becoming more sophisticated as billions of silicon neurons can be implemented on hardware. The secret to achieving … [Read more...] about Connective issue: AI learns by doing more with less: Sparsity and energy constraints guide learning and communications in silicon neuronal networks

The Abbey Library of St. Gall in Switzerland is home to approximately 160,000 volumes of literary and historical manuscripts dating back to the eighth century -- all of which are written by hand, on parchment, in languages rarely spoken in modern times. To preserve these historical accounts of humanity, such texts, numbering in the millions, have been kept safely stored away in … [Read more...] about Researchers use AI to unlock the secrets of ancient texts

The human brain holds the secret to our unique personalities. But did you know that it can also form the basis of highly efficient computing devices? Researchers from Nagoya University, Japan, recently showed how to do this, through graphene-diamond junctions that mimic some of the human brain's functions. But, why would scientists try to emulate the human brain? Today, … [Read more...] about Towards next-gen computers: Mimicking brain functions with graphene-diamond junctions: Scientists mimic the brain’s functions with junctions between vertically aligned graphene and diamond

In a paper published in Nature Quantum Information, EPFL professor Giuseppe Carleo and Matija Medvidovi?, a graduate student at Columbia University and at the Flatiron Institute in New York, have found a way to execute a complex quantum computing algorithm on traditional computers instead of quantum ones. The specific "quantum software" they are considering is known as Quantum … [Read more...] about Running quantum software on a classical computer

Quantum information could be behind the next technological revolution. By analogy with the bit in classical computing, the qubit is the basic element of quantum computing. However, demonstrating the existence of this information storage unit and using it remains complex, and hence limited. In a study published on 3 August 2021 in Physical Review X, an international research … [Read more...] about New viable means of storing information for quantum technologies?

Researchers at Tohoku University and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, with the support of the Human Frontier Science Program, have decoded the flexible motor control mechanisms underlying salamander walking. Their findings were published in the journal Frontiers in Neurorobotics on July 30, 2021. Animals with four feet can navigate complex, unpredictable, … [Read more...] about Decoding how salamanders walk

Internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for depression is often just as effective as traditional CBT. This is clear from an international study involving scientists at the University of Gothenburg. However, some online treatments have components that can be harmful. Internet CBT (iCBT) as a method of delivering treatment is on the increase. Nevertheless, it has been … [Read more...] about Internet CBT for depression reviewed and analyzed