Computers

A new algorithm can predict which genes cause cancer, even if their DNA sequence is not changed. A team of researchers in Berlin combined a wide variety of data, analyzed it with "Artificial Intelligence" and identified numerous cancer genes. This opens up new perspectives for targeted cancer therapy in personalized medicine and for the development of biomarkers. In cancer, … [Read more...] about 165 new cancer genes identified with the help of machine learning

Ferroelectric materials are used in many devices, including memories, capacitors, actuators and sensors. These devices are commonly used in both consumer and industrial instruments, such as computers, medical ultrasound equipment and underwater sonars. Over time, ferroelectric materials are subjected to repeated mechanical and electrical loading, leading to a progressive … [Read more...] about Discovery could help lengthen lifespan of electronic devices: The research could lead to electronics being designed with better endurance

Using DNA structures as scaffolds, Tim Liedl, a scientist of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich, has shown that precisely positioned gold nanoparticles can serve as efficient energy transmitters. Since the inception of the field in 2006, laboratories around the world have been exploring the use of 'DNA origami' for the assembly of complex nanostructures. The method … [Read more...] about Energy transmission by gold nanoparticles coupled to DNA structures

How can large amounts of data be transferred or processed as quickly as possible? One key to this could be graphene. The ultra-thin material is only one atomic layer thick, and the electrons it contains have very special properties due to quantum effects. It could therefore be very well suited for use in high-performance electronic components. Up to this point, however, there … [Read more...] about Graphene: Everything under control in a quantum material

Powerful algorithms used by Netflix, Amazon and Facebook can 'predict' the biological language of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's, scientists have found. Big data produced during decades of research was fed into a computer language model to see if artificial intelligence can make more advanced discoveries than humans. Academics based at St John's College, … [Read more...] about Artificial Intelligence could ‘crack the language of cancer and Alzheimer’s’

Researchers have developed a new algorithm capable of identifying features of male zebra finch songs that may underlie the distinction between a short phrase sung during courtship, and the same phrase sung in a non-courtship context. Sarah Woolley of McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS Computational … [Read more...] about Novel algorithm reveals birdsong features that may be key for courtship: Findings highlight potential for ‘bottom-up’ approaches to drive discovery in vocal communication

Nobel laureate in physics Richard Feynman once described turbulence as "the most important unsolved problem of classical physics." Understanding turbulence in classical fluids like water and air is difficult partly because of the challenge in identifying the vortices swirling within those fluids. Locating vortex tubes and tracking their motion could greatly simplify the … [Read more...] about Engineering researchers visualize the motion of vortices in superfluid turbulence

Many Mario Kart enthusiasts are familiar with the rush of racing down Rainbow Road, barely squeaking around a corner, and catching a power-up from one of the floating square icons on the screen -- or, less ideally, slipping on a banana peel laid by another racer and flying off the side of the road into oblivion. This heated competition between multiple players, who use a … [Read more...] about Could Mario Kart teach us how to reduce world poverty and improve sustainability? Environmental expert says the Nintendo racing game has important lessons for social and economic programs that could benefit the world’s developing regions

A decade ago, the discovery of quasiparticles called magnetic skyrmions provided important new clues into how microscopic spin textures will enable spintronics, a new class of electronics that use the orientation of an electron's spin rather than its charge to encode data. But although scientists have made big advances in this very young field, they still don't fully understand … [Read more...] about The spintronics technology revolution could be just a hopfion away

It may be possible in the future to use information technology where electron spin is used to store, process and transfer information in quantum computers. It has long been the goal of scientists to be able to use spin-based quantum information technology at room temperature. A team of researchers from Sweden, Finland and Japan have now constructed a semiconductor component in … [Read more...] about A breakthrough that enables practical semiconductor spintronics