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    Are Brown Dwarfs Failed Stars or Super-planets?

    April 12, 2019, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Artist rendering of a brown dwarf. They are more massive and hotter than planets but lack the nuclear fusion in their core as in normal stars. Two such “failed” stars were detected orbiting the star ? Ophiuchi. They were probably formed in the earlier protoplanetary disk of the star.
    Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

    Astronomers find first signs they can also form like a planet. Brown dwarfs fill the “gap” between stars and the much smaller planets – two very different types of astronomical objects. But how they originate has yet to be fully explained. Astronomers from Heidelberg University may now be able to answer that question...

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    CRISPR-based ‘allelic drive’ allows Genetic Editing with Selective Precision and Broad Implications

    April 11, 2019, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Left panel: Gene-drive is mediated by a guide RNA (gRNA) that cuts at the exact site (scissors) where the gene-drive element (blue box: Cas9 gene; yellow box: gRNA) is inserted into the genome, resulting in full gene-drive element copying. Right panel: The new allelic drive is accomplished by the addition of a second gRNA (blue box) to a gene drive element that preferentially cuts a detrimental allele (scissors), but not the beneficial allele, resulting in beneficial allele copying.
    Credit: Bier Lab, UC San Diego

    Scientists developed a new version of a gene drive that allows the spread of specific, favorable genetic variants, also known as ‘alleles,’ throughout a population...

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    Meet Blue, the Low-cost, human-friendly Robot designed for AI

    April 11, 2019, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    Blue the robot’s arms – about the size of a human bodybuilder’s — were designed to take advantage of recent advances in artificial intelligence to master intricate, human-centered tasks, like folding towels.
    Credit: Philip Downey

    Blue’s creators hope the new robot will accelerate the development of robotics for the home. Researchers have created a new low-cost, human friendly robot named Blue, designed to use recent advances in artificial intelligence and deep reinforcement learning to master intricate human tasks, all while remaining affordable and safe enough that every AI researcher could have one. The team hopes Blue will accelerate the development of robotics for the home.

    Robots may have a knack for super-human strength and precision, but they still struggle with some basic h...

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    Working together as a ‘Virtual Telescope,’ observatories around the world produce 1st Direct Images of a Black Hole

    April 11, 2019, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) — a planet-scale array of eight ground-based radio telescopes forged through international collaboration — was designed to capture images of a black hole. In coordinated press conferences across the globe, EHT researchers revealed that they succeeded, unveiling the first direct visual evidence of the supermassive black hole in the centre of Messier 87 and its shadow.
    Credit: EHT Collaboration

    Images reveal supermassive black hole at the heart of the Messier 87 galaxy. An international team of over 200 astronomers, including scientists from MIT’s Haystack Observatory, has captured the first direct images of a black hole...

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