Especially persons with lesions in certain areas of the right posterior temporal lobe experienced difficulties recognizing voices. The MPI scientists assume that the posterior superior temporal gyrus, the STG, is crucial for voice recognition. © MPI CBS

Amazon recently announced that its language assistant Alexa is now able to recognise voices. What is celebrated as a tech revolution is an everyday process for our brain. So far, it has been unclear as to which areas of the brain we use to differentiate voices. The Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences has just uncovered new findings: Our personal assistant for voice recognition uses a convolution in the right temporal lobe.

We regularly find ourselves in situations in which we talk to others...

This prototype demonstrates the potential of a new technique for printing flexible, stretchable circuits. Credit: Jingyan Dong, North Carolina State University

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new technique for directly printing metal circuits, creating flexible, stretchable electronics. The technique can use multiple metals and substrates and is compatible with existing manufacturing systems that employ direct printing technologies. “Flexible electronics hold promise for use in many fields, but there are significant manufacturing costs involved – which poses a challenge in making them practical for commercial use,” says Jingyan Dong, A/professor in NC State’s Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering.

“Our approach should reduce cost a...

This is image shows modern Mars (left) dry and barren, compared with the same scene over 3.5 billion years ago covered in water (right). The rocks of the surface were slowly reacting with the water, sequestering it into the Martian mantle leading to the dry, inhospitable scene shown on the left.
Credit: Jon Wade

Water on Mars absorbed like a sponge, new research suggests. 2 new articles have shed light on why there is, presumably, no life on Mars.  IAlthough today’s Martian surface is barren, frozen and uninhabitable, a trail of evidence points to a once warmer, wetter planet, where water flowed freely – and life may have thrived. The conundrum of what happened to this water is long standing and unsolved. However, new research suggests that this water is now locked in the Martian rocks.

Sc...

Comparing of the cascaded GHz approach with Kinect-style approaches visually represented on a key. From left to right, the original image, a Kinect-style approach, a GHz approach, and a stronger GHz approach. Credit: Courtesy of the researchers

Computational method improves resolution of time-of-flight depth sensors 1,000-fold. For the past 10 years, the Camera Culture group at MIT’s Media Lab has been developing innovative imaging systems – from a camera that can see around corners to one that can read text in closed books – by using “time of flight,” an approach that gauges distance by measuring the time it takes light projected into a scene to bounce back to a sensor.

In a new paper appearing in IEEE Access, members of the Camera Culture group present a new approach to time-of-flight im...