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    The first-in-human Clinical trial Targeting Alzheimer’s Tau protein

    December 12, 2016, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    The vaccine targets tau proteins (pictured under the microscope) which form tangles in the brain, blocking supplies of vital nutrients to cells, which then die. This triggers the memory loss associated with the disease

    The vaccine targets tau proteins (pictured under the microscope) which form tangles in the brain, blocking supplies of vital nutrients to cells, which then die. This triggers the memory loss associated with the disease

    In an unprecedented study, active vaccination in humans has resulted in a favorable immune response in 29 out of the 30 patients with only minor side effects. So far, many of the antibody drugs proposed to treat Alzheimer’s disease target only the amyloid plaques. Despite the latest clinical trial that is hailed as our best chance in the quest for treating AD, all later phase trials have failed with many causing severe side effects in the patients, such as abnormal accumulation of fluid and inflammation in the brain...

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    Researchers’ Discovery of new Verbal Working Memory architecture has implications for AI

    December 12, 2016, Categories  Technology/Electronics, Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    The neural structure we use to store and process information in verbal working memory is more complex than previously understood, finds a new study by NYU researchers—a discovery that has implications for the creation of artificial intelligence (AI) systems, such as speech translation tools. (c)iStock/NicoElNino

    The neural structure we use to store and process information in verbal working memory is more complex than previously understood, finds a new study by NYU researchers—a discovery that has implications for the creation of artificial intelligence (AI) systems, such as speech translation tools. (c)iStock/NicoElNino

    The neural structure we use to store and process information in verbal working memory is more complex than previously understood, finds a new study by New York University researchers. It shows that processing information in working memory involves 2 different networks in the brain rather than one—a discovery that has implications for the creation of artificial intelligence (AI) systems, such as speech translation tools.

    “Our results show there are at least two brain networks th...

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    New Diamond harder than Ring Bling

    December 12, 2016, Categories  Physics, Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    The diamond in an anvil the scientists used to make nano-sized Lonsdaleite. Credit: Jamie Kidston, ANU

    The diamond in an anvil the scientists used to make nano-sized Lonsdaleite. Credit: Jamie Kidston, ANU

    The Australian National University has led an international project to make a diamond that’s predicted to be harder than a jeweller’s diamond and useful for cutting through ultra-solid materials on mining sites. ANU A/Prof Jodie Bradby said her team and experts from RMIT, University of Sydney and United States — made nano-sized Lonsdaleite, a hexagonal diamond only found in nature at the site of meteorite impacts such as Canyon Diablo in the US.

    “This new diamond is not going to be on any engagement rings. You’ll more likely find it on a mining site – but I still think that diamonds are a scientist’s best friend...

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    Rings around Young Star suggest Planet Formation in progress

    December 12, 2016, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    An ALMA image of the star HD 163296 and its protoplanetary disk as seen in dust. New observations suggested that two planets, each about the size of Saturn, are in orbit around the star. These planets, which are not yet fully formed, revealed themselves in the dual imprint they left in both the dust and the gas portions of the star’s protoplanetary disk. (Credit: ALMA [ESO/NAOJ/NRAO]/Andrea Isella/B. Saxton [NRAO/AUI/NSF]) - See more at: http://news.rice.edu/2016/12/12/rings-around-young-star-suggest-planet-formation-in-progress/#sthash.pbHZ2cMD.dpuf

    An ALMA image of the star HD 163296 and its protoplanetary disk as seen in dust. New observations suggested that two planets, each about the size of Saturn, are in orbit around the star. These planets, which are not yet fully formed, revealed themselves in the dual imprint they left in both the dust and the gas portions of the star’s protoplanetary disk. (Credit: ALMA [ESO/NAOJ/NRAO]/Andrea Isella/B. Saxton [NRAO/AUI/NSF])

    Rice University astronomers and colleagues have for the first time mapped gases in 3 dark rings around a distant star. The rings mark spaces where planets are thought to have formed from dust and gas around the star...

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