Drug Triggers Immune Cells to Attack Prostate Cancer

A drug compound stimulates immune cells to attack prostate tumors, according to new research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Shown is a human prostate cancer organoid, a small 3D structure that serves as a model of prostate tumors. When the organoid is grown with prostate cancer patients’ immune cells, which have been treated with the drug, the immune cells attack the cancer. Red shows dead cells. Blue shows DNA.

A single drug compound simultaneously attacks hard-to-treat prostate cancer on several fronts, according to a new study in mice and human cells...

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Teaching Photonic Chips to ‘Learn’

CHIP used in research
Silicon Photonic Architecture for Training Deep Neural Networks with Direct Feedback Alignment, OPTICA

A multi-institution research team has developed an optical chip that can train machine learning hardware.

Machine learning applications skyrocketed to $165B annually, according to a recent report from McKinsey. But, before a machine can perform intelligence tasks such as recognizing the details of an image, it must be trained. Training of modern-day artificial intelligence (AI) systems like Tesla’s autopilot costs several million dollars in electric power consumption and requires supercomputer-like infrastructure. This surging AI “appetite” leaves an ever-widening gap between computer hardware and demand for AI...

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Astronomers Observe Intra-Group Light – the elusive glow between distant galaxies

igl_between_galaxies_400138.jpg
Light ‘between’ the galaxies – the ‘intra-group light’ – however dim, is radiated from stars stripped from their home galaxy. Image: Supplied.

Pioneering a new technique, researchers have peered into the extremely faint light that exists between galaxies to describe the history and state of orphan stars. An international team of astronomers have turned a new technique onto a group of galaxies and the faint light between them — known as ‘intra-group light’ — to characterise the stars that dwell there.

Lead author of the study published in MNRAS, Dr Cristina Martínez-Lombilla from the School of Physics at UNSW Science, said “We know almost nothing about intra-group light.

“The brightest parts of the intra-group light are ~50 times fainter than the darkest night sky on Earth...

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Researchers Eye Embroidery as Low-cost solution for making Wearable Electronics

Embroidery machine
Yu Chen, graduate student at NC State, demonstrates embroidery techniques.

Embroidering power-generating yarns onto fabric allowed researchers to embed a self-powered, numerical touch-pad and movement sensors into clothing. The technique offers a low-cost, scalable potential method for making wearable devices.

“Our technique uses embroidery, which is pretty simple — you can stitch our yarns directly on the fabric,” said the study’s lead author Rong Yin, assistant professor of textile engineering, chemistry and science at North Carolina State University. “During fabric production, you don’t need to consider anything about the wearable devices. You can integrate the power-generating yarns after the clothing item has been made.”

In the study published in Nano Energy, researchers tes...

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