Recent Comments

    Researchers propose a Simpler Design for Quantum Computers

    December 1, 2021, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    An animation of the photonic quantum computer proposed by the researchers. On the left is the storage ring, which holds several counter-propagating photons. On the right is the scattering unit, which is used to manipulate the photonic qubits. The spheres at the top, called “Bloch spheres,” depict the mathematical state of the atom and one of the photons. Because the atom and the photon are entangled, manipulating the atom also affects the state of the photon. (Image credit: Ben Bartlett)

    Today’s quantum computers are complicated to build, difficult to scale up, and require temperatures colder than interstellar space to operate. These challenges have led researchers to explore the possibility of building quantum computers that work using photons—particles of light...

    Read More

    Team builds First Living Robots that can Reproduce

    December 1, 2021, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Spontaneous kinematic self-replication. (A) Stem cells are removed from early-stage frog blastula, dissociated, and placed in a saline solution, where they cohere into spheres containing ∼3,000 cells. The spheres develop cilia on their outer surfaces after 3 d. When the resulting mature swarm is placed amid ∼60,000 dissociated stem cells in a 60-mm-diameter circular dish (B), their collective motion pushes some cells together into piles (C and D), which, if sufficiently large (at least 50 cells), develop into ciliated offspring (E) themselves capable of swimming, and, if provided additional dissociated stem cells (F), build additional offspring. In short, progenitors (p) build offspring (o), which then become progenitors...
    Read More

    Study suggests Sun is likely an Unaccounted Source of the Earth’s Water

    December 1, 2021, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Graphic of the sun, solar winds and itokawa. Credit: Curtin University

    Curtin University researchers have helped unravel the enduring mystery of the origins of the Earth’s water, finding the Sun to be a surprising likely source.

    A University of Glasgow-led international team of researchers including those from Curtin’s Space Science and Technology Center (SSTC) found the solar wind, comprised of charged particles from the Sun largely made of hydrogen ions, created water on the surface of dust grains carried on asteroids that smashed into the Earth during the early days of the Solar System.

    SSTC Director, John Curtin Distinguished Professor Phil Bland said the Earth was very water-rich compared to other rocky planets in the Solar System, with oceans covering more than 70 percent o...

    Read More

    Deleting Dysfunctional Cells Alleviates Diabetes

    November 30, 2021, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Targeting p21Cip1 highly expressing cells in adipose tissue alleviates insulin resistance in obesity

    The discovery could lead to game-changing new treatments for metabolic diseases. Eliminating old, dysfunctional cells in human fat also alleviates signs of diabetes, researchers from UConn Health report. The discovery could lead to new treatments for Type 2 diabetes and other metabolic diseases.

    The cells in your body are constantly renewing themselves, with older cells aging and dying as new ones are being born. But sometimes that process goes awry. Occasionally damaged cells linger. Called senescent cells, they hang around, acting as a bad influence on other cells nearby...

    Read More