Science & TechnologyS


Beer

Now your groceries see you, too: Smart displays set to track customer movements for data collection

Sidney Fussell
The Atlantic
Fri, 25 Jan 2019 00:01 UTC
cokes on the shelf
© Scott Olson / Getty
Walgreens is exploring new tech that turns your purchases, your movements, even your gaze, into data.

Walgreens is piloting a new line of "smart coolers" - fridges equipped with cameras that scan shoppers' faces and make inferences on their age and gender. On January 14, the company announced its first trial at a store in Chicago in January, and plans to equip stores in New York and San Francisco with the tech.

Demographic information is key to retail shopping. Retailers want to know what people are buying, segmenting shoppers by gender, age, and income (to name a few characteristics) and then targeting them precisely. To that end, these smart coolers are a marvel.

Comment: The age of privacy is truly dead. Despite the fact that these 'smart displays' aren't identifying their customers (for now), it's increasingly apparent that it's no longer possible to walk outside of one's house without being on camera (if indeed you're not being watched in your house, too).

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Brain

Graphene-based sensors can hear your brain 'whisper'


Russia Insider
Mon, 28 Jan 2019 10:47 UTC
Graphene based sensor
© ICFO/Ernesto VidalGraphene-based sensors could will enhance our understanding of the brain.
The body of knowledge about the human brain is keeps growing, but many questions remain unanswered. Researchers have been using electrode arrays to record the brain's electrical activity for decades, mapping activity in different brain regions to understand what it looks like when everything is working, and what is happening when it is not. Until now, however, these arrays have only been able to detect activity over a certain frequency threshold. A new technology developed by the Graphene Flagship overcomes this technical limitation, unlocking the wealth of information found below 0.1 Hz, while paving the way for future brain-computer interfaces.

The new device was developed thanks to a collaboration between three Graphene Flagship Partners (IMB-CNM, ICN2 and ICFO) and adapted for brain recordings together with biomedical experts at IDIBAPS. This new technology moves away from electrodes and uses an innovative transistor-based architecture that amplifies the brain's signals in situ before transmitting them to a receiver. The use of graphene to build this new architecture means the resulting implant can support many more recording sites than a standard electrode array. It is slim and flexible enough to be used over large areas of the cortex without being rejected or interfering with normal brain function. The result is an unprecedented mapping of the low frequency brain activity known to carry crucial information about different events, such as the onset and progression of epileptic seizures and strokes.
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Water

Microplastic contamination detected in U.S. groudwater aquifers

Karen Graham
Digital Journal
Sun, 27 Jan 2019 17:37 UTC
A new study is the first to report microplastics in fractured limestone aquifers - a groundwater source that accounts for 25 percent of the global drinking water supply.
Plastic
© JOSEPH EID, AFPEight million tonnes of plastic is spilled into the oceans each year, according to a study in the Science journal.
A study completed in the spring of 2018 in Illinois and published January 23, 2019, in the journal Groundwater, is the first time that microplastics have been detected in groundwater aquifers.

The study was conducted in collaboration with scientists at the Illinois State Geological Survey, Illinois State Water Survey, Loyola University Chicago, and ISTC on two aquifer systems in Illinois. Not only were microplastics identified, but researchers found a variety of medicines and household contaminants.

"Plastic in the environment breaks down into microscopic particles that can end up in the guts and gills of marine life, exposing the animals to chemicals in the plastic," said John Scott, a researcher at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center and study co-author.

"As the plastics break down, they act like sponges that soak up contaminants and microbes and can ultimately work their way into our food supply."
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Dig

Scientists concerned about microplastic contamination on farmlands

Jon Daley
abc.net.au
Thu, 17 Jan 2019 18:20 UTC
microplastics
© Supplied: Mark BrowneMicroplastics are particles smaller than five millimetres.
Focus on the impacts of microplastics has almost entirely been on the world's oceans, but researchers say an even bigger problem could be hiding under our feet.

Microplastics are particles smaller than five millimetres. About 800,000 to 2.5 million tonnes of these tiny pieces of plastic are estimated to end up in oceans each year, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.

However, not much is known about the damage these particles cause to landscapes as they make their way to the sea.

Comment: The underestimated threat of land-based microplastic pollution

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Info

Groundbreaking research: AI just discovered a new human species


RT
Sat, 26 Jan 2019 17:21 UTC
Nneanderthal family
© Reuters / Nikola SolicAn exhibit shows the life of a neanderthal family in a cave.
It appears even archaeologists aren't safe from the 21st century takeover, after an artificially intelligent algorithm traced a previously unknown human species using DNA from present-day Asian people.

The groundbreaking research, recently published in the journal Nature Communications, suggests the existence of a now-extinct mystery hominid interbred species of Neanderthals and Denisovans, and cross bred with 'Out of Africa' modern humans in Asia.

The discovery was made by an AI algorithm developed by researchers at several European institutions using DNA from modern-day people with Asian ancestry.

The breakthrough marks the first time deep learning has been used to better understand human evolution, and could add archaeologists to the growing list of soon-to-be defunct professions.
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Info

Key protein in the production of insulin discovered by researchers


University of Copenhagen
Fri, 25 Jan 2019 04:36 UTC
Insulin

The crucial hormone insulin needs help acquiring the right structure. A protein that assists in the process of insulin folding has just been discovered in a new study conducted by researchers at the Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. They hope the new research results can be used to develop treatments for conditions such as increased level of insulin in the blood known as hyperinsulinemia.
Insulin
© University of Copenhagen
Even though researchers have been familiar with and studied the hormone insulin for more than a hundred years, especially in connection with diabetes, they still make new discoveries concerning the hormone. Now researchers from the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen have uncovered a hitherto unknown process in the production of insulin. The new research results have just been published in the scientific journal Diabetes.

Insulin is produced in the beta cells of the pancreas. The hormone is produced as a precursor called proinsulin. For proinsulin to mature into functional insulin, it needs to be folded and processed correctly to acquire the right structure with assistance from proteins that are termed chaperones. The researchers have now discovered and identified such a chaperone. A proinsulin chaperone termed glucose-regulated protein GRP94.

'Even though proinsulin has a relatively short sequence, it still needs help acquiring the right structure to become mature, functional insulin. However, several other studies have shown that proinsulin can be folded without help from proteins in artificial cell-free conditions. Yet, our study conducted in live cells shows that proinsulin is not folded correctly and does not acquire the right structure without help from GRP94,' says last author of the study, Associate Professor Michal Tomasz Marzec from the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen.
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Evil Rays

Using lasers to transmit audible messages to specific people


Optical Society of America
Wed, 23 Jan 2019 06:03 UTC
Directed Lasers
© Phys Org
Washington - Researchers have demonstrated that a laser can transmit an audible message to a person without any type of receiver equipment. The ability to send highly targeted audio signals over the air could be used to communicate across noisy rooms or warn individuals of a dangerous situation such as an active shooter.

In The Optical Society (OSA) journal Optics Letters, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln Laboratory report using two different laser-based methods to transmit various tones, music and recorded speech at a conversational volume.

"Our system can be used from some distance away to beam information directly to someone's ear," said research team leader Charles M. Wynn. "It is the first system that uses lasers that are fully safe for the eyes and skin to localize an audible signal to a particular person in any setting."
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Holly

Unintelligent? Plants can both 'smell' and 'hear'


Uncommon Descent
Thu, 24 Jan 2019 18:00 UTC
planet experiment
© Udi SegevPlant assessing surroundings: In an experiment, Potentilla reptans grows tall, wide, or shade-tolerant, depending on what neighbors (simulated by varying stripes) do
How? Smell: From ScienceDaily:
Plants detect a class of odor molecules known as volatile organic compounds, which are essential for many plant survival strategies, including attracting birds and bees, deterring pests, and reacting to disease in nearby plants. These compounds also give essential oils their distinctive scents.

Touhara's team exposed tobacco cells and 4-week-old tobacco plants to different volatile organic compounds. They discovered that odor molecules change gene expression by binding to other molecules called transcriptional co-repressors that can turn genes on or off.

In plants, the odor molecules must move into the cell and accumulate before they affect plant behavior. In animals, odor molecules are recognized by receptors on the outside of cells in the nose and immediately trigger a signaling pathway to recognize the odor and change behavior.

"Plants can't run away, so of course they react to odors more slowly than animals. If plants can prepare for environmental change within the same day, that is probably fast enough for them," said Touhara.

Speed is unnecessary for plants, but they may be able to recognize a much greater variety of odor molecules.

"Humans have about 400 odor receptors. Elephants have about 2,000, the largest number in animals. But based on how many transcription factor genes are in plants, plants may be able to detect many more odors than animals," said Touhara.
One wonders whether plants could be used to detect CO or other toxic gases and send signals accordingly. But would they be fast enough?

Comment: In other words, plants are complex information processors, like other animals. Perhaps that is even the best definition of intelligence. But what is the link between intelligence and consciousness (i.e., awareness)? Is there any? And if so, are plants aware on some level, in addition to being intelligent? Panpsychists would argue the answer is yes.

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Galaxy

Planetary collision that formed the moon made life possible on Earth


Science Daily
Wed, 23 Jan 2019 00:01 UTC
planetary formation
© Image courtesy of Rajdeep DasguptaA schematic depicting the formation of a Mars-sized planet (left) and its differentiation into a body with a metallic core and an overlying silicate reservoir. The sulfur-rich core expels carbon, producing silicate with a high carbon to nitrogen ratio. The moon-forming collision of such a planet with the growing Earth (right) can explain Earth's abundance of both water and major life-essential elements like carbon, nitrogen and sulfur, as well as the geochemical similarity between Earth and the moon.


Study: Planetary delivery explains enigmatic features of Earth's carbon and nitrogen

Most of Earth's essential elements for life -- including most of the carbon and nitrogen in you -- probably came from another planet.

Earth most likely received the bulk of its carbon, nitrogen and other life-essential volatile elements from the planetary collision that created the moon more than 4.4 billion years ago, according to a new study by Rice University petrologists in the journal Science Advances.

"From the study of primitive meteorites, scientists have long known that Earth and other rocky planets in the inner solar system are volatile-depleted," said study co-author Rajdeep Dasgupta. "But the timing and mechanism of volatile delivery has been hotly debated. Ours is the first scenario that can explain the timing and delivery in a way that is consistent with all of the geochemical evidence."
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Boat

Freak wave recreated in laboratory mirrors famous Hokusai's 'Great Wave'

University of Oxford
Phys.org
Thu, 24 Jan 2019 12:29 UTC
Hokusai's 'Great Wave'
A team of researchers based at the Universities of Oxford and Edinburgh have recreated for the first time the famous Draupner freak wave measured in the North Sea in 1995.

The Draupner wave was one of the first confirmed observations of a freak wave in the ocean; it was observed on the 1st of January 1995 in the North Sea by measurements made on the Draupner Oil Platform. Freak waves are unexpectedly large in comparison to surrounding waves. They are difficult to predict, often appearing suddenly without warning, and are commonly attributed as probable causes for maritime catastrophes such as the sinking of large ships.

The team of researchers set out to reproduce the Draupner wave under laboratory conditions to understand how this freak wave was formed in the ocean. They successfully achieved this reconstruction by creating the wave using two smaller wave groups and varying the crossing angle - the angle at which the two groups travel.

Comment: See also:

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