140 articles from TUESDAY 18.1.2022

Edge processing research takes discovery closer to use in artificial intelligence networks

Researchers have successfully demonstrated proof-of-concept of using their multimodal transistor (MMT) in artificial neural networks, which mimic the human brain. This is an important step towards using thin-film transistors as artificial intelligence hardware and moves edge computing forward, with the prospect of reducing power needs and improving efficiency, rather than relying solely on...

'Rivers' in the sky likely to drench East Asia under climate change

Extreme rainfall events associated with atmospheric rivers, narrow bands transporting large amounts of moisture in the atmosphere, are becoming more frequent and severe in mountainous parts of East Asia as the climate changes. According to global and regional climate models comparing historical trends with a future scenario of 4 degrees of warming of global-mean surface air, these events are...

Epidemiologists develop advanced state-of-the-art tool for measuring the pace of aging

Researchers developed a new blood test to measure the pace of biological aging. Based on an analysis of chemical tags on the DNA contained in white blood cells, called DNA methylation marks, the new test is named DunedinPACE (Pace of Aging Computed from the Epigenome). DunedinPACE is a new addition to a fast-growing list of DNA methylation tests designed to measure aging and contributes...

Celebrated malting barley came from a single plant

The 200-year-old malting barley variety 'Chevalier' was for a long time world-leading in beer brewing and is thought to have originated from a single plant. In a new study, researchers have investigated this claim. They have analyzed seed samples that are older than 150 years using molecular genetic methods. The results give a revealing insight into the plant breeding of times gone by.

Respiratory viruses that hijack immune mechanisms may have Achilles' heel

One viral protein could provide information to deter pneumonia causing the body's exaggerated inflammatory response to respiratory viruses, including the virus that causes COVID-19. That viral protein is NS2 of Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), and a study has found that if the virus lacks this protein, the human body's immune response can destroy the virus before exaggerated inflammation begins....

Novel design method proposed for reflective optical system with low tilt-error sensitivity

Characterized by large aperture and long focal length, the reflective optical system has the advantages of small number of optical elements and simple optical structure. But the intrinsic aberration and the misalignment derived aberration increase exponentially with the increase of focal length and aperture, resulting in a significant degradation of the optical system imaging quality caused by...

Understanding rare rain events in the driest desert on Earth

In the enduring dryness of the Atacama Desert in northern Chile where the average rainfall is as low as 5 millimeters per year, rare rain events can come swiftly and intensely. They shape the landscape and provide precious moisture to plants and other species that otherwise adapted to extended dry spells or harvesting coastal fog. Intense rain events like those seen in the Atacama are known to be...

Climate change threatens future Winter Olympics

Climate change will limit where the Winter Olympics can be held as winter changes across the Northern Hemisphere, according to a study by an international team of researchers led by the University of Waterloo.

Controlling how 'odd couple' surfaces and liquids interact

The wettability of a surface—whether drops of water or another liquid bead up or spread out when they come into contact with it—is a crucial factor in a wide variety of commercial and industrial applications, such as how efficiently boilers and condensers work in power plants or how heat pipes funnel heat away in industrial processes. This characteristic has long been seen as a fixed property...

Look up and watch asteroid 1994 PC1 fly past Earth this week

In a slow moving universe, asteroids give us a rare chance to see things moving in real time. We have such a chance coming right up on the evening of Tuesday, January 18, when 1.1-kilometer asteroid (7482) 1994 PC1 passes 1.23 million miles (1.98 million kilometers) from the Earth. This is about five times the distance from the Earth to the moon, and just a shade over the distance to the...

Nanobubbles provide pathway to build better medical devices

Researchers from the University of Sydney Nano Institute and School of Chemistry have revealed that tiny gas bubbles—nanobubbles just 100 billionths of a meter high—form on surfaces in unexpected situations, providing a new way to reduce drag in small-scale devices.