Category: TRENDS IN HI-TECH SCIENCE

For years, scientists have been attempting to replicate in silicon the functions of neurons – the nerve cells that are the fundamental units of the human brain. Now researchers at the University of Bath claim to have done it. The achievement rests on three breakthroughs, the developers say: they developed a mathematical method to model...

Two recent trials indicate that the family of rapalog drugs may extend humans’ healthy lifespan. The family’s best-known member is rapamycin, which is used in organ transplants to suppress rejection. In studies, rapalogs have shown an ability to extend the health spans of yeast, worms, flies, and mice by as much as 20 percent. That...

In today’s lithium batteries, the problem is cobalt. It’s necessary to stabilize lithium, boost the amount of energy a battery can store, and extend a battery’s life. But mining it is damaging to human health and Mother Nature, soaring demand for lithium batteries threatens a cobalt shortage, and most of the world’s deposits are in...

The world may be turning away from petroleum as a vehicle fuel, but humans still use almost 600 billion plastic bottles made from petroleum each year. A small fraction is recycled into new materials; the vast majority are trashed and clog our oceans, waterways, garbage dumps, and roadsides, where their breakdown residues enter the food...

First, medical science discovered that dark chocolate is a superfood and sex is a better aerobic exercise than jogging. Now bioscientists at Iowa State University have found that wine and cheese may protect against dementia. The researchers sifted data from the UK Biobank, a database holding extensive genetic and health details on more than a...

Gathering solar energy above the clouds and sending it back to Earth has been on scientists’ minds for decades. Now the plan has taken a large step toward reality. The idea is to send high-efficiency solar collectors into space, have them convert the solar energy they make into radio waves, then beam the energy waves...

Melatonin, the body’s own hormone that regulates sleeping and waking, has been identified as a potential treatment for the COVID virus in a study by the Cleveland Clinic. The study used artificial intelligence to comb through the catalog of existing biochemical substances to see which might be used to neutralize SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes...