Chemistry: Biochemistry Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General
Published

A novel method for easy and quick fabrication of biomimetic robots with life-like movement      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Ultraviolet-laser processing is a promising technique for developing intricate microstructures, enabling complex alignment of muscle cells, required for building life-like biohybrid actuators. Compared to traditional complex methods, this innovative technique enables easy and quick fabrication of microstructures with intricate patterns for achieving different muscle cell arrangements, paving the way for biohybrid actuators capable of complex, flexible movements.

Anthropology: General Archaeology: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Earthquakes Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geology Geoscience: Oceanography Geoscience: Volcanoes Paleontology: Climate
Published

Biggest Holocene volcano eruption found by seabed survey      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A detailed survey of the volcanic underwater deposits around the Kikai caldera in Japan clarified the deposition mechanisms as well as the event's magnitude. As a result, the research team found that the event 7,300 years ago was the largest volcanic eruption in the Holocene by far.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Computer Science: General Energy: Technology Engineering: Robotics Research
Published

Method identified to double computer processing speeds      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists introduce what they call 'simultaneous and heterogeneous multithreading' or SHMT. This system doubles computer processing speeds with existing hardware by simultaneously using graphics processing units (GPUs), hardware accelerators for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), or digital signal processing units to process information.

Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Paleontology: Climate
Published

Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats has long been in flux      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

It has been long assumed that Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats was formed as its ancient namesake lake dried up 13,000 years ago. But new research has gutted that narrative, determining these crusts did not form until several thousand years after Lake Bonneville disappeared, which could have important implications for managing this feature that has been shrinking for decades to the dismay of the racing community and others who revere the saline pan 100 miles west of Salt Lake City. Relying on radiocarbon analysis of pollen found in salt cores, the study concludes the salt began accumulating between 5,400 and 3,500 years ago, demonstrating how this geological feature is not a permanent fixture on the landscape.

Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Geology Geoscience: Oceanography Paleontology: Climate Paleontology: General
Published

Researchers studying ocean transform faults, describe a previously unknown part of the geological carbon cycle      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

This study reports widespread mineral carbonation of mantle rocks in an oceanic transform fueled by magmatic degassing of CO2. The findings describe a previously unknown part of the geological carbon cycle in transform faults that represent one of the three principal plate boundaries on Earth. The confluence of tectonically exhumed mantle rocks and CO2-rich alkaline basalt formed through limited extents of melting characteristic of the St. Paul's transform faults may be a pervasive feature at oceanic transform faults in general. Because transform faults have not been accounted for in previous estimates of global geological CO2 fluxes, the mass transfer of magmatic CO2 to the altered oceanic mantle and seawater may be larger than previously thought.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Computer Science: General Computer Science: Virtual Reality (VR) Mathematics: Modeling
Published

Innovations in depth from focus/defocus pave the way to more capable computer vision systems      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In an image, estimating the distance between objects and the camera by using the blur in the images as clue, also known as depth from focus/defocus, is essential in computer vision. However, model-based methods fail when texture-less surfaces are present, and learning-based methods require the same camera settings during training and testing. Now, researchers have come up with an innovative strategy for depth estimation that combines the best of both the worlds to solve these limitations, extending the applicability of depth from focus/defocus.

Ecology: Trees Paleontology: Climate Paleontology: General
Published

Ancient pollen trapped in Greenland ice uncovers changes in Canadian forests over 800 years      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The Greenland ice sheet lies thousands of miles from North America yet holds clues to the distant continent's environmental history. Nearly two miles thick in places, the ice sheet grows as snow drifts from the sky and builds up over time. But snow isn't the only thing carried in by air currents that swirl around the atmosphere, with microscopic pollen grains and pieces of ash mixing with snowfall and preserving records of the past in the ice. A new study examined these pollen grains and identified how eastern Canada's forests grew, retreated, and changed through time.

Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Geology Geoscience: Oceanography Paleontology: Climate
Published

Ice cores provide first documentation of rapid Antarctic ice loss in the past      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have uncovered the first direct evidence that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet shrunk suddenly and dramatically at the end of the Last Ice Age, around eight thousand years ago. The evidence, contained within an ice core, shows that in one location the ice sheet thinned by 450 meters -- that's more than the height of the Empire State Building -- in just under 200 years.

Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Geology Geoscience: Oceanography Paleontology: Climate Paleontology: General
Published

What turned Earth into a giant snowball 700 million years ago? Scientists now have an answer      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Inspired during field work in South Australia's Flinders Ranges, geoscientists have proposed that all-time low volcanic carbon dioxide emissions triggered a 57-million-year-long global 'Sturtian' ice age.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Computer Science: General Engineering: Biometric Engineering: Nanotechnology Physics: General Physics: Optics
Published

A sleeker facial recognition technology tested on Michelangelo's David      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Many people are familiar with facial recognition systems that unlock smartphones and game systems or allow access to our bank accounts online. But the current technology can require boxy projectors and lenses. Now, researchers report on a sleeker 3D surface imaging system with flatter, simplified optics. In proof-of-concept demonstrations, the new system recognized the face of Michelangelo's David just as well as an existing smartphone system.

Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography Paleontology: Climate
Published

Permafrost alone holds back Arctic rivers -- and a lot of carbon      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study provides the first evidence that the Arctic's frozen soil is the dominant force shaping Earth's northernmost rivers, confining them to smaller areas and shallower valleys than rivers to the south. But as climate change weakens Arctic permafrost, the researchers calculate that every 1 degree Celsius of global warming could release as much carbon as 35 million cars emit in a year as polar waterways expand and churn up the thawing soil.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineering: Robotics Research
Published

Robot trained to read braille at twice the speed of humans      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have developed a robotic sensor that incorporates artificial intelligence techniques to read braille at speeds roughly double that of most human readers.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Computer Science: General Engineering: Robotics Research Physics: General
Published

Utilizing active microparticles for artificial intelligence      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Artificial intelligence using neural networks performs calculations digitally with the help of microelectronic chips. Physicists have now created a type of neural network that works not with electricity but with so-called active colloidal particles.The researchers describe how these microparticles can be used as a physical system for artificial intelligence and the prediction of time series.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineering: Robotics Research Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General
Published

Scientists design a two-legged robot powered by muscle tissue      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Compared to robots, human bodies are flexible, capable of fine movements, and can convert energy efficiently into movement. Drawing inspiration from human gait, researchers from Japan crafted a two-legged biohybrid robot by combining muscle tissues and artificial materials. This method allows the robot to walk and pivot.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Computer Science: General
Published

Chats with AI shift attitudes on climate change, Black Lives Matter      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

People who were more skeptical of human-caused climate change or the Black Lives Matter movement who took part in conversation with a popular AI chatbot were disappointed with the experience but left the conversation more supportive of the scientific consensus on climate change or BLM. This is according to researchers studying how these chatbots handle interactions from people with different cultural backgrounds.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineering: Robotics Research
Published

Autonomous synthesis robot uses AI to speed up chemical discovery      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Chemists have developed an autonomous chemical synthesis robot with an integrated AI-driven machine learning unit. Dubbed 'RoboChem', the benchtop device can outperform a human chemist in terms of speed and accuracy while also displaying a high level of ingenuity. As the first of its kind, it could significantly accelerate chemical discovery of molecules for pharmaceutical and many other applications.

Archaeology: General Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Evolutionary Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Invasive Species Paleontology: Climate Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Ancient brown bear genomes sheds light on Ice Age losses and survival      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The brown bear is one of the largest living terrestrial carnivores, and is widely distributed across the Northern Hemisphere. Unlike many other large carnivores that went extinct at the end of the last Ice Age (cave bear, sabretoothed cats, cave hyena), the brown bear is one of the lucky survivors that made it through to the present. The question has puzzled biologists for close to a century -- how was this so?

Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Oceanography Geoscience: Severe Weather Paleontology: Climate
Published

New tool predicts flood risk from hurricanes in a warming climate      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new method predicts how much flooding a coastal community is likely to experience as hurricanes evolve due to climate change. Using New York as a test case, the model predicts Hurricane Sandy-level flooding will occur roughly every 30 years by 2099.