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Categories: Biology: Biotechnology, Engineering: Robotics Research

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In a step toward more autonomous soft robots and wearable technologies, researchers have created a device that uses color to simultaneously sense multiple mechanical and temperature stimuli.

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How do you create strong, yet quick-release connections between living and non-living tissues? This is a question that continues to puzzle bioengineers who aim to create materials that bond together for advanced biomedical applications. Looking to nature for inspiration, this research zeroed in on the marine mussel byssus, a fibrous holdfast, which these bivalve mollusks use to anchor themselves in seashore habitats.

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Autonomous vehicles require object detection systems to navigate traffic and avoid obstacles on the road. However, current detection methods often suffer from diminished detection capabilities due to bad weather, unstructured roads, or occlusion. Now, a team of researchers has developed a novel Internet-of-Things-enabled deep learning-based end-to-end 3D object detection system with improved detection capabilities even under unfavorable conditions. This study marks a significant step in autonomous vehicle object detection technology.

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A new study tackles the mystery of why bacteria often carry diverse ranges of weapons. The findings show that different weapons are best suited to different competition scenarios. Short-range weapons help bacteria to invade established communities; long-range weapons are useful once established.

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World War II concluded decades ago, but live mines lurking on the ocean floor still pose threats, potentially spewing unexpected geysers or releasing contaminants into the water. Experts conduct controlled explosions to clear underwater munitions, but concerns have arisen over the environmental impacts from these blasts. New results show that the contamination produced by detonation depends on the blast type, with weaker explosions leaving behind more potentially toxic residues.

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Researchers have uncovered a mechanism that safeguards the biallelic expression of haploinsufficient genes, shedding light on the importance of having two copies of each chromosome. A study identified the epigenetic regulator MSL2 an 'anti-monoallelic' factor that maintains biallelic gene dosage. This discovery not only reveals a communication system between parental alleles but also points to potential therapeutic strategies for diseases associated with haploinsufficient genes.

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Fruit and vegetables contain a variety of plant natural products such as flavonoids, which give fruits their colour and are said to have health-promoting properties. Most plant natural products occur in nature as glycosides, i.e. chemical compounds with sugars. In order for humans to absorb the healthy plant natural products, the sugar must be split off in the intestine. Microorganisms in the intestinal flora help to speed up the process. So-called C-glycosides, i.e. plant natural products with a carbon-based bond to a sugar, would even be practically indigestible without the intestinal microbes (e.g. nothofagin in rooibos tea).

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Enzymes from microorganisms can produce hydrogen (H2) under certain conditions, which makes them potential biocatalysts for biobased H2 technologies. In order to make this hydrogen production efficient, researchers are trying to identify and eliminate possible limiting factors. These include formaldehyde, which occurs naturally as a metabolic product in cells and inhibits the particularly efficient [FeFe] hydrogenase.

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New technology often calls for new materials -- and with supercomputers and simulations, researchers don't have to wade through inefficient guesswork to invent them from scratch.

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The evolution of higher cognitive functions in humans has so far mostly been linked to the expansion of the neocortex. Researchers are increasingly realizing, however, that the 'little brain' or cerebellum also expanded during evolution and probably contributes to the capacities unique to humans. A research team has now generated comprehensive genetic maps of the development of cells in the cerebella of human, mouse and opossum. Comparisons of these maps reveal both ancestral and species-specific cellular and molecular characteristics of cerebellum development.

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An inspection design method and procedure by which mobile robots can inspect large pipe structures has been demonstrated with the successful inspection of multiple defects on a three-meter long steel pipe using guided acoustic wave sensors.

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Engineers have come up with a new way to teach robots to know when they don't know. The technique involves quantifying the fuzziness of human language and using that measurement to tell robots when to ask for further directions. Telling a robot to pick up a bowl from a table with only one bowl is fairly clear. But telling a robot to pick up a bowl when there are five bowls on the table generates a much higher degree of uncertainty -- and triggers the robot to ask for clarification.

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Extracellular vesicles were found to inhibit the viral infection of COVID-19 and potentially other infectious diseases.

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Researchers have developed a way of joining up the head and tail of a protein, making it more stable and easier to get into cells.

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Researchers report that they have developed a new composite material designed to change behaviors depending on temperature in order to perform specific tasks. These materials are poised to be part of the next generation of autonomous robotics that will interact with the environment.

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Scientists have found both potential threats and promising resources in the thriving colonies of bacteria and fungi on plastic trash washed up on shores. 

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A new technique enables an AI agent to be guided by data crowdsourced asynchronously from nonexpert human users as it learns to complete a task through reinforcement learning. The method trains the robot faster and better than other approaches.

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Scientists show for the first time that bacteria can cause itch by activating nerve cells in the skin. The findings can inform new therapies to treat itch that occurs in inflammatory skin conditions like eczema and dermatitis.

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Researchers taught an autonomous excavator to construct dry stone walls itself using boulders weighing several tons and demolition debris.

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Tandem solar cells based on perovskite semiconductors convert sunlight to electricity more efficiently than conventional silicon solar cells. In order to make this technology ready for the market, further improvements with regard to stability and manufacturing processes are required. Researchers have succeeded in finding a way to predict the quality of the perovskite layers and consequently that of the resulting solar cells: Assisted by Machine Learning and new methods in Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is possible assess their quality from variations in light emission already in the manufacturing process.