More Memories, Brain Implants, Improved 3D Printing

Brain memory capacity 10 times higher

“It’s a real bombshell in the field of neuroscience,” and you’re potentially smarter than you might’ve guessed: The Salk Institute reports the human brain’s memory capacity is in the petabyte range — 10x larger than previously thought.

The institute says it’s “achieved critical insight into the size of neural connections, putting the memory capacity of the brain far higher than common estimates.”

They’ve also answered “how the brain is so energy efficient” which could help engineers “build computers that are incredibly powerful but also conserve energy… We discovered the key to unlocking the design principle for how hippocampal neurons function with low energy but high computation power.”

Here is the full announcement.

Teleport memories

Move memories? Maybe: Electromechanical oscillators and superconducting circuits could teleport the internal quantum state and center-of-mass motion state of a microorganism. (Erp.)

At least, that’s according to physicists at Purdue University and Tsinghua University, who say this version of quantum teleportation could instantly transport memory.

They propose an electromechanical membrane oscillator integrated with a superconducting circuit that could prepare a bacterium for a quantum superposition state. “With a strong magnetic field gradient, the internal states of a microorganism, such as the electron spin of a glycine radical, can be entangled with its center-of-mass motion and be teleported to a remote microorganism,” according to the report at Eureka Alert. “Since internal states of an organism contain information, this proposal provides a scheme for teleporting information or memories between two remote organisms.”

Here is the full article.

Low-cost DNA test for cancer

Most cancer can be cured if caught early enough, and now the inventor of a DNA test for Down syndrome says the technology can be used to screen for cancer as well, Technology Review reports.

The Hong Kong scientist says screening for signs of cancer from a simple blood draw could cost as little as $1,000, the Review adds.

The test works by studying DNA released into a person’s bloodstream by dying tumor cells. The new method looks for changes in methylation, as cancer cell genes widely lose their methylation marks, and so they “can be reliably spotted using less sequencing.”

Image: Sequenom licensed the Down syndrome test.

Here is the full article.

“Bridging the Bio-Electronic Divide”

That’s the stated goal for a new program from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency: develop an implantable neural interface able to provide unprecedented signal resolution and data-transfer bandwidth between the human brain and the digital world.

The interface would serve as a translator, DARPA adds, converting between the electrochemical language used by neurons in the brain and the ones and zeros that constitute the language of information technology. The goal is to achieve this communications link in a biocompatible device no larger than one cubic centimeter in size, roughly the volume of two nickels stacked back to back.

The program, Neural Engineering System Design, stands to dramatically enhance research capabilities in neuro-technology and provide a foundation for new therapies. “Today’s best brain-computer interface systems are like two supercomputers trying to talk to each other using an old 300-baud modem,” says the program manager. “Imagine what will become possible when we upgrade our tools to really open the channel between the human brain and modern electronics.”

Neural interfaces currently approved for human use squeeze a tremendous amount of information through just 100 channels, with each channel aggregating signals from tens of thousands of neurons at a time, Darpa notes. The result is noisy and imprecise. In contrast, the NESD program aims to develop systems that can communicate clearly and individually with any of up to one million neurons in a given region of the brain.

Here's more information.

Electronic implants melt in the brain

Maybe DARPA should talk with these guys: Tiny electronic implants can monitor brain injury, then melt away, claim researchers at the University of Illinois.

The school says its new class of small, thin electronic sensors can monitor temperature and pressure within the skull – crucial health parameters after a brain injury or surgery. As they are constructed out of “bio-resorbable materials,” they “melt away when they are no longer needed, eliminating the need for additional surgery to remove the monitors and reducing the risk of infection and hemorrhage.”

“This is a new class of electronic biomedical implants,” adds one of the developers. “These kinds of systems have potential across a range of clinical practices, where therapeutic or monitoring devices are implanted or ingested, perform a sophisticated function, and then resorb harmlessly into the body after their function is no longer necessary.”

Here is the full announcement.

Radar hears heartbeats

Would you want to measure your pulse and other health signs throughout the day?

Millimeter-wave spread-spectrum radar can measure heartbeats remotely with as much accuracy as electrocardiographs, Phys Org reports. Researchers at the Kyoto University Center of Innovation and Panasonic say their unique signal analysis algorithm that identify signals from the body offers “a way to monitor their body in a casual and relaxed environment,” as opposed to electrocardiographs, with which “taking measurements with sensors on the body can be stressful and troublesome.”

Here is the full article.

Electricity as dental anesthetic

No  more needles and Novocain at the dentist: instead a small electric current could numb your nerves.

Researchers at the University of São Paulo say their work “could help improve dental procedures and bring relief to millions of people who are scared of needles,’ Alpha Galileo reports. “It would also save money and avoid contamination and infection, they say."

Actually, the iontophoresis process does not eliminate anesthetics — but it does make them more effective, and may eliminate the need for needles: topical application could suffice.

Here is the full article.

Here's more information.

Sequence DNA with Graphene

Rapid and accurate gene sequencing may be possible by pulling a DNA molecule through a tiny, chemically activated hole in graphene and detecting changes in electrical current.

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology propose that the method “could identify about 66 million bases — the smallest units of genetic information — per second, with 90 percent accuracy and no false positives,” NIST reports. The method could turn out to “…ultimately be faster and cheaper than conventional DNA sequencing, meeting a critical need for applications such as forensics.”

Here's more information.

"4d" Printing blossoms

Materials science and mathematics combine to enable the printing of shapeshifting architectures that mimic the natural movements of plants, Harvard University reports. Scientists at its Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering “evolved their microscale 3D printing technology to the fourth dimension, time.”

The “4D” printed hydrogel composite structures change shape upon immersion in water. The work is “inspired by natural structures like plants, which respond and change their form over time according to environmental stimuli.” It represents “an elegant advance in programmable materials assembly.” The hydrogel composites contain cellulose fibrils that are derived from wood and are similar to the microstructures that enable shape changes in plants.

The 4D printing “enables the design of almost any arbitrary, transformable shape from a wide range of available materials with different properties and potential applications, truly establishing a new platform for printing self-assembling, dynamic microscale structures that could be applied to a broad range of industrial and medical applications.”

Here is the full announcement.

3D printer: additive manufacturing alternative

Engineers at the University of Bristol developed a new type of 3D printing that can print composite materials, which are used in products such as tennis rackets, golf clubs, and airplanes, the school reports.

The new method uses ultrasonic waves to “position millions of tiny reinforcement fibers as part of the 3D printing process,” the university adds. The fibers form a microscopic reinforcement framework that is placed using a laser beam, “which locally cures the epoxy resin and then prints the object.”

Also, the ultrasonic system can be added cheaply to an off-the-shelf 3D printer, “which then turns it into a composite printer.”

Here is the full announcement.

Affordably printing metals and alloys

Another new 3D printing process creates metallic objects: Northwestern University says its technique uses liquid inks and common furnaces, “resulting in a cheaper, faster, and more uniform process.”

The method works for an extensive variety of metals, metal mixtures, alloys, and metal oxides and compounds, the school adds. “Our method greatly expands the architectures and metals we’re able to print, which really opens the door for a lot of different applications.”

A liquid ink (made of metal or mixed metal powders, solvents, and an elastomer binder) is printed using a syringe-extrusion process. It “instantaneously solidifies and fuses with previously extruded material, enabling very large objects to be quickly created and immediately handled.” The powders are fused in a furnace.

Here is the full announcement.

Drones dodge obstacles

Creating real-time flight plans that avoid obstacles and handle surprises like wind and weather means that getting drones to fly around without hitting things is no small task, MIT reports. “Obstacle-detection and motion-planning are two of computer science’s trickiest challenges.”

Now the school’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory demonstrated software that allow drones to “stop on a dime to make hairpin movements over, under, and around” 26 distinct obstacles.

With the software, a small quadrotor can do “donuts and figure-eights through an obstacle course of strings and PVC pipes” and fly at “speeds upwards of 1 meter per second.”

The algorithms are available online.

Here is the full announcement.