Industries

For a brain-computer interface (BCI) to be truly useful for a person with tetraplegia, it should be ready whenever it’s needed, with minimal expert intervention, including the very first time it’s used. In a new study in the Journal of Neural Engineering, researchers in the BrainGate* collaboration demonstrate new techniques that allowed three participants to achieve peak BCI performance within three minutes of engaging in an easy, on...

Mersive Technologies has announced that the University of Warwick in England has expanded its deployment of Mersive Solstice Pods to over 90 units, in its Oculus Building and in a variety of learning and conference spaces across the campus. The university made the deployment to allow students and staff to share content seamlessly from any device in meetings and teaching sessions without risk to the security of the university IT infrastructure.

  MIT researchers have devised a miniaturised system that can deliver tiny quantities of medicine to brain regions as small as 1 cubic millimetre. This type of targeted dosing could make it possible to treat diseases that affect very specific brain circuits, without interfering with the normal function of the rest of the brain, the researchers say.

  When it comes to processing power, the human brain just can’t be beat. Packed within the squishy, football-sized organ are somewhere around 100 billion neurons. At any given moment, a single neuron can relay instructions to thousands of other neurons via synapses — the spaces between neurons, across which neurotransmitters are exchanged.

A 38-center clinical trial sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and led by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine has shown that far more people than previously thought can benefit from an emergency procedure for acute ischemic stroke. The improved outcomes were achieved through the use of brain-imaging software developed at Stanford.

Researchers supported by FAPESP participated in three of the “Top Ten Breakthroughs in 2017” listed by the journal Physics World. The ten breakthroughs were chosen by Physics World editors from a shortlist based on popularity with the journal’s readers. Its Breakthrough of the Year Award went to the first-ever multimessenger observation of a merger of two neutron stars involving gravitational waves.

Chemotherapy has limited success for patients with glioma – the most common kind of brain cancer – and melanoma – the most aggressive form of skin cancer – owing mainly to the resistance of tumour cells to the drugs currently available for such treatment. Although this resistance is generally associated with the mechanisms by which tumour cells repair the damage to their DNA caused by chemotherapy drugs, accordin...

The world of agriculture is being quietly transformed by robotic technology. One question to consider is whether tractors will evolve towards full unmanned autonomy? Tractor guidance and autosteer are well-established technologies. In the short to medium terms, both will continue their growth thanks to improvements and cost reductions in RTK GPS technology. Indeed, ID TechEx estimates that around 700,000 tractors equipped with autosteer or t...

Hologic's Cynosure division has announced the launch of TempSure Envi – an FDA-cleared advanced radiofrequency device that minimises facial fine lines and wrinkles, tightens skin through soft tissue coagulation, and improves the appearance of cellulite. TempSure Envi is a simpler way for patients to maintain beautiful skin. The device heats the deep layers of skin to regenerate collagen and improve the appearance of cellulite and wrink...

New model connects the origins of very high-energy neutrinos, ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays, and high-energy gamma rays with black-hole jets embedded in their environments. One of the biggest mysteries in astroparticle physics has been the origins of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays, very high-energy neutrinos, and high-energy gamma rays. Now, a new theoretical model reveals that they all could be shot out into space after cosmic rays are ac...