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Super-flexible, curved displays, foldable phones, wearable electronics coming

Scientists in India have developed a super-flexible, composite semiconductor material with possible applications in next-generation flexible or curved displays, foldable phones and wearable electronics.  

The researchers have found a way to fabricate a composite containing a significant amount of polymer—up to 40% of the material weight—using inkjet printing, explains Subho Dasgupta, Associate Professor in the Department of Materials Engineering in the Department of Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Science (IISc). 

As explained in the journal Advanced Materials Technologies, the large quantity of polymer can also make the composite semiconductors highly flexible and foldable without deteriorating performance.  

Innovative inkjet-printing materials

Semiconductor materials are usually fabricated using deposition techniques such as sputtering. Instead, Dasgupta’s team used inkjet printing to deposit their material onto various flexible substrates, ranging from plastics to paper. 

The composite semiconductor is made up of two materials: a water-insoluble polymer such as ethyl cellulose, which provides flexibility; and indium oxide, a semiconductor that brings in excellent electronic transport properties.

“Could revolutionize the display industry“

In the future, these printed semiconductors could be used to fabricate fully printed and flexible television screens, wearables, and large electronic billboards, alongside printed organic light emitting diode (OLED) display front-ends. These printed semiconductors will be low-cost and easy to manufacture, says Dasgupta.

Citation: Divya, M., Cherukupally, N., Gogoi, S. K., Pradhan, J. R., Mondal, S. K., Jain, M., Senyshyn, A., & Dasgupta, S. Super Flexible and High Mobility Inorganic/Organic Composite Semiconductors for Printed Electronics on Polymer Substrates. Advanced Materials Technologies, 2300256. https://doi.org/10.1002/admt.202300256

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New deep-light imaging could radically improve multiple disease diagnoses

An international team of researchers has made a technology breakthrough in one of the most important forms of biological light imaging, “optical coherence tomography” (OCT). The finding could revolutionize applications in ophthalmology, dermatology, cardiology, and the early detection of cancer.

OCT imaging relies on backscattered light in tissues (when light passes between different layers of cells, for example). But there’s a limit to imaging quality (think driving very slowly with headlights on in a fog). In bio tissue, the limit is about 1 millimeter (well beyond conventional microscopy).

Now an international team of researchers* has found a counterintuitive workaround: increase the scattering, using multiple paths and different depths, as explained in Science Advances journal.

* The University of Adelaide (Australia), Technical University of Denmark, Aerospace Corporation (USA) and academics from the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of St Andrews (Scotland).

Citation: Untracht, G. R., Chen, M., Wijesinghe, P., Mas, J., Yura, H. T., Marti, D., Andersen, P. E., & Dholakia, K. (2023). Spatially offset optical coherence tomography: Leveraging multiple scattering for high-contrast imaging at depth in turbid media. Science Advances, Volume 9 | Issue 27 July 2023. https://doi.org/adh5435 (open-access)

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An AI chatbot could generate a fraudulent but authentic-looking scientific medical paper—unleashing Pandora’s box

Researchers from Charles University, Czech Republic used ChatGPT-3 to generate a completely fabricated scientific article in the field of neurosurgery. Questions and prompts were refined as ChatGPT generated responses, allowing the quality of the output to be iteratively improved.

The results of this proof-of-concept study were striking—the AI language model successfully produced a fraudulent article that closely resembled a genuine scientific paper in terms of word usage, sentence structure, and overall composition. The article included standard sections such as an abstract, introduction, methods, results, and discussion, as well as tables and other data. The entire process of article creation took just one hour without any special training of the human user.

However, examination expert readers were able to identify semantic inaccuracies and errors particularly in the references—some references were incorrect, while others were non-existent.

Tracking

As AI continues to advance, it becomes crucial for the scientific community to verify the accuracy and authenticity of content generated by these tools and implement mechanisms for detecting and preventing fraud and misconduct, says the researchers. How this could be achieved is less clear.

“We should at least declare the extent to which AI has assisted the writing and analysis of a paper as a starting point,” suggests author Dr. Pedro L. Ballester. Another possible solution proposed by colleagues is making the submission of data sets mandatory.

Citation: Pedro L. Ballester. Open Science and Software Assistance: Commentary on “Artificial Intelligence Can Generate Fraudulent but Authentic-Looking Scientific Medical Articles: Pandora’s Box Has Been Opened.” https://www.jmir.org/2023/1/e46924/ doi: 10.2196/46924

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Gravitational waves produce background hum across the universe, pulsars reveal

Scientists are reporting, in a series of papers in The Astrophysical Journal Letters (and in an announcement on June 29, 2023—see video below), the first evidence that our Earth and the universe around us are awash in a background of gravitational waves.

The 15 years worth of observations by the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) suggest that these waves may be produced by supermassive black holes merging across the universe. Or they may also have other origins, such as leftover ripples in space-time created shortly after the big bang.

“The effect of the gravitational waves on the pulsars is extremely weak and hard to detect, but we built confidence in the findings over time as we collected more data,” says Katerina Chatziioannou, a NANOGrav team member and an assistant professor of physics at Caltech.

Credit: National Science Foundation
Credit: NANOGrav

Citation: Gabriella Agazie et al. The NANOGrav 15 yr Data Set: Evidence for a Gravitational-wave Background. 2023 June 29 © 2023. Published by the American Astronomical Society. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Volume 951, Number 1Focus on NANOGrav’s 15 yr Data Set and the Gravitational Wave Background https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/acdac6 (open access)

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Super-fast lasers to talk to satellites, spacecraft and the Moon

Researchers at the University of Western Australia plan to use super-fast lasers to send high-speed data to satellites, spacecraft, and NASA’s Artemis missions to the Moon. The planned TeraNet system will be 1000 times faster than the radio communications currently used to transfer data to satellites.

Project leader Associate Professor Sascha Schediwy, from The University of Western Australia node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) and an expert in optical communications, said the network will be made up of two fixed ground stations and a mobile station.

Optical systems needed to handle Increased data rates

Schediwy said one of the strongest drivers for increased data rates is the rise of advanced Earth observation and imaging satellites carrying “hyperspectral cameras.” These satellites take high-resolution images of the Earth’s surface used for disaster management and national defence, generating huge amounts of data.

An optical comms terminal peeks out of an observatory-style dome.

TeraNet laser system (credit: International Space Centre)

“Currently, the data on some of those satellites needs to be compressed or thrown away, because the capacity is not there to downlink all that data,” Schediwy said in a statement. “So by expanding to optical communications, with a ground station network to support them, we’ll be able to use them to their full capability.”

The $6.5 million project has received a $4.4 million grant from the Australian Space Agency and $500,000 each from the Western Australian Government and The University of Western Australia. The network is due to be completed in 2026.

The International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) is a joint venture between Curtin University and The University of Western Australia with support and funding from the State Government of Western Australia. Goonhilly Earth Station has been the pioneering home of satellite communications since 1962. Thales Australia is a trusted partner of the Australian Defence Force and is also present in commercial sectors ranging from air traffic management and ground transport systems to security systems and services.

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Researchers in China achieve lithium battery breakthrough: 711.3 Watt-hours per kilogram

Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have packed 711.3 Watt-hours per kilogram of energy in a single lithium battery pack—setting a new record for lithium battery “energy density” (the amount of energy stored in a system or region of space per unit time and either unit weight or unit volume).

Major developments with higher energy densities

Higher energy densities increase the power available in electric vehicles, extending their range or payload capacities. And for personal devices like phones and laptops, higher energy densities increase the number of hours for a given battery charge.

Current advanced practical lithium-ion batteries have an energy density of about 300 Watt-hours per kilogram, and a volumetric energy density of 1653.65 Watt-hours per liter, the researchers explain.

“Continuing to increase the energy density of batteries to a higher level could lead to a major explosion development in some fields, such as electric aviation,” according to the researchers.

This diagram by the researchers puts the achievement (in red) in context:

Highest energy density of rechargeable lithium batteries that year (credit: V. Lang/Physics World/IOP Publishing)

“The new design comprises a high-capacity lithium-rich manganese-based cathode and a thin lithium metal anode with high specific energy,” says Isabelle Dumé in Physics World, published by IOP Publishing, co-publisher of the paper with the Chinese Physical Society. “If developed further, the device could find use in applications such as electric aviation, which requires much higher energy density batteries than those available today.”

Safety issues

However, “the researchers, who report their work in Chinese Physics Letters, explain that a trade-off always exists between the energy density, cycle performance, rate capability and safety of lithium-ion batteries,” Dumé notes.

“Safety is a primary requirement, but elevated energy density will increase the risks during battery operation, [the researchers] say. ‘Energy density must be gradually improved while ensuring safety,’ says first author Quan Li. ‘Our goal is to enhance battery safety performance through solid-state battery technology, making high-energy density batteries more practical.’”

Citation: Quan Li et al 2023 Chinese Phys. Lett. A Time-Dependent-Density-Functional-Theory Study of Charge Transfer Processes of Li2+ Colliding with Ar in the MeV Region. A 700 W⋅h⋅kg−1 Rechargeable Pouch Type Lithium Battery. Chinese Physics Letters, Volume 40, Number 4. © 2023 Chinese Physical Society and IOP Publishing Ltd. DOI: 40 048201DOI 10.1088/0256-307X/40/4/048201

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Decades-long bet on consciousness ends—and it’s philosopher 1, neuroscientist 0

 A 25-year science wager about consciousness came to an end on June 25.

In 1998, neuroscientist Christof Koch bet philosopher David Chalmers that the mechanism by which the brain’s neurons produce consciousness would be discovered by 2023.

Koch lost, based on the results of new research in progress that tested two of the leading consciousness hypotheses—Integrated information theory (IIT) and global network workspace theory (GNWT), both of which failed.

So both scientists agreed publicly on June 23 (at the annual meeting of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness (ASSC) in New York City) that a definitive theory of consciousness is still an ongoing quest—and declared Chalmers the winner … with a promised case of fine Portuguese wine.

Citation: Lenharo, M. (2023). Decades-long bet on consciousness ends—and it’s philosopher 1, neuroscientist 0. Nature News. June 24, 2023. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02120-8 (open-access)

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James Webb Space Telescope discovers organic molecules around newborn star

Organic molecules may create ingredients suitable for the birth of life 630 light years away

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is set to transform astronomers’ understanding of the chemistry of newly formed stars. An analysis by RIKEN researchers of early results has showed that JWST can detect complex organic molecules in the clouds of gas and ice surrounding a newborn protostar.

Building blocks for complex organic molecules

A protostar is a newly formed star that is still feeding on an envelope of in-falling matter that spawned it. These envelopes host chemical reactions that transform simple chemical building blocks into more complex organic molecules, which may be the precursors of the molecules necessary for life.

Researchers suspect that these complex organic molecules are formed in chemical reactions that occur on the surfaces of ice grains. As the star warms the molecules, they would leave the ice and mingle with the gas around them.

Searching for proof of a pathway to life

“We want to obtain definitive proof of such formation pathways,” says Yao-Lun Yang, of the RIKEN Star and Planet Formation Laboratory. “And JWST provides the best opportunity to do so.”

Launched in December 2021, JWST sits about 1.5 million kilometers from Earth and rotates around our Sun. Yang and RIKEN colleagues used data from the telescope’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), acquired in July 2022, to study a very young protostar named Chameleon 1.

When molecules absorb certain frequencies of infrared light, they stretch and bend in different ways, depending on their structures. Each kind of molecule absorbs infrared light at a characteristic set of frequencies. The infrared spectrum detected by MIRI can identify which molecules are present around the protostar.

Organic molecules likely to form in ice

Previous surveys of this protostar identified complex organic molecules in the gas phase. MIRI now offers a much more detailed picture, since it can detect organic molecules in ice, where they are thought to form. The results confirm the presence of water ice, carbon dioxide, silicates (found in dust) and molecules such as ammonia, methane, methanol, formaldehyde, and formic acid. There are also hints of ethanol and acetaldehyde.

MIRI produced images that reveal the structure of one of the star’s outflows, showing at least four shell-like structures. The outflow contains a jumble of elements including hydrogen, iron, nickel, neon, argon and sulfur. Some are concentrated in a relatively hot jet, moving at about 200 kilometers per second. These ejections are being observed when they are perhaps only 170 years old—a mere blink of the eye in terms of star development.

“We will begin to understand how organic chemistry emerges,” says Yang. “And we will also uncover the lasting impacts on planetary systems similar to our solar system.”

Citation: Yang, Y.-L., Green, J. D., Pontoppidan, K. M., Bergner, J. B., Cleeves, L. I., Evans, N. J., Garrod, R. T., Jin, M., Kim, C. H., Kim, J. et al. CORINOS. I. JWST/MIRI spectroscopy and imaging of a class 0 protostar IRAS 15398–3359. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 941, L13 (2022). doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/aca289 (open-access)

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How to identify hit songs with 97% accuracy, using machine learning

Every day, tens of thousands of songs are released. This constant stream of options makes it difficult for streaming services and radio stations to choose which songs to add to playlists, says Paul Zak, a professor at Claremont Graduate University.

Zak is senior author of a study published in Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence, where he offers a solution: “neuroforecasting”—applying machine learning to neurophysiologic data.

Neural data

In the study, participants listened to a set of 24 songs, and were asked about their preferences and some demographic data.

During the experiment, the scientists measured participants’ neurophysiologic responses to the song. A wearable watch provided heart rate data, which was used to infer neural states from activity of the cranial nerves (based on downstream effects of dopamine and oxytocin), as noted in JeŽová et al., 1985; Zak, 2012; Barraza et al., 2015. 

Machine learning

“The brain signals we’ve collected reflect activity of a brain network associated with mood and energy levels,” Zak said. This allowed the researchers to predict market outcomes, including the number of streams of a song.

The researchers found that a linear statistical model identified hit songs at a success rate of 69%. But when they applied machine learning to the data they collected, the rate of correctly identified hit songs jumped to 97%.

“That the neural activity of 33 people can predict if millions of others listened to new songs is quite amazing. Nothing close to this accuracy has ever been shown before,” Zak said.

“If in the future, wearable neuroscience technologies, like the ones we used for this study, become commonplace, the right entertainment could be sent to audiences based on their neurophysiology, ” Zak said.

But the researchers pointed to some limitations. For example, they used relatively few songs in their analysis. And the demographics of the study participants did not include members of “certain ethnic and age groups.”

Citation: Merritt, S. H., Gaffuri, K., & Zak, P. J. (2023). Accurately predicting hit songs using neurophysiology and machine learning. Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence, 6, 1154663. https://doi.org/10.3389/frai.2023.1154663 (open-access)

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Extreme DNA precision: Researchers slow down and scan individual DNA molecules multiple times

École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) researchers have achieved near-perfect control over the manipulation of individual molecules, allowing them to be identified and characterized with unprecedented precision

Background: A nanopore is a nanometer-sized hole formed in a synthetic membrane. It can be used for experimental direct sequencing of a single DNA molecule. As the DNA molecule passes through the nanopore, the passage causes changes in the ion current. Those changes can be used to determine the desired sequence of nucleotides (which encode genetic information) by analyzing how each nucleotide perturbs this current as it passes through. 

However, the passage of molecules through a nanopore and the timing of their analysis are influenced by random physical forces, making it difficult to achieve high analytical accuracy.

Advanced sensing precision

So Aleksandra Radenovic, head of the EPFL Laboratory of Nanoscale Biology in the School of Engineering, has “combined the sensitivity of nanopores with the precision of a scanning ion conductance microscopy (SICM) device.”

This innovation allows for controlling molecule transit speed through the nanopore, allowing thousands of consecutive readings to be taken of the same molecule, and even of different locations on the molecule, she noted.

It can also average multiple readings of the same molecule, which has resulted in an increase in signal-to-noise ratio of two orders of magnitude, compared to conventional methods, the scientists report.

Opens up use in peptide sequencing

“This exquisite control could help fill a big gap in the field,” said Radenovic. “This precision and versatility also mean that the approach could be applied to molecules beyond DNA, such as protein building blocks called peptides, which could help advance proteomics as well as biomedical and clinical research.

“Finding a solution for sequencing peptides has been a significant challenge due to the complexity of their ‘license plates,’ which are made up of 20 characters (amino acids) as opposed to DNA’s four nucleotides,” says Radenovic.”For me, the most exciting hope is that this new control might open an easier path ahead to peptide sequencing.”

Citation: Leitao, S. M., Navikas, V., Miljkovic, H., Drake, B., Marion, S., Pistoletti Blanchet, G., Chen, K., Mayer, S. F., Keyser, U. F., Kuhn, A., Fantner, G. E., & Radenovic, A. (2023). Spatially multiplexed single-molecule translocations through a nanopore at controlled speeds. Nature Nanotechnology, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-023-01412-4

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