Memristors power quick-learning neural network
Summary: A new type of neural network made with memristors can dramatically improve the efficiency of teaching machines to think like humans. The network, called a reservoir computing system, could predict words before they are said during conversation, and help predict future outcomes based on the present. The memristor chip that powers the new reservoir […]
Sildenafil (Viagra)
Kat Arney investigates one of the fastest selling drugs of all time The picturesque town of Sandwich on the Kent coast may seem an unlikely setting for the discovery of what is arguably the world’s most famous drug but it was here, in the labs of pharma company Pfizer, that the story started. Back in […]
Engineers hack cell biology to create 3-D shapes from living tissue
Summary: Many of the complex folded shapes that form mammalian tissues can be explained with very simple instructions, bioengineers report. By patterning mechanically active mouse or human cells to thin layers of extracellular fibers, the researchers could create bowls, coils, and ripples out of living tissue. The cells collaborated mechanically through a web of these […]
An integrated assessment of vascular plants species of the Americas
Summary: Botanists have compiled a comprehensive, searchable checklist of 124,993 species, 6,227 genera and 355 families of vascular plants of the Americas. This represents one third of all known vascular plants worldwide. Tropical forest. Credit: © Galyna Andrushko / Fotolia Missouri Botanical Garden researcher Dr. Carmen Ulloa is the lead author of “An Integrated Assessment […]
Origins of photosynthesis in plants dated to 1.25 billion years ago
Summary: The world’s oldest algae fossils are a billion years old, according to a new analysis by earth scientists. Based on this finding, the researchers also estimate that the basis for photosynthesis in today’s plants was set in place 1.25 billion years ago. The Angmaat Formation above Tremblay Sound on the Baffin Island coast. Bangiomorpha […]
Plants reveal decision-making abilities under competition February 07, 2018
Summary: Plants can choose between alternative competitive responses according to the stature and densities of their opponents, biologists have discovered. A new study reveals that plants can evaluate the competitive ability of their neighbors and optimally match their responses to them. The plant Potentilla reptans growing under simulated sparse vegetation. Credit: Udi Segev Biologists from […]
