Friday 10 May 2019

Scientists introduce novel perspective in robotic capability

University of Illinois researcher Amy LaViers has introduced a new point of view from which to observe robotic capabilities in her paper, "Counts of Mechanical, External Configurations Compared to Computational, Internal Configurations in Natural and Artificial Systems," published today in PLOS ONE, a leading interdisciplinary research journal.

* This article was originally published here

The poorest pupils spurn school meals, study finds

Pupils from the poorest backgrounds are the ones most likely to leave school at lunchtime to buy food, a University of Hertfordshire investigation revealed today—and the choice is often chips together with other items high in fat, sugar and salt.

* This article was originally published here

A face-following robot arm with emotion detection

Researchers at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) have recently developed a face-following robotic arm with emotion detection inspired by Pixar Animation Studios' Luxo Jr. lamp. This robot was presented by Vernon Stanley Albayeros Duarte, a computer science graduate at UAB, in his final thesis.

* This article was originally published here

Supply-chain hack attacks are worrying investigators

What do you know about supply-chain attacks? In January, an article in CSO said it's when a weak link in your enterprise security might lie with partners and suppliers. It's when someone infiltrates your system through an outside partner or provider with access to your systems and data.

* This article was originally published here

Study sheds new light on urinary tract infections in postmenopausal women

A UT Southwestern study suggests why urinary tract infections (UTIs) have such a high recurrence rate in postmenopausal women—several species of bacteria can invade the bladder walls.

* This article was originally published here

New study highlights fundamental challenges of living with wildfire

Wildfires can have dramatic impacts on Western landscapes and communities, but human values determine whether the changes caused by fire are desired or dreaded. This is the simple—but often overlooked—message from a collaborative team of 23 researchers led by University of Montana faculty in a study published in the May issue of the journal BioScience.

* This article was originally published here

Can recreational sports really make you a better student?

A new Michigan State University study adds to growing evidence that participating in recreational sports not only can help improve grades while attending college, but it also can help students return for another year.

* This article was originally published here

Rideshare firms have snarled up San Francisco: study

The ride-hailing era ushered in by Uber and Lyft once promised to complement public transit, reduce car ownership and alleviate congestion.

* This article was originally published here

Microsoft to turn next chapter in raising talk to conversations

On Monday at Build 2019, Microsoft's annual conference for developers, the company showed off the technology for a conversational engine, to integrate with voice assistant Cortana.

* This article was originally published here

Effects of surgery on a warming planet: Can anesthesia go green?

It was early morning in an operating theater at Providence Hospital in Portland, Ore. A middle-aged woman lay on the operating table, wrapped in blankets. Surgeons were about to cut out a cancerous growth in her stomach.

* This article was originally published here

Elon Musk cracks a lewd joke at Jeff Bezos' new 'Blue Moon' lander

The moon lander introduced Thursday by Blue Origin, the aerospace company run by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, has caught the attention of Elon Musk.

* This article was originally published here

A dance of two: tailoring interactions between remote fluids of excitons

An international collaboration involving European, Israeli, and US scientists realize for the first time strong and directionally dependent interactions in quantum liquids of excitons, which contrasts with the spatial isotropy of the coupling between charged particles. This spatial anisotropy affects the way particles arrange themselves in space and opens routes to artificially created exotic states of matter. The results were published in Physical Review X.

* This article was originally published here

Children are our future, and the planet's. Here's how you can teach them to take care of it

As the global climate crisis accelerates, early childhood teachers and researchers are considering whether and how to approach the issue with children. Should we talk openly about the crisis and encourage children to change their daily practices? Or is there a risk that in doing so, we are inflicting anxiety on young minds, still in critical and early stages of development?

* This article was originally published here

Is the county you call home a potential measles hotspot?

Could a computer model pinpoint where measles outbreaks are likely to occur?

* This article was originally published here

Hummingbird robot uses AI to soon go where drones can't

What can fly like a bird and hover like an insect?

* This article was originally published here

Study explores the use of robots and artificial intelligence to understand the deep-sea

Artificial intelligence (AI) could help scientists shed new light on the variety of species living on the ocean floor, according to new research led by the University of Plymouth.

* This article was originally published here

Unpacking the links: Chronic stress, fertility and the 'hunger hormone'

Researchers have uncovered a new link between chronic stress and reproductive problems, in a pre-clinical study that shines the spotlight on a hunger-triggering hormone.

* This article was originally published here

Plants and the art of microbial maintenance

It's been known for centuries that plants produce a diverse array of medically-valuable chemicals in their roots.

* This article was originally published here