Here's Another Use for Ice: Creating Secret Codes
'I could see it showing up in a James Bond movie,' said Robin E. Bell, an expert in ice sheet dynamics at Columbia and a former president of the American Geophysical Union. Dr. Bell, who was not involved in the new study, pictured a scene in which secret plans involving a submarine are encoded in an ice cube and are in danger of being discovered. 'So you turn it into a smoothie or something,' she said.
But the idea is more than an exercise in frivolity, said Mengjie Song, an expert in thermodynamics at the Beijing Institute of Technology and one of the lead authors of the new study, published on June 18 in the scientific journal Cell Reports Physical Science.
'It is a totally new method for humans to record information,' Dr. Song said. In his view, there could be 'many, many applications around this work.' For instance, it could be used to help devise more accurate models for de-icing power lines, airplanes and high-speed trains. A clearer grasp of how ice bubbles form could also help scientists better understand the thermal and mechanical properties of bricks made from lunar soil, which could be used to build moon bases. (Scientists have been researching the possibility of fashioning bricks from Martian soil for almost a decade.) Trained to recognize patterns in ice bubbles, artificial intelligence could help study glaciers for clues about past climate patterns, or to identify potential deposits of natural gas.
Researchers acknowledged, however, that much more work would have to be done to make such applications feasible. 'Ice is an ancient substance that permeates every aspect of our lives,' Dr. Song said. 'There are many unsolved mysteries waiting for us to explore.'
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Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
China is catching up to the US in brain tech, rivaling firms like Elon Musk's Neuralink
'I want to eat' popped up in Chinese characters on a computer at a public hospital in central Beijing. The words were formed from the thoughts of a 67-year-old woman with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, who is unable to speak. The demonstration, captured on video in March by Beijing Radio and Television Station, was part of a clinical trial involving five patients implanted with a coin-sized chip called Beinao-1, a wireless so-called brain computer interface (BCI) – a technology led by scientists in the US, but in which experts say China is quickly catching up. Luo Minmin, director of the Chinese Institute for Brain Research (CIBR) and the chief scientist behind the trial, said there was a 'very strong' need for BCI technology, saying they had been 'overwhelmed' by requests from potential patients. 'The patients were saying that this feels so great, like they can gain or regain the control of (their) muscles,' he told CNN in May during a rare interview at his lab, located an hour's drive away from Beijing Xuanwu Hospital, where the trial took place. Luo said the technology was showing 'high accuracy' in decoding signals from the brains of patients and translating the signals into text speech or machine movements. His team is planning to speed up human trials by implanting chips into 50 to 100 more patients over the next year. 'We are hoping that we can move this process faster,' he said. 'If it's proven to be safe and effective … it can be used clinically across the world.' As of May, Beinao-1 says a total of five patients, the same number as Elon Musk's Neuralink, has its implants. Another US company Synchron, whose investors include Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, has undergone trials with 10 patients, six in the United States and four in Australia. Maximilian Riesenhuber, a professor of neuroscience at Georgetown University who was not involved in the Beinao trials, told CNN that despite starting later than the US, China is making advances. 'China has definitely shown the ability to not just catch up, but also then be competitive, and now actually to start, also to drive the field in some areas,' he said. 'Excitingly, there's a lot of research activities in both countries, because they've realized the potential in BCI.' According to Precedence Research, a market research firm, the market for brain technology was worth about $2.6 billion last year and is expected to rise to $12.4 billion by 2034. But for both China and the US, this technology is about much more than cash. Chinese leader Xi Jinping has long aimed to turn his country into a science and economic powerhouse. In March, he wrote in state-owned media that the tech industry had become the 'forefront' and 'main battlefield' of global competition. His ambitions have sparked concern in the US, resulting in an ongoing tech war, particularly in the semiconductor industry. A different approach CIBR was jointly founded by the Beijing municipal government and several local universities in 2018, about two years after Elon Musk founded Neuralink near San Francisco. In 2023, CIBR incubated a private company named NeuCyber NeuroTech to focus on brain tech products such as Beinao-1. Luo, who is also the startup's chief scientist, gave CNN rare access to the institute in May. For years, he said, the ALS patient, who is in her 60s, was unable to express herself. 'She's awake, she knows what she wants but she could not speak out,' said the scientist, who got his PhD in neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania and spent nearly a decade in the US. 'Following the implantation, she can now speak simple sentences quite accurately via the system.' All BCI researchers must address the balance between risk and effectiveness. Riensenhuber said most American firms use the more invasive method to place chips inside the dura mater, an outer layer of tissue that covers and protects the brain and spinal cord, in order to capture better signal. But these methods require riskier surgeries. 'It is interesting to see that NeuCyber is apparently able to get enough information even through the dura to allow the decoding of specific words,' he said. The test on the ALS patient, which began in March, marked the Beinao-1 chip's third trial in humans. Those trials made up what the developers described in a press release as 'the world's first batch of semi-invasive implantation of wireless BCI in human brains.' As of May, two more trials have been conducted, for a total of five. Clear ambition Amid rising geopolitical tensions, comparisons between US and Chinese tech breakthroughs are common. Brain computer interface technology first started in the 1970s in the US. Decades later, the Obama Administration launched its 'Brain Initiative' in 2013, investing more than $3 billion to fund over a thousand neuroscience technology projects since, according to the National Institute of Health. Synchron, based in New York, was the first firm to start human trials in July 2021. Three years later, a new BCI system developed at UC Davis Health translated the brain signals of an ALS patient into speech, achieving an accuracy of 97% – the most accurate system of its kind, the university said in a statement. The same year, Musk's company completed its first human trial, enabling the participant to control a computer mouse with a brain implant. China got its start in brain tech only in the 1990s, but it's advancing fast. In 2014, Chinese scientists introduced the idea of a national project on brain tech to match similar efforts in the US and Europe, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology. Two years later, brain tech was mentioned in the country's five-year plan, which outlines China's national priorities and goals. 'Brain science is new in China,' said Lily Lin, a former research assistant at one of China's top neuroscience research units from 2021 to 2023. 'So, it started a bit late, but its speed of development has been faster than other countries. And the country has given a lot of funding to many scientific research units, and this funding is increasing every year.' Last year, the government issued its first ethical guidelines for research in this area. At the local level, municipal governments in Beijing, Shanghai and other major cities have also offered support for brain technology companies from research and clinical trials to commercialization. Riesenhuber and other researchers from Georgetown University published research on China's BCI development in 2024, stating that efforts from Chinese researchers were 'comparable in sophistication' to those in the US and the United Kingdom. 'We found China's non-invasive BCI research to be comparable with that of other scientifically advanced nations and to be working to overcome obstacles to greater fidelity, throughput, and wider use,' according to the issue brief. 'China's invasive BCI research, while historically behind its non-invasive efforts, has picked up the pace and is approaching global standards of sophistication.' Luo, who has worked in both countries, says the US is the 'front-runner' in both invasive and non-invasive brain tech. But, comparing Beinao-1 and Neuralink is like looking at 'apples and oranges,' he added. The two systems differ not only in implant location but also in the type of brain signals recorded, as well as the method of data transmission. The Chinese chip records a wider range of brain areas, with lower precision for each neuron. 'All in all, I don't think these two products are in a competitive or exclusive relationship,' Luo added. 'The jury is still out, and we don't know yet which route will ultimately benefit patients better.' CNN's Joyce Jiang contributed to this report.
Digital Trends
7 hours ago
- Digital Trends
Self-charging robots pave way for never-ending revolt
If you've always been one to scoff at the idea of a robot uprising, then this story out of China might give you pause for thought. It's about what is apparently the first-ever humanoid robot that's able to change its own battery pack. Yes, you read that right — a humanoid robot that's able to realize when it's running low on juice, and then go through the process of swapping out its battery for a fully charged one. All by itself … without any human intervention. The robot, called Walker S2, is built by Shenzhen-based Ubtech, so we know who to blame if those bots do ever take over. Ubtech released a video (top) showing Walker S2 autonomously swapping out its battery, a process that will enable it to get back to work, whether that involves subjugating humans or hopefully something a little less alarming, like explaining meal times to newly arrived hotel guests. Walker S2, which has been in development since 2015, is 64 inches tall (162 cm), tips the scales at 94.8 pounds (64 kg), and runs on a 48-volt lithium battery. Each fully charged battery gives the robot enough power to walk for two hours or stand for four hours. When it puts a flat battery into the charger, it takes about 90 minutes for it to fully charge. Currently, Ubtech's humanoid robot is still in the research and development stage, though it's also being tested in a range of commercial and industrial settings, as well as in education for teaching about robotics and AI. The company's aim is to use its humanoid robot to enhance human capabilities and improve people's quality of life, particularly in areas like healthcare, education, and service industries, smoothly integrating it into human environments. The technology powering humanoid robots has been making rapid advancements in the last few years, with major developments in AI helping to make them smarter than ever. Tech companies in China, the U.S., and beyond are in a race to produce the most sophisticated robots that not only move in a human-like way, but think like a human, too, and clear progress is being made in terms of both physical movement and decision-making abilities. But a full-on takeover? Well, any chance of that still feels like a ways off.
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Yahoo
Study: Lost weight rebounds quickly after stopping weight-loss jabs
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways Doctors around the world have been hailing "miracle" medications that make weight loss far easier, but new research suggests that after a person stops taking certain drugs, the weight tends to increase again rather quickly. People who received the medication lost significant weight during the therapy, and this even continued to a small extent for a few weeks after stopping the medication, according to a research team led by Han Wu and Wenjia Yang from Peking University People's Hospital. However, from the eighth week after the end of therapy, researchers said there was a marked weight gain that persisted for many weeks. The extent of weight gain varies depending on the medication and lifestyle changes, according to the study, but there is a clear trend towards weight gain after stopping the medication. This confirms existing findings, according to Stephan Martin, chief physician for diabetology and director of the West German Diabetes and Health Centre at the Association of Catholic Clinics in Düsseldorf, Germany. He said that some manufacturers of the medications had also demonstrated this themselves through randomized studies. Test subjects were given the active substances for 10 weeks, after which some were switched to a placebo. This group "then continuously regained weight," Martin reported. In the current study, the researchers from Beijing also referred to an investigation in which people who had completed a 36-week treatment with the active substance tirzepatide (GLP-1-RA) regained about half of the weight they had previously lost within a year of switching to a placebo. The newly published meta-analysis summarised the results of 11 independent studies from around the world, including those on the drug orlistat, the combinations naltrexone/bupropion and phentermine/topiramate, as well as the group of GLP-1 receptor agonists. The data came from a total of 1,574 people in treatment groups and 893 in control groups. GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1-RA) are included in popular medications such as Wegovy and Ozempic. In some countries, they are approved for type 2 diabetes and some cases of obesity, and they are known as lifestyle drugs for achieving a slim figure. These active substances, which are injected regularly, primarily prolong the time food stays in the digestive tract, thereby increasing the feeling of satiety. Side effects include gastrointestinal complaints. One aspect of the study stands out: Those who initially experienced significant weight loss during therapy tended to regain more weight afterwards, even if they participated in programmes to change their lifestyle, such as eating and exercise habits. "This does not surprise me," says Anja Hilbert, professor of behavioural medicine at Germany's Leipzig University Hospital. Similar experiences are seen, for example, in people who follow a very low-calorie diet — they also tend to regain more weight after the diet ends than those who undergo moderate calorie limits. However, the expert noted that there were only a few participants for this aspect of the study. "The results of the study actually suggest that long-term, perhaps even lifelong use of the medication may be necessary to stabilise weight," Hilbert says. "It is a long-term therapy," diabetologist Martin emphasizes. Anyone who believes they can lose weight with this therapy and then everything will be fine is mistaken. "You need this therapy permanently." Some in the US health care system have raised concerns that many people may not be aware of this or may accept it. According to studies, two-thirds of people treated for obesity, most of whom pay for the treatment themselves, stopped using the medication within a year. "We don't know why: Maybe it becomes too expensive, maybe they have lost enough weight and believe it will now stay off," says Martin, who advocates for more overweight prevention rather than treating the consequences.
