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How A.I. Could Revolutionize the Future of Heart Health

February may be the shortest and coldest month of the year. But for many, it is a time to give special recognition to often overlooked aspects of world history (Black History Month) and recognize what may be the single greatest threat to health in the world. For many, February is also known as Heart Health Month, and 2022 will be the 58th consecutive year it is recognized. Cardiovascular disease is a global problem that claims the lives of more people a year than cancer, strokes, or other prevalent diseases. Luckily, advanced research is leading to effective solutions for improving cardiovascular…

NASA Ingenuity Mars Helicopter: After Dusty Flight 19, Team Prepares for Flight 20

Lead Image: Mars Helicopter Sol 345 – Navigation Camera: Navigation camera image captured just as Ingenuity took off for Flight 19, showing accumulated sand flying off of one of Ingenuity’s feet. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech The Ingenuity team is beginning preparations for Flight 20! Flight 19 was successfully completed on February 7, 2022, at 20:21 PST (Sol 345 of the Perseverance mission, 12:00 LMST Local Mean Solar Time), and placed Ingenuity safely within the designated landing ellipse just above the eastern ridge of the “South Séítah” basin. Flight 19 was a reminder of the challenges and unpredictability of the Martian environment. As…

What We Know About the Origin and Future of Hologram Tech

You must have seen Princess Leia as a floating image in Star Wars or the gesture-controlled three-dimensional models in the Iron Man films, those intriguing, moving 3D images are called holograms. Some experts define holograms as two-dimensional surfaces capable of manifesting information in three dimensions. In movies, holograms are an illusion created using VFX and animation, but in reality, they can be generated using a technique called holography. Holograms have featured in numerous video games and sci-fi movies and since holography is a complicated technique (when it comes to creating 3D holograms), for years, it was believed that holograms would…

Chinese Lunar Rover Discovers “Mind-Blowing” Translucent Glass Globules on the Moon

Yutu-2 rover on lunar surface. Credit: CSNA/Siyu Zhang/Kevin M. Gill This study is led by Dr. Zhiyong Xiao (Planetary Environmental and Astrobiological Research Laboratory, School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University), who is a core scientific team member of the first in-situ lunar mission to the Moon, Chang’E-4. The team examined images taken by the panorama camera onboard the Yutu-2 rover, and discovered several translucent spherical and dumbbell-shaped glassy globules (see images below). Perching on the surface regolith, the globules are transparent to translucent, and they exhibit a light brownish color. Such centimeter-sized translucent glass globules was not found on…

Branch-Like Projections Called Dendrites May Help Neurons Perform Complicated Calculations

Lead Image: Researchers at MIT have demonstrated how dendrites — branch-like extensions that protrude from neurons — help neurons perform computations on information that comes in from other parts of the brain. Pictured is an artist’s interpretation of dendrites. Different types of these branch-like projections process incoming information in different ways before sending it to the body of the neuron. Within the human brain, neurons perform complex calculations on information they receive. Researchers at MIT have now demonstrated how dendrites — branch-like extensions that protrude from neurons — help to perform those computations. The researchers found that within a single…