Computer simulations have allowed scientists to identify the curiously named “burgeroid” raindrop as being responsible for a rare optical phenomenon known as the twinned rainbow. Unlike the more common double-rainbow, which consists of two separate and concentric rainbow arcs, the elusive twinned rainbow appears as two rainbows arcs that split from a single base rainbow. […]
Using only silicon and cultured rat heart muscle tissue, bioengineers from Caltech and Harvard University have created a jellyfish-like creature that, despite its relative simplicity, shows complex swimming and feeding behaviors. The researchers say the creature – dubbed a medusoid – serves as a proof of concept for reverse engineering a variety of muscular organs […]
DNA and RNA possess two features believed essential for life: they display heredity (pass on genetic information) and they can adapt over time (Darwinian evolution). Now, scientists have shown that heredity and evolution can be performed by molecules other than DNA and RNA. Their findings, appearing in the current issue of Science, shed new light […]
Attaching tiny sensors, recording devices and control mechanisms to insects is now a more realistic prospect after the discovery that electricity can be generated using the insect’s digestive system. The researchers, from Case Western Reserve University, stress that the fuel cell does not depend on movement or light; only on normal insect feeding. Details of […]
Transistors that control electron flow are the foundation of electronic gadgets, but human bodies and all other living things send signals and perform “work” using ions or protons. Seamlessly interfacing these biologic and electronic realms could now become a reality with the development of a new type of transistor that controls proton – rather than […]
A new generation of biocompatible electronic devices may be in the offing with the development of a memory device that is soft and functions well in wet environments. The developers, at North Carolina State University, said the device had the physical properties of Jell-O. “Conventional electronics are typically made of rigid, brittle materials and don’t […]
California Institute of Technology (Caltech) researchers have made an artificial neural network out of DNA, creating a circuit of interacting molecules that can recall memories based on incomplete patterns, just as the human brain can. Detailing the work in Nature, lead author Lulu Qian explained that the neural net consisted of four artificial neurons made […]
