Soft, social robot brings coziness to home robotics

A few years ago, when social robots began appearing in stores and homes, Guy Hoffman wondered why they all looked so much alike.

* This article was originally published here

This robot helps you lift objects—by looking at your biceps

We humans are very good at collaboration. For instance, when two people work together to carry a heavy object like a table or a sofa, they tend to instinctively coordinate their motions, constantly recalibrating to make sure their hands are at the same height as the other person's. Our natural ability to make these types of adjustments allows us to collaborate on tasks big and small.

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Senate passes bill meant to combat robocalls

The U.S. Senate has passed a bill that aims to combat the illegal robocalls torturing Americans .

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Production of more than 250,000 chips embedded within fibers in less than a year

In the summer of 2018, a team led by MIT researchers reported in the journal Nature that they had successfully embedded electronic devices into fibers that could be used in fabrics or composite products like clothing, airplane wings, or even wound dressings. The advance could allow fabrics or composites to sense their environment, communicate, store and convert energy, and more.

* This article was originally published here

Embedded psychiatrist in pediatric clinic improves evaluation access, short-term treatment

A novel method of embedding child psychiatric care in an urban pediatrics clinic was found to be feasible and a promising way to increase access to and engagement in psychiatric care among a primarily Latino population, according to new study from Boston Medical Center researchers. The study is the first to provide initial evidence for the effectiveness of this intervention, which could have important implications for underserved and minority populations that experience disparities in psychiatric care.

* This article was originally published here

Interplay between mitochondria and nucleus may have implications for new treatment

Mitochondria, the 'batteries' that produce our energy, interact with the cell's nucleus in subtle ways previously unseen in humans, according to research published today in the journal Science.

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PAL: A wearable system for context-aware health and cognition support

Researchers at MIT Media Lab have developed a wearable platform that provides real-time, personalized, and context-aware health and cognition support. Their system, called personalized active learner (PAL), was presented in a paper pre-published on arXiv.

* This article was originally published here

Engineered bacteria could be missing link in energy storage

One of the big issues with sustainable energy systems is how to store electricity that's generated from wind, solar and waves. At present, no existing technology provides large-scale storage and energy retrieval for sustainable energy at a low financial and environmental cost.

* This article was originally published here

With a hop, a skip and a jump, high-flying robot leaps over obstacles with ease

Topping out at less than a foot, Salto the robot looks like a Star Wars imperial walker in miniature. But don't be fooled by its size—this little robot has a mighty spring in its step. Salto can vault over three times its height in a single bound.

* This article was originally published here

The effect of sleep quality on peptic-ulcer relapse in older adults

Poor sleep quality and peptic ulcer disease (PUD, a condition when sores known as ulcers develop on the lining of your stomach or in the first part of your small intestine) are both major public health problems that affect the physical and psychological wellbeing of older adults.

* This article was originally published here

Why you should care about better fiber optics

Fibre optic research can give us better medical equipment, improved environmental monitoring, more media channels—and maybe better solar panels.

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Zero-carbon electric transport is already in reach for small islands

At a recent talk on the UK's energy sector, the head of an electric utility company claimed that "the problem of decarbonising our electricity sector is fixed". Eyebrows were raised at this, but his point quickly became clear. The technologies needed to decarbonise the UK's electricity system now exist, he explained. Indeed, grid operators in the UK expect a zero carbon electricity system by 2025.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers gain key insight into solar material's soaring efficiency

The rows of blue solar panels that dot landscapes and rooftops are typically made out of crystalline silicon, the workhorse semiconductor found in virtually every electronic device.

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CycleMatch: a new approach for matching images and text

Researchers at Leiden University and the National University of Defense Technology (NUDT), in China, have recently developed a new approach for image-text matching, called CycleMatch. Their approach, presented in a paper published in Elsevier's Pattern Recognition journal, is based on cycle-consistent learning, a technique that is sometimes used to train artificial neural networks on image-to-image translation tasks. The general idea behind cycle-consistency is that when transforming source data into target data and then vice versa, one should finally obtain the original source samples.

* This article was originally published here

Women are less likely than men to be diagnosed with minor stroke

Women experiencing a minor stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) are less likely to be diagnosed with a stroke compared to men—even though they describe similar symptoms in emergency departments.

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Study predicts shift to smaller animals over next century

Researchers at the University of Southampton have forecast a worldwide move towards smaller birds and mammals over the next 100 years.

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