September 2020 – Explorit

Ladybugs love their leafy greens

September 28, 2020October 4, 2020 GeorgeLadybug0 comment

By Krishna Ramanujan |September 28, 2020 Most predators obtain a balanced diet from their prey, but Cornell researchers recently discovered that in the case of aphid-eating ladybugs, the rule doesn’t apply. That’s because a diet consisting solely of aphids lacks an essential nutrient –sterols, like cholesterol – which all male animals need to make sperm, hormones, and to maintain cell health. As a result, farm-friendly aphid-eating ladybugs supplement their diets with sterol-rich leafy greens. “We showed that a large group of predacious lady beetles eat leaves to obtain sterols,” said…

World

Migrations research highlights human impacts on environment

September 24, 2020September 27, 2020 Georgeenvironment0 comment

By Megan DeMint, Sheri Englund |September 24, 2020 As smoke from western wildfires blots out the sun in Northern California and drifts as far as the East Coast and Europe, locals watch daily wildfire updates for evacuation and air-quality warnings. Outside at their birdfeeders, there’s another warning: silence. Birders across the Rocky Mountain region are reporting a decline in backyard traffic and dead migratory birds – including evidence of mass bird deaths in New Mexico. Sentinel species like wild songbirds are a potent reminder that humans and wildlife depend on…

Tech

Researchers identify new type of superconductor

September 21, 2020September 21, 2020 Georgesuperconductor0 comment

By David Nutt |September 21, 2020 Until now, the history of superconducting materials has been a tale of two types: s-wave and d-wave. Now, Cornell researchers – led by Brad Ramshaw, the Dick & Dale Reis Johnson Assistant Professor in the College of Arts and Sciences – have discovered a possible third type: g-wave. Their paper, “Thermodynamic Evidence for a Two-Component Superconducting Order Parameter in Sr2RuO4,” published Sept. 21 in Nature Physics. The lead author is doctoral student Sayak Ghosh, M.S. ’19. Electrons in superconductors move together in what are…

Tech

Robots to Help Children Touch the Outside World

September 17, 2020September 21, 2020 Georgerobots0 comment

UC team developing better telepresence robots, equipped with robotic arms By Ioana Patringenaru |Sep 17, 2020 A team of University of California researchers is working to improve telepresence robots and the algorithms that drive them to help children with disabilities stay connected to their classmates, teachers and communities. The effort is funded by a $1 million grant from the National Robotics Initiative at the National Science Foundation. The project is unique in that the team is working with telepresence robots equipped with an arm that will allow children at home…

Lifestyle

Taste buds may play role in fostering obesity in offspring

September 10, 2020September 10, 2020 George0 comment

By Blaine Friedlander | September 10, 2020 Cornell food scientists show in animal studies that a mother’s high-fat diet may lead to more sweet-taste receptors and a greater attraction to unhealthy food in their offspring – resulting in poor feeding behavior, obesity in adulthood. The researchers’ findings were published July 31 in Nature Scientific Reports. Maternal exposure to a high-fat diet during the perinatal period – before the animal gets pregnant – appears to induce physical, detectable changes in the taste buds for offspring, said senior author Robin Dando, associate…

Tech

Artificial Intelligence Aids Gene Activation Discovery

September 9, 2020September 10, 2020 GeorgeArtificial Intelligence0 comment

By Mario Aguilera | UC San Diego Machine learning enables long-awaited code breakthrough with potential applications in biomedicine Scientists have long known that human genes spring into action through instructions delivered by the precise order of our DNA, directed by the four different types of individual links, or “bases,” coded A, C, G and T. Nearly 25% of our genes are widely known to be transcribed by sequences that resemble TATAAA, which is called the “TATA box.” How the other three-quarters are turned on, or promoted, has remained a mystery…

Tech

Device tracks house appliances through vibration, AI

September 9, 2020September 10, 2020 GeorgeVibroSense0 comment

By Melanie Lefkowitz |September 9, 2020 To boost efficiency in typical households – where people forget to take wet clothes out of washing machines, retrieve hot food from microwaves and turn off dripping faucets – Cornell researchers have developed a single device that can track 17 types of appliances using vibrations. The device, called VibroSense, uses lasers to capture subtle vibrations in walls, ceilings and floors, as well as a deep learning network that models the vibrometer’s data to create different signatures for each appliance – bringing researchers closer to…

Tech

Lost frogs rediscovered with environmental DNA

September 8, 2020September 10, 2020 GeorgeEvolutionary Biology0 comment

By Krishna Ramanujan | September 8, 2020 Scientists have detected signs of a frog listed extinct and not seen since 1968, using an innovative technique to locate declining and missing species in two regions of Brazil. The frog, Megaelosia bocainensis, was among seven total species – including four other declining species, and two that had disappeared locally for many years – that were detected. The findings appeared in a paper, “Lost and Found: Frogs in a Biodiversity Hotspot Rediscovered with Environmental DNA,” published in August in Molecular Ecology. In the…

Business Information Technology

Helping companies prioritize their cybersecurity investments

September 6, 2020September 8, 2020 Georgecyber security, Massachusetts Institute of Technology0 comment

By securely aggregating sensitive data from cyber-attacks, the SCRAM platform from MIT CSAIL can quantify an organization’s level of security and suggest what to prioritize. By Adam Conner-Simons | MIT News Office | MIT CSAIL One reason that cyberattacks have continued to grow in recent years is that we never actually learn all that much about how they happen. Companies fear that reporting attacks will tarnish their public image, and even those who do report them don’t share many details because they worry that their competitors will gain insight into…

Tech World

A redesigned face mask that is comfortable and effective

September 5, 2020September 7, 2020 Georgeface mask, SARS-CoV-20 comment

Imagine a reusable face mask that protects wearers and those around them from SARS-CoV-2, is comfortable enough to wear all day, and stays in place without frequent adjustment. Based on decades of experience with filtration and textile materials, Georgia Institute of Technology researchers have designed a new mask intended to do just that — and are providing the plans so individuals and manufacturers can make it. The modular Georgia Tech mask combines a barrier filtration material with a stretchable fabric to hold it in place. Prototypes made for testing use…