SciTech #ScienceSunday Digest – 20/2016.

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Industrial synthetic enzymes, Mimicking protein evolution, Topological spintronics, Smooth telepresence robots, Silk preservation technique, Regrowing cartilage, Improving prosthetic hands, Parsey McParseface, Graphene light harvesting, RNA life origins.

1. New Enzymes for Industrial Synthesis

A bacterium with enzymes that make it resistant to heavy metals has been co-opted to produce a bacterium that secretes quantum dots into solution that can then be purified by simple centrifugation http://www1.lehigh.edu/news/quantum-dots-nature. These are cadmium- or lead-sulfide quantum dots, with plans to create more varieties for a range of applications in electronics, photonics, and sensing, and produced via conventional fermentation processes with fine control over nanometer sizes. In other new a new enzyme AbyU has been discovered in bacteria living at the bottom of the ocean that is able to catalyse the industrially important Diels-Alder reaction http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2016/may/enzyme-antibiotic-discovery.html.

2. Mimicking Evolution to Develop Novel Proteins

In related protein engineering news a new technique called SEWING has been developed that recombines portions of existing proteins to produce new structures and functions https://news.unchealthcare.org/news/2016/may/unc-school-of-medicine-scientists-digitally-mimic-evolution-to-create-novel-proteins. This is a tool for creating proteins that don’t exist in nature and have structures that allow new functions and reactions that weren’t previously possible. The evolutionary process starts with computer simulations, and in the latest demonstration mapped 50,000 variably stitched proteins to arrive at an optimised sample of 21 structures that were then synthesised in the lab and experimentally verified to have the predicted structure.

3. Spintronics from New Topological Insulators

New topological insulators made from bonding layers of bismuth selenide with magnetic europium sulfide manages to retain all of the properties of a topological insulator but with strong magnetic properties, at room temperature http://news.mit.edu/2016/unexpected-magnetic-effect-thin-film-materials-0509. Such new materials have promising applications in realising spintronics as well as new magnetic memories with possible molecular scale information storage. In related news, graphene has been made magnetic by inserting hydrogen atoms into specific locations of the carbon lattice, and resulting in graphene now also functioning as a promising spintronic material http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1329572.

4. Silky Smooth Telepresence Robots

Disney research impresses yet again with the demonstration of a telepresence robotic system that is powered by a hybrid hydrostatic transmission system that enables the user to feel immersed in the remote environment via (i) stereoscopic cameras and (ii) head and arm actuation that responds with multiple degrees of freedom and force-feedback https://www.disneyresearch.com/publication/haptic-telepresence-robot/. The system demonstrated physical human interaction and very fine & detailed object manipulation. Meanwhile RE2 Robotics also demonstrated a very impressive remote robotic operation system http://www.gadgetify.com/re2-imitative-controller-robots/.

5. Silk Preservation Technology

Tufts University has demonstrated a couple of silk preservation technology applications. First, an ultra-thin coating of biocompatible silk proves very effective at extending the room temperature shelf-life of a range of different fruits, prolonging freshness and slowing ripening https://now.tufts.edu/news-releases/silk-keeps-fruit-fresh-without-refrigeration. Second, blood samples can be stabilised for long periods of time, even after 84 days, and even at high (45C) temperatures after being encapsulated in air-dried silk protein http://now.tufts.edu/news-releases/silk-stabilizes-blood-samples-months-high-temperatures.

6. Regrowing Cartilage

Regrowing cartilage has proven to be one of those persistent problems people have struggled with. A new bio-glass material that mimics the shock-absorbing and load bearing qualities of real cartilage has the potential to encourage cartilage cells to regrow to help reform and repair damaged areas of cartilage, while the material degrades and disappears over time http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/newssummary/news_12-5-2016-9-57-13. The material can be 3D printed to customer or personalised dimensions and lead applications include replacing damaged intervertebral discs and knee cartilage and could be transformational given the limitations of current materials and implants. Meanwhile a new injectable gel helps generate blood vessels https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601416/injectable-gel-generates-new-blood-vessels/.

7. Improvements for Robotic & Prosthetic Hands

Yet another DARPA project is demonstrating natural control of a prosthetic hand and arm by a human amputee, this time utilising Myo armbands to pick up signals from the upper arm and translat them into precise hand movements and facilitated by an osseointegration surgical procedure that secured a metal utility rod to the upper arm bone http://gizmodo.com/darpas-mind-controlled-arm-will-make-you-wish-you-were-1776130193. In related news that may feed into prosthetics like the above, machine learning techniques are helping to produce robotic hands that are approaching human-like dexterity http://www.washington.edu/news/2016/05/09/this-five-fingered-robot-hand-learns-to-get-a-grip-on-its-own/.

8. SyntaxNet & Parsey McParseface

Google opensourced SyntaxNet, a neural network implemented in TensorFlow that provides a foundation for Natural Language Understanding systems, as well as an English language parser called Parsey McParseface (the most accurate such model in the world with 94% accuracy) that can be used to analyse English text http://googleresearch.blogspot.com.au/2016/05/announcing-syntaxnet-worlds-most.html. These tools analyse the linguistic structure of language, explain the functional role of words in sentences, and can be used to automatically extract information, translate text, and better determine the meaning of text.

9. Efficient Light Harvesting with Graphene

By creating a Morie superlattice of layered graphene and boron-nitride researchers created material states that are very efficient at converting light into electrcity, with up to five electrons being kicked to flow through the material with each photon http://www.washington.edu/news/2016/05/13/uw-researchers-unleash-graphene-tiger-for-more-efficient-optoelectronics/. I really liked the exploitation of geometry in this work as it reminded me of this great Numberphile video discussing dot patterns and the surprising superstructures that can result https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAja2jp1VjE.

10. RNA Life Origins Gains More Evidence

While it has been previously shown that 2 of the 4 bases in RNA could be made via natural chemical reactions on early Earth, it has only recently been demonstrated that the other 2 bases can also be made via similar natural chemical reactions on early Earth http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/05/rna-world-inches-closer-explaining-origins-life. In this case the only requirements were hydrogen, cyanide, water, and a little bit of acid; it turned out to be far simpler than previously thought. The next piece of the puzzle will be finding out how the 4 bases linked together to form the first RNA molecules whose autocatalytic self-replicating behaviour could begin being selected for by evolution.

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