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- Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

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Hitting the Right Notes: High School Duo Zaps Microplastics with a Wall of Sound

A pair of high school students created a novel water filter that blocks microplastic particles from flowing water by creating a wall of sound. In laboratory experiments, the high-frequency sound waves' acoustic force eliminated 84% to 94% of the suspended microplastic particles in a single pass. Now, they're trying to scale up their idea with the money they won from a prestigious prize. Not to beat a dead horse, but microplastic particles are found in the deepest regions of the ocean, blowing up to the summit of Everest, and showering down from the jetstream. When consumed by humans, they have been discovered to penetrate every organ that has been investigated thus far.Addressing this pan contaminant is a huge task, but two high school students from Woodlands, Texas, Victoria Ou and Justin Huang, could have an ingenious solution. By forcing the microplastic pollutants away from the water's outflow point, the teenagers have successfully captured up to 94% of the impurities using ultrasonic sound waves that travel freely through the water. Their pen-sized gadget outperforms previous attempts to treat microplastics in drinking water and wastewater by using ultrasonic vibrations. They Are Looking Ahead With Bright Eyes~  ( Source: Google Images) After accepting their prize, Huang said , "This is the first year we've done this." "We could really improve our device and get it ready for large-scale manufacturing if we could refine this—maybe use more professional equipment, maybe go to a lab instead of testing from our home." Ou and Huang earned the $50,000 Gordon E. Moore Award for Positive Outcomes for Future Generations last week at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Los Angeles.Additionally, they won first prize in the Earth and Environmental Sciences category, which was sponsored by Google. This strategy is somewhat novel. The two went to sewage and wastewater treatment facilities close to their house to learn how they controlled microplastics before creating their gadget ~ The response they got caught them off guard as the plant didn't have any such policies in place. To begin with, neither a practical method nor any rules regarding microplastic contamination in water are in place with the US EPA. Ou and Huang think their approach might be used in industrial textile operations, rural water sources, and wastewater treatment facilities like the one they visited. Smaller-scale applications for it include fish tanks and washing machines to filter out microplastics.“I think science is the perfect way to solve this issue. Because a lot of innovation and invention happens in science, and technology is always changing. And so I think, if I really wanted to make a big impact, this would be the way to go.” High schooler and science fair winner Victoria Ou

19 Aug 2024
Good News

Global News

An Antidote is on the way to tackle all kinds of dangerous bites!

Scientists from Sydney and Liverpool have made significant progress in their research, discovering that a common blood thinner may also be effective against cobra venom. Using CRISPR, a groundbreaking gene-editing tool, they identified cells resistant to snake venom and determined how to prevent cell damage from snake bites. The researchers highlight snake bites as a "deadliest overlooked tropical disease," responsible for approximately 140,000 deaths annually and leaving 400,000 others with long-term injuries. Snake venom isn't all the same. Cobra venom kills cells right away causing them to die. But it also messes with your nerves and can hurt your heart and brain. Antivenom costs about 7 times what people make in a day in places where cobras bite a lot. Because of this many drug companies just stop making these products. By looking at how cobra venom, which Professor Greg Heely calls a "three-finger toxin," affects human cells, he and his team found something cool. They discovered a cell pathway that's in all known animal species. This pathway makes related molecules called heparan and heparin. Doctors use heparin to thin blood. Professor Greg Neely (right) and lead author Tian Du in the laboratories of the Charles Perkins Centre. ( Source: Google Images)  "Heparin is cheap, common, and on the World Health Organization's list of Essential Medicines. If human trials work out, we could start using it pretty soon as an affordable safe, and good drug to treat cobra bites," says Tian Du, a Ph.D. student and main author who works at the University of Sydney in functional genomics just like Professor Neely. Cobra venom goes after both heparin and heparan, with heparan on the outside of cells and heparin coming out during an immune response. They look alike so the venom can stick to both, and the "heparan/heparin sulfate biosynthesis pathway" was often the main target for the venom to get into cells. The red spitting cobra's venom attacked 7 out of 11 parts in this pathway, while the black-necked spitting cobra's venom hit 8 out of 11. The team used this info to turn heparin into an antidote to stop cell death in human cells and mice by filling the bite area with fake molecules. The venom attacks the outside heparin leaving the inside heparin and the cells that have it alone. Cobras belong to the Elapidae snake family, which also has sea snakes, mambas, and coral snakes. In some Asian and African areas, cobras cause more deaths and lost limbs from bites than any other group. The team also figured out how their method could help find new ways to use antivenoms. In a video, Professor Neely explains that there aren't many different types of venom in the animal world. He says that finding a way to understand one type of venom gives us a chance to make antivenoms much faster. The highly venomous blue bottle jellyfish from Australia contains toxins similar to those found in cobra venom. Researchers plan to investigate this jellyfish to develop an antivenom. Initially, there were concerns that wealthy nations would monopolize CRISPR technology for luxury products and anti-aging treatments. It's exciting to see CRISPR now being used to benefit the most vulnerable and underserved populations around the world.

24 Jul 2024
Global News

From Nature to AI: Heliconius Butterflies Inspire Next-Gen AI

For Heliconius butterflies, the appearance and scent of a prospective mate are crucial factors in mating behavior. They must concurrently process both sensory signals while having tiny brains. They outperform existing AI algorithms in multisensory decision-making, which necessitate high energy consumption for comparable outcomes. A group of Penn State academics has created a more sophisticated and energy-efficient multi-sensory AI platform to bridge this gap. This discovery might revolutionize the way robotics and intelligent sensors identify possible threats like chemical spills or defective constructions. "If you think about the AI we have today, we have excellent language processors that use audio or very good image processors based on visuals," stated Saptarshi Das, corresponding author of the paper and associate professor of engineering science and mechanics. However, the majority of animals, including humans, rely on many senses when making decisions. Although AI is fairly good at processing information from a single sense, it is not yet capable of making decisions based on many senses. Heliconius butterflies specially select their mates. To identify if the prospective mate is a Heliconius butterfly, they employ a mix of chemical and visual signals from pheromones emitted by the other butterfly. Even more amazing is the fact that they accomplish this with a little brain that consumes very little energy. Compared to current computers, which use a lot of energy, this is very different. These microscopic animals can carry out intricate computational operations while utilizing several sensory inputs at once. ( Source: Google Images)  By employing 2D materials, scientists have discovered a means to electrically replicate the behavior of butterflies. The two materials that comprise the hardware platform that the researchers have created are graphene and molybdenum sulfide (MoS2). MoS2, a memtransitor that can handle information and memory functions, was selected because of its capacity to sense light in a way that is similar to the butterfly's vision. Conversely, graphene functions as a chemitransistor, mimicking the brain's pheromone sensing system to identify chemical compounds. To simulate the pheromones emitted by butterflies, the researchers conducted an experiment in which they exposed their dual-material sensor to a variety of colored lights and fluids with diverse chemical compositions. In the same way that a butterfly's ability to successfully mate depends on the wing color and pheromone strength corresponding to each other, they aimed to evaluate how effectively their sensor could integrate data from both the light detector and chemosensors. The output response allowed the researchers to determine that their gadgets could seamlessly combine chemical and optical information. This offers the sensor a tremendous opportunity to analyze and understand many sorts of data at the same time. “We also introduced adaptability in our sensor’s circuits, such that one cue could play a more significant role than the other,” said Yikai Zheng, a fourth-year doctoral student in engineering science and mechanics and co-author of the study. “This adaptability is akin to how a female butterfly adjusts her mating behavior in response to varying scenarios in the wild.” ( Source: Google Images)  Researchers claim that dual sensing in a single gadget uses less energy than the way AI systems function now. The novel approach enables the integration of two senses into a single device, as opposed to data being collected from various sensor modules and then sent to a processing module. This lessens wasteful energy use while also cutting down on delays. The next step for the researchers is to enhance their gadget to incorporate three senses, similar to how crayfish detect threats by utilizing chemical, tactile, and visual clues. The ultimate objective is to create hardware AI systems that can manage challenging scenarios involving decision-making in a variety of settings. Their Vision ~ “We could have sensor systems in places such as a power plant that would detect potential issues such as leaks or failing systems based on multiple sensory cues,” Ghosh said. “Such as a chemical odor, a change in vibration, or detecting weaknesses visually. This would then better help the system and staff determine what they need to do to fix it quickly because it was not just relying on one sense, but multiple ones.”  

4 Apr 2024
Global News

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