The blood of the astronauts found signs of DNA mutation.

American scientists from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai analyzed the blood of 14 NASA astronauts. The samples showed signs of somatic DNA mutations. They can increase your risk of developing cancer and heart disease. Most of all mutations occurred in the TP53 gene - it produces a protein that suppresses the tumor. Also in DNMT3A - this gene is often mutated in acute myeloid leukemia. The results of the study do not mean that astronauts will definitely get sick. The data must be taken into account when planning long-term expeditions to deep space.

Due to the crisis, a British vegan restaurant has decided to serve meat.

In Taunton, the capital of Somerset, popular vegan restaurant Mango Tree has decided to add meat dishes to the menu due to the crisis. While the institution is closed for renovation, it will soon return in a new format. The restaurant's customers are dissatisfied with the decision of the owners, who blame the economic crisis for everything. Mango Tree said they lost customers due to a drop in living standards - almost no one comes to the restaurant, there are still orders for delivery.

In the Netherlands, they created an AI that determines COVID-19 by voice.

The funny thing is, the algorithm does this more accurately than existing strokes. Application accuracy is 89% for positive and 89% for negative cases. For a verdict, it is enough to breathe deeply into the phone, cough and read a short sentence.

Supernova explosion.

The Setonix supercomputer has generated a detailed image of a supernova explosion, which is located 10-15 thousand light-years from Earth. The Setonix supercomputer is equipped with more than 500 AMD EPYC Milan processor nodes with 65 thousand cores. However, despite the high performance, it took him 24 hours to process such a massive amount of data.

Engineers have learned how to control the smartphone screen without contact.

Chinese and German engineers created the GhostTouch device. It can remotely simulate touching the touch screen with your finger. The device works due to the design features of touch screens and their susceptibility to electromagnetic interference. Vulnerability can also be exploited by criminals. Theoretically, they will be able to unlock a smartphone, connect to Wi-Fi, open malicious content, or answer a call from their number for wiretapping. But scientists believe that the technology is unlikely to be widely used - there are certain difficulties. At the same time, in the future, smartphone manufacturers will be able to develop algorithms for recognizing false touches.

Мouse embryo models.

US researchers have created stem cell models of mouse embryos that have a beating heart, as well as the basis for the brain and all organs in the body of a mouse. Now they are developing a similar model for the development of the human embryo. If these methods prove successful in the future, they could be used to develop synthetic organs for transplantation. mouse embryo models.

The agricultural robot Solix Sprayer autonomously searches for and destroys weeds.

Developed by Solinftec, the Solix Sprayer autonomously navigates its way through crop fields. It uses a set of built-in sensors to scan every plant it passes over from root to leaf. If the onboard Alice AI system detects a weed, then a herbicide is selectively applied. The robot also creates a digital map of the field showing where weeds have been found and treated. One robot is capable of processing up to 40.5 hectares of agricultural land per day. In addition, thanks to a lighting system and a battery charged by solar panels, the Sprayer robot can work 24 hours a day. In its current form, the Solix is ​​optimized for use on crops such as wheat, soybeans and corn. In US trials, the technology has reduced the use of herbicides by 70%.

Hormone therapy has improved the cognitive function of people with Down syndrome.

French scientists in the course of experiments with mice found out that the GnRH hormone is important for the activity of neurons in the brain of animals. Then the substance was administered to volunteers with Down syndrome. After that, their cognitive functions improved. Participants in the experiment received GnRH every two hours for six months. During this time, hormone therapy stimulated the growth and activity of neurons in areas of the brain associated with cognition. Five of the seven participants in the experiment began to better understand the instructions for action and the shape of three-dimensional objects. Also, regular injections of GnRH corrected the functioning of the sense of smell. However, there were no side effects.

Engineers have created cyborg cockroaches to inspect hazardous areas.

Japanese engineers have created cyborg cockroaches that can be controlled remotely using a solar-powered wireless micromodule. Insects will inspect dangerous and hard-to-reach areas. To do this, you will need to put additional sensors in the hybrid's backpack: for example, radiation dosimeters. The cyborg can run at its usual speed - the device will be stable for more than a month.

People learn the main thing about each other in just four minutes of conversation - even in a messenger.

These conclusions were reached by scientists from the University of Warwick during a study involving 338 people. They all played with partners in an online team game. Only one half of the volunteers were allowed to interact with each other prior to this, while the other half were not. The first group did better.

Marijuana use does not make people lethargic and lazy.

Cannabis users are not lethargic, sluggish and lazy people. They are just as motivated as the rest. These conclusions were made by British scientists during a study involving 274 people aged 16-17 and 26-29 years old. Among them were those who smoke marijuana four days a week, and those who do not use it at all - the control group. Scientists believe they have proven that smoking marijuana itself does not cause processes in the brain that reduce motivation or the ability to experience pleasure. Laziness and apathy can be provoked by other social and psychological factors.

Mobot raised $12.5 million and launched a platform for robotic testing of mobile applications.

The Mobot platform allows developers to test their applications with robots. It allows you to automate tests for a number of complex cases, including complex interactions between hardware and software, streaming data stability, and backward compatibility testing. The platform has eliminated thousands of hours of manual testing, improved testing efficiency, and identified more bugs in an app prior to launch on the app store than software can do on its own.

Engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have created an "AI psychopath".

Norman - in honor of the protagonist of Hitchcock's "Psycho" - was "fed" with exceptionally cruel and full of violence content that was found on the Internet. And then checked on the Rorschach test. "Normal" AI would interpret such images in a neutral way, such as "a black and white photo of a baseball glove". But Norman sees pictures in the spirit: "a man is shot from a machine gun in broad daylight." The point of all this "madness" is to prove that AI algorithms are not necessarily inherently biased, however they can become biased based on the data they are given.

Molecular Drink Manufacturer

California-based Cana announced the creation of the world's first "Molecular Drink Manufacturer". Cana claims to have studied the molecular analysis of hundreds of drinks. And create a universal cartridge with which you can do almost everything. Actually, the device is sold with such a cartridge - if you believe the characteristics, using a unified cartridge it can do everything from cold coffee to wine.

Scientists have found that the brains of gamers are synchronized while playing online.

Researchers from the University of Helsinki found that the brainwaves of two players playing together online were synchronized, even if the players themselves were in different rooms. Online interaction can lead to better social relationships in the real world, scientists say.

The woman's scent prevented the antidepressant from calming the mice.

Scientists from the US and Cyprus have found that the gender of the experimenter can influence the results of medical experiments on mice. The smell of men causes stress in mice, but if they inject an antidepressant, it works as it should. At the same time, if you put T-shirts on the mice, they will spend more time with the women, and run away from the men. But with injections of an antidepressant, it was revealed that the medicine administered by a woman had a worse effect on mice.

A painting created by the Midjourney neural network won first place in an art competition.

Jason Allen generated a painting using the Midjourney neural network, which won first place in the State Fine Art Competition in Colorado. It is called "Spatial Opera Theatre". The picture gives the impression of man-made. Opinions were divided. Some people blame Allen for hastening the death of creative professions, others don't see this as a problem, since it still takes a very long time to create a high-quality image using Midjourney. The author of the work claims that he nevertheless played an important role in the creation of the picture.

MarsCat, the world's first bionic cat, was shown at IFA 2022.

Marscat is completely autonomous and always has fun on its own when you are busy. But it also has helper apps to personalize your own cat (or kitty). You can adjust the color of the eyes, control its movements, set up face recognition, etc. Through different images of the eyes, Marscar conveys different emotions. The cat responds to sensitive interactions and recognizes face and voice. Thanks to AI, the cat will learn and analyze the data it receives using its own cameras. The algorithm behind this robotic cat is said to take into account its unique personality. There are no two identical marsocats in the world. The planned retail price is $1299.

Biologists have found that ferns have been stealing DNA from other organisms for millions of years.

In total, the fern genome has more than 7 billion bases in 39 chromosomes - this is twice as many as in humans. It turned out that for many years ferns not only accumulated DNA, but also borrowed it from other organisms. The plant's genome has a defense against a toxin that punches holes in the cell membrane. Bacteria have such protection, and scientists have suggested that the fern received it from them during horizontal gene transfer.

In Canada, they found that exhaust gases affect women more than men.

The processes of hardening and calcification of the arteries, as well as the levels of proteins associated with cardiovascular disease, were more strongly observed in women who took part in the experiment. Gases also affected men, but not so much.