Silicon Melt in Reverse!

The fact that many materials change state at a given temperature is a basic chemistry concept. However, scientists at MIT has found that silicon can exhibit a strange property of "retrograde melting" under high concentrations of certain metals dissolved in it. Basically, the compound of silicon melts at extremely low temperatures. This implies a lowered cost of manufacturing of some sillicon-based devices, new silicon nanowire structures and etc.

Reference:
Steve Hudelson, Bonna K. Newman, Sarah Bernardis, David P. Fenning, Mariana I. Bertoni, Matthew A. Marcus, Sirine C. Fakra, Barry Lai, Tonio Buonassisi. Retrograde Melting and Internal Liquid Gettering in Silicon. Advanced Materials, 2010; DOI: 10.1002/adma.200904344

Neural Evidence for Sudden Insight

The ability of animals and humans to infer and apply new rules in order to maximize success relies on frontal lobes. Recent study indicates that in neural dynamics, roups of frontal cortex neurons in rat brains switch from encoding a familiar rule to a completely novel rule that could only be deduced from trail and error. The research also focused on the behaviour of the neurons when adapting to the new activity.

Reference: Science Daily

Observing Brain in the Act of Seeing

Neuroscientists have shown that individual neurons carry out significant aspects of sensory processing. The method allows for the first time to observe individual synapses, small differences between nerve contact sites.

Reference: Science Daily

Solar Energy from Plant Protein Structure

Solar energy systems are still inefficient in terms of running in not desert environments. Scientists have proposed a model for developing green energy, using complex peas to form small battery chargers. To generate energy, plants have evolved to give perfect quantum yield called Photosystem I (PSI) complex. Although this will not solve the world's energy problem but it can be assembled in power switches for low-power solar needs.

Reference: Science Daily

Gene Interactions to Cause Disease

A UCLA study indicates how human gene interactions increase disease risk with their surrounding environment, published in the American Journal of Human Genetics. In short, having more than one factor that contribute to the cause of the same disease will exceed the damage of independent factors. The interactions are important when considering genetic research

Reference: Science Daily

fMRIS Reveal how the Brain Handles Low-priority Ideas

When human beings process low-priority ideas, it moves to the area of the brain called "the default-mode network" where it will retain the information. The default-mode network relate to interpersonal interactions and social decision making, the brain's back burner. Recent research indicates that genetics plays a role in the back-burner setup. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) are used to map eight anatomically distinct regions within the network. A longer term goal is to evaluate whether other intrinsically connected networks are also under genetic control.

Reference: Science Daily

Electrical Current to Nanoscale System

Material scientists have demonstrated the transduction of optical radiation to electrical current in a molecular circuit. The system with an array of nano-sized molecules respond to electromagnetic waves. Therefore, it simplifies to a higher efficiency in energy harvesting nano-sized circuit. A potential application of photovoltaic circuits include data storage where the data corresponding to wavelengths of light. A new series of devices in which plasmon-controlled electrical properties of a single molecule can be designed with diverse applications such as plasmonic circuits and energy harvesting devices.

Reference: Science Daily

Robotics Innovation by Dennis Hong

Reference: Ted Talks

Prototype Interactive Design

Growing Nanowires

Researchers have developed nanowire 'growing technology' which opens the door for faster, smaller microchips and lower power electronics. 3-D microchips, vertical stack of circuitry, is possible with this new discovery.

Reference: Science Daily

Altered Perception of Hands

The space within reach with our hands is named "action space". Research has shown that visual information in this area is organized in hand-centered coordinates, representation of objects in the human brain depends on their physical location with respect to the hand. New research shows that amputation of the hand results in distorted visuospatial perception.

Reference:
Amputees %u2018Neglect%u2019 the Space Near Their Missing Hand. Psychological Science, January 2010

Scans Show Learning 'Scripts' the Brain's Connections

Spontaneous brain activity formerly thought to be "white noise" is subject to change after an individual learns a new task. Scientists report that the degree of change reflects how well subjects have learned to perform the task. Even during sleep or anesthesia, the brain's spontaneous activity is not random, but organized patterns of correlated activity that occur in anatomically and functionally connected regions.

Reference:
Lewis et al. Learning sculpts the spontaneous activity of the resting human brain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2009; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0902455106