Book Review: The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov

The Naked Sun is a captivating and enjoyable murder mystery that remains highly readable, even after several decades. It was published in 1957. And it is the second instalment in Asimov’s ‘Robot’ series, succeeding The Caves of Steel, which was released three years prior. Asimov here presents a plethora of thought-provoking concepts, by exploring the boundaries of science, space, technology, psychology, and societal dynamics.

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Interview: Dr. Ore Gottlieb, an Astrophysicist at Northwestern University, Illinois

Dr. Ore Gottlieb is a theoretical high energy astrophysicist. Currently, he is occupying Rothschild/CIERA Postdoctoral Fellowship position in Astrophysics at Northwestern University. His recent work on “Dying stars’ cocoons could be new source of gravitational waves” caught our attention and so we tried to touch base with him for an interview. We got lucky, as he agreed to spend some time with us.

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DNA Damage Repaired through Antioxidant Enzymes: Genetic Restoration

At the fundamental level, function of human cell is to convert nutrients into energy and useful products that sustain life. In the process, these cells give out certain waste products that otherwise cause harm to the inner environment. For instance, reactive oxygen species (ROS) molecule is one of the natural byproducts of cellular metabolism. ROS are highly reactive molecules that contain oxygen atoms with unpaired electrons.

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Interview: Dr. Kai Wang Materials Scientist at The Penn State

Dr. Kai Wang is PhD, Principal Investigator, and Assistant Research Professor at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Penn State. His recent work on intelligent and efficient panchromatic imaging for artificial retina biotechnology, caught our attention and so we tried to touch base with him for an interview. We got lucky, as he agreed to spend some time with us. Dr. Wang, here, talks about his quest to understand the mechanisms of cognition within the neural topological structures of the brain. And how these natural intelligences can be influenced…

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Protein-based Nano Device to Influence Cell Behaviour: Synthetic Biology

Conventional methods in synthetic biology for cell-based therapies focus on using specific proteins to achieve a desired effect in cells. For instance, cancer treatment involves certain proteins to kill cancer cells. while, some proteins are used to help tissues regenerate after an injury. This process, however, is lengthy as it takes time for the proteins to be produced and break down. Additionally, it requires a lot of energy from the cells.

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Dying Stars’ Cocoons Disturb the Fabric of Space-time: Gravitational Waves

Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of spacetime caused by the acceleration of massive objects. The main source of detecting gravitational waves are the mergers of binary systems consisting of black holes and neutron stars. Till now, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and the Virgo detector have successfully identified gravitational waves.

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Plant-inspired Controller for Robotic Arms: Biomimicry

Biomimicry is the practice of imitating biological systems and processes. So far, it has been a valuable approach in robotics. By copying animals’ designs, engineers have tried to replicate billions of years of evolution. It has resulted in highly efficient and adaptable designs that nature has already passed on to. For instance, energy-efficient walking patterns inspired by animal gaits or bio inspired vision systems or lizard inspired four-legged robot.

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An Organic Electrochemical Transistor: AI Hardware

Lately, there has been growing interest in creating brain-inspired hardware for enhancing efficiency of AI models.  Conventional hardware architectures are specialized in three specific tasks, which are: Researches across the globe, however, are exploring the possibility of combining these functionalities into a single device. They aim to mimic the parallel and distributed nature of the human brain.

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Cosmic Evolution of Amino Acids: Origin of Homochirality

Researchers at Japan have discovered some new information about why all amino acids found on Earth are in a specific shape called “left-handed” or “L-form.” The team studied amino acids found in a meteorite called the Murchison meteorite. They also used computer simulations based on physics to understand how this shape came about.

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