International Research Awards on New Science Inventions

Companies like Netflix and Hulu compete for subscribers to make sure their businesses thrive. But there’s another type of competition at work that receives far less attention – the competition among the machine learning algorithms used by these kinds of competitor companies. James Zou , Stanford assistant professor of biomedical data science and an affiliated faculty member of the  Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence , says that as algorithms compete for clicks and the associated user data, they become more specialized for subpopulations that gravitate to their sites. And that, he finds in a new  paper  with graduate student  Antonio Ginart  and undergraduate  Eva Zhang , can have serious implications for both companies and consumers. Perhaps consumers don’t mind if Hulu recommendations seem intended for urban teenagers or Netflix offers better choices for middle-aged rural men, but when it comes to predicting who should re...

When it comes to fully understanding the hidden secrets of quantum materials, it takes one to know one, scientists say: Only tools that also operate on quantum principles can get us there. A new Department of Energy research center will focus on developing those tools. Based at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Center for Quantum Sensing and Quantum Materials brings together experts from UIUC, DOE’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University and the University of Illinois-Chicago. They’ll work on developing three cutting-edge quantum sensing devices: a scanning qubit microscope, a spectroscopy instrument that takes advantage of pairs of entangled electrons and another instrument that will probe materials with pairs of photons from SLAC’s X-ray free-electron laser, the Linac Coherent Light Source, which has  recently reopened  after an upgrade. These new techniques will allow researchers to see in much greater detail why quantum materials do...

We’ve long been warned of the risks of dyeing hair at home and in salons. Products used can cause allergies and skin irritation — an estimated 1% of people have an allergy to dye. Furthermore, repeated use of some dyes has been linked to cancer. But there soon may be a solution for the growing list of salons and hair color enthusiasts searching for natural alternatives to dyes and cosmetics. Northwestern University researchers have developed a new way to create a spectrum of natural-looking hair colors, ranging from blond to black, by using enzymes to catalyze synthetic melanin. The  research was published  Oct. 30 in the journal Chemistry of Materials. Melanin is an enigmatic and ubiquitous material often found in the form of brown or black pigment. Northwestern’s  Nathan Gianneschi , the research lead and associate director for the  International Institute for Nanotechnology , said every type of organism produces melanin, making it a readily available and ver...

Octopuses have captured the human imagination for centuries, inspiring sagas of sea monsters from Scandinavian kraken legends to TV’s “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” and, most recently, Netflix’s less-threatening “My Octopus Teacher.” With their eight suction-cup covered arms, their very appearance is unique, and their ability to use those appendages to touch and taste while foraging further sets them apart. In fact scientists have wondered for decades how those arms, or more specifically the suction cups on them, do their work, prompting a number of experiments into the biomechanics. But very few have studied what is happening on a molecular level. In a new report, Harvard researchers got a glimpse into how the nervous system in the octopus’ arms (which operate largely independently from its centralized brain) manage this feat. The work published Thursday in Cell. The scientists identified a novel family of sensors in the first layer of cells inside the suction cups that have ...

By studying impact marks on the surface of asteroid Bennu – the target of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission – a team of researchers led by the University of Arizona has uncovered the asteroid’s past and revealed that despite forming hundreds of millions of years ago, Bennu wandered into Earth’s neighborhood only very recently. The  study , published in the journal Nature, provides a new benchmark for understanding the evolution of asteroids, offers insights into a poorly understood population of space debris hazardous to spacecraft, and enhances scientists’ understanding of the solar system. The researchers used images and laser-based measurements taken during a two-year surveying phase in which the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, about the size of a 15-passenger van, orbited Bennu and broke the record for the smallest spacecraft to orbit a small body.   Presented at the opening day of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences meeting on Oct. 26, the pap...

Researchers from the University of Kent, the Goethe-University in Frankfurt am Main (Germany), and the Hannover Medical School (Germany) have identified a drug with the potential to provide a treatment for COVID-19. The international team led by Professor Martin Michaelis, Dr Mark Wass (both School of Biosciences, University of Kent), and Professor Jindrich Cinatl (Institute of Medical Virology, Goethe-University) found that the approved protease inhibitor aprotinin displayed activity against SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, in concentrations that are achieved in patients. Aprotinin inhibits the entry of SARS-CoV-2 into host cells and may compensate for the loss of host cell protease inhibitors that are downregulated upon SARS-CoV-2 infection. Aprotinin aerosols are approved in Russia for the treatment of influenza and could be readily tested for the treatment of COVID-19. Professor Martin Michaelis said: ‘”he aprotinin aerosol has been reported to be tolerated ext...

University of Kent research has found that when individuals feel that a system or authority is unresponsive to their demands, they are more likely to legitimise hacker activity at an organisation’s expense. Individuals are more likely to experience anger when they believe that systems or authorities have overlooked pursuing justice on their behalf or listening to their demands. In turn, the study found that if the systems or authorities in question were a victim of hacking, individuals would be more likely to legitimise the hackers’ disruptive actions as a way to manifest their own anger against the organisation. With more organisations at risk to cyber security breaches, and more elements of individuals’ social lives taking place online, this research is timely in highlighting how hackers are perceived by individuals seeking justice. The research, led by  Maria Heering  and  Dr Giovanni Travaglino  in the  School of Psychology , was carried out with Briti...

Structural damage to ailing bridges can mean billions of dollars in repairs. New bridge designs promise more damage-resistant structures and lower restoration costs. But if these designs haven’t been implemented in the real world, predicting how they can be damaged and what repair strategies should be implemented remain unresolved. In a study published in the  Journal of Structural Engineering , Texas A&M University and the University of Colorado, Boulder researchers have conducted a comprehensive damage and repair assessment of a still-to-be-implemented bridge design using a panel of experts from academia and industry. The researchers said the expert feedback method offers a unique and robust technique for evaluating the feasibility of bridge designs that are still in early research and development phases. “Bridges, particularly those in high-seismic regions, are vulnerable to damage and will need repairs at some point. But now the question is what kind of repairs should b...

In the pandemic, people wear face masks to respect and protect others — not merely to protect themselves, says a team of Northwestern University researchers. With this in mind, the researchers developed a new concept for a mask that aims to make the wearer less infectious. The central idea, which received support from the National Science Foundation through a RAPID grant, is  to modify mask fabrics with  anti-viral chemicals  that can sanitize exhaled, escaped respiratory droplets. By simulating inhalation, exhalation, coughs and sneezes in the laboratory, the researchers found that non-woven fabrics used in most masks work well to demonstrate the concept. A lint-free wipe with just 19% fiber density, for example, sanitized up to 82% of escaped respiratory droplets by volume. Such fabrics do not make breathing more difficult, and the on-mask chemicals did not detach during simulated inhalation experiments. The  research was published today  (Oct. 29) in the ...

The bitter polarization between the Republican and Democratic parties in the U.S. has been on the rise since Newt Gingrich’s partisan combat against President Bill Clinton in the 1990s. But according to a new Northwestern University-led study, disdain for the opposing political party now — and for the first time on record — outweighs affection for one’s own party. The study, titled “ Political sectarianism in America ,” will be published Oct. 30 by the journal Science. The authors provide a broad survey of current scientific literature to interpret the current state of politics. The paper introduces the construct of “political sectarianism” to describe the phenomenon. Political sectarianism has the hallmarks of religious fervor, such as sin, public shaming and apostasy. But unlike traditional sectarianism, where political identity is secondary to religion, political identity is primary. “The current state of political sectarianism produces prejudice, discrimination and cognitive d...

A pair of University of Michigan studies reveals how some massive stars—stars eight or more times the mass of our sun—become isolated in the universe: most often, their star clusters kick them out. Massive stars typically reside in clusters. Isolated massive stars are called field massive stars. The papers published by U-M students examined most of these stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy near the Milky Way. The studies, appearing in the same issue of The Astrophysical Journal, reveal how these field massive stars originate, or become so isolated. Understanding how field massive stars become isolated—whether they form in isolation or whether they become isolated by being ejected from a star cluster—will help astronomers probe the conditions in which massive stars are formed. Understanding this and cluster formation is critical for understanding how galaxies evolve. “About a quarter of all massive stars appear to be isolated, and that’s our big question,” said recen...

About one in four people in the United States lives in an area served by cellular phone towers at risk of an outage caused by wildfires, according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Their study , presented today to a meeting of internet network researchers, found more than 430,000 cell network transceivers covering approximately 85 million people are in areas the U.S. Forest Service considers at moderate or high wildfire risk. The research suggests ways to make the sites more fire-hardy. “This is a kind of roadmap for cell service providers to make assessments, allocate resources and take steps to make their infrastructure more resilient in the face of this threat,” says  Paul Barford , a UW–Madison professor of computer science. Paul Barford and  Carol Barford , who directs UW–Madison’s Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment and is a co-author of the wildfire study, also collaborated on a 2018 project describing thousands of miles of fibe...

A new normal is taking shape as a warming planet is changing hurricane behaviors and patterns. Research over the last decade has shown alarming trends resulting in more destructive hurricanes. Global trends suggest hurricanes are getting stronger, moving more slowly over land, and deviating farther north and south of the equator. With these changes come stronger winds, increased flooding, and risks posed to cities that historically have not been hit by these types of storms. Also known as tropical cyclones or typhoons, hurricanes are low-pressure storm systems that form over warm ocean water and can strengthen to massive sizes, bringing with them heavy rain, intense wind and storm surges. They can even spawn tornadoes. James Kossin  PHOTO:  BRYCE RICHTER James Kossin has been studying hurricane patterns for more than 30 years as a researcher with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s  National Centers for Environmental Information  who is based...

Sailing by moonlight you wallow in the opulence of your oceanic abode. An illusion of permanence concealing the current that now bathes you in shameful nakedness. Plucked from the waves. Abandoned by the sea in shallow pools of half-life, you struggle for air with every passing tide a seasoned reminder of a present past. Surging spray falls with remorse upon flaking skin; dead to the possibilities of this liminal existence you flip flop towards the palisades of your ancestral home. A chance explosion frees you from your rocky prison, but with sea in sight you no longer feel its aching weight. Tentatively you stretch out a limb and turn your back to the water, never to return. Fish that could briefly venture onto dry land, may have gotten a boost from the tide (Image Credit: Zina Deretsky / National Science Foundation via Wikimedia Commons). This poem is inspired by recent research , which has found that large tides may have driven the evolution of f...