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Team Invents Method to Shrink Objects to the Nanoscale

Team Invents Method to Shrink Objects to the Nanoscale

The scientists from MIT have discovered a novel way of creating 3-D nanoscale objects. They shrink objects to the nanoscale by making a larger structure with a laser and then shrinking it. It produces 3-D structures that are one thousandth the size of the original.

They are able to shrink objects to the nanoscale of almost any shape. The objects can be patterned with useful materials, including metals, quantum dots and DNA.

MIT Scientists have discovered a novel way to Shrink Objects to the Nanoscale

According to Edward Boyden, the Y. Eva Tan Professor in Neurotechnology and an associate professor of biological engineering and of brain and cognitive sciences at MIT, you can put any kind of material into a 3-D pattern with nanoscale precision.

This is a technique called Implosion Fabricaton, whereby the researchers pattern a polymer with a laser and create any shape and structure. Useful materials are then added to the polymer and later on it is shrunk to give a structure that is one thousandth the size of the original.

Earlier, there were ways of shrink objects to the nanoscale, but they have generally been very slow and ineffective. Layer upon layer needed to be added upon the 2-D nanostructures or just have pyramid like structures. There is a method to directly print 3-D nanoscale objects, but that is only with materials like polymers and plastics, which is not suitable for many applications. But that is not enough for complex structures like linked chains or hollow structures. To shrink objects to the nanoscale and for nanofabrication to reach its potential, it should also be able to work with complicated shapes.

The procedure to shrink objects to the nanoscale

Boyden and his students used a technique known as expansion microscopy. This was used for high-resolution imaging of brain tissue. The brain tissue was embedded into a hydrogel and then expanding it in order to allow high resolution imaging of the brain tissue with a regular microscope.

When the process was reversed, then the scientists were able to create large objects embedded in expanded hydrogels and then shrink objects to the nanoscale. This was known as implosion fabrication.

They used a very absorbent material made of polyacrylate, found in diapers for the nanofabrication process. The polyacrylate was soaked in a solution containing fluorescein molecules, an orange dye with yellow-green fluorescence used as a scientific marker. They act as anchors that can bind to other types of molecules.

You can attach light to any part of the anchors and also anything else like a quantum dot, DNA or a gold nanoparticle. With the fluorescein in place, an acid is added to prevent negative charges in the polyacrylate gel. They no longer repel each other thereby causing the gel to contract. There is ten times shrinkage in each dimension which equals a thousand fold reduction in volume. In this way they could shrink objects to the nanoscale.

Though there have been attempts to invent better equipment to make nanomaterials, Samuel Rodriques, a lead author and grad student says that just using the existing systems and embedding it in this gel, you can shrink objects to the nanoscale.

When you shrink objects to the nanoscale, then there is great potential for widespread applications. Specialized lenses that are shrunk can be used to study fundamental properties of light. They could be used for cellphone cameras and microscopes. The process to shrink objects to the nanoscale could be useful in the future for creating nanorobots.

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Google DeepMind Create Product to Spot Eye Disease

Google DeepMind Create Product to Spot Eye Disease

DeepMind will be developing an AI based Scanning Method to detect Eye Diseases 

To help doctors in detecting more than 50 eye diseases, DeepMind will be developing a product to detect sight-threatening conditions from a common eye scan. Deep Mind is an artificial intelligence company based in London and owned by Alphabet.

According to a study that has been published in Nature Medicine, the DeepMind trained artificial intelligence software will be able to detect the eye diseases better than the doctors. The eye scans that use artificial intelligence could be very useful in detecting eye diseases and prevent loss of sight. The technology could detect sight-threatening eye diseases quickly which will ensure that patients do not need to wait in case of urgent treatment.

DeepMind in partnership with London’s Moorfields Eye Hospital and the University College London Institute of Ophthalmology plan to conduct trials based on this technology in 2019.

If they achieve success then DeepMind would go in for a regulator approved product which Moorfields could market in the UK. This would be the first software of Deep Mind AI algorithm that makes use of machine learning in a healthcare product. If they get the approval, then the clinicians at Moorfields would use it free of cost across 30 UK hospitals and clinics for a period of five years.

DeepMind Health Care Product

DeepMind will use its trained artificial intelligence program on 15,000 patients and will use optical coherence tomography (OCT) to detect any signs of eye disease. OCT is an imaging technique that gives 3D images of the rear of the eye by using light waves.

Although OCT scans are used to detect eye diseases, it is difficult for the clinicians to interpret and can be done so only by experts.

On the other hand, the technology adopted by DeepMind will be able to detect eye diseases directly from the OCT scan in a matter of seconds. The patients in urgent need of care can be treated immediately as there is no wastage of time between the scan taken and the treatment to be administered.

The DeepMind AI technology combines two neural networks such as segmentation and classification. In the first analysis, the OCT scan shows the entire eye tissue as well as the features of the disease. The second step analyses the eye tissue image and enables the clinicians with the diagnosis and a recommendation.

The DeepMind trained AI technology will need to undergo trials. If they get regulatory approval, then the technology could be used for different types of eye scanners and not only for the purpose that it was trained at Moorfields.

DeepMind is confident that the trained AI technology could be a ground-breaking path in the diagnosis and treatment of eye diseases.

DeepMind was bought by Google in 2014 and since then they have been expanding into gaming and healthcare. In 2015, they partnered with Royal Free teaching Hospital in London and worked on an app called Streams which alerts the clinicians to acute kidney injury.

DeepMind used machine learning to radiotherapy planning for head and neck cancer in 2016. Deep Mind also used its machine learning to improve the detection of breast cancer.

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How to Use Google Trends to Find Untapped and Popular Keywords

How to Use Google Trends to Find Untapped and Popular Keywords

Do you feel like your time and energy are exhausted by doing keyword research? Google trends can improve your strategy.

Well, the formula for keyword research success is not complicated, but all it requires is smartness and exploring tools to find best keywords. Along with that, you have to make use of some platforms to make some profitable keyword lists.

Now, if you are in the digital marketing field means you’ll undoubtedly come across google trends for your keyword research. But, if you are a starter to this field means you’ll never utilize the full potential of this excellent tool.

So, today I am going to discuss about the google trends platform.

In this post, I’ll cover all the best possible ways to use google trends for keyword research.

if you don’t know about google trends means, don’t worry I’ll explain to you.

Google trends:

Google trends is a free online search tool which allows you to see how often keywords, phrases, and subjects have been searched in Google over a specific period.

You can quickly analyze any keyword search graph over a period of time. This tool is regularly updated, and you can quickly find a lot of best and new keywords from the google trends.

Now after knowing about this tool, most of you might think about how to use this tool right?

How google trends works and how to use it?

When you first come across this tool, you can see what searches are currently trending along with the latest stories and insights with maps. When you scroll down, you can even see what was trending on google by year.
Now, when you enter a keyword, you will get the metrics of that keyword.

In that, most of the people think that the trend curve is the direct and proper representation of search volume over time similar to the Google, keyword planner.

But that’s not how Google Trends works:

Here the trends graphs will work differently. When you search for a keyword in google trends, it will show you the interest over time graph whereas coming to google keyword planner you’ll get Average monthly search volume.

So, these both results are entirely different.

“ Google trends always adjust the search data to make comparisons between keywords easier. Here every data point is divided by the total searches of geography and time range to compare relative popularity merely”.

“To simply it, the relative popularity is the ratio of a keyword search volume to the sum of all possible queries search volumes”.

After the metrics, the result then gets scaled on a range of 0 to 100 just based on the topic ratio to all the searches.

This google trends tool eliminate repeated search queries from the same id over a short period of time to give accurate results.

Note: Google Trends only shows data for popular and trending terms. Other low volume keywords will be shown as 0.

Ex:  Have a look at the google trends graph for the search term “ twitter” over past 12 months

Now, to clearly explain to you how Google trends give its “Interest over time” graph. Let’s assume that i have google date. ( No can have one but let’s pretend)

Let me take the assumption values to explain to you.

Assume: Total monthly search number of google searches is around 10-11 billion.

Assume: Now, Search volume of the query “twitter” in us is 80 million.

Here is the assumption table:

May 2018 June 2018 July 2018
Avg total Monthly searches in the USA 10,000,000,000 10,000,000 11,000,000,000
Avg twitter monthly search volume in the USA 90,000,000 85,000,000 75,000,000
Relative Popularity 0.0090 0.0085 0.0068
Interest Graph 90 85 80

Now, these are the example results just to show you how it works. Most of these values are inappropriate and assumed Value.

If you want to build a graph in the way Google trends do you have to follow few steps:

  • Firstly, calculate the relative popularity ratio of the keyword / the total search queries.
  • Then scale these values proportionally to the maximum value 100.
  • Put the dots on the graphs to measure results.

Until now, I have shared the working mechanism of the google trends. Now, let’s check out the proper ways which are useful in finding out the best keywords.

  1. 1. The best ways to use google trends for keyword research:

In this post, I am going to share seven best ideas to use google trends for keyword research. Along with that, I will show how you can refine your searches as well.

Discover seasonal trends:

If you want to get massive traffic to your website means you have to follow this step. Here in this step, you’ll discover all the seasonal trends, and you’ll create excellent content around that keyword and start promoting to get massive traffic.

Seasonal trends example:

 Google Trends

Have a glance at the screenshot; you can have a look at the trends of “Raincoats.” These are mostly purchased in the rainy season so you can see an upward graph in rainy seasons. Medium traffic in another season, so google trends is helpful in discovering seasonal trends.

Ex2:

Google Trends 2

Here is another example, in this report I used a keyword 2018 FIFA world cup. You can see a massive graph when the FIFA world cup is running. After that, you can see the decrease graph.

So, by using this way you can explore the best trending and popular keywords. If you are running a sports website, then make use of the ongoing popular tournaments. But, if you are selling Raincoats as a seasonal business, then you can make use of the google trends to find the time where people are laboriously searching for best raincoats.

Points to keep in mind:

  • Carefully discover the trends of the keyword.
  • Then create relevant content which is focused on the topic which you choose.
  • If you have that page means to optimize and refresh the content and publish that before the season starts to get massive traffic.
  1. 2. Make Sure you stay away from “ Keyword Unicorns” by checking data Skewing popularity spikes:

When you are trying to create excellent content for your next blog post or your website. Always make sure you checked the topic on Google trends before you start writing it.

By checking the topic, you can get the trends of that keyword. So, it will be useful for you to save your time by not creating content for falling topics.

Usually, when you consider writing about some keyword, you will have multiple options. Choose the best one which is moving upwards or having some decent traffic don’t go with old trends.

Ex:

Google Trends 3

Previously there is massive popularity for “spinners,” and it has also touched 100 in google trends interest over time. But since that, it has fallen massively and not even getting minimum traffic.

So, it is always best to shift your focus on upcoming trends rather than going for download trends.

  1. 3. Discover Relevant topics that are currently trending:

Are you striving to get traffic?

Then why don’t you explore google trends to get untapped keywords for your site? By using google trends “ trending searches” option, you can quickly find lots of search queries which have a significant upward graph in popularity over the past 24 hours.

Google Trends 4

So, target those keywords to get massive shares and traffic to your site.

Most of you might be wondering why you should be choosing that option right?

Well, let’s assume that you run a sports blog.

You have gone through trending searches on FIFA World Cup.

For Suppose at the time you see FIFA world cup it has already reached the finals stage, you might think that you are too late?

But that’s not too late.

People also search for that term for some days, and you might even get an upward spike after a couple of days as well. After a few days or months, you will again see a downward spike, but that doesn’t matter to you because you have already achieved lots of traffic for that keyword in that small time.

So, it is always best to capitalize on the trending topics. Here you have to remember one thing don’t go for that keyword after a couple weeks or months because you will not get any traffic.

  1. 4. Make use of google trends data:

Now, Are you having a long-term blog or website?

Then you can make use of google trends data to get a good amount of traffic.

Whenever you see the google trends for the term “ Oscars”. You can see increased graph at the time of Oscar awards every year.

It is because the Oscars program will take place in March every year. So, you can make use of that google trends data if you have a long term.

Points to consider:

  • Although this is a useful point, you have to be smart in executing it.
  • Write your content and specify the next year’s date or month in that article.
  • Impress people with updated content and be quick in updating the content.
  • Create a remarkable piece of content and create a user-friendly page to attract users towards it.
  • Only consider this point when you have a long-term blog.
  1. 5. Explore untapped keywords by using “ Related Queries” and Steal your competition business:

Google trends usually let its users reveal untapped queries people also search for in trends when they search for your term.

So, you can make use of them and include them in your keyword listings. Most of the popular brands always do this to improve their chances of buying products.

Ex:

Google Trends 5

when people are searching for “Shoes” they also tend to search for “curling shoes” and red bottoms shoes.”

Not only that they also provide some other search related topics and queries which are useful for website owners to know what the searcher is searching for.

Now, by using those keywords, you can simply do your keyword research on tools you generally use. So, by doing keyword research, you will explore even more new keyword ideas for your sie.

Things to consider:

  • Always make sure you go through the search related topics & Queries in google trends.
  • Then don’t stop there, bring those list and do your keyword research in proper keyword research tools like SEMRUSH, Ahrefs, etc.
  • Explore more untapped keywords and create content around that and improve your sales & traffic.
  1. 6. Discover which cities and subregions mostly need & search for your products or Services:

Watching is always best when it comes to SEO.

Now, carefully watch google trends “interest by subregion” to get the list of “ Country, Cites, subregions” you search term is most popular in and take advantage of that.

You can explore lots of examples for these here I am taking “flooring.”

Google Trends 6

Here,

When I am searching for flooring, I can see Montana has 100%. So, I measured a place where there is the need for my products and services. Now, I have to focus on SEO aspects to reach people and sell my product or services.

All you have to do:

  • Target highly demand areas with PPC Ads
  • Then create awesome content which mainly aims at people in those popular areas.
  • Do you seo correctly to get good results?
  1. 7. Redefine your Video Strategy according to People’s Interest:

Most of the people these days target youtube, and I think I don’t have to say that because almost all of you know about the popularity of youtube.

Now,

If you want to get more views on your videos?

Then redefine your video strategy by analyzing what people are searching on youtube with the help of google trends.

You can do a specific search for youtube queries by hitting scroll down option on web search and select youtube search.

Ex:

Google Trends 7

Here I searched for “Fortran,”I can see both upward and downward graphs, but presently it has no searches. So, as a YouTuber, you have to smart and skip this result.

google trends 8

Instead of “Fortran,” I opted for “Javascript” then I got consistent upward trends. So by this, I got to know that people are mostly searching for Javascript so, i am happy to create a video on that and do my SEO.

Now, this is it.

These are the best and practical techniques which you can use to find the best and untapped keywords.

Here’s the Next Step:

Now, I want to turn it over to you:

Which of these seven keyword research techniques from today’s post are you going to try first

Are you going to start exploring Google trends for related topics?

Or Maybe you want other tactics.

Either way, let me know by simply leaving your comment in the comment section right below the post. Also, don’t forget to share this post with your friends.

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Features of Android 9 Pie: 10 Biggest features of new android pie you should know about

Features of Android 9 Pie: 10 Biggest features of new android pie you should know about:

From past few months, there is a lot of buzz hovering over the social media’s about the Android 9 Pie and the latest features of Android 9 pie. But no one knows when exactly the next big version of Android OS will be rolling out.

Now, it’s official, Google has just released their final version of its Android P. Although this version is previewed at the Google’s annual developer conference which is conducted back in the may it has released in August.

This new version is available on all the google pixel phones. And you can get this update soon on the other devices which have signed the companies beta programme.

Now, you might be wondering about “what are the biggest features of android 9 pie”?

Right?

If you want to know about them means don’t worry, here in this post I’ll cover all the biggest features of Android 9 pie.

Android 9 Pie

10 Biggest Features of Android 9 Pie:

In this post, I have covered the ten biggest features of Android pie which have caught our attention. So, let’s get into the most significant features of Android 9 Pie.

  1. 1. User-friendly & New navigational Gestures:

Google’s new android pie update has rolled out with the fantastic navigational gestures. They just took a piece out of the iPhone X’s and refined that piece and added to their new version of Android P. In Android P you can see refined navigational gestures which are created based on the users intent which they found out in Android P beta testing earlier this year.

The brand new home button is changed into the slim dash which looks fantastic on the device. Here to browse all you have to do is slide up from the thin dash that’s it. When you long press the digital button means google assistant will pop up to help you.

You can also see your most recent apps appear with the full-screen previews which you can flick through. Usually, you will have lots of space on the home screen, and it makes your phone look longer and easier to access. You can even access this phone quickly with a single hand.

  1. 2. Interactive Recent Apps:

As said, google new android p has interactive recent apps features. This new interactive app feature gives you more control over your recent apps. All you have to do is horizontally swipe your screen to get the full-screen previews of your recent apps. This new version has the multitasking booster which helps to do multiple tasks at a time.

This mode supports quick text selection, which means you can quickly copy the text from one app to the other app.

  1. 3. Digital Wellbeing Dashboard:

Google has included a new “digital wellbeing dashboard” on its latest version of Android Pie. It gives you the unobstructed view of how you used your android phone. You can see every statistics and time spend on your apps.

This dashboard will help you to realize how much time you are spending on your phone and you can even cut down your phone usage to some extent by using this app. You can also check how many times you unlocked your device and home many notifications you received throughout the day and so on.

So, this is a helpful feature to manage your time as a well to organize your time. Presently it is working on pixel devices only it will roll out to the other devices this fall.

  1. 4. App Timer: Control your time on Apps:

App timer is another excellent tool which helps you to cut down your time on apps. You can tap into the apps you are, and you can set the time limit for those apps in your daily usage.

Android 9 Pie

Usually, people love playing games, and some people enjoy watching youtube? If you are the one who wants to cut down your playing time and videos time, then you can use this efficient app timer which can notify and stop the app.

You can set your own time such as  15 mins, half an hour, one hour, or three hours, etc. the choice is yours once you set the timer. It will work until that time after the time limit reachable the app will fade out from your home screen, and you can relaunch the app.

This is one of the useful features to control kids from playing excessive games on mobile. That’s why I mentioned this point in the biggest highlights of Android 9 Pie.

  1. 5. Do Not Disturb: Upgraded Version

Usually, when I say this a new update, you’ll say “do not disturb” is an old feature. Right?

Yes, do not disturb is on the most phones but there is a difference between that feature and this feature. In old “do not disturb” feature it prevents you from hearing notifications. Although this is a useful option in meetings and conferences but it isn’t ideal when you are at your home or your bedtime.

The new upgraded version of do not disturb takes out all the visual indicators so that you can’t get alerts such as messages, snaps, emails and so on. Google is also adding a new feature which can turn your phone on its face to merely activating “do not disturb” mode automatically so there will be no interruptions.

  1. 6. Advanced App Actions:

Google has brought more changes to the past version of Android just by analyzing past experiences. It has taken machine learning experiences to get proactive suggestions quickly. This new tool predicts the next step you want to do with the app and do take that action.

The actions are purely based on the Android pie program which previously learned about your particular pattern like how you answered your calls and so on.

  1. 7. Smarter Battery life:

The new adaptive battery feature is one of the best features you have to talk about the Android Pie. Usually, not all apps require equal time and don’t have to use your battery life. Android pie exactly does that it will not allow all apps to eat your battery life. It will smartly monitor your battery, and it saves your battery life.

This new version of the Android pie has a unique feature which decides whether to give power to the apps or not. So, this feature can reduce CPU app wake-ups by 30% and this can help you to improve your phones battery life.

  1. 8. Better Notification Management:

If you are struggling with app notifications? Then don’t worry the Google’s Android pie will take care of those notifications. If there is an app which continuously shows notifications means Android pie will dismiss those notifications. This app is smart enough to notice which is the perfect notification for you.

After a while, you will be asked to choose the notifications options. Long press on notifications means it will directly take to the notifications settings and you can do your desired changes there.

  1. 9. App Slices:

The slices in the Android pie is another useful feature. Usually, slices will quickly let you access all the shortcuts in the google search. If you are searching for any ride, then you can quickly click on uber slices to open and book instantly.

  1. 10. Smart Replies:

With this android p, you can quickly give Gmail like intelligent replies to your incoming messages. These are nothing but the automated responses which shows up as a reply to your mail or your chat. It is generated by using a machine learning algorithm. These special message has come to the new android pie to save your time and effort of typing.

Conclusion:

These are the special and biggest features of the Android 9 Pie.

Now I want to turn it over to you:

Which of these features do you like most?

Or

Which of the features you love are missing in this post?

Either way, let m know by leaving your valuable comment. If you like this content means, please share on your social profiles.

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Optical Amplifiers Can Do Fibre Optic Transmission of 4000 Km

Optical Amplifiers Can Do Fibre Optic Transmission of 4000 Km

Phase Sensitive Optical Amplifiers to extend Fibre Optical Transmission

 It is possible to extend the fibre optical data transmission links by optical amplifiers. This was shown by the Estonian and Swedish researchers by using the new phase-sensitive amplifiers (PSAs). The extent of reach is almost six times that which is possible when the conventional optical amplifiers are used.

The extent of reach and capacity of the current fibre optical data transmission links have certain limitations. This is mainly due to the noise accumulation that originates from the optical amplifiers in the link and signal distortion that occurs from nonlinear effects in the transmission fibre. Both these problems can be considerably reduced when phase sensitive amplifiers (PSAs) are used.

 

The researchers from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden and Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia, have shown that there is a six time increase in the extent of reach as compared with the conventional optical amplifiers. They have shown a 4000 km fibre-optical transmission link using ultra low noise, phase sensitive optical amplifiers. Their findings have been published in Nature Communications.

The researchers used a multi-channel compatible and modulation-format independent transmission link with in-line PSAs. They showed that there is a reach improvement of 5.6 times at optimal launch power using the phase sensitive optical amplifiers operating at an accumulated non-linear phase shift of 6.2 rad. There were two data-carrying waves that were transmitted and they occupied twice the bandwidth. Twice the total power was propagated as compared to the phase-insensitively amplified link.

These results that were obtained showed that when the in-line phase sensitive optical amplifiers which offer low-noise amplification and non-linear mitigation are used, they could provide nonlinear tolerance and also a greater transmission reach.

Professor Peter Andrekson who is heading the research on optical communication at Chalmers University of Technology says that there are great advantages and benefits in using these phase sensitive optical amplifier in optical communication. There are a few engineering challenges that need to be overcome before these results can be used commercially.

In today’s day and age there is a great demand for higher transmission capacity. This is seen in video streaming, cloud storage and other online services which require high transmission capacity. In order to meet this demand, new technologies need to be explored. The technologies are being explored the world over to find solutions that will have significant improvements over those that are currently in existence. The phase sensitive optical amplifiers can provide a great amount of reach improvement over the conventional optical amplifiers. This will enhance the performance of future fibre optical communication systems. These optical amplifiers can be used to serve the purpose of the increasing demands of higher transmission capacity.

These phase sensitive optical amplifiers can also be used in quantum informatics and related areas, wherein the generation and processing of quantum states are involved. The ultra-low noise amplifiers can play a vital role in spectroscopy or other applications.

This research has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC), the Swedish Research Council and the Wallenberg Foundation.

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Closing the Loop for Robotic Grasping

Closing the Loop for Robotic Grasping

Robotic Grasping becoming Better

For a long time scientists have struggled with something humans find extremely easy and even take for granted- the ability to grasp things. In the field of robotics getting to robotic grasping has been a very difficult task and has been achieved to only a limited degree. At present robotic grasping takes place in a controlled environment with things all being in one place. But what happens in an unorganized setting with things continuously being changed in position?

Scientists at QUT have come up with a way by which robotic Grasping can take place in a changing environment and this method involves fast and accurate action. With this basic ability being mastered by robots, a number of opportunities in both the domestic and industrial front will open up for robotics, especially if it has to do with robotic grasping.

Making a Robot effective at Grasping:

In the real world things continuously keep changing and robots need to continually adapt to not only their surroundings but also where things are in their surroundings before being able to grasp them.

One of the methods developed by scientists is a real time object independent grasp synthesis method.

This method uses Generative Grasping Convolutional Neural Network to predict the quality and pose of a two pronged grasp. All the robot has to do is map what’s in front of it and then grasp it. There is no need of a trial and error approach, thus saving a lot of time.

The results of robotic Grasping in different environments:

In real world situations scientists achieved an 83% robotic grasping rate with unknown objects that was not previously programmed with the robot and an 88% robotic grasping success rate when it came to household objects and an 81% success rate when it came to picking up things in an environment with dynamic clutter.

With the new method scientists discovered, robots can process images of the item they want to pick up in about 20 milliseconds and decide on the best approach to picking it up.

Uses of robotic Grasping in both a domestic as well as an industrial setting:

Scientists believe that their approach to robotic grasping would not only enable robots to be used in a factory setting where everything can be found in one place and is structured but also in an unorganized setting or ones with a lot of clutter or places where the robot is required to adapt to changing environments.

Taking a cue from the new method of robotic grasping invented by scientists from QUT, robots can be used in a number of settings including in warehousing to lift and put objects in place or vice versa, in online shopping when it comes to sorting and picking things out according to a person’s order or even in groceries when it comes to picking and putting stuff in trollies.

In a domestic setting, robots could be used to not only vacuum and mop floors but also in picking up things and putting them away in their proper places.

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Sodium- ion Batteries Could Make Your Smartphone Cheaper and Cleaner

Sodium-Ion Batteries Could Make Your Smartphone Cheaper and Cleaner

New Sodium- ion Batteries Could Make Your Smartphone Cheaper and  could be the next to Power up Your Phone!

Researchers have recently found an alternative to powering up a phone or any other mobile device for that matter and it has something to so with the salt we use in our food. Yes you read right! Salt! Sodium which is a found in salt can be used in making the next generation battery. This Sodium- ion Batteries are much cheaper as sodium is abundantly found, and much cleaner than lithium-ion batteries that contribute to a lot of pollution.

So the next mobile you buy could be a lot cheaper than you imagine.  This sodium- ion battery was discovered by Chongwu Zhou, a professor at USC Viterbi School of Engineering. Salt or sodium which is found in abundance, could mean that scientists could literally walk up to the ocean and get the next best thing or maybe the first best thing to juice up our phones.

Current practice and where does Sodium- ion Batteries Could Make Your Smartphone Cheaper and Cleaner figure in:

Currently, our phones or other devices are being powered up by lithium ion batteries. Lithium causes a lot of pollution and has to be mined from the earth to be got, this makes it a very expensive component in a battery.

Sodium on the other hand is much cleaner than lithium and can be got easily as compared to lithium which makes it a much more viable option than current practice.

As for charging speeds, sodium- ion can charge up to 50% in just two minutes. But scientists are not satisfied yet, they are planning on boosting up charging efficiency and the life of these sodium ion batteries, before bring out sodium- ion batteries to the world.

Problems of using sodium- ion batteries:

In our current batteries lithium ions are stored in graphite- a soft mineral of carbon, but this causes problems for sodium- ions. Sodium – ions cannot be stored in graphite as they are too big.

The Solution to using Sodium- ion Batteries:

Instead of storing sodium- ions in graphite, researchers thought of another method that would be equally feasible. They decided to arrange red phosphorous on sheets of graphene- which is a layer of honeycombed carbon atoms which is the strongest material ever discovered.

The result, Wavy sheets of something known as “nanodots”. These nanodots can store and also release sodium- ions thus helping scientists bring sodium- ion batteries closer to reality.

Red Phosphorus as an anode in sodium- ion batteries:

Using red phosphorus as an anode in sodium- ion batteries means that it has a high capacity which is theoretically 2596 mAh/g. But using red phosphorus as an anode in a sodium- ion battery means that sodiation and desodiation in a sodium-ion battery causes large volume expansion and also another factor is that it has low electronic conductance.

So to solve the challenges of using red phosphorous as an anode, researchers have used red phosphorus with reduced graphene oxide sheets to make an anode for sodium- ion batteries.

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The New Bluetooth 5.0 and All You Need to Know

The New Bluetooth 5.0 and All You Need to Know

Bluetooth 5.0 is Backward Compatible and Fast

So if you’ve recently bought a new device, you may have noticed that on the device’s specification list something that says Bluetooth 5.0 support. From iPhone 8 to iPhone X and to Samsung Galaxy S8 all come with Bluetooth 5.0 support. While these are not the only latest devices to bear the Bluetooth 5.0 spec, many new devices released as well as yet to be released all come with the 5.0 spec.

But what is Bluetooth 5.0 all about and how will it benefit you? Well getting to that shortly, but first basically Bluetooth 5.0 is the higher version of the current Bluetooth standard in lay man’s terms.

What is basic Bluetooth support?

Bluetooth is a wireless communication standard used with wireless headphones, wireless keyboard, wireless mice, gaming consoles and all the other wireless gadgets you can think of. But besides these, Bluetooth is also used to communicate with other smart devices and IoT gadgets in the household.

So coming back to Bluetooth 5.0, as mentioned earlier it is a higher version of the current wireless communication, so like all updated versions of things it does come with improvements. But hold your horses, not so fast, to use Bluetooth 5.0 with all its benefits you need to be able to connect to devices with the same Bluetooth compatibility otherwise you will be left with just the basic what- you- get – with the current Bluetooth standard.

All The Improvements you can think of with Bluetooth 5.0:

Any improvements you see with Bluetooth is related to the energy consumption. Any device you use with Bluetooth is likely to drain your phone’s battery, so any improvement to Bluetooth has to do with low energy consumption.

The first low energy specification was released with Bluetooth 4.0 and not to the classic Bluetooth radio either which uses a lot more of your phone’s juice. Bluetooth 4.0 was used for low power hungry devices like wearables, beacons and some other devices.

But for those power hungry devices, this specification was all but useless. So these other devices have to use the classic Bluetooth radio instead.

But with Bluetooth 5.0 you get the low energy standard which means longer battery life and lesser power usage.

As for some devices, Apple’s AirPods use Bluetooth 4.2 and a W1 chip to improve connectivity.

What else is new with Bluetooth 5.0?

Besides less draining of battery life, Bluetooth 5.0 also comes with an amazing new feature- you can connect to two devices at the same time. This means that you could either stream the same music to two headphones, for example, at the same time, or you could stream different music to different headphones at the same time all while being connected to one smart phone.

This latest and upcoming feature is titled “Dual Audio” on devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S8. But just to make it clear this new feature is not limited to only Samsung, any brand offering Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity should also include the dual audio feature.

Talk about speed with the Bluetooth 5.0:

Like all new versions of Bluetooth, Bluetooth 5.0 also comes with improved connectivity and faster speeds over larger distances.

So let’s talk numbers- the Bluetooth company boasts that Bluetooth 5.0 comes with double the speed, four times the range and eight times the message communicating capacity as compared to previous Bluetooth versions.

Bluetooth 5.0 support data transfer speeds up to 2 Mbps which double what the previous Bluetooth versions can do. Devices connected to Bluetooth 5 can also communicate with connected devices for up to a distance of 800 feet as compared to the previous 200 feet distance with Bluetooth 4.2, this not taking into consideration walls and other obstacles that will weaken the signal as they do with WiFi signals too.

Bluetooth 5.0 also comes with aptX compression standard which means that you get cd quality music. So now with Bluetooth 5.0 you will get better audio quality with transferring music to a connected device.

Gadgets can actually choose between receiving data faster or receiving data through larger distances. If the speed of data is not that important and communication over larger distances is required, then the device will compromise on speeds, while on the other hand if you need faster connectivity but distance is less between connected devices then the range is saved. This all helps in reducing battery consumption and this is where the low energy specification comes in.

For example while using your headphones, the speed while streaming music is important and range is always close to the smart phone, whereas other smart devices in the house do not need to communicate much, they just have to report on their statuses and that’s it, so there is no need for higher speeds then, this all works together to lessen battery consumption and saves energy.

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Technology News

New Light on Dark Matter

New Light on Dark Matter

Dark Matter- Researchers have found electrical charge in it

Dark matter comprises a part of universe, and it does not have interaction with light. This truth is already known to us. However, recently, a new research work has revealed that this stuff can contain small electric charge.

New findings of the researchers on Dark Matter

Till now, we realize the presence of dark matter with gravity. However, Abraham and Julian, the astrophysicists in Harvard University have found that few particles of dark matter comprise a very small amount of electric charge. Thus, this matter may have an interaction with the normal stuffs by applying electromagnetic force. The new idea will be able helpful to make out lots of things on this stuff.

Cooling process and the reasons behind Dark Matter-

Some months ago, the astrophysicists have first traced out the sign, coming out of hydrogen gas.

Several years ago, cold hydrogen gas was moving between various stars. As this gas was very cold, it has the capacity of absorbing radiation, caused due to Big Bang. However, the wavelength of this radiation must be within 21 cm. With the measurement of radiation absorption by the hydrogen gas, the researchers are able to comprehend cosmic origin. By employing the radio antenna (EDGES), the astronomers were capable of detecting the absorption.

Julian thinks it to be the amazing Dark Matter discovery. The most important fact is that hydrogen has absorbed lots of photons. To make the gas much radiation, it has to be cooler. Abraham and Julian believed that the dark matter could be the major factor behind the cooling process. In one of the journals, they have found out the fact that while 1% of this stuff had a little amount of electric charge, it could be elusive. It is also capable of pulling heat from the gas.

We have found several concepts, related to dark matter, and these are intended for clarifying the difference. To make everything clear, we can say that in place of the cooler gas, the radiation could be little hotter, or we might find flaws in measurement or analysis.

EDGES and its findings

The observation of EDGES is really amazing. Although its researchers have spent 2 years to test out their analysis, they are still looking for better data for confirming the result. While their tests are right, we may not need more detailed clarification. However, Julian has partially elucidated dark-matter.

The scientists are trying to engage lots of tools all over the world to make their observations much detailed. Different types of experiments, including Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array, are intended for assessing the way in which there is a variation in the absorption process throughout the sky. While a little amount of dark matter has electrical charge, it can develop a different mode to the variation.

Although Abraham and Julian have not proved the theory directly through observations, the presence of dark matter with electric charge is helpful to elucidate the data of EDGES. It will also support other research findings.

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Can Keep Data Fresh for Wireless Networks With New Algorithm

Can Keep Data Fresh for Wireless Networks With New Algorithm

Keeping Data Fresh with new form of Wireless Networks

Today’s day and age requires information to be transferred not only fast but also that the data should be the most current or the most freshest that is out there and often this does not happen. In order to avoid overloading wireless networks every bit of data does not get transferred on time and that means what you end up viewing may not be the most- freshest or most updated data that is out there.

It is not the question of how fast data can be transmitted in the wireless networks but that the data being transmitted over wireless networks do not get transmitted as often meaning that you are not seeing the most current version of data that is there. Take for example a car and it’s sensors, now it does not take much time for the sensors within the car to transmit data to a central processor but the age of that data will not only depend on the speed at which that data is being transmitted across channels but also on the frequency with which that data is being sent by the sensors.

How to keep information fresh on a wireless networks?

The question then arises as to how to increase the frequency of data being transferred to a central processing unit without completely overwhelming the network?

Engineers at MIT seem to have come up with an answer to this question. At present researchers at MIT say that they can apply their system to a simple wireless networks but hope that in the future they will be able to apply their findings to a much complex wireless network.

The process of keeping data fresh in a wireless networks:

In the course of their research, engineers at MIT made a simple network consisting of a central control station that would receive information from multiple nodes or in their case drones.

Using the assumption that only one node or drone could transmit data at any given time, researchers then began to decide which drone should send data at which time.

This question was answered by the team coming up with an algorithm, which calculated an index for each node, which in turn took into account factors such as the age of data, the reliability of the channel relaying information and the overall importance of that node in the wireless networks.

Nodes that are more reliable and faster are given a higher index as compared to nodes of lesser reliability and which are slower. But the index assigned to each node is not a fixed factor, this index keeps on changing and at any given time the node with the highest index relays data first.

The research team calculated a bound rate- the average age of information in a wireless network, which is the least time that has ever been achieved by any of the wireless networks elsewhere.

The researchers found that their data came very close to this bound rate and gave the freshest data possible as compared to any wireless networks that is out there.

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