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Smart News / Smart News Ideas & Innovations

TOKUFASTbot solved the Rubik's Cube in just 0.305 seconds.

Robot Sets New Rubik’s Cube Speed Record, Completing the Puzzle in 0.305 Seconds

A team of Mitsubishi engineers harnessed high-speed motors and an A.I. algorithm to eclipse the previous record, set six years ago

Electrodes, placed above and below the injury, provide electric stimulation during rehabilitation, in this artist's rendering of the new Arc-Ex device.

New Device Delivers Electric Pulses to Help Patients Regain Movement After Spinal Cord Injuries

Alongside physical therapy, the electric stimulation helped patients with tetraplegia improve mobility in their arms and hands in a small trial

Found at a property in London last year, this 1972 Q1 desktop microcomputer is now going up for auction.

Cool Finds

Cleaning Crew Discovers One of the World’s Oldest Surviving Desktop Computers

The 1972 Q1 microcomputer could fetch $60,000 at auction

Larinioides sclopetarius, commonly known as bridge spiders, are orb-weavers that listen to the environment through their webs.

How Spider Silk Could Inspire Microphones of the Future and Revolutionize Sound Design

Spiderwebs can pick up vibrations in air flow caused by sound waves, and researchers say microphones designed this way could become more sensitive and compact

A protein-DNA interaction, modeled by AlphaFold 3.

Google Releases A.I. That Can Predict How the Human Body’s Molecules Behave, Boosting Drug Discovery Research

Called AlphaFold 3, the latest update of the software models the interactions of proteins with DNA, RNA and other molecules for the first time

An image from the eBay listing for Forest With a Stream, which is attributed to Claude Monet

Art Meets Science

A.I. Detects 40 Allegedly Counterfeit Paintings for Sale on eBay

Art Recognition’s algorithm is trained to identify specific artists’ patterns of style and composition

A map of excitatory neurons from the new research. The team cataloged around 57,000 cells and 150 million connections between neurons.

Scientists Imaged and Mapped a Tiny Piece of Human Brain. Here’s What They Found

With the help of an artificial intelligence algorithm, the researchers produced 1.4 million gigabytes of data from a cubic millimeter of brain tissue

The portals were unveiled on May 8 in Manhattan's Flatiron District and on Dublin's O'Connell Street.

Through Newly Installed ‘Portals,’ New Yorkers and Dubliners Can Wave, Dance and Inappropriately Gesture to Each Other in Real Time

New art installations connect the two cities through continuous silent video feeds

Toxins from the Colorado River toad have been ingested by some for their psychedelic and medicinal effects.

A Modified Psychedelic Toad Toxin Reduces Signs of Depression and Anxiety in Mice, Study Suggests

Colorado River toads produce a psychoactive toxin that some have claimed has medical benefits. The new research suggests these benefits could be achieved without hallucinations

An angled view of the solar system with main asteroid belt discoveries in green and near-Earth objects in light blue.

Scientists Discover 27,500 Asteroids in Old Telescope Images Using A.I.

While most of the team’s new finds are located in the main asteroid belt, about 100 are near-Earth asteroids that pass close to our planet’s orbit

The driverless race cars were controlled with cameras, advanced processing units and sensors.

World’s First Race of A.I.-Driven Cars Was Filled With Spins, Swerves and Stops

Though the cars could not compare to human drivers, the event may help improve self-driving technology, experts say

To create mouse-rat "chimeras," researchers injected rat stem cells into mouse embryos that lacked some genes for brain development.

Researchers Breed Mice With Hybrid Brains Containing Cells From Rats

In one experiment, rat neurons helped mice restore their senses of smell—the first time any animal has perceived the world through the sensory hardware of another species

Astronauts could run around the interior walls of cylindrical homes on the moon.

Could Running Around a ‘Wall of Death’ Help Astronauts Stay in Shape on the Moon?

Short sprints on these cylindrical structures, long used by daredevil motorcycle riders, might promote muscle mass and bone density in low-gravity conditions

Researchers are recruiting some 1,100 people globally to participate in the trial's third phase.

Personalized Melanoma Vaccine Could Be a ‘Game Changer’ by Teaching the Body to Fight Cancer Cells

The mRNA therapy, designed to prevent treated skin cancer from returning, is entering its third phase of trials

Doctors perform a pig kidney transplant on April 12. So far, the patient is recovering well, but doctors will need to continue to monitor her in the hospital and make sure her immune system doesn't reject the transplanted organ.

Second Patient Receives Gene-Edited Pig Kidney Transplant in Breakthrough Surgery

The woman, 54-year-old Lisa Pisano, also received a mechanical heart pump implant days earlier, making her the first person to undergo both procedures

Members of the Voyager 1 flight team celebrate after receiving health and status data from the spacecraft. Next, engineers need to enable the probe to start sending science data again.

Voyager 1 Sends Clear Data to NASA for the First Time in Five Months

The farthest spacecraft from Earth had been transmitting nonsense since November, but after an engineering tweak, it finally beamed back a report on its health and status

Antonia, one of the new black-footed ferret clones. The first black-footed ferret clone was born in 2020. The two new ferrets are the second and third successful clones.

Scientists Clone Two Black-Footed Ferrets From Frozen Tissues in Conservation Effort

The aim of cloning the animals is to increase the genetic diversity of the endangered species

Visitors at the Dalí Museum can pick up a recreation of the artist's Lobster Telephone (1938) and ask the A.I. replica a question.

Art Meets Science

You Can Chat With an A.I. Replica of Salvador Dalí

At a Florida museum, “Ask Dalí” allows visitors to speak with the Surrealist artist via a lobster telephone

Captured at the zoo's in-house Paul Harter Veterinary Medical Center, the CT scan reassured veterinarians that the chick was doing just fine.

Peek Inside a California Condor Egg Just Before It Hatched, With This CT Scan of the Baby Bird

Last month, the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance welcomed its 250th California condor chick in its breeding program, and the CT scan helped determine the bird was well-positioned for hatching

Crew aboard a U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft spotted the men's "HELP" sign from the air.

Stranded on a Remote Pacific Island, Three Men Spelled ‘HELP’ With Palm Fronds and Got Rescued

The experienced sailors lived on coconut meat and well water for more than a week, after their boat became damaged

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