When Synthesia launched in 2017, its primary purpose was to match AI versions of real human faces—for example, the former footballer David Beckham—with dubbed voices speaking in different languages. A few years later, in 2020, it started giving the companies that signed up for its services the opportunity to make professional-level presentation videos starring either…
Small fold – big role: A tissue fold known as the cephalic furrow, an evolutionary novelty that forms between the head and the trunk of fly embryos, plays a mechanical role in stabilizing embryonic tissues during the development of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Combining theory and experiment: Researchers integrated computer simulations with their experiments…
The PET-alternative PDCA is biodegradable and has superior physical properties. A Kobe University team of bioengineers engineered E. coli bacteria to produce the compound from glucose at unprecedented levels and without byproducts — and opened up a realm of possibilities for the future of bioengineering. The durability of plastics is both the reason why they…
Experts have uncovered the earliest known example of a fish with extra teeth deep inside its mouth – a 310-million-year-old fossilized ray-finned fish that evolved a unique way of devouring prey. Platysomus parvulus had a unique way of eating never seen in ray-finned fish from that time – a ‘tongue bite’, using a special set…
Researchers from Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands have been able to see the magnetic nucleus of an atom switch back and forth in real time. They read out the nuclear ‘spin’ via the electrons in the same atom through the needle of a scanning tunneling microscope. To their surprise, the spin remained stable…
A simple brainwave test developed at the University of Bath has been shown to detect signs of memory impairment linked to Alzheimer’s disease years before clinical diagnosis is typically possible. Published in the journal Brain Communications the study by academics from the University of Bath and the University of Bristol, reports that Fastball EEG, a…
Smitha Mundasad and Judith BurnsBBC News Merope Mills Martha Mills died aged 13 after developing sepsis. Martha’s rule, a way for families to seek an urgent second opinion if they are concerned about the care their loved ones receive, will be rolled out across all English hospitals delivering acute or short-term treatment. The telephone helpline,…
BBC Elissa says constipation needs to be screened for in every area of healthcare A mother who feared her two-year-old son’s untreated constipation could have killed him is calling for access to children’s continence services to be made a national priority. Elissa Novak said Ivan was constantly vomiting, losing weight and in severe pain when…
While there is a lot of work to do, Tedrake says all of the evidence so far suggests that the approaches used to LLMs also work for robots. “I think it’s changing everything,” he says. Gauging progress in robotics has become more challenging of late, of course, with videoclips showing commercial humanoids performing complex chores,…
Plant-based and meaty kibbles may both lack some important nutrients Snizhana Halytska/Alamy Vegetarian and vegan dog foods just need a few tweaks to make them nutritionally complete diets. Analyses reveal that meat-free dry kibbles meet dogs’ protein and fat requirements, lacking only sufficient iodine and B vitamins. With supplements or – better yet – improved…
