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Category: mobile phones

Does autoimmunity underlie minimal change disease?

Tobias B. Huber, Nicola M. Tomas & team report a direct pathogenic role of anti-nephrin autoantibodies in the development of podocytopathy with a minimal change disease phenotype:

The electron microscopy image shows moderate podocyte foot process effacement (without electron-dense deposits) in the anti-nephrin rabbit.

Address correspondence to: Tobias B. Huber or Nicola M. Tomas, III. Department of Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistrasse 52, D-20246 Hamburg, Germany. Phone: 49.40.7410.53908; Email: [email protected] (TBH); [email protected] (NMT).

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Battery waste has become an increasing problem in recent years due to the massive demand for consumer electronics like smartphones and laptops, as well as the electrification of the automotive industry.

A recent report from Stanford University in the US, published in the journal Nature Communications, found that recycling lithium-ion batteries is far more environmentally friendly than mining for new materials.

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Researchers have advanced a decades-old challenge in the field of organic semiconductors, opening new possibilities for the future of electronics. The researchers, led by the University of Cambridge and the Eindhoven University of Technology, have created an organic semiconductor that forces electrons to move in a spiral pattern, which could improve the efficiency of OLED displays in television and smartphone screens, or power next-generation computing technologies such as spintronics and quantum computing.

The semiconductor they developed emits circularly polarized light—meaning the light carries information about the ‘handedness’ of electrons. The internal structure of most inorganic semiconductors, like silicon, is symmetrical, meaning electrons move through them without any preferred direction.

However, in nature, molecules often have a chiral (left-or right-handed) structure: like human hands, are mirror images of one another. Chirality plays an important role in like DNA formation, but it is a difficult phenomenon to harness and control in electronics.

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A major breakthrough in organic semiconductors.

Semiconductors are materials with electrical conductivity that falls between conductors and insulators, making them essential for modern electronics. They are typically crystalline solids, the most common of which is silicon, used extensively in the production of electronic components such as transistors and diodes. Semiconductors are unique because their conductivity can be altered and controlled through doping—adding impurities to the material to change its electrical properties. This property allows them to serve as the foundation for integrated circuits and microchips, powering everything from computers and smartphones to advanced medical devices and renewable energy technologies. The behavior of semiconductors is also crucial in the development of various electronic, photonic, and quantum devices.

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A team of researchers led by Colorado State University graduate student Luke Wernert and Associate Professor Hua Chen has discovered a new kind of Hall effect that could enable more energy-efficient electronic devices.

Their findings, published in Physical Review Letters in collaboration with graduate student Bastián Pradenas and Professor Oleg Tchernyshyov at Johns Hopkins University, reveal a previously unknown Hall mass in complex magnets called noncollinear antiferromagnets.

The Hall effect—first discovered by Edwin Hall at Johns Hopkins in 1879—usually refers to electric current flowing sideways when exposed to an external magnetic field, creating a measurable voltage. This sideways flow underpins everything from vehicle speed sensors to phone motion detectors. But in the CSU team’s work, electrons’ spin (a tiny, intrinsic form of angular momentum) takes center stage instead of .

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A little over a year after releasing two open Gemma AI models built from the same technology behind its Gemini AI, Google is updating the family with Gemma 3.

According to the blog post, these models are intended for use by developers creating AI applications capable of running wherever they’re needed, on anything from a phone to a workstation with support for over 35 languages, as well as the ability to analyze text, images, and short videos.

The company claims that it’s the world’s best single-accelerator model, outperforming competition from Facebook’s Llama, DeepSeek, and OpenAI for performance on a host with a single GPU, as well as optimized capabilities for running on Nvidia’s GPUs and dedicated AI hardware.

Gemma 3’s vision encoder is also upgraded, with support for high-res and non-square images, while the new ShieldGemma 2 image safety classifier is available for use to filter both image input and output for content classified as sexually explicit, dangerous, or violent.

To go deeper into those claims, you can check out the 26-page technical report.

Last year it was unclear how much interest there would be in a model like Gemma, however, the popularity of DeepSeek and others shows there is interest in AI tech with lower hardware requirements.

Continue reading “Google Calls Gemma 3 The Most Powerful AI Model You Can Run On One GPU Or TPU” | >

A research team led by Prof. Jiang Changlong from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed an innovative dual-mode sensing platform using upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs). This platform integrates fluorescence and colorimetric methods, offering a highly sensitive and low-detection-limit solution for bilirubin detection in complex biological samples.

The findings, published in Analytical Chemistry, offer a new technological approach for the early diagnosis of jaundice.

Jaundice is a critical health issue in neonates, affecting 60% of newborns and contributing to early neonatal mortality. Elevated free bilirubin levels indicate jaundice, with healthy levels ranging from 1.7 μM to 10.2 μM in healthy individuals. Concentrations below 32 μM typically don’t show classic symptoms. Rapid and accurate detection of bilirubin in neonates is critical.

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A story about traveling through time, literally.

When we fly, we often cross time zones, sometimes even when we drive. Imagine for a moment that this is a continuous process. Even as you walk, your zone moves just a little from one moment to another.

S assume that your personal noon is when the sun is highest. You can create the time for your own body with this calculator. ” + Give it a try. If you have an iPhone, open the included compass app to get the longitude and latitude required to set this personal clock. You can also use Google Earth with your browser to find your location and the lat and long in the bottom right.

Personal solar time and sun elevation timeline.

http://folkstone.ca/Heliox/3DForceModels/Personal-Time-2.html.

Once upon a time there was enough technology that everybody had their own personal time zone to maximize their health and enjoyment. Yes, it seemed odd for a while that time was now considered time and location, but it did not take long to get used to everybody living in a different time zone. Sounds confusing when we are used to large time zones, but you know, so was coordinated time at one point. Just a little different way of doing things that keeps us healthier and happier.

Continue reading “Navigating the Daylight Saving Time Debate” | >

NASA and the Italian Space Agency made history on March 3 when the Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE) became the first technology demonstration to acquire and track Earth-based navigation signals on the moon’s surface.

The LuGRE payload’s success in lunar orbit and on the surface indicates that signals from the GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) can be received and tracked at the moon. These results mean NASA’s Artemis missions, or other exploration missions, could benefit from these signals to accurately and autonomously determine their position, velocity, and time. This represents a steppingstone to advanced systems and services for the moon and Mars.

“On Earth we can use GNSS signals to navigate in everything from smartphones to airplanes,” said Kevin Coggins, deputy associate administrator for NASA’s SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) Program. “Now, LuGRE shows us that we can successfully acquire and track GNSS signals at the moon. This is a very exciting discovery for lunar navigation, and we hope to leverage this capability for future missions.”

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A phone screen you can’t scratch no matter how many times you drop it; glasses that prevent glare; a windshield that doesn’t get dusty. These are all possibilities thanks to a new way to produce sapphire.

Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have discovered techniques to bestow superpowers upon , a material that most of us think of as just a pretty jewel. But sapphire is seen as a critical material across many different areas, from defense to consumer electronics to next-generation windows, because it’s nearly impossible to scratch.

“Sapphire is such a high-value material because of its hardness and many other favorable properties,” said Chih-Hao Chang, associate professor in the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering and leader of the new research. “But the same properties that make it attractive also make it difficult to manufacture at small scales.”

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