Blog Post

Brains of ‘SuperAgers’ hold secrets to long, mentally agile lives

Posted on

By Colleen Zewe

What is the secret to a long life with undiminished mental agility? Researchers in Northwestern University’s SuperAger project aim to discover the clues by looking at those who have aged with a sharp mind.

SuperAgers are people over age 80 who have memory performance at least as good as those in their 50’s and 60’s. The memory performance of SuperAgers never ceases to surprise the study’s lead author Dr. Emily Rogalski.

“We didn’t necessarily suspect that SuperAgers’ brains would look more like 50-year-olds than 80-year-olds,” said Rogalski, an associate professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. “That’s pretty profound, right? To think that you’ve lived 80 years of life, but yet your brain looks like a 50-year-old brain. That’s kind of a dream come true that your brain looks that much younger.”

Continue reading “Brains of ‘SuperAgers’ hold secrets to long, mentally agile lives”

Related posts:

  1. Eclipse Chat with Physicist Bill Higgins
  2. Solar Cells – Brian Albert
  3. Bugs in the Climate System
  4. The Enlightening March for Science
Blog Post

Wearable and Implantable Electronic Devices to Monitor Health and Treat Disease – CHICAGO’S NEW SILICON PRAIRIE

Posted on

Imagine waking up every morning and having a device that greets you with a report on the quality of your sleep, a summary of your key health indicators, and a schedule of suggested exercises for the day tailored to your age, health and personal goals. Although a device with features like this might sound like science fiction, Professor John A. Rogers and his research team at Northwestern University are working to make this vision a reality.

Who Is John A. Rogers?

Dr. John A. Rogers is Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Neurological Surgery at Northwestern University. He is a leading materials science researcher creating “flexible organic electronics” that can be applied to the skin or implanted inside the human body. Some of these electronic devices will provide a steady stream of health information to patients and their doctors. Other devices will administer electrical therapy to injured parts of the body, for example, to stimulate repair of damaged nerves in spinal cords.

Rogers grew up in a science-focused family. His father has a Ph.D. in physics, and his mother is a poet whose poetry explores science and nature. As a sophomore in high school, his interest in chemistry was piqued by a homework assignment requiring students to write a one-page summary on each of the elements of the periodic table. Rogers was fascinated by the fact that elements having such different characteristics were all composed of the same three fundamental building blocks: protons, neutrons and electrons. All that varied were the number and configuration of these building blocks in each element. Rogers’s work today focuses on how the number and configuration of atoms and molecules affect the properties of materials whether the materials can be effectively and safely applied to, or implanted inside, the human body.

Continue reading “Wearable and Implantable Electronic Devices to Monitor Health and Treat Disease – CHICAGO’S NEW SILICON PRAIRIE”

Related posts:

  1. Asian Carp Invasion: Notes
  2. C2ST Welcomes Geza Gyuk to “The Moon” on January 25 at IIT
  3. “Is This Safe To Eat?” with Zoe Hunter
  4. CERN: What’s it all about?
Blog Post

Book Review for The Day AI Becomes God

Posted on

By Sanford (Sandy) Morganstein

Book Review for The Day AI Becomes God by Tetsuzo Matsumoto

In the context of artificial intelligence (AI) the “singularity” refers to a fundamentally transformative time when AI becomes intelligent enough to improve itself without human assistance.  When AI can improve itself, the self-improvement process leads to runaway computer-based technology that will radically change civilization.  Improvement tirelessly builds on improvement leading to capabilities we can hardly imagine.

Tetsuzo Matsumoto has an excellent vantage point to observe the (probable) coming of the singularity and the consequences of it.  While not a technologist himself, Matsumoto has been present at the birthing table of many of the advanced technologies that have become part of daily life.  Matsumoto was on the board of Softbank, was president and chairman of Qualcomm Japan and a senior executive at one of the largest Japanese trading companies where part of his responsibilities was to monitor emerging technology with an eye to commercialization.

Continue reading “Book Review for The Day AI Becomes God”

Related posts:

  1. 1950’s Video of HeLa Cells
  2. Oceans’ Health: An Ecosystem on the Brink
  3. Rethinking the BRAIN
  4. Spies, Satellites and Archaeology: Mapping the Ancient Middle East
Blog Post

The Future of Artificial Intelligence

Posted on

By Xiaoyi Liu

 

Sci-fi humanoids such as the Terminator or the cyber-agents in The Matrix often come to mind as artificial intelligence moves our cars, gadgets and social networks and in new directions.

But for computing innovator Rick Stevens, associate lab director at Argonne National Laboratory, AI means accelerating fast-thinking computers that could reveal clues to the treatment of diseases such as cancer.

Continue reading “The Future of Artificial Intelligence”

Related posts:

  1. An Evening of Science-Themed Improv
  2. Children’s Memorial Research Study Study Suggests Another Embryonic Link to Cancer
  3. Mercury, Gallium, and Aluminum, oh my!
  4. February and the Birth of Scientific Giants
Blog Post

The Science of Star Wars: Fact, Fiction or Something in Between?

Posted on

April 9, 2019

The Force, lightsabers, AI robots (with a sense of humor), hyperdrive, life on other planets, the Death Star – these phenomena presented in Star Wars have captured the imaginations of millions of moviegoers. We’ve seen nothing like them in the real world.  Might we someday?

On April 3, 2019, Dr. Dirk K. Morr, Professor of Physics at University of Illinois at Chicago, walked a large audience assembled at the Harold Washington Library Center through each of these phenomena and offered his take on how they square with the laws of Science, at least as we understand the scientific principles today.  It was a fascinating presentation, well worth your time to view on C2ST’s YouTube Channel (the presentation included film clips, music and very cool graphics).  Here are a few bottom lines from the program.

Continue reading “The Science of Star Wars: Fact, Fiction or Something in Between?”

Related posts:

  1. Asian Carp Invasion: Notes
  2. C2ST Welcomes Geza Gyuk to “The Moon” on January 25 at IIT
  3. “Is This Safe To Eat?” with Zoe Hunter
  4. CERN: What’s it all about?
Blog Post

THE POWER OF ONE: How you can make a difference during STEM mentoring month

Posted on

By Jenny Kopach

Originally published at: https://www.mentoring.org/2018/10/the-power-of-one-how-you-can-make-a-difference-during-stem-mentoring-month/

I just returned from the Million Women Mentors Summit in Washington, D.C., where hundreds of mission-driven leaders from across the country convened to tackle the issue of closing the gender and skills gaps in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), particularly among women and girls.

The conference theme, “Becoming the Difference,” challenged each and every one of us to find and promote ways to shape the direction of a young person’s life. While 71% of today’s jobs require STEM skills, only 15% of girls (and 44% of boys) plan to pursue a career in STEM. But the power of one mentor can be the change: more than 75% of girls who have a mentor feel they will be successful pursuing a STEM career. Continue reading “THE POWER OF ONE: How you can make a difference during STEM mentoring month”

Related posts:

  1. Dr. Ilze Berzins on the Michigan Oil Spill
  2. The Trouble With Blending
  3. What Does It Mean To Be Supernatural?
  4. America’s Digital Tomorrow
1 2 … 26 27 28 … 45 46