Garmin has completely updated its Connect smartphone app, with a new interface that can be personalised and designed to make it easier to find the information, data and features you need.

garmin connect app 6.jpg
The updated Garmin Connect app, compatible with iOS and Android smartphones, is claimed to be easier to use with a more concise layout and provides easier access to features like leaderboards, daily snapshots, a calendar and newsfeed. The interface and presented data can be tailored to your requirements, so you can easily view the data you use the most.

“We’re excited to bring a new look and feel to the Garmin Connect Mobile app,” said Andrew Silver, Garmin EMEA Product Manager, Fitness & Wearables. “The new interface and customisation options make it easy for users to focus on their personal wellness goals and milestones, no matter what Garmin device they’re using or where they are on their journey to a healthier and more active lifestyle. With the revamped Garmin Connect Mobile, results have never looked better.”

– 13 of the best smartphone cycling apps for iPhone and Android

AdTech Ad
Garmin has also added more social sharing features to the new app, with an updated Challenges feature allowing users to compete in a weekly challenge against other Garmin Connect users.

The app can be used with any Bluetooth compatible Garmin Edge and allows you to upload data directly to the app, and you can also send courses and workouts to the Edge.

It’s available for the iPhone here (link is external)and Android phones here. (link is external)

Garmingarmin connectsmartphone app

David Arthur @davearthur
David has worked on the road.cc tech team since July 2012. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He’s a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He’s mildly competitive, though he’ll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds.

http://road.cc/content/tech-news/169547-garmin-connect-smartphone-app-updated

This year, for the first time, we are running the Raspberry Pi Creative Technologists programme, mentoring a small group of young people aged 16-21 years as they explore using digital technology to enhance their creative pursuits. One of our creative technologists, 21-year-old writer Hannah Burdett, recently published today’s post on her own blog, and when we saw it we wanted to show it to our audience as well: it’s a wonderful and useful piece about what it’s like to enter the world of digital making as a beginner, and why she hopes you’ll want to.

A cartoon sketch of Hannah Burdett, Raspberry Pi Creative Technologist
Hannah Burdett, Raspberry Pi Creative Technologist, by Sam Alder
It’s been six months since I started with Raspberry Pi. To begin with, I was terrified and felt like I didn’t belong, but I’ve reached a point where I’m truly enjoying what I’m learning. People think of arts and science/technology as polar opposites, but I’ve always thought that the two can be merged in diverse and constructive ways. Thankfully, Raspberry Pi think so too, and have let me mess around with ways to do this. My hope is that in the future more creative types will utilise technology in their work, and it will be beautiful. So today I’m sharing a few tips to help you get started. Of course, I’m nowhere near an expert, but I do know exactly what it’s like to enter the world of technology as an outsider and beginner.

TREAT LEARNING TO CODE LIKE LEARNING A LANGUAGE

There is a good reason why it’s called a coding language. It has grammatical rules to structure what you’re inputting: for example, when to use brackets and quotation marks and full stops and capitals. Coding is just as vast as any other language, and there are dozens of different coding languages to choose from, each with their own idiosyncrasies. And it takes just as long to learn. You can’t expect to pick it up without using it frequently; practice is key. You need to devote time to learning the rules, but there’s plenty of opportunity to get help.

“Python for Kids” by Jason Briggs

I would recommend the book Python for Kids by Jason Briggs. It is designed for children, but suck it up and it’ll prove it be a useful tool. I use it as a reference guide, dipping in and out, but not necessarily reading it from A to Z. There are also free online courses, and an infinite amount of documentation to learn from.

IT’S MORE CREATIVE THAN YOU THINK

If the thought of learning a language makes you want to cry, then don’t despair. Just as creative writers use language to create complex and thought-provoking stories, so does code. When constructed correctly, code forms a kind of linear narrative, telling the computer what happens and when, just like how stories inform the reader. Something equally creative and varied happens too, whether that’s a video game or a dancing robot. It also requires a lot of editing.

Light-up play dough models at Maker Faire UK 2009
Digital making with play dough: light-up models at an earlier Maker Faire UK, an extremely creative event | Photo by Mitch Altman / CC BY-SA 2.0
What’s more, the community of digital makers, hackers and programmers includes lots of people who are just as imaginative as writers in traditional media. When I was at Maker Faire UK, I was inspired by how creative the makers were. The exhibits were full of people who had started out with a question: ‘I wonder what happens when I do this?’ They put two things together (or five, or six), and if it explodes then it’s all the more fun (except when you have to buy another part to replace it; oh well). It’s an open, free way of exploring and creating. The key is to not limit your mind, not to set goals (although tempting) but to focus on experimenting with pushing the boundaries of the technology.

PREPARE TO CHANGE YOUR MINDSET, AND DON’T BE DISAPPOINTED WHEN IT DOESN’T WORK

I say when because, inevitably, it won’t work. Even if you’re following guidelines or instructions, eventually something is bound to go wrong. I struggled a lot in the beginning because I didn’t know how to make the tech do what I wanted it to, and thought I was a failure. I’ve got into the habit now of thinking, ‘Okay, why didn’t it do that?’ and ‘It’s interesting that it’s done x instead of y’. Let the technology surprise you.

A quote from Hannah, “Things will NOT go as planned…”
This is not Hannah’s handwriting; hers is probably much nicer
Part of learning is accepting that maybe you won’t be good at it straight away, or you won’t pick it up naturally. A lot of people, especially young women, feel a pressure to be good straight away. Don’t worry about other people’s expectations, just have fun with it. You may learn more slowly than others (I certainly do!) and that is perfectly okay. This is why an open mind is so useful. I’ve had to completely change my mindset over the past few months, but I’m glad I did. Although writing is creative, I’ve been doing it so long that I have a process and routine. I know what I want to write when I begin; I have set intentions and goals, and I set time limits. When it comes to programming, this mindset does not work at all.

Things will not go as you planned. Things will break, or you’ll make mistakes, and the outcome is entirely different to what you expected. This can (as it did for me) lead you to feel like you’ve accomplished nothing. The best thing is to have no expectations of yourself other than to learn something, or try something new.

STEAL FROM YOUR HEROES AND ASK FOR HELP

This is a statement that often crops up in the literary world, but it applies here too. I mean, don’t literally steal; always give credit when you’ve used someone else’s code, or a tutorial. But it’s often easier to adapt other people’s work rather than make something entirely original. It also integrates you into the community, and creators will often be really pleased to see their work put to use!

Raspberry Pi have loads of online tutorials which are designed for kids, but suitable for all beginners. I have recently been creating mini projects with Scratch, a programming environment that lets you develop interactive narratives and games. It functions like code, but instead of typing, you drag and drop components to build the script. I even published a mini game which you can play yourself!

Screenshot of Balloon Popping, a game written by Hannah in Scratch
Balloon Popping, a game written by Hannah Burdett in Scratch
The best thing about Scratch is that for every project, you can look at the ‘code’ being used. I made my game by finding similar projects and seeing how they work. After doing this for days on end, I got used to the various functions, and now I enjoy throwing bits together and seeing what happens. I’ve spent so much time on Scratch I’ve actually started dreaming in Scratch code!

A screenshot of Hannah’s balloon-popping game in action
Hannah’s very playable balloon-popping game, mid-pop
Scratch also has a great community, and users will always be happy to reply to forum posts if you get stuck. This leads me on to asking for help. Do it. Websites like GitHub exist so you can share your code with others, not only so they can use it, but so people can suggest improvements or fix problems. The online community is vast and amazing, so use it!

Remember, if you don’t try you don’t succeed. And I’d always prefer to try and fail than never do anything at all. If you’d like to talk more about this tech world, please feel free to contact me.

At the end of the programme, the Raspberry Pi Creative Technologists will be hosting an exhibition in order to showcase our projects: a culmination of a year’s work. If you would like to know more about my project, or would like to attend the exhibition, then keep following my blog for more information. You can also follow me on Twitter.

We’ll also be talking about the creative technologists’ final exhibition here, of course; Hannah is working on a project that lets players journey through a cooperative, interactive story that engages them in working together. We can’t wait to see what she and our other creative technologists make. Most of all, we’d love to see more people who are creative, but who might not usually consider digital technology as something they can use in their work, giving it a try. We think our Make resources are one good place to start.

A creative person’s guide to computing

Replaces the existing expensive and complex process needed when synthesizing new chemicals — could revolutionize pharmaceutical and biomaterials manufacturing
October 21, 2015

Proposed new simplified chemical reaction for assembling biomolecules in a single chemical reaction (credit: Tiffany Piou & Tomislav Rovis/Nature)

Colorado State University chemists have invented a single chemical reaction that couples two constituent chemicals into a carbon-carbon bond, while simultaneously introducing a nitrogen component. The process promises to replace a multi-step, expensive, and complex process needed when synthesizing new chemicals — for drug creation and testing, for example.

The researchers were able to control this reaction to make the nitrogen atoms go exactly where they want them to, making for precision chemistry that they believe could revolutionize pharmaceutical and biomaterials manufacturing.

The achievement is detailed in the journal Nature, published today (Oct. 21).

Achieving a critical carbon-nitrogen bond

The researchers explain in a statement that “almost every significant carbon-based biomolecule contains a nitrogen compound, or amine. Achieving this carbon-nitrogen bond in the lab, though, is tricky business. Drug companies know it well…. They must first create the carbon-carbon bonds, and then introduce the nitrogen to make a molecule that will do something useful.”

Ball-and-stick model of the ethylene (ethene) molecule, C2H4, the simplest alkene (credit: Benjah-bmm27 CC)

The chemists’ starting materials were simply oil refinery byproducts called olefins, or alkenes. They mixed in a specially engineered reagant, then used a complex based on the precious metal rhodium to reliably and specifically trigger the elusive carbon-nitrogen bonds.

Allene (left) and propyne (right) are examples of isomers containing different bond types (double and triple carbon bonds in this case) — with different functionalities. (credit: Wikipedia)

The innovation also controls molecular isomers (an isomer is a molecule with the same chemical formula as another molecule, but with a different chemical structure). Some isomers are mirror images, like right and left gloves, and although they’re chemically identical, their functionalities are strikingly different. Being able to select for a single isomer is critical to safety and efficacy — so much so that the FDA mandates that only single-isomer drugs be marketed for human use.

Take thalidomide, infamous for causing severe birth defects when taken by pregnant women in the 1950s. Chemically, thalidomide comes in two mirror-image isomeric forms. One caused the defects, one didn’t.

“For this reason, spatial display of groups in molecules is incredibly important,” said organic chemist Tomislav Rovis, professor of chemistry in the College of Natural Sciences at CSU. Rovis led the research with postdoctoral researcher Tiffany Piou, who designed all the chemical building blocks and ran the experiments.

“Tiffany’s finding gives us a leg up to do this in a carboamination reaction, by making the carbon carbon bond, and delivering the nitrogen selectively,” Rovis said.

The researchers hope their approach, which they liken to a tool in a toolbox, can be polished, perfected and used widely to make organic chemistry easier, and applied to many different fields.

Abstract of Rhodium-catalysed syn-carboamination of alkenes via a transient directing group

Alkenes are the most ubiquitous prochiral functional groups—those that can be converted from achiral to chiral in a single step—that are accessible to synthetic chemists. For this reason, difunctionalization reactions of alkenes (whereby two functional groups are added to the same double bond) are particularly important, as they can be used to produce highly complex molecular architectures1, 2. Stereoselective oxidation reactions, including dihydroxylation, aminohydroxylation and halogenation3, 4, 5, 6, are well established methods for functionalizing alkenes. However, the intermolecular incorporation of both carbon- and nitrogen-based functionalities stereoselectively across an alkene has not been reported. Here we describe the rhodium-catalysed carboamination of alkenes at the same (syn) face of a double bond, initiated by a carbon–hydrogen activation event that uses enoxyphthalimides as the source of both the carbon and the nitrogen functionalities. The reaction methodology allows for the intermolecular, stereospecific formation of one carbon–carbon and one carbon–nitrogen bond across an alkene, which is, to our knowledge, unprecedented. The reaction design involves the in situ generation of a bidentate directing group and the use of a new cyclopentadienyl ligand to control the reactivity of rhodium. The results provide a new way of synthesizing functionalized alkenes, and should lead to the convergent and stereoselective assembly of amine-containing acyclic molecules.

references:
Tiffany Piou & Tomislav Rovis. Rhodium-catalysed syn-carboamination of alkenes via a transient directing group. Nature (2015) doi:10.1038/nature15691. 21 October 2015
related:
Colorado State University chemists invent ‘tool’ for assembling life molecules

http://www.kurzweilai.net/a-powerful-new-tool-for-assembling-biomolecules

How the mind processes sequential memory may help understand psychiatric disorders
October 21, 2015

A representation of a stable sequential working memory; different information items or memory patterns are shown in different colors. (credit: Image adopted from Rabinovich, M.I. et al. (2014))

Try to remember a phone number. You’re now using “sequential memory,” in which your mind processes a sequence of numbers, events, or ideas. It underlies how people think, perceive, and interact as social beings. To understand how sequential memory works, researchers have built mathematical models that mimic this process.

Cognitive modes

Taking this a step further, Mikhail Rabinovich, a physicist and neurocognitive scientist at the University of California, San Diego, and a group of researchers have now mathematically modeled how the mind switches among different ways of thinking about a sequence of objects, events, or ideas that are based on the activity of “cognitive modes.”

The new model, described in an open-access paper in the journal Chaos, may help scientists understand a variety of human psychiatric conditions that may involve sequential memory, including obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar, and attention deficit disorder, schizophrenia and autism.

Cognitive modes are the basic states of neural activity. Thinking, perceiving, and any other neural activity involve various parts of the brain that work together in concert, taking on well-defined patterns.

A pathological case (in particular, schizophrenia). The sequence is unstable — the initial sequence enters a chaotic valley after the purple unit. This happens when cognitive inhibition is weak. (credit: adopted from Rabinovich, M.I. et al. (2014))

Binding process

When the mind has sequential thoughts, the cognitive modes underlying neural activity switch among different modalities. This switching is called a binding process, because the mind “binds” each cognitive mode to a certain modality.

Limitless (credit: CBS)

Consider the TV show Limitless. In the show, FBI consultant Brian Finch, aided by the fictional cognitive enhancer NZT, is able to fluidly switch between complex sets of information (modalities), such as phone numbers, using different cognitive modes — rapidly processing a series of phone numbers of suspects on a screen, or analyzing a complex diagram showing potential criminal connections, then explaining it to colleagues, all without losing a beat.

In the new analysis, the mathematicians proved a theorem to show that in their model, this binding process is robust and able to withstand perturbations from the random disturbances in the brain. Your mind is full of other irregular neural signals — from things like other neural processes or external, sensory stimuli and distractions — but if they’re not too big, they don’t affect the thinking process.

This model could be used to better understand a variety of psychiatric disorders, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder, and attention deficit disorder, Rabinovich said. The way the mind binds to different modalities, and how such binding depends on time, may be related to conditions such as autism and schizophrenia. For example, some experiments suggest that for people with these conditions, the capacity of sequential binding memory is smaller.

Rabinovich worked with Valentin Afraimovich and Xue Gong, mathematicians at the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosi in Mexico and Ohio University, respectively.

Abstract of Sequential memory: Binding dynamics

Temporal order memories are critical for everyday animal and human functioning. Experiments and our own experience show that the binding or association of various features of an event together and the maintaining of multimodality events in sequential order are the key components of any sequential memories—episodic, semantic, working, etc. We study a robustness of binding sequential dynamics based on our previously introduced model in the form of generalized Lotka-Volterra equations. In the phase space of the model, there exists a multi-dimensional binding heteroclinic network consisting of saddle equilibrium points and heteroclinic trajectories joining them. We prove here the robustness of the binding sequential dynamics, i.e., the feasibility phenomenon for coupled heteroclinic networks: for each collection of successive heteroclinic trajectories inside the unified networks, there is an open set of initial points such that the trajectory going through each of them follows the prescribed collection staying in a small neighborhood of it. We show also that the symbolic complexity function of the system restricted to this neighborhood is a polynomial of degree L − 1, where L is the number of modalities.

references:
Afraimovich, Valentin and Gong, Xue and Rabinovich, Mikhail. Sequential memory: Binding dynamics. Chaos, 25, 103118 (2015); DOI: 10.1063/1.4932563 (open access)
related:
Mathematically modeling the mind

http://www.kurzweilai.net/is-your-thinking-chaotic-theres-a-model-for-that

October 21, 2015

Children with under-formed or missing ears can undergo surgeries to fashion a new ear from rib cartilage, as shown in the above photo. But aspiring surgeons lack lifelike practice models. (credit: University of Washington)

A University of Washington (UW) otolaryngology resident and a bioengineering student have used 3-D printing to create a low-cost pediatric rib cartilage model that more closely resembles the feel of real cartilage, which is used in an operation called auricular reconstruction (ear replacement).

The innovation could make it possible for aspiring surgeons to become proficient in the sought-after but challenging procedure. And because the UW models are printed from a CT scan, they mimic an individual’s specific unique anatomy. That offers the opportunity for even an experienced surgeon to practice a particular tricky surgery ahead of time on a patient-specific rib model.

As part of the study, three experienced surgeons practiced carving, bending, and suturing the UW team’s silicone models, which were produced from a 3-D printed mold modeled from a CT scan of an 8-year-old patient. They compared their firmness, feel, and suturing quality to real rib cartilage, and to a more expensive material made out of dental impression material. They preferred the 3-D printed versions.

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The UW team used a 3-D printer to create a negative mold of a patient’s ribs from a CT scan. Surgeons take pieces of those ribs and “carve” them into a new ear. (credit: University of Washington)

Co-author Sharon Newman, who graduated from the UW with a bioengineering degree in June, teamed up with lead author Angelique Berens, a UW School of Medicine otolaryngologist, while they both worked in the UW BioRobotics Lab under electrical engineering professor Blake Hannaford.

Newman figured out how to upload and process a CT scan through a series of free, open-source modeling and imaging programs, and ultimately use a 3-D printer to print a negative mold of a patient’s ribs.

Newman had previously tested different combinations of silicone, corn starch, mineral oil and glycerin to replicate human tissue that the lab’s surgical robot could manipulate. She poured them into the molds and let them cure to see which mixture most closely resembled rib cartilage.

The team’s next steps are to get the models into the hands of surgeons and surgeons-in-training, and hopefully to demonstrate that more lifelike practice models can elevate their skills and abilities.

“With one 3-D printed mold, you can make a billion of these models for next to nothing,” said Berens. “What this research shows is that we can move forward with one of these models and start using it.”

Long waiting list

Kathleen Sie, a UW Medicine professor of otolaryngology – head and neck surgery and director of the Childhood Communication Center at Seattle Children’s, said the lack of adequate training models makes it difficult for surgeons to become comfortable performing the delicate technical procedure.

There’s typically a six- to 12-month waiting list for children to have the procedure done at Seattle Children’s, she said.

“It’s a surgery that more people could do, but this is often the single biggest roadblock,” Sie said. “They’re hesitant to start because they’ve never carved an ear before.”

Their study results were presented at the American Academy of Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery conference in Dallas.

related:
3-D printing techniques help surgeons carve new ears

http://www.kurzweilai.net/custom-3-d-printed-ear-models-help-surgeons-carve-new-ears

Apple has released OS X El Capitan 10.11.1, the first update for El Capitan since its original release in late September. Apple says the update improves the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac and recommends the update for all users.

10.11.1 has been in beta for several weeks now and brings the new Emoji characters that were rolled-out with iOS 9.1 today.

The OS X El Capitan 10.11.1 update improves the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac, and is recommended of all users.

This update:
● Improves installer reliability when upgrading to OS X El Capitan
● Improves compatibility with Microsoft Office 2016
● Fixes an issue where outgoing server information may be missing from Mail
● Resolves an issue that prevented display of messages and mailboxes in Mail
● Resolves an issue that prevents certain Audio Unit plug-ins from functioning properly
● Improves VoiceOver reliability
● Adds over 150 new emoji characters with full Unicode 7.0 and 8.0 support

If you’re currently on OS X El Capitan, navigate to the Mac App Store to update. Let us know how it goes in the comments!

http://www.iclarified.com/52108/apple-releases-os-x-el-capitan-10111-with-new-emojis-improved-compatibility-with-microsoft-office-2016-more

Another day, another fitness device that can track your distance, pace, heart rate, and nag you when you don’t exercise. This time we have the Garmin 230, 235, and 630, three great smartwatches with exercise freaks in mind.

The 230 and 235 have colorful screens and the 235 includes built-in heart rate tracking technology. They can connect to a phone to bring up notifications and it also keeps track of daily activity, not just your runs.

The 630 is a lot smarter and is focused primarily on running. From the product page:

Featuring Garmin’s most advanced running watch technology yet, the touchscreen Forerunner 630 boasts more running dynamics than its predecessor, and additional physiological measurements so runners can be more aware of their bodies before, during and after a run. Runners can stay connected and motivated throughout and in-between workouts with smart notifications, music controls and audio prompts via a compatible smartphone and daily activity tracking features. The 630 is also compatible with the Connect IQ smartwatch platform. With Connect IQ, users are able to customize their watch with additional apps, widgets, watch faces and data fields.

Stride Length: Measures the length of a runner’s stride in real time.
Ground Contact Time Balance: Measures a runner’s ground contact symmetry, which some runners have found to correlate with injuries or strength imbalances.
Vertical Ratio:The cost-benefit ratio of vertical oscillation to stride length, serving as one indictor of a runner’s efficiency.
Lactate Threshold: Estimates the level of effort at which fatigue rapidly increases in terms of a runner’s heart rate and pace.
Stress Score:Measures heart rate variability to make an assessment of a user’s overall level of stress.
Performance Condition: Provides a real-time fitness-level measurement relative to a runner’s average baseline, which indicates performance readiness for the day’s workout or races.

I’m a huge fan of Garmin gear – the one marathon I ran I wore one of the original GPS watches they made – and they keep getting better. These new watches are obviously focused on hard core exercise folks like me so if you see me jogging by at 2 miles an hour while eating a chicken sandwich then you’ll know I’ll be wearing a Garmin.

The 630 will cost $399 and the 230 and 235 cost $299 and $329, respectively. They will be available next quarter.

Garmin Releases Three New Exercise Watches To Keep You Unflabby

A fast, low-cost device for home use
October 20, 2015
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The prototype smartphone-based pesticide-detection system (credit: Qingsong Mei et al./Biosensors and Bioelectronics)

A new system that may allow people to detect pesticides cheaply and rapidly, combining a paper sensor and an Android program on a smartphone, has been developed by researchers in China and Singapore, according to a new study published in Biosensors and Bioelectronics.

As the potential effects of pesticides on health become clearer, it is increasingly important to be able to detect them in the environment and on foods, but existing gear that purpose is large, expensive, and slow.

Smaller detectors have been developed using paper as a sensor material, but they have not produced strong enough signals for detection. Now researchers at Hefei University of Technology in China and the National University of Singapore have developed a portable smartphone-based detection system using a paper sensor that they say produces signals stronger enough to allow for pesticide detection.

The researchers tested it on thiram, which is used to prevent fungal diseases in seed and crops and an animal repellent to protect fruit trees.

The device uses nanoparticles covered with copper ions that are coated onto paper, causing pesticide molecules to attach to the copper ions. A near-infrared mini-laser shines a light onto the paper, the smartphone detects the absorption spectrum, and an Android app then calculates pesticide concentration, down to 0.1 μM (micromolar) concentration.

The researchers are now developing kits that can multiplex (detect different molecules simultaneously), which would allow for testing food before using it in a meal, for example.

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.

Abstract of Smartphone based visual and quantitative assays on upconversional paper sensor

The integration of smartphone with paper sensors recently has been gain increasing attentions because of the achievement of quantitative and rapid analysis. However, smartphone based upconversional paper sensors have been restricted by the lack of effective methods to acquire luminescence signals on test paper. Herein, by the virtue of 3D printing technology, we exploited an auxiliary reusable device, which orderly assembled a 980 nm mini-laser, optical filter and mini-cavity together, for digitally imaging the luminescence variations on test paper and quantitative analyzing pesticide thiram by smartphone. In detail, copper ions decorated NaYF4:Yb/Tm upconversion nanoparticles were fixed onto filter paper to form test paper, and the blue luminescence on it would be quenched after additions of thiram through luminescence resonance energy transfer mechanism. These variations could be monitored by the smartphone camera, and then the blue channel intensities of obtained colored images were calculated to quantify amounts of thiram through a self-written Android program installed on the smartphone, offering a reliable and accurate detection limit of 0.1 μM for the system. This work provides an initial demonstration of integrating upconversion nanosensors with smartphone digital imaging for point-of-care analysis on a paper-based platform.

references:
Qingsong Mei, Huarong Jing, You Li, Wuerzha Yisibashaer, Jian Chen, Bing Nan Li, and Yong Zhang. Smartphone based visual and quantitative assays on upconversional paper sensor. Biosensors and Bioelectronics, Volume 75 (January 2016); DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2015.08.054
related:
New technology uses smartphones and paper to analyze samples

http://www.kurzweilai.net/a-portable-paper-smartphone-device-that-analyzes-trace-pesticides

October 20, 2015
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Using computer-generated light patterns, researchers were able to control the direction of spiraling electrical waves in heart cells. (credit: Eana Park)

Researchers from Oxford and Stony Brook universities has found a way to precisely control the electrical waves that regulate the rhythm of our heartbeat — using light. Their results are published in the journal Nature Photonics.

Cardiac cells in the heart and neurons in the brain communicate by electrical signals, and these messages of communication travel fast from cell to cell as “excitation waves.”

For heart patients there are currently two options to keep these waves in check: electrical devices (pacemakers or defibrillators) or drugs (e.g., beta blockers). However, these methods are relatively crude: they can stop or start waves but cannot provide fine control over the wave speed and direction.

Gil Bub, from Oxford University explained: ‘When there is scar tissue in the heart or fibrosis, this can cause part of the wave to slow down. That can cause re-entrant waves which spiral back around the tissue, causing the heart to beat much too quickly, which can be fatal. If we can control these spirals, we could prevent that.

The optogenetics solution

The solution the researchers found was optogenetics, which uses genetic modification to alter cells so that they can be activated by light. Until now, it has mainly been used to activate individual cells or to trigger excitation waves in tissue, especially in neuroscience research. “We wanted to use it to very precisely control the activity of millions of cells,” said Bub.

A light-activated protein called channelrhodopsin was delivered to heart cells using gene therapy techniques so that they could be controlled by light. Then, using a computer-controlled light projector, the team was able to control the speed of the cardiac waves, their direction and even the orientation of spirals in real time — something that never been shown for waves in a living system before.

In the short term, the ability to provide fine control means that researchers are able to carry out experiments at a level of detail previously only available using computer models. They can now compare those models to experiments with real cells, potentially improving our understanding of how the heart works. The research can also be applied to the physics of such waves in other processes. In the long run, it might be possible to develop precise treatments for heart conditions.

“Precise control of the direction, speed and shape of such excitation waves would mean unprecedented direct control of organ-level function, in the heart or brain, without having to focus on manipulating each cell individually,” said Stony Brook University scientist Emilia Entcheva.

The team stresses that there are significant hurdles before this could offer new treatments; a key issue is being able to alter the heart to be light-sensitized and being able to get the light to desired locations. However, as gene therapy moves into the clinic and with miniaturization of optical devices, use of this all-optical technology may become possible.

In the meantime, the research enables scientists to look into the physics behind many biological processes, including those in our own brains and hearts.

University of Oxford | Controlling heart tissue with light

Abstract of Optical control of excitation waves in cardiac tissue

In nature, macroscopic excitation waves are found in a diverse range of settings including chemical reactions, metal rust, yeast, amoeba and the heart and brain. In the case of living biological tissue, the spatiotemporal patterns formed by these excitation waves are different in healthy and diseased states. Current electrical and pharmacological methods for wave modulation lack the spatiotemporal precision needed to control these patterns. Optical methods have the potential to overcome these limitations, but to date have only been demonstrated in simple systems, such as the Belousov–Zhabotinsky chemical reaction. Here, we combine dye-free optical imaging with optogenetic actuation to achieve dynamic control of cardiac excitation waves. Illumination with patterned light is demonstrated to optically control the direction, speed and spiral chirality of such waves in cardiac tissue. This all-optical approach offers a new experimental platform for the study and control of pattern formation in complex biological excitable systems.

references:
Rebecca A. B. Burton, Aleksandra Klimas, Christina M. Ambrosi, Jakub Tomek, Alex Corbett, Emilia Entcheva, Gil Bub. Optical control of excitation waves in cardiac tissue. Nature Photonics, 2015; DOI: 10.1038/nphoton.2015.196
related:
Researchers learn how to steer the heart – with light

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When our solar system was born 4.6 billion years ago, only eight percent of the potentially habitable planets that will ever form in the universe existed, according to an assessment of data collected by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and Kepler space observatory and published today (Oct. 20) in an open-access paper in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

In related news, UCLA geochemists have found evidence that life probably existed on Earth at least 4.1 billion years ago, which is 300 million years earlier than previous research suggested. The research suggests life in the universe could be abundant, said Mark Harrison, co-author of the research and a professor of geochemistry at UCLA. The research was published Monday Oct. 19 in the online early edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The data show that the universe was making stars at a fast rate 10 billion years ago, but the fraction of the universe’s hydrogen and helium gas that was involved was very low. Today, star birth is happening at a much slower rate than long ago, but there is so much leftover gas available after the big bang that the universe will keep making stars and planets for a very long time to come.

A billion Earth-sized worlds

Based on the survey, scientists predict that there should already be 1 billion Earth-sized worlds in the Milky Way galaxy. That estimate skyrockets when you include the other 100 billion galaxies in the observable universe.

Kepler’s planet survey indicates that Earth-sized planets in a star’s habitable zone — the perfect distance that could allow water to pool on the surface — are ubiquitous in our galaxy. This leaves plenty of opportunity for untold more Earth-sized planets in the habitable zone to arise in the future — the last star isn’t expected to burn out until 100 trillion years from now.

The researchers say that future Earths are more likely to appear inside giant galaxy clusters and also in dwarf galaxies, which have yet to use up all their gas for building stars and accompanying planetary systems. By contrast, our Milky Way galaxy has used up much more of the gas available for future star formation.

A big advantage to our civilization arising early in the evolution of the universe is our being able to use powerful telescopes like Hubble to trace our lineage from the big bang through the early evolution of galaxies.

Regrettably, the observational evidence for the big bang and cosmic evolution, encoded in light and other electromagnetic radiation, will be all but erased away 1 trillion years from now, due to the runaway expansion of space. Any far-future civilizations that might arise will be largely clueless as to how or if the universe began and evolved.

Abstract of On The History and Future of Cosmic Planet Formation

We combine constraints on galaxy formation histories with planet formation models, yielding the Earth-like and giant planet formation histories of the Milky Way and the Universe as a whole. In the Hubble volume (1013 Mpc3), we expect there to be ∼1020 Earth-like and ∼1020giant planets; our own galaxy is expected to host ∼109 and ∼1010 Earth-like and giant planets, respectively. Proposed metallicity thresholds for planet formation do not significantly affect these numbers. However, the metallicity dependence for giant planets results in later typical formation times and larger host galaxies than for Earth-like planets. The Solar system formed at the median age for existing giant planets in the Milky Way, and consistent with past estimates, formed after 80 per cent of Earth-like planets. However, if existing gas within virialized dark matter haloes continues to collapse and form stars and planets, the Universe will form over 10 times more planets than currently exist. We show that this would imply at least a 92 per cent chance that we are not the only civilization the Universe will ever have, independent of arguments involving the Drake equation.

Abstract of Potentially biogenic carbon preserved in a 4.1 billion-year-old zircon

Evidence for carbon cycling or biologic activity can be derived from carbon isotopes, because a high12C/13C ratio is characteristic of biogenic carbon due to the large isotopic fractionation associated with enzymatic carbon fixation. The earliest materials measured for carbon isotopes at 3.8 Ga are isotopically light, and thus potentially biogenic. Because Earth’s known rock record extends only to ∼4 Ga, earlier periods of history are accessible only through mineral grains deposited in later sediments. We report 12C/13C of graphite preserved in 4.1-Ga zircon. Its complete encasement in crack-free, undisturbed zircon demonstrates that it is not contamination from more recent geologic processes. Its 12C-rich isotopic signature may be evidence for the origin of life on Earth by 4.1 Ga.

references:
Peter Behroozi and Molly Peeples. On The History and Future of Cosmic Planet Formation. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2015 DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stv1817 (open access)
Elizabeth A. Bell, Patrick Boehnke, T. Mark Harrison, and Wendy L. Mao. Potentially biogenic carbon preserved in a 4.1 billion-year-old zircon. PNAS, October 19, 2015 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1517557112 (open access)
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http://www.kurzweilai.net/most-earth-like-worlds-have-yet-to-be-born-says-new-nasa-study