Culture

Researchers from Boston University and University of Virginia published a new paper in the Journal of Marketing that examines how consumers respond to AI recommenders when focused on the functional and practical aspects of a product (its utilitarian value) versus the experiential and sensory aspects of a product (its hedonic value).

The study, forthcoming in the the Journal of Marketing, is titled "Artificial Intelligence in Utilitarian vs. Hedonic Contexts: The 'Word-of-Machine' Effect" and is authored by Chiara Longoni and Luca Cian.

More and more companies are leveraging technological advances in AI, machine learning, and natural language processing to provide recommendations to consumers. As these companies evaluate AI-based assistance, one critical question must be asked: When do consumers trust the "word of machine," and when do they resist it?

A new Journal of Marketing study explores reasons behind the preference of recommendation source (AI vs. human). The key factor in deciding how to incorporate AI recommenders is whether consumers are focused on the functional and practical aspects of a product (its utilitarian value) or on the experiential and sensory aspects of a product (its hedonic value).

Relying on data from over 3,000 study participants, the research team provides evidence supporting a word-of-machine effect, defined as the phenomenon by which the trade-offs between utilitarian and hedonic aspects of a product determine the preference for, or resistance to, AI recommenders. The word-of-machine effect stems from a widespread belief that AI systems are more competent than humans at dispensing advice when functional and practical qualities (utilitarian) are desired and less competent when the desired qualities are experiential and sensory-based (hedonic). Consequently, the importance or salience of utilitarian attributes determine preference for AI recommenders over human ones, while the importance or salience of hedonic attributes determine resistance to AI recommenders over human ones.

The researchers tested the word-of-machine effect using experiments designed to assess people's tendency to choose products based on consumption experiences and recommendation source. Longoni explains that "We found that when presented with instructions to choose products based solely on utilitarian/functional attributes, more participants chose AI-recommended products. When asked to only consider hedonic/experiential attributes, a higher percentage of participants chose human recommenders."

When utilitarian features are most important, the word-of-machine effect was more distinct. In one study, participants were asked to imagine buying a winter coat and rate how important utilitarian/functional attributes (e.g., breathability) and hedonic/experiential attributes (e.g., fabric type) were in their decision making. The more utilitarian/functional features were highly rated, the greater the preference for AI over human assistance, and the more hedonic/experiential features were highly rated, the greater the preference for human over AI assistance.

Another study indicated that when consumers wanted recommendations matched to their unique preferences, they resisted AI recommenders and preferred human recommenders regardless of hedonic or utilitarian preferences. These results suggest that companies whose customers are known to be satisfied with "one size fits all" recommendations (i.e., not in need of a high level of customization) may rely on AI-systems. However, companies whose customers are known to desire personalized recommendations should rely on humans.

Although there is a clear correlation between utilitarian attributes and consumer trust in AI recommenders, companies selling products that promise more sensorial experiences (e.g., fragrances, food, wine) may still use AI to engage customers. In fact, people embrace AI's recommendations as long as AI works in partnership with humans. When AI plays an assistive role, "augmenting" human intelligence rather than replacing it, the AI-human hybrid recommender performs as well as a human-only assistant.

Overall, the word-of-machine effect has important implications as the development and adoption of AI, machine learning, and natural language processing challenges managers and policy-makers to harness these transformative technologies. As Cian says, "The digital marketplace is crowded and consumer attention span is short. Understanding the conditions under which consumers trust, and do not trust, AI advice will give companies a competitive advantage in this space."

Singapore, 25 November 2020 - From climate change to the ongoing pandemic and beyond, the issues facing today's world are increasingly complex and dynamic. Yet solving problems like these - which interweave social, environmental, physical, and political factors - requires new approaches that extend beyond traditional ways of thinking. It requires people to draw upon and integrate seemingly disparate areas of knowledge, such as the arts and the sciences. This kind of integrative thinking, or the ability to combine knowledge from diverse fields, is critical for generating effective, innovative solutions to tackle local and global problems. A study led by Yale-NUS College Assistant Professor of Psychology, Paul A. O'Keefe, found that having a "growth mindset of interest" may spark this type of innovation.

Asst Prof O'Keefe, who also holds a courtesy appointment with the National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School, had established in an earlier set of studies that people hold different beliefs about the nature of interest. Those with a growth mindset of interest tend to believe that interests can be developed and cultivated, while those with a fixed mindset of interest tend to believe that interests are inherent and simply need to be 'found.' In their foundational research, they showed that those with a growth mindset were more open to areas outside of their core, pre-existing interests than were those with a fixed mindset.

Building on these findings, the latest research examined how a growth mindset of interest can boost integrative thinking across the traditional disciplinary boundaries of arts and sciences. Conducted by a team from Yale-NUS College, comprising Asst Prof O'Keefe, Senior Research Fellow E. J. Horberg and Yale-NUS alumni Anandita Sabherwal, Gabrielle C. Ibasco, and Adlin Binti Zainal, this new research was recently published in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.

The study found that a growth mindset of interest can increase people's tendency and ability to generate ideas that bridge their well-established area of interest (say, in the arts) with one outside of it (like the sciences). For example, in one task, research participants were instructed to create new college majors by combining two or more existing academic Arts or Science programmes at their university. After coding and analysing the ideas they generated, the team found that people with a growth, as compared to a fixed, mindset of interest were more likely to bridge programmes across the arts and sciences to create new majors like computational linguistics - the use of computer modelling to understand natural language - rather than creating majors that drew from only one of those areas, like computational chemistry - the use of computer modelling to understand chemical processes. The analysis also revealed higher quality integrative ideas from individuals with a growth mindset.

Asst Prof O'Keefe emphasised that understanding these connections can have important implications for organisations. "This research provides a useful direction for organisations whose products and services call for integrated and creative solutions. Take smartphones, for example. You not only need computer science and engineering knowledge, but also an understanding of psychology and visual design to create a product that is useful and resonates with the user. When organisations hire people with a growth mindset, or promote it among their employees, those employees may be more likely to devise innovative ideas that bridge multiple areas of knowledge to achieve better solutions," Asst Prof O'Keefe elaborated.

The benefits of a growth mindset of interest may also extend to those seeking employment. This is a pressing issue because many people are becoming unemployed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as developments in automation and artificial intelligence. Added Asst Prof O'Keefe, "Having a growth mindset of interest can help job seekers expand their vocational interests and become more adaptable and open to different fields, and take the initiative to learn new skills. For example, whereas some engineers may restrict themselves to technical roles, an engineer who develops an interest in marketing might accrue the skills and knowledge needed to gain employment in the sales team of an engineering firm."

In addition, the research supports the rationale for interdisciplinary learning to better prepare students for the unpredictable future, as well as for training them to be flexible thinkers and problem solvers. An interdisciplinary education enables students to develop a breadth of knowledge across different fields and teaches them to integrate these ideas. However, Asst Prof O'Keefe noted that there is more to this than simply designing an interdisciplinary curriculum. While undergraduates with a growth mindset of interest are more likely to take advantage of the diversity of learning opportunities that universities offer, those with a fixed mindset may remain fixated on their pre-existing interests or "calling," and may fail to see how outside areas of knowledge can be connected and integrated with their existing interests. Over time, those with a growth mindset are more likely to become interdisciplinary thinkers and carry that tendency to their working life, better preparing them to succeed in an economy that increasingly values innovative, interdisciplinary solutions.

Given the potential of a growth mindset of interest for innovation, this begs the question: Can a growth mindset of interest be cultivated? "Under the right circumstances, absolutely," said Asst Prof O'Keefe. "People can be influenced to adopt a growth mindset of interest if they are immersed in an environment with a culture that promotes and reinforces the idea that interests can grow and develop. Moreover, there must be opportunities for people to act on their belief that new interests can develop. Therefore, universities and organisations, among others, may wish to provide opportunities to explore new topics and activities, be it through workshops, elective courses, or facilitating collaborations among people with different areas of interest and expertise."

Asst Prof O'Keefe elaborated, "Understanding that interests can develop is the first step. It takes time and conducive environments to develop and reinforce that mindset. Ultimately, that may spark out-of-the-box thinking and game-changing innovations."

The Loricifera is a microscopic, sediment-dwelling marine invertebrate, with a head covered in over 200 spines and an abdomen with a protective shell - known as a lorica. Since it was first discovered in 1983, just under 40 species have been written about. Now, that number is one more thanks to a group of scientists who reported on a new genus and species of Loricifera.

Their findings were published in the Journal Marine Biodiversity.

"Loricifera is a rare animal that is still under-researched, but our recent finding improves our understanding of the species' diversity," said lead author Shinta Fujimoto.

Loricifera typically inhabit the space between sand and mud particles in the ocean. Fossils exist from the Cambrian period, suggesting a long existence on Earth. They have complicated life cycles and a few species are reported to live in anoxic environments. Their exact position on the animal tree of life is unknown.

Researchers from Tohoku University, Kyushu University, Mie University, Hiroshima University and the University of Copenhagen reported on a new species of Loricifera inhabiting Japan's area from the continental slope to the deeper sea - roughly 177 m to 1059 m below the sea. This marks the second time a new Loricifera species has been found near Japan; the last one was discovered in 1988 in the Izu-Ogasawara Trench.

Fujimoto and his team hope to uncover as much as they can about this rare species. "Each new species provides us with answers, but also more questions. We will keep on looking for these extraordinary animals to understand the species' diversity, ecology, life history and evolution."

Perovskite solar cells are attracting attention as the next-generation solar battery material thanks to their low processing cost and excellent photovoltaic quality. However, it is difficult to commercialize them because their key material - perovskite - is vulnerable to light and moisture.

Recently, a POSTECH research team has developed an organic spacer molecular additive that can improve both the photoelectric efficiency and stability of perovskite.

A POSTECH research team led by Professor Kilwon Cho and Ph.D. candidate Sungwon Song of the Department of Chemical Engineering has succeeded in fabricating perovskite solar cells that are highly efficient and stable by drastically reducing the concentration of internal defects in the crystals as well as increasing the moisture resistance of perovskite by introducing a new organic spacer molecule additive in the perovskite crystal. The study was published as a cover paper in the latest issue of Advanced Energy Materials, one of the most authoritative journals in the field of energy.

By adding organic spacer ions to solve the problem, the research team developed a hybrid perovskite photovoltaic layer where two- and three-dimensional perovskite coexist. Organic spacers create two-dimensional perovskite structures on the surface of 3D perovskite crystals. These structures act as stabilizing layer that increases resistance to moisture due to its property of repelling water.

In addition, it was discovered for the first time that this newly introduced organic spacer minimizes mechanical stress of the two- and three-dimensional perovskite crystal interfaces, thus promoting the nuclear production and growth of the 3D perovskite crystal. As a result, the internal defects of the photoreactive layer - the 3D perovskite crystals - have been dramatically reduced.

The solar cells developed by the research team achieved 21.3 % efficiency and secured moisture stability to maintain more than 80% of their initial efficiency even after 500 hours under 60% of relative humidity conditions.

"This study has presented a new perspective on organic spacer molecular design for the realization of high performing and stable perovskite solar cells," remarked Professor Kilwon Cho who led the study. He added, "It is anticipated to be a source technology that can contribute to the commercialization of perovskite solar cell technology."

Space-momentum domain interferometer is a key technique in modern precision measurements, and has been widely for applications that require superb spatial resolution in engineering metrology and astronomy. Extending such interferometric technique to the time-energy domain is a significant complement to spatial domain measurements and is anticipated to provide time resolving capability for tracing ultrafast processes. However, such applications for high precision time domain measurement, especially the state of the art attosecond time resolved measurement is less explored despite its great significance.

Recently, the ultrafast optics team from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China made exciting progress and developed an all-optical attosecond few slit interferometer and demonstrated its applications in time-energy domain high precision measurement. It is based on laser driven high order harmonics, which is essentially a time domain Young's interferometer with the attosecond pulse train as the diffraction slits. By introducing an external weak field to perturb the harmonic generation process, the phase of the attosecond temporal slits changes resulting in a noticeable energy shift of the harmonics. The authors have derived a simple intuitive formula to depict the energy shift induced by the perturbing field, from which a wave-front controlled attosecond interferometry preserving attosecond temporal resolution and hundreds of meV energy resolution is implemented.

As the first application, the authors utilized the time resolving capability of the interferometer for real-time probing of a petahertz electromagnetic field. The strong field approximation analysis shows that the energy shift of the harmonics is proportional to a linear combination of two delayed perturbing pulses. Following a trivial Fourier analysis, the electric field of the perturbing pulse can be readily retrieved. Such method can be easily generalized for reconstructing signals with an arbitrary state of polarization

As the second application, the authors utilized the energy resolving capability of the interferometer to interrogate the abnormal phase jump of the transition dipole near a Cooper minimum in argon. When multiple harmonics are considered simultaneously, the time separation of attosecond slits becomes trackable in an energy resolved manner, and the reshaping of EUV temporal structure near a Cooper minimum in argon is clearly revealed. This novel attosecond interferometry has extended the interferometer-based high precision measurement to time-energy domain with an all-optical approach. It can potentially find significant applications in probing structural dynamics of complex targets.

WASHINGTON, November 24, 2020 -- Plasma medicine is an emerging field, as plasmas show promise for use in a wide range of therapies from wound healing to cancer treatment. Plasma jets are the main plasma sources typically used in plasma-surface applications. Before applications can progress, however, a better understanding of how plasma jets modify the surfaces of biological tissue is required.

To help with this understanding, researchers from the Russian Academy of Sciences conducted computer simulations of the interaction between an atmospheric pressure plasma jet with a surface that has properties similar to blood serum. They present their analysis in the Journal of Applied Physics, from AIP Publishing.

"While using the plasma jets for the purpose of plasma medicine, it is important to know that the presence or absence of the treated surface in vicinity of a jet significantly influences jet parameters," said Natalia Babaeva, one of the authors. "For example, the wounds with blood serum can have different properties. These properties can also vary during the plasma treatment."

Depending on the characteristics of the tissue being treated, the plasma jet can behave in a number of different ways. The ionization waves produced by plasma jets may reflect back and forth, or they can spread over the tissue as surface discharge.

For the type of plasma Babaeva and her team studied, they found that the biomaterial-like surface can lead to multiple reflections of the plasma jet, and with each passage, the number of electrons and radicals -- a type of very reactive molecule -- increases. Specifically, the radicals identified are oxygen, hydroxide, hydrogen peroxide, ozone, and nitric oxide, also known as reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species.

"Reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species are important for the actions of antimicrobial drugs, cancer, and wound healing therapies," Babaeva said, adding that they both play an active role in the immune systems of animals and plants.

Quantifying these radicals and understanding the direction and magnitude of their flow is important for optimizing plasmas for use in biomedical applications, where the ability to control their behavior to some degree is crucial. The team's simulations provide the means to predict this behavior.

"This prediction is very important, as it determines the plasma treatment potential," Babaeva said. "Our research adds some knowledge on the particular behavior of the jet in the presence of highly conductive surfaces."

What The Study Did: Researchers looked at changes in the rates of emergency department visits for children who swallowed small high-powered magnets over a period of change in federal regulations of these magnets.

Authors: Michael R. Flaherty, D.O., of MassGeneral Hospital for Children in Boston, is the corresponding author.

To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/

(doi:10.1001/jama.2020.19153)

Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

Men who have the Western world's most common genetic disorder, haemochromatosis, are ten times more likely to develop liver cancer, according to a major new study.

Research led by the University of Exeter and published in the internationally renowned journal JAMA has led to renewed calls for routine early testing for the iron overload condition haemochromatosis, previously thought to be a lower-level health risk. The finding could add more weight to calls for the UK National Screening Committee to recommend screening for the condition, which is currently under consultation.

The new study projected that more than seven per cent of men with two copies of the faulty haemochromatosis genes would develop liver cancer by age 75, compared to just 0.6 per cent in the general population. An estimated 175,000 men and boys of European ancestry in the UK have these faulty genes. They are particularly prevalent in Celtic bloodlines, meaning the UK and parts of North America have some of the highest rates in the world.

The research is led by the University of Exeter Medical School in the UK, in collaboration with the University of Connecticut, and Western University in Ontario, and South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust. Funded by the UK Medical Research Council, the study adds to the evidence to back widespread early testing for the condition. Previously, the Exeter team found that having the haemochromatosis double faulty gene quadruples the risk of liver disease and doubles the risk of arthritis and frailty in older age groups. It also causes higher risk of diabetes and chronic pain.

Reliable tests are available to identify those at risk - blood tests for measuring iron levels (serum ferritin, transferrin saturation) and genetic testing (HFE C282Y genetic blood test). Symptoms can include feeling tired all the time, muscle weakness and joint pains, meaning it is often misdiagnosed as the signs of ageing. Most of those with liver cancer develop liver damage first, often progressing to cirrhosis of the liver. Once diagnosed, the condition is easily treated by a process similar to donating blood several times a year, to lower iron levels.

The team analysed data from 2,890 men and women with two copies of the faulty gene (called HFE C282Y homozygous), from the UK Biobank, a large biomedical database of more than half a million British men and women recruited between 2006 and 2010 from across England, Scotland and Wales. People were aged 40 to 70 at the start of the study and were followed for a nine-year period. Twenty-one of the 1,294 men with the faulty genes studied have developed liver cancer thus far, of whom 14 died due to their liver cancer. Ten of these 21 men were not diagnosed with haemochromatosis by the time they had a liver cancer diagnosis.

Haemochromatosis is more serious in men, with women partially protected because they lose iron through menstruation and childbirth, although some younger women do develop the disease. The study found no increase in liver cancer risk in women with faulty haemochromatosis genes.

Dr Janice Atkins, Research Fellow at the University of Exeter and first author of the paper, said: "The haemochromatosis faulty genes are relatively common in people with European ancestries, and are causing potentially fatal diseases such as liver cancer. Unfortunately, haemochromatosis is often diagnosed too late. Earlier diagnosis could prevent so much unnecessary disease."

Professor David Melzer, who led the team, said: "Tragically, men with the haemochromatosis faulty genes have been dying of liver cancer for many years, but this was thought to be rare. The large scale of UK Biobank study allowed us to measure cancer risk accurately. We were shocked to find that more than seven per cent of men with two faulty genes are likely to develop liver cancer by age 75, particularly considering that the UK has the second highest rate of these faulty genes in the world. Fortunately most of these cancers could be prevented with early treatment. Blood donations made during routine treatment of haemochromatosis can be used for other patients, so early diagnosis would actually be a win-win for the NHS."

Dr Jeremy Shearman, a specialist in liver disease and an adviser to the charity Haemochromatosis UK, said: "Physicians and scientists have long acknowledged that iron overload is an important co-factor fuelling the development of many serious diseases including cancer. This research is a vital step towards quantifying that risk and should raise awareness of the importance of iron in the minds of both clinicians and patients. Measurement of iron stores and recognition of the genetic risk of iron overload needs to become a routine part of health assessment and monitoring in the UK."

Professor Paul Adams Western University's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, who has been studying haemochromatosis in Canada for more than four decades, said: "The UK Biobank project is a glimpse into the future of medicine where all known genes are tested and then treatable conditions are offered treatment before serious complications develop. An early diagnosis of haemochromatosis can be treated by regular blood donation in Canada."

Neil McClements, Chief Executive of Haemochromatosis UK, said: "This paper underlines the need for early diagnosis to save lives. We know from our work as the UK's only charity supporting people affected by genetic haemochromatosis that many men experience unnecessary suffering from liver cancer, caused by their genetic condition. But it's not just men who suffer - their families and loved ones do, too."

The NHS advises that it is important to talk to your GP if you have a parent or sibling with haemochromatosis, even if you don't have symptoms yourself - tests can be done to check if you're at risk of developing problems. People are also advised to talk to their GPs about haemochromatosis if they have the following persistent or worrying symptoms - particularly if you have a northern European family background. Typical symptoms include feeling very tired all the time (fatigue); weight loss; weakness and joint pain. Also, some men with haemochromatosis develop an inability to get or maintain an erection (erectile dysfunction), and some women have irregular periods or absent periods. These symptoms usually come on between ages 30 and 60.

Does the sight of maggots squirming in rotten food make you look away in disgust? The phrase 'makes my stomach turn' takes on a new meaning today as researchers at the University of Cambridge reveal that changes in the rhythm of our stomachs prompt us to look away from disgusting images.

Disgust is a natural response to unpleasant sights, such as rotting food, bodily waste and creepy crawlies, and has evolved to help us survive, encouraging us to avoid things that might spread disease. But for some people, disgust can become pathological, affecting their mental health and quality of life.

In a study published today in Current Biology, researchers at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit show that domperidone, a commonly-prescribed anti-nausea medicine, can help significantly reduce how much volunteers look away from disgusting images.

Domperidone works by stabilising the rhythm of the electrical signals in our stomach muscles. Normally, these signals help the stomach expand and contract, helping move food through the digestive tract. These rhythms become abnormal when we are nauseous or when we are hungry or full, for example. When they are strongly disrupted - for example, when we feel strong revulsion towards something - they can cause us to throw up the contents of our stomach.

In the study, twenty-five volunteers aged 18-35 were randomly assigned to one of two groups: one group to receive domperidone, the second a placebo.

Before taking their pills, the volunteers were shown a series of unpleasant images along with neutral images, such as a scarf or buttons, while the researchers tracked their eye movements. Thirty minutes after taking their tablets, the volunteers were again shown the images while their eye movements were tracked.

Next, the researchers offered an incentive to the volunteers: for every four to eight seconds that they could look at a disgusting image, they would receive 25p - and hear a 'kerching!' sound. The volunteers then viewed the images again for a final round, but this time with no incentive.

The volunteers were also asked to rate how disgusting they found the images at the start and end of the trial.

The researchers found that initially, taking domperidone made little difference to the time the volunteers spent looking at a particular image. As could be expected among both groups, the dwell time increased dramatically when they were paid to look at the images.

In the final condition - when the volunteers were no longer being incentivised - the team found that volunteers who had received domperidone spent significantly longer than the placebo group looking at the disgusting images. By the end, people looked at the neutral image roughly 5.5 seconds more than the disgusting image, but under the influence of domperidone, the difference was only about 2.5 seconds.

Domperidone made no difference to how disgusting the volunteers rated the images to be.

"We've known for some time that when you see something disgusting, your stomach muscles' electrical signals become dysregulated, which in some cases causes people to feel sick or their stomach to turn. You're then likely to avoid that thing," said Dr Camilla Nord from the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at the University of Cambridge.

"What we've shown here is that when we steady the stomach's electrical signals, people become less avoidant of a disgusting image after engaging with it. Changes in the stomach's rhythm led to reduced disgust avoidance in our study - and so the stomach's rhythm must be one cause of disgust avoidance in general."

"In another recent study, we showed that we do not become immune to looking at disgusting images - a fact supported by the placebo condition in this new study," said Dr Edwin Dalmaijer, also from the MRC Unit. "This is one reason why treating pathological disgust by exposure is often unsuccessful. Our research suggests domperidone may help."

"We've shown that by calming the rhythms of our stomach muscles using anti-nausea drugs, we can help reduce our instinct to look away from a disgusting image," added Professor Tim Dalgleish, also from the MRC Unit, "but just using the drug itself isn't enough: overcoming disgust avoidance requires us to be motivated or incentivised. This could provide us with clues on how we can help people overcome pathological disgust clinically, which occurs in a number of mental health conditions and can be disabling."

Explaining why the stomach should play a role in our disgust response, Dr Nord added: "When the brain constructs its representation of the environment, it integrates signals from the outside world, such as 'is it daylight?' with signals from the inside world, such as 'am I hungry?'. So your internal environment, and your perception of it, plays a large role in how you experience the world.

"Many studies have shown that the state of our body influences emotion, perception, and action. For example, the timing and your awareness of your heartbeats influences learning, anxiety, and other emotion perception. Our study shows that the state of your stomach also influences your behaviour."

Robots so tiny that they can manoeuvre through our blood vessels and deliver medications to certain points in the body - researchers have been pursuing this goal for years. Now, scientists at ETH Zurich have succeeded for the first time in building such "micromachines" out of metal and plastic, in which these two materials are interlocked as closely as links in a chain. This is possible thanks to a new manufacturing technique they have devised.

"Metals and polymers have different properties, and both materials offer certain advantages in building micromachines. Our goal was to benefit from all these properties simultaneously by combining the two," explains Carlos Alcântara, formerly a doctoral student in Salvador Pané's group at the Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems and one of the two lead authors of the paper. As a rule, micromachines are powered from outside the body using magnetic fields, which means they must have magnetic metal parts installed. Polymers, in contrast, have the advantage that they can be used to construct soft, flexible components as well as parts that dissolve inside the body. If medication is embedded in this kind of soluble polymer, it is possible to selectively supply active substances to certain points in the body.

High-tech production method

Underpinning the new manufacturing method is the expertise of ETH Professor Salvador Pané. For years, he has been working with a high-precision 3D printing technique that produces complex objects on the micrometre level, a technique known as 3D lithography. The ETH scientists applied this method to produce a kind of mould or template for their micromachines. These templates have narrow grooves that serve as a "negative" and can be filled with the chosen materials.

Using electrochemical deposition, the scientists fill some of the grooves with metal and others with polymers before ultimately dissolving the template away with solvents. "Our interdisciplinary group consists of electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, chemists, and materials scientists who all work closely together. That was the key to developing this method," says Fabian Landers, a doctoral student in Pané's group. He is the other lead author of the paper, which has been published in the journal Nature Communications.

Vehicle with tiny magnetic wheels

As a proof of principle for making micromachines by interlocking materials, the ETH scientists created various miniscule vehicles with plastic chassis and magnetic metal wheels powered by means of a rotating magnetic field. Some of the vehicles can be propelled across a glass surface, while others - depending on the polymer used - can float in liquid or on a liquid surface.

The scientists are now planning to refine their two-component micromachines and experiment with other materials. In addition, they will attempt to create more complex shapes and machines, including some that can fold and unfold themselves. Besides serving as "ferries" that distribute active substances, future applications of micromachines include treating aneurysms (bulges in blood vessels) or performing other surgical procedures. Another research goal is to make stents (tube shaped vessel supports) that unfold themselves and can be positioned at a specific place in the body using magnetic fields.

The only dinosaur bones ever found on the island of Ireland have been formally confirmed for the first time by a team of experts from the University of Portsmouth and Queen's University Belfast, led by Dr Mike Simms, a curator and palaeontologist at National Museums NI.

The two fossil bones were found by the late Roger Byrne, a schoolteacher and fossil collector, who donated them along with many other fossils to Ulster Museum. Analysis has confirmed they are from early Jurassic rocks found in Islandmagee, on the east coast of County Antrim.

Ulster Museum has announced plans to put them on display when it reopens after the latest rounds of restrictions are lifted.

Dr Simms, National Museums NI, said: "This is a hugely significant discovery. The great rarity of such fossils here is because most of Ireland's rocks are the wrong age for dinosaurs, either too old or too young, making it nearly impossible to confirm dinosaurs existed on these shores. The two dinosaur fossils that Roger Byrne found were perhaps swept out to sea, alive or dead, sinking to the Jurassic seabed where they were buried and fossilised."

The article, published in the Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, is part of a larger project to document Jurassic rocks in Northern Ireland and draws on many fossils in Ulster Museum's collections.

Originally it was assumed the fossils were from the same animal, but the team were surprised to discover that they were from two completely different dinosaurs. The study, employing the latest available technology, identified the type of dinosaur from which each came. One is part of a femur (upper leg bone) of a four-legged plant-eater called Scelidosaurus. The other is part of the tibia (lower leg bone) of a two-legged meat-eater similar to Sarcosaurus.

The University of Portsmouth team, researcher Robert Smyth, originally from Ballymoney, and Professor David Martill, used high-resolution 3D digital models of the fossils, produced by Dr Patrick Collins of Queen's University Belfast, in their analysis of the bone fragments.

Robert Smyth said: "Analysing the shape and internal structure of the bones, we realised that they belonged to two very different animals. One is very dense and robust, typical of an armoured plant-eater. The other is slender, with thin bone walls and characteristics found only in fast-moving two-legged predatory dinosaurs called theropods."

"Despite being fragmentary, these fossils provide valuable insight on a very important period in dinosaur evolution, about 200 million years ago. It's at this time that dinosaurs really start to dominate the world's terrestrial ecosystems."

Professor Martill said: "Scelidosaurus keeps on turning up in marine strata, and I am beginning to think that it may have been a coastal animal, perhaps even eating seaweed like marine iguanas do today."

Infants' brains may be shaped by levels of stress their mother experiences during pregnancy, a study has revealed.

Stress levels in mothers - measured by a hormone linked to anxiety and other health problems - is related to changes in areas of the infant brain associated with emotional development, the study suggests.

Doctors say the findings highlight the urgent need for women to be better supported with their mental and physical health before and during pregnancy, and could help them spot mums and babies who need help.

The experts add that pregnant women who feel stressed or unwell should seek help from their midwife or consultant and that with support, most health issues can be well managed in pregnancy.

Maternal stress is known to influence the development of the child's behaviour and ability to regulate its emotions as it grows. This is usually measured by questionnaires, which are not always reliable.

The new study is the first time that scientists have used an objective measure - levels of the hormone cortisol - in the mother to study links with baby brain development.

Cortisol is involved in the body's response to stress - with higher levels indicating higher stress - and also plays a role in foetal growth.

A research team led by the University of Edinburgh showed that levels of cortisol are linked to the development of the baby's amygdala, an area of the brain known to be involved in emotional and social development in childhood.

For the study, scientists took hair samples from 78 pregnant women to determine the women's levels of cortisol in the previous three months.

The women's babies underwent a series of brain scans using Magnetic Resonance Imaging, or MRI, a non-invasive scan that took place whilst the baby slept.

The researchers found that higher levels of cortisol in the mother's hair were linked to structural changes in the infants' amygdala as well as differences in brain connections.

Doctors say this could explain why children whose mothers experienced high levels of stress during pregnancy may be more likely to have emotional issues in later life.

They caution, however, that the study did not assess emotion in children.

The study was funded by the global children's charity, Theirworld, and is published in the journal eLife.

Lead researcher, Professor James Boardman, Director of the Jennifer Brown Research Laboratory at the MRC Centre for Reproductive Health at the University of Edinburgh, said: "Our findings are a call to action to detect and support pregnant women who need extra help during pregnancy as this could be an effective way of promoting healthy brain development in their babies".

Professor Rebecca Reynolds, Personal Chair of Metabolic Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, who co-led the study, said: "Thankfully, psychological treatments are very successful at helping mothers and children and we hope that our findings could guide therapies in future to help spot those who might be most in need of support."

Sarah Brown, Chair of Theirworld, said: "This research highlights how important it is to support women's mental health during pregnancy to ensure that their needs are met and that their babies have the best start in life. Helping mothers cope with stress is an important step to ensure both mum and baby thrive."

Trinity College researchers are studying how the brain re-wires itself in neurological disease. The team is building treatments for today's more common global conditions like Motor Neurone Disease (MND/ALS) and Spinal Muscular Atrophy and their findings could impact rehabilitation for patients, the discovery of effective drugs and quantifying the potential efficacy of new therapies.

The paper is published in the journal Clinical Neurophysiology here: https://bit.ly/38On53Y .

Up to now, scientific knowledge has told us that the polio virus affects the spinal cord, but not the brain. The Trinity team have shown this not to be the case; finding previously unknown changes also occurring in the brain networks. These findings suggest that brain networks engage in an abnormal but active communication with muscles in patient groups studied.

Today, polio is a rare condition in the world, as it has been reasonably controlled by vaccination over several decades. Incidentally, there are people in Ireland who have had the disease in the past and live with its consequences. Polio is a viral infection that damages the neural cells (neurons) in the spinal cord. Neurons take up, process and transmit information through electrical and chemical signals to other parts of the body, including muscles, for movement.

The study considerably increases the team's understanding of how the neurological and neurodegenerative diseases in parts of the nervous systems can affect brain networks , and how these networks can compensate following damage. This work helps them understand how the networks that control the movement work and how they influence and are influenced by different disease mechanisms.

Because the polio virus affects the same neurons in the spinal cord such as Motor Neuron Disease (MND/ALS) and childhood onset Spinal Muscular Atrophy ,this work is extremely important in driving our global effort to find treatments for these diseases.

The team, led by Professor Orla Hardiman, Professor of Neurology at the School of Medicine, Trinity College assessed the abnormal changes in the neural networks underlying human movements that take place due to neurological and neurodegenerative diseases. The assessment was made using neuro-electric measurement of the brain activity (brain waves or EEG) and the muscle activity (EMG) and some complex signal analysis.

The study will be supporting the emerging approaches to diagnosis and therapy (precision medicine) where the patients can be diagnosed and treated (with rehabilitation and new drug treatments) based on how exactly their neural networks are affected (on an individual basis). This will be applicable both to the patient group in this study, but also, in cognate conditions such as different forms of MND/ALS.

Dr Amina Coffey, PhD researcher, Clinical Medicine, Trinity College and first author, said:

"This study shows that neurophysiological markers can pick up changes in brain connectivity patterns that have implications in our understanding of other similar neurological conditions like Spinal Muscular Atrophy."

Dr Bahman Nasseroleslami, Assistant Professor, Clinical Medicine, Trinity College and senior author, said:

"This study is especially interesting, because it shows that advanced methods in neurophysiology and neural signal analysis can help to unravel new aspects of how different diseases disrupt our movements. These types of inexpensive non-invasive methods can be further developed for probing the different "neural networks" in humans that are responsible for different day-to-day movements and different diseases that affect them."

Professor Orla Hardiman, Professor of Neurology, Clinical Medicine, Trinity College and co-author, said:

"Our research findings show for the first time that the brain "rewires" in those who suffered from polio in childhood.

This has implications for our understanding of brain plasticity, and in the longer term for rehabilitation and new biomarker development."

The addition and removal of methyl groups on DNA plays an important role in gene regulation. In order to study these mechanisms more precisely, a German team has developed a new method by which specific methylation sites can be blocked and then unblocked at a precise time through irradiation with light (photocaging). As reported in the journal Angewandte Chemie, the required regent is produced enzymatically, in situ.

Although they look very different and serve completely different functions, all cells in our body have identical DNA. However, they do not use the same genes. Certain genes are turned on and others off, depending on the type of cell and the moment in time. The "switches" are chemical changes in the building blocks of the DNA. These changes are called epigenetic modifications. One significant regulation mechanism is methylation and demethylation, meaning the attachment and removal of a methyl group (-CH(3)). The methylation patterns of cancer cells, for example, differ from healthy cells. During a methylation, enzymes known as methyl transferases (MTases) transfer a methyl group from S-adenosyl-?-methionine (AdoMet) to the target molecule.

In order to study the purpose and function of this regulation more closely and determine methylation patterns, it would be useful to have "tools" to specifically inhibit methylation at targeted locations and then lift the inhibition at a defined time. To this end, a team led by Andrea Rentmeister chose to use a method known as photocaging. In this method, a "photocage" is a molecule that falls apart upon irradiation, such as a 2-nitrobenzyl group. The cage first blocks the target location, then targeted irradiation with light acts as a "switch" to remove the blockade.

The idea was to equip AdoMet analogues with a photocage that is then transferred to the methylation sites. However, AdoMet analogues decompose in aqueous solutions and cannot enter into cells. Therefore, the team at the University of Münster wanted to produce them in situ. In the body, AdoMet is produced from the amino acid methionine through the action of the enzyme, methionine adenosyl transferase (MAT). Synthesis of the AdoMet analogues requires methionine with an attached nitrobenzyl photocage and a MAT that can use such an altered substrate. Starting with a MAT enzyme from a single-celled organism (Cryptosporidium hominis), the researchers were able to carefully change specific amino acids in the enzyme to increase the size of its hydrophobic binding cavity so that it could contain the nitrobenzyl group. A crystal structure analysis showed that the ADoMet analogue is bound in the cavity of this photocaging MAT (PC-MAT). Based on this information, the team also produced a second PC-MAT based on a thermostable MAT enzyme from the archaeon Methanocaldococcus jannaschii.

Both of these PC-MATs are compatible with DNA and RNA MTases and made it possible to attach photocages to all natural methylation sites of a plasmid DNA. Irradiation with light removed the blockade.

A 'game changing' study deciphering the genetic material of the desert locust by researchers at the University of Leicester, could help combat the crop-ravaging behaviour of the notorious insect pest which currently exacerbates a hunger crisis across many developing countries.

It is hoped that the study will provide the basis for developing 'intelligent pesticides', that act with surgical precision by tapping into locust-specific signals in the nervous system, to either kill or disable their swarming behaviour, without harming other organisms.

The full set of genetic information for the desert locust could have major international implications for countries such as East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and South-West Asia, which this year have been suffering the most devastating desert locust crises in decades despite wide-spread control operations that are still ongoing.

According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), a swarm of locusts can contain around 40 million insects per square kilometre, which each day can eat the same amount of food as 35,000 people. The FAO estimates that 42 million people are currently facing severe food insecurity caused specifically by the desert locust.

Dr Tom Matheson said:"The incredible devastation that these voracious insects can cause to food crops and pastures affects the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of farmers and exacerbates the risks of starvation for the wider population in already vulnerable regions.

"The desert locust genome provides key information that could be a complete game-changer for the developing world, and a huge economic step forward for countries struggling to feed their populations.

"Tackling locust infestations and controlling swarms will never be easy because of the challenging conditions across the huge areas affected, but with the right information and research at hand, we hope that future approaches can become more effective."

He added:"If climate change causes locust plagues to become the 'new normal', we will need all hands on deck by way of in-depth research and improved technology to help in the fight to control swarms."

Desert locust swarms are a major economic issue in more than 65 countries, across more than 20 per centof the world's total land surface. Authorities in affected countries have been carrying out aerial spraying of pesticides, but the scale of the infestation is often beyond local capacity as desert locusts can travel up to 150km (95 miles) in a day, crossing national borders and rugged terrain in regions with little road infrastructure.

While locust swarms are infamous for the great damage they inflict to agriculture, their genetic material ('genome') is famed amongst researchers for its enormous size. At more than 8.8 billion base pairs of DNA (8.8 'giga-bases'), the desert locust genome is the largest insect genome sequenced to date and over 2.8 times larger than the human genome.

Dr Swidbert Ott added:"We do not yet understand the genetic instructions that make locusts behave so differently from ordinary grasshoppers, and to such damaging effect. Until now, a major stumbling block has been the lack of the desert locust genome sequence that holds the answer to what makes a grasshopper a locust.

"We hope that our data can facilitate the development of novel, more sustainable methods of managing swarm outbreaks. With the information in our research now available, there is a unique opportunity for innovators to create an intelligent pesticide that targets locusts, but not other insects crucial to the ecosystem, such as pollinators."