Best of Last Week—A new analog computer, a fairy robot, the mental health benefits of cinnamon
Bob Yirka
news contributor
It was a good week for physics as a combined team of physicists from Stanford University and University College Dublin designed and built a quantum simulator platform demonstrating that a new type of analog computer could solve what are currently unsolvable problems. A team of physicists from MIT observed rare resonance in colliding, ultracold molecules for the first time. And another team of physicists at MIT discovered a new and exotic property in what they describe as "magic-angle" graphene—it can be switched on and off using an electric pulse.
In technology news, a team of engineers at the Light Robots group at Tampere University designed and built a fairy-like robot that flies by the power of wind and light—called FAIRY, the stimuli-responsive, polymer-based robot has an actuator made using a crystalline elastomer. And a team at Google demonstrated MusicLM: A high-fidelity, music-generating AI—establishing what the group describes as a new level of composition and high fidelity in songs produced by a computer. Also, a combined team from Stanford University and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory illuminated a barrier to next-generation batteries that charge quickly—mechanical stress failures allowing lithium to seep into an electrolyte, resulting in short circuits. And a team of engineering and materials scientists from China, Australia and the U.S found an inexpensive way to produce hydrogen directly from untreated sea water.
In other news, a large team with members from several institutions in China used the evolutionary history of the SARS-CoV-2 virus to create a universal vaccine that is already being tested in animal models. Based on the conserved regions of the spike protein, the vaccine is thus far showing what the team describes as promise. Also, a team of astronomers announced that they have discovered 12 new moons orbiting Jupiter, putting the planet's total at 92—the most for any planet in the solar system. And finally, a team of researchers at Birjand University of Medical Sciences in Iran analyzed prior studies regarding the impact of cinnamon on the human body and found evidence showing that it could have positive effects on the functioning of the human brain, boosting memory and learning.
