Category archives: Technology

MI weekly selection #29

MI weekly selection #29

Humanities & Social SciencesScienceTechnologyWeekly Selection

By César Tomé

Poor Math Skills Make a Mortgage Default More Likely Unprecedented numbers of American subprime mortgage holders began defaulting on their loans in 2006, precipitating two years later the most severe global recession since The Great Depression. Pundits have offered numerous theories about what started the mortgage mayhem, but firm evidence has remained elusive. According to […]

Carbon nanotubes to study neuron activity

Carbon nanotubes to study neuron activity

BiomedicineMaterialsNeurobiologyPhysicsPhysiology

By Francisco R. Villatoro

Human brain has about 85 billion neurons. Each neuron forms thousands of chemical and electrical synapses with other neurons. To record the synaptic activity of each neuron in the brain an intracellular probe with a millivolt scale is required. Glass electrodes are widely used, but they are fragile and they have high impedance. An intracellular […]

Saturn’s extreme weather in the computer

Saturn’s extreme weather in the computer

Computer sciencePhysicsPlanetary Science

By Santiago Pérez-Hoyos

Saturn is truly a weird place. Apart from having quite a peculiar thermal history and one of the most interesting satellites in the Solar System, this planet displays arguably the most fascinating meteorological phenomenon ever seen. Suppose for a moment that next spring a storm raises in your hometown. Nothing unusual to care about, probably […]

MI weekly selection #28

MI weekly selection #28

Humanities & Social SciencesScienceTechnologyWeekly Selection

By César Tomé

Violence against women at epidemic proportions Three in ten women worldwide have been punched, shoved, dragged, threatened with weapons, raped, or subjected to other violence from a current or former partner. Close to one in ten have been sexually assaulted by someone other than a partner. Of women who are murdered, more than one in […]

Massive quantum entanglement

Massive quantum entanglement

Computer sciencePhysicsQuantum physics

By Francisco R. Villatoro

Entanglement is a fundamental tool in quantum computing and several quantum information protocols, such as quantum teleportation, quantum cryptography and quantum key distribution. The basic unit of entanglement is the entangled bit ( ebit ), represented by a maximally entangled state of two qubits (quantum bits). Entanglement can also be implemented in a higher dimensional […]

MI weekly selection #26

MI weekly selection #26

Humanities & Social SciencesScienceTechnologyWeekly Selection

By César Tomé

Hope springs eternal: “Pandora’s Promise” and the truth about nuclear energy So why would environmentalists of all people support nuclear power? What changed these people’s minds? Two things, primarily. The Curious Wavefuntion Making and Breaking Compulsive Behaviour When scientists have scanned the brains of people with obsessive-compulsive disorder, they’ve seen more neural activity in areas […]

The coffee-ring effect

The coffee-ring effect

MaterialsPhysics

By Mireia Altimira

Have you ever observed how a drop of coffee dries? As water evaporates, its suspended particles are deposited in a ring-like fashion in a phenomenon known as the coffee-ring effect. Obviously, this effect is undesirable in the numerous practical applications that require a uniform coating. However, the way to avoid it has remained unknown. The […]

Nanohazards

Nanohazards

Materials

By Silvia Román

Just a few years ago, nanoparticles broke into almost every laboratory in the world in one way or another. It marked a boom in nanoscience and nanotechnology. The demand for these new ultrafine particles, halfway between the bulk scale and the molecule scale, increased in such a way that sometimes there was even a shortage […]