May STEM News

Welcome to the May edition of STEM Spectrum Monthly News, presented to you by The STEM Spectrum's News Editors! Each month, the latest advancements in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics are broken down and analyzed.

Generative AI that imitates human motion

Making robots walk and run like humans is challenging but, recently, scientists have found a way to overcome this challenge. They combined two technologies: central pattern generators (CPG), which are small brain circuits in the spine that help control muscle movements, and deep reinforcement learning (DRL), a fancy way for robots to learn.

These researchers came up with a new way to teach robots to move like humans by mixing central pattern generators and deep reinforcement learning, and guess what? It's not just about copying regular walking and running. This method can make the robots move smoothly even when they don't have all the info they need, like when things get unstable under their feet. They shared their big discovery in a science journal called IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters on April 15, 2024.

Walking and running are more complicated than we might think. Our bodies have backup plans that help us adapt our movements based on our environment, but teaching robots to replicate this adaptability is much more difficult. The way robots usually learn is by figuring out just one right answer but with walking and running, there is no single method, there are lots of ways to do it, and not all of them are easy to figure out. That is where deep reinforcement learning comes in handy. It's like giving the robots a super brain to learn from, but it is very demanding in that it requires significant computing power.

Another way to teach robots is by copying what humans do, but this method has its own problems. It's great when everything's stable, but throw in some surprises, and the robots get stuck.

As a result of this, these science researchers decided to implement two prevailing ideas, taking the best parts from both methods and fusing them together. Instead of making the robots learn everything from scratch, they gave them a head start by teaching them some basic moves. Then, they let deep learning fine-tune those moves, so the robots could handle whatever came their way. The key to this approach is something called "central pattern generators." These function like the conductors of an orchestra, telling the muscles when to move. By combining these with deep learning, the robots can move more like humans, adjusting their steps on the fly to stay steady.

"This breakthrough is a game-changer for robotics," says Mitsuhiro Hayashibe, one of the brains behind the idea. "It's like giving robots a sixth sense for moving in the real world." The team behind this discovery includes folks from Tohoku University in Japan and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. So, next time you see a robot strolling down the street, just remember, it's not just walking—it's science, CPG and DRL in action!

Squeezed by neighbors, planet glows with molten lava

Stephen Kane, an astrophysicist from UC Riverside, had to make sure he got his numbers right. He couldn't believe what he was seeing about the planet he was studying. Kane never thought he'd find out that a planet in a distant star system was covered in so many active volcanoes that from far away, it would look red and fiery.

"It was one of those moments where you just go, 'Wow, can this really be true?'" Kane said. The discovery has been written up in The Astronomical Journal. NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, which started in 2018, looks for planets outside our solar system that orbit the brightest stars. It's on the hunt for planets that could potentially support life.

Kane was studying a star system called HD 104067, about 66 light years from our sun. It was already known to have a big planet, but TESS had just found signals for a new rocky planet. As Kane looked into it, he found another one, making it three planets in total in that system.

The new planet found by TESS is rocky similar to Earth, but it's 30% bigger. But unlike Earth, it's more like Io, one of Jupiter's moons, which is incredibly active with volcanoes. 

"This planet is like Io, but on steroids," Kane said. "It's always blowing up with volcanoes. If you could see it with your eyes, it'd be glowing red with lava all over." Kane figured out that this new planet, called TOI-6713.01, would be extremely hot at 2,600 degrees Kelvin, even hotter than some stars.

The volcanic activity on this new planet, just like on Io, is because of gravitational forces. Lo is close to Jupiter, and its other moons cause it to move in a funny orbit around Jupiter, which causes it to have many volcanoes. In the HD 104067 system, there are two planets farther away from the star than this new one. They also mess with its orbit, squeezing it as it moves.

Kane compared this to playing racquetball, where the ball gets hotter as you hit it more. This is called tidal energy. On Earth, tides are mostly because of the moon's gravity. Kane and his team want to find out more about this planet, like how much stuff it has to blow out of its volcanoes. He said scientists usually don't think much about tidal effects on planets, but maybe they should start. This discovery shows just how much energy a planet can get from this kind of thing.

"This tells us a lot about how much energy can be put into a planet, and what happens because of that," Kane said. "While we know that stars heat up planets, most of the energy here is from tidal forces, and that's a big deal."

Is Aspirin More Than Just a Headache Cure? 

Aspirin is one of the most commonly used medications around the world - generating over 18.2 million dollars in revenue in 2022. Also known as acetylsalicylic acid, the drug acts as a painkiller by stopping the production of natural substances which commonly cause fever or pain. It is mostly known for its ability to ‘cure’ headaches, period cramps and/or reduce fevers; however recent discoveries have presented capabilities for the go-to medication to help treat a chronic liver condition known as metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease. 

MASLD is caused by a build-up of fat in the liver from underlying conditions of type-2 diabetes and obesity. It is a type of steatosis meaning the liver cells have been infiltrated with fat. This greatly disturbs the body’s metabolic processes and maintenance of homeostasis. Whilst this is normally underlined by the excessive use of alcohol, it has also been shown to develop in people who don’t consume alcohol. MASLD is normally treated with lifestyle changes such as managing what a patient eats and drinks as no medicine or cure has been discovered.

That said, recent research conducted at Mass General Hospital has proposed a possible treatment option for this condition with the use of aspirin. In their phase 2 trial, 80 adults were randomly given either a placebo or a low-dose of aspirin. The change in fat content present in the liver was measured and a 6.6% decrease was observed for candidates who received aspirin, indicating its health benefits in reducing average liver fat content by 10.2% compared with the placebo. 

Medics note that the drug could be a more affordable alternative treatment, with which its positive results could open the realm of disease treatment exponentially if proven to have sustainable results. Whilst the exact longevity is still being studied and trialed the odds are in the medical industry’s favor for a versatile medicine that may just be able to cure some of the most prevalent diseases in the world - revolutionizing our idea of health and wellness. 

Can Paralysis Be Reversed? 

Paralysis is caused by a nervous system condition where patients are unable to make voluntary muscle movements. This causes a lack of movement in certain parts of your body. Recently, however, a study from Mayo Clinic presents a record of stem cells being able to restore sensation and movement after traumatic spinal cord injuries. 

Stem cells refer to unspecialised cells - meaning they haven’t been denoted a specific function and can specialize into various different types of cells to carry out certain functions. Within this clinical trial, participants' stem cells were collected by extracting a small amount of fat from the thigh or abdomen. These were then propagated within the laboratory to over 100 million cells and finally injected into a patient's lower back (lumbar spine). The records were measured over two years. 

The conclusions from this phase 1 trial? Approximately 10 patients who had suffered spinal cord injuries were tested over two years with 70% presenting positive results as they moved ASIA scale levels (assessing sensory and motor levels). Each candidate regained more control of movement below their level of injury - something they couldn’t do before. This posits hope to increase the scale of only 5% of rare individuals being able to regain feeling after spinal cord injury. In fact, one patient Chris Barr, who had suffered a traumatic surfing accident, broke the ground of the health industry with the help of this trial as he was able to gain independence and improved walking abilities. 

Dr. Bydon, clinical trial lead author, declared “hope for the future,” which is indeed true. Between 250-500 thousand people suffer from spinal cord injuries completely stripping them of their standard of living and capability to carry out basic life processes. The revelation in our own cells' ability for regeneration may just as well be the next step to curing some of the most ‘paralyzing’ conditions known to man.

The Time Of Physics

There is a first time for everything, right? Recently, physicists have manipulated a tabletop laser to bump a nucleus into a higher energy state paving the path towards the world’s first nuclear clock - able to time the mechanics of atomic nuclei. 

Electrons surround atoms at different energy levels, and for us to make a particular electron jump to a higher level it needs a specific amount of energy from a laser. This energy amount corresponds to a specific frequency that the laser provides. To find this ideal frequency, scientists shoot atoms with the laser with varying frequencies until they find the ideal frequency that is consistent and it is then used as a highly accurate tick to keep time and measure different quantities which is how atomic clocks work.

Where normal atomic clocks are based on electrons that are projected with the right amount of energy from a laser to jump to a higher energy level, the nuclear clock aims to use the transitions of atomic nuclei as a way of progressing time. 

There is a special, specific nucleus, that fits the job description for this role: Thorium-229 which unlike most has an unusual, small energy jump which is accessible by lasers. Once scientists were able to laser bump the isotope nuclei to a higher energy level, they observed the light transmitted when it fell back down to ‘ground state.’ The only limitation holding physicists from further progression right now is the need to increase the precision of this experiment by approximately 800 times. Nevertheless, scientists around the world are applauding the new discovery for the revolution it begins to make. 

The power these inventions hold in this untapped realm of physics is extensive; ranging from the ability to search for nature constants and even searching for dark matter pervading the universe. Regardless, the small step is still a jump to another level and will help physicists open doors to another realm of the world - literally. While it will take time to catch up with the level of atomic clocks, the small confirmation is a worthwhile progression and only time will tell what such innovations can bring to our future. 

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Presented to you by The STEM Spectrum's News Editors: Vidhan Bokaria, Akishai Sabaratnasarma, and Shiena Fernando.