One article from this weeks Nature outlook articles about cognitive science. You can even play the cognitive game :). The full set of articles is quite interesting!
Exercise can enhance the development of new brain cells in the adult brain, a process called adult neurogenesis. These newborn brain cells play an important role in learning and memory. A new study has determined that mice that spent time running on wheels not only developed twice the normal number of new neurons, but also showed an increased ability to distinguish new objects from familiar objects.
Research in active-matter systems is a growing field in biology. It consists in using theoretical statistical physics in living systems such as molecule colonies to deduce macroscopic properties. The aim and hope is to understand how cells divide, take shape and move on these systems.
Being a crossing field between physics and biology "The pot of gold is at the interface but you have to push both fields to their limits." one can read
Maybe we should discuss about this active matter one of these days?
"These are the hallmarks of systems that physicists call active matter, which have become a major subject of research in the past few years. Examples abound in the natural world - among them the leaderless but coherent flocking of birds and the flowing, structure-forming cytoskeletons of cells. They are increasingly being made in the laboratory: investigators have synthesized active matter using both biological building blocks such as microtubules, and synthetic components including micrometre-scale, light-sensitive plastic 'swimmers' that form structures when someone turns on a lamp. Production of peer-reviewed papers with 'active matter' in the title or abstract has increased from less than 10 per year a decade ago to almost 70 last year, and several international workshops have been held on the topic in the past year."
Did we just solve overpopulation and climate change?
With 40% more efficient crops we could easily sustain 10+ billion people on Earth.
And 40% more efficient plants would absorb much more CO2 than we are emitting (currently: artificial CO2 emission ~29 GT/y, photosynthesis CO2 capture through plants ~450 GT/y)
I am usually very worried about the risks of climate change, but this could be a real game changer!
wow, quantum, artificial life, biomimetic, quantum supremacy .... quantum machine learning, and quantum artificial intelligence and, wait for it ...... quantum complexity. All in one abstract is this the new champion?