Editor's Choice: Harnessing blue energy, off switch for brain cells & AI in motion🌊

Blue energy future, Off switch for brain cells, New Japanese lily species, Generative AI in motion, Economies take off with new airports and Braille-shaped electrodes for retinal implants. Read all in the latest Editor's Choice. Plus SciCom Coffee with Catriona Child.
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Blue energy future

Osmotic power is the energy produced when ions in a salt solution move from high to low concentrations. Scientists found that adding voltage to the system improves its efficiency, bringing us closer to harvesting energy from our seas.

Electric blue

Off switch for brain cells

Researchers found that specific proteins can “turn off” brain cells with light, offering a tool for studying brain function and neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders. 
 

New Japanese lily species

After more than a hundred years, a new Japanese lily species has been identified. It is differentiated by its claw-like leaves and grows on coastal areas facing the Pacific Ocean.
  

Lilium pacificum

Generative AI in motion
Researchers combined deep reinforcement learning and central pattern generators to enable robots to imitate walking and running, and even generate movements to adapt to their environment. 

Economies take off with new airports

An analysis of nighttime satellite imagery revealed the economic transformations in emerging cities and economies with new airports.
 

Ascending

Braille-shaped electrodes for retinal implants
Three-dimensional retinal electrodes that resemble convex braille improves the efficiency of implants and could help partially restore vision in patients with blindness. 

SciCom Coffee June

This June, SciCom Coffee will be joined by Catriona Child, Acting Director of The Highland Institute, for her talk “A Little Place in the Hills: Decolonising Research In Northeast India - Nagaland's Highland Institute.”  

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