Researchers from the University of Cambridge have reported a new kind of brain-inspired nanodevice, a hafnium-oxide memristor, that could dramatically cut artificial intelligence’s (AI) energy bill by bringing memory and computation into the same component. The findings were published in Science Advances on March 20.
Category: Science & Tech
Science Snapshots: April 19, 2026
High blood sugar affects cognitive function via lactate Researchers have found excess sugar causes a modification to build up on a protein called Creb3, which then activates a gene that boosts the production of lactate in the hippocampus, the brain’s memory centre. Excessive lactate kills brain cells, leading to cognitive impairment. A large study confirmed...
Why are saturated fats bad for the heart but unsaturated fats are okay?
— Aravind N., Hyderabad A: Simply speaking, the two kinds of fats affect the body’s LDL cholesterol differently. LDL is the kind that clogs arteries.
Amazon launches AI research tool to speed early-stage drug discovery
Amazon’s cloud unit on Tuesday launched Amazon Bio Discovery, an artificial intelligence application designed to speed early-stage drug discovery by allowing scientists to run complex computational workflows without writing code. Drugmakers and technology companies have stepped up efforts to use AI to accelerate drug development.
New tool predicts how pollen travels through city air
Every spring, lakhs of people suffering from allergies brace for sneezing fits and itchy eyes as trees release pollen into the air. Now, a team of researchers from France and the U.S. has built a tool that can predict exactly how pollen travels through a city once the wind picks it up. In the study,...
Aerobic exercise creates a muscle protein that boosts mouse memory
“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” goes the proverb. Now, it seems no working out can also make Jack a dull boy — especially if Jack is a mouse. A team of researchers from Seoul National University and the Korea Brain Research Institute, both in South Korea, has found that aerobic...
Chandrayaan-3: Vikram’s hop offers fresh insights on the moon’s surface
A new study conducted during the final phase of the Chandrayaan-3 mission when the Vikram lander performed a successful hop experiment has offered fresh insights on the moon surface. The study, In Situ Temperatures, Regolith Properties, and Evidence of Erosion at Chandrayaan-3 Post-hop Location from ChaSTE Twilight Observations was conducted by a team headed by...
Sorry, Musk: autonomous surgery is decades away, not three years
Elon Musk recently claimed that in three years, there will be more expert surgical robots than surgeons on the earth. The statement generated considerable excitement, speculation, and outrage in equal measure. While medicine is a deeply personal enterprise, it is also rooted in science. The fundamental challenge in surgery is not precision but adaptability. Surgery...
‘Civil war’ among chimpanzees recorded for the first time
They were once a convivial, unified group that lived, fed, groomed, and patrolled together, with may be the odd scuffle. But then one day, on June 24, 2015, their social fabric began to fray. And very soon, an organised lethal conflict, akin to a ‘civil war’, ensued among one of our closest relatives — chimpanzees...
Daily Quiz: International Day of Human Space Flight
Ravish Malhotra is the Indian Air Force officer seen with Rakesh Sharma who served as the backup cosmonaut in 1984 Published – April 14, 2026 05:11 pm IST Read Comments Copy link Email Facebook Twitter Telegram LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit
