Cassini observations of Saturn provide the most extensive dataset available to characterize the atmosphere of any giant planet.I will celebrate the 20th anniversary of Cassini orbit insertion at Saturn(July 1)by presenting results based on the analysis of observations of the middle and upper atmosphere obtained by the UVIS and CIRS instruments during the last two years of the Cassini mission in 2016-2017.These results provide asnapshot of the middle and upper atmosphere around the northern summer solstice,including apole-to-pole map of temperatures as well as the distribution of methane and its photochemical products.They provide evidence that the seasonal circulation pattern in the stratosphere penetrates to the thermosphere and allow us,for the first time,infer neutral wind speeds in the upper atmosphere.The retrieved temperatures and winds also demonstrate the importance auroral electrodynamics and heating in controlling both the dynamics and energy balance of the thermosphere.They indicate that polar auroral heating followed by redistribution of energy to lower latitudes(stirring),enabled by momentum deposition by gravity waves and other sources of drag(shaking),is afeasible mechanism to explain the higher than expected temperatures in the thermosphere and therefore to solve the long-standing“energy crisis”on Saturn.Given the similarity of the subsequently observed temperatures on Jupiter,the same mechanism may also explain the temperatures observed in Jupiter’s thermosphere.Finally,we conclude by providing preliminary estimates of what is required to explain the observed temperatures in the upper atmosphere of Uranus,as afirst step towards apossible common mechanism to explain the higher than expected upper atmosphere temperatures on the giant planets. 查看详细>>

An Engineering research team led by Professor Yue Chen from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Hong Kong(HKU)has achieved aremarkable milestone in the realm of thermal transport in crystals.The research highlights the potential of simple crystal structures to achieve low thermal conductivity.This discovery not only underscores the importance of exploring new materials for applications in thermal insulation and thermoelectrics but also calls for further experimental investigations to expand the repertoire of materials with ultralow thermal conductivity.Traditionally,efforts to lower the lattice thermal conductivity of materials have focused on complex material systems,where lower thermal conductivity is typically observed.However,the pursuit of simple crystals with ultralow thermal conductivity has proven to be achallenging task.In their research,the team identified an exceptional candidate,AgTlI2,which defies conventional expectations by exhibiting an extraordinarily low thermal conductivity of 0.25 W/mK at room temperature—a rarity among simple crystals.Through acombination of state-of-the-art experimental techniques,including X-ray diffraction experiments and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations,coupled with advanced anharmonic lattice dynamics,the team gained comprehensive insights into the complex thermal transport mechanisms of AgTlI2 at room temperature.Their findings revealed acoexistence of ultralow particle-like and wavelike phonon thermal transports in AgTlI2,elucidating the underlying nature of its ultralow thermal conductivity.Moreover,leveraging their understanding of thermal transport in AgTlI2,the team proposed an effective alternative approach for identifying other simple materials with ultralow thermal conductivity,promising to expand the repertoire of materials with strongly suppressed thermal transport.This interdisciplinary study was conducted in collaboration with Professor Emmanuel Guilmeau‘s team from CRISMAT at Normandie University in France,Professor Zheyong Fan‘s team from Bohai University,China,and Professor Pierric Lemoine from Institute Jean Lamour,France.The collaborative effort allowed for the integration of expertise from multiple research groups,including sample preparation,synchrotron X-ray scattering,low-temperature thermal conductivity measurement,and ab initio simulations.“The discovery of the ultralow thermal conductivity of AgTlI2 is aresult of acombined effort of both theorists and experimentalists.”the first author of the paper,Dr Zezhu Zeng,expressed.He is currently aPost-doctoral Fellow in Professor Geoff Thornton‘s group at University College London and Professor Bingqing Cheng‘s group at University of California,Berkeley and Institute of Science and Technology,Austria.Dr Xingchen Shen from CRISMAT at French National Center for Scientific Research(CNRS)also contributed as aco-first author.“This work implies the important role of simple crystals on thermal insulation,paving the way for new research directions.”said Professor Chen.The findings have been published in the scientific journal Nature Communications with the title“Pushing thermal conductivity to its lower limit in crystals with simple structures”. 查看详细>>

DALLAS–June 25,2024–Patients with moderate to severe treatment-resistant depression(TRD)might have better symptom relief from ketamine infusions than from electroconvulsive therapy(ECT),but those with severe TRD could benefit more from ECT early in treatment,an analysis led by aUT Southwestern Medical Center researcher shows.The findings,published in JAMA Network Open,are the first to identify characteristics that distinguish which treatments might benefit TRD patients more.“Patients with TRD and their physicians can incorporate these findings in their shared decision-making process when selecting between ketamine and ECT,”said first author Manish Jha,M.D.,Associate Professor of Psychiatry and an O’Donnell Clinical Neuroscience Scholar at UT Southwestern.Dr.Jha is also an Investigator in the Peter O’Donnell Jr.Brain Institute.Previous studies have suggested that up to athird of adults with major depressive disorder have TRD,meaning they haven’t experienced adequate improvement with two or more courses of antidepressants.For decades,doctors have treated TRD patients with ECT,which delivers ajolt of electricity to the brain.More recently,ketamine–a drug historically used as an anesthetic–has also been used to treat TRD.In astudy known as the ELEKT-D clinical trial that published last year in the New England Journal of Medicine and was led by Amit Anand,M.D.,Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School,Dr.Jha and his colleagues showed that ECT and ketamine produced comparable results in agroup of 403 patients with TRD at five U.S.medical centers.However,it was unclear whether patients’baseline characteristics could predict which would be more beneficial.So Dr.Jha and research colleagues across the U.S.analyzed ELEKT-D’s results in asubgroup of 365 patients–195 had received up to six ketamine infusions over three weeks,and 170 had received up to nine ECT treatments over three weeks.Twice weekly during the treatment phase and at one follow-up after their treatments ended,these patients filled out aquestionnaire designed to assess their depression symptoms.The questionnaire was developed by former UTSW physician-researcher A.John Rush,M.D.,Professor Emeritus at the Duke-NUS Medical School at the National University of Singapore,and Madhukar Trivedi,M.D.,Professor of Psychiatry,Chief of the Division of Mood Disorders,and founding Director of the Center for Depression Research and Clinical Care at UT Southwestern.The patients also were assessed with aclinician-administered diagnostic tool.In addition,they underwent evaluations assessing various demographic and clinical characteristics,such as age,sex,concurrent use of other treatments,cognitive function,and whether they were being treated for their depression as an inpatient or outpatient.When the researchers compared the patients’symptom assessments over three weeks with their demographic and clinical characteristics,they found that patients were most likely to benefit from ketamine if they had moderate to severe overall depression at baseline or were receiving treatments as outpatients.Patients with very severe depression or who received their treatments as inpatients had more benefit early in their treatment course from ECT.However,by their last appointment,patients with these characteristics who received ketamine had similar outcomes. 查看详细>>

Cyclodextrins(CDs),a class of cyclic oligosaccharides that were“born”in 1891,have opened up endless research and commercial opportunities in numerous fields that span carbohydrate,supramolecular(host-guest)and analytical chemistry all the way from research laboratories in academia to the mass production of products—e.g.,skin care enablers to drug delivery systems—in industry.Although they have been known for over 130 years,the most accessible cyclic homologues areα-,β-,andγ-CDs,which contain six,seven,and eight D-glucopyranosyl units,respectively.The odyssey of naturally occurring CDs suggests that despite the number of CDs is rather limited,their reach has been limitless.For along time,scientists(chemists,biologists,medical scientists,etc)have been exploring novel methods to synthesise—both chemically and enzymatically—CD homologues.These efforts include the syntheses of unusual smaller analogues with only 3,4,and 5D-glucose units and the making of rare larger CDs with 9to 12 D-glucose units.All the currently available CDs are composed solely of D-glucopyranosyl units as the monomers,while the syntheses of mirror-image CDs have remained an untouched goal of the CD community,limiting the realisation of their full potential,such as in the development of new supramolecular sensors and catalysts,chiral materials,as well as innovative drug delivery systems and active pharmaceutical ingredients.In order to fulfil this fundamental research niche,a collaborative research team led by Professor Sir Fraser STODDART in the Department of Chemistry of The University of Hong Kong(HKU)and Professor Daniel ARMSTRONG in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry of The University of Texas at Arlington,recently developed aconcise approach to link L-glucopyranosyl monosaccharides together in ahighly diastereoselective and scalable manner,resulting in the production of circa half-gram quantities ofα-,β-,andγ-L-CDs.The availability of L-CDs for the first time—ever since the serendipitous discovery of their natural counterparts back in 1891—has enabled the elucidation of an unprecedented chiral self-sorting of aracemic modification ofβ-CDs in the solid state and an investigation of the chiral recognition of enantiomeric guests byα-L-CD in water.The research work was recently published and featured on the Cover in aleading scientific journal–Nature Synthesis.A corresponding News&Views Article written by Professor Sophie BEEREN,a cyclodextrin expert working at Technical University of Denmark,was also published in the same Journal(https://www.nature.com/articles/s44160-024-00512-w). 查看详细>>

近日，南方科技大学理学院化学系副教授刘柳团队在双亲性主族元素多重键化学领域取得重要进展。研究成果以“一例晶态的锡炔（A Crystalline Stannyne）”为题，发表在《自然化学》（Nature Chemistry）杂志上。该成果通过取代基的π供电子效应和空间保护，合成了一种双亲性锡炔分子（R1−C≡Sn−R2↔R1−C(:)−Sn(:)−R2）。这类分子的分离表征扩展了人们对元素化学的认知，推动了双亲性（ambiphilicity；既亲核也亲电）主族元素化学的发展。新型主族元素结构基元的创制对合成化学、药物化学以及材料科学等多个领域的发展至关重要。大多数过渡金属具有部分占据的d电子，价层轨道既亲核也亲电，和小分子发生较强的相互作用。不同于过渡金属元素，主族元素的非价层电子是完全填充的，这一特点使得主族元素化合物的化学活性直接与其价层电子的能级和分布有关，同时也受到原子半径和元素电负性的显著影响。然而，近期的研究揭示，低价态下的配位不饱和主族元素化合物展现出与过渡金属相似的前线轨道特性和化学行为。这些具有“类过渡金属”行为的主族元素化合物，其化学特性主要体现为双亲性。双亲性的主族分子不仅能够活化惰性小分子，还在催化和材料科学等领域展现了巨大的潜力。炔烃分子（R1−C≡C−R2）无法共振成两个双亲的卡宾中心（图1a）。然而，炔烃的重元素类似物与炔烃有着显著不同的电子结构。由于重元素中心孤对电子惰性以及最外层轨道半径匹配差等原因，削弱了其形成多重键，因此炔烃的重元素类似物具有邻位双亲性质（R1−E≡E−R2↔R1−E(:)−E(:)−R2;E=Si,Ge,Sn,Pb）。值得注意的是，自从1836年首次发现乙炔，异核的炔烃重元素类似物（R1−C≡E−R2↔R1−C(:)−E(:)−R2;E=Si,Ge,Sn,Pb）一直未被科学家突破（图1）。近期，课题组利用π电子“推拉”策略和大位阻取代基，稳定了双亲性锡炔分子（R1−C≡Sn−R2↔R1−C(:)−Sn(:)−R2）（图2），首次实现了相邻异核双亲元素中心的构建（图3a），解决了主族元素化学领域内的重要难题。核磁共振和理论计算均支持锡炔3为单线态化合物。其中锡炔最主要的共振式为3A联烯结构（图3b）。基于理论计算，作者发现锡炔的碳原子具有反电子态卡宾的性质。通过实验研究，作者探索了锡炔的反应化学。所有化合物均经过了核磁、晶体结构、高分辨质谱等表征（图4）。该研究填补了异核炔烃重元素类似物的空白，扩展了人们对重元素化学的认知。鉴于独特的电子性质，锡炔分子有望革新双亲性主族元素的发展。近年来，刘柳课题组一直致力于双亲性主族元素化学的研究。瞄准主族结构基元“0到1”的原始创新，就“如何稳定（多重）双亲性结构基元”这一核心科学问题，通过合理的设计，成功分离表征或原位构建了一系列双亲性主族化合物，深度探讨了这些新颖结构基元的化学性质以及潜在的应用前景。截至目前，课题组以南科大为通讯单位发表Science 1篇、Nat.Chem.1篇、Nat.Synth.1篇、Chem.1篇、CCS Chem.1篇、J.Am.Chem.Soc.7篇、Angew.Chem.Int.Ed.8篇。这些研究工作先后多次被ChemistryViews、Nat.Synth.、Chem.、Synfacts以Highlight或Preview进行介绍。 查看详细>>

Chemotherapy and other treatments that take down cancer cells can also destroy patients’immune cells.Every year,that leads tens of thousands of cancer patients with weakened immune systems to contract infections that can turn deadly if unmanaged.Doctors must strike abalance between giving enough chemotherapy to eradicate cancer while not giving so much that the patient’s white blood cell count gets dangerously low,a condition known as neutropenia.It can also leave patients socially isolated in between rounds of chemotherapy.Currently,the only way for doctors to monitor their patients’white blood cells is through blood tests.Now Leuko is developing an at-home white blood cell monitor to give doctors amore complete view of their patients’health remotely.Rather than drawing blood,the device uses light to look through the skin at the top of the fingernail,and artificial intelligence to analyze and detect when white blood cells reach dangerously low levels.The technology was first conceived of by researchers at MIT in 2015.Over the next few years,they developed aprototype and conducted asmall study to validate their approach.Today,Leuko’s devices have accurately detected low white blood cell counts in hundreds of cancer patients,all without drawing asingle drop of blood.“We expect this to bring aclear improvement in the way that patients are monitored and cared for in the outpatient setting,”says Leuko co-founder and CTO Ian Butterworth,a former research engineer in MIT’s Research Laboratory of Electronics.“I also think there’s amore personal side of this for patients.These people can feel vulnerable around other people,and they don‘t currently have much they can do.That means that if they want to see their grandkids or see family,they’re constantly wondering,‘Am Iat high risk?’”The company has been working with the Food and Drug Administration(FDA)over the last four years to design studies confirming their device is accurate and easy to use by untrained patients.Later this year,they expect to begin apivotal study that will be used to register for FDA approval.Once the device becomes an established tool for patient monitoring,Leuko’s team believes it could also give doctors anew way to optimize cancer treatment.“Some of the physicians that we have talked to are very excited because they think future versions of our product could be used to personalize the dose of chemotherapy given to each patient,”says Leuko co-founder and CEO Carlos Castro-Gonzalez,a former postdoc at MIT.“If apatient is not becoming neutropenic,that could be asign that you could increase the dose.Then every treatment could be based on how each patient is individually reacting.” 查看详细>>

近日，上海交通大学电子信息与电气工程学院感知科学与工程学院黄震宇团队在基于变换声学的降噪且通流应用方向取得重要进展，相关成果以“Meta-barriers for ventilated sound reduction via transformation acoustics”（通过变换声学实现通风隔音的超屏障）为题，以上海交通大学电子信息与电气工程学院为第一单位发表在International Journal of Mechanical Sciences上。研究背景大型动力装备的噪声控制不仅需要采用各种措施来降低声音，还需要确保噪声控制措施的实施对装备通流散热的影响尽可能小。在保持介质有效流动的同时阻断声波的传播是一个违反直觉的物理过程。根据经典波动力学，介质充当声波传播的载体，阻断声波会限制介质流动，从而影响通流散热性能。作为一个具体实用性的研究课题，学者们在解决降噪与通流散热之间的矛盾方面付出了巨大的努力。然而，现有的方案无法兼顾低频宽带声波抑制与高通量介质流动，无法满足大型动力装备的噪声控制需求。创新成果针对以上问题，黄震宇团队提出了一种基于变换声学的超屏障（Meta-barrier），用于实现低频宽带降噪，同时保持高通量介质流动。所提出的超屏障由内部空气核心和由具有高阻尼耗散的双负声学超材料制成的涂层组成。与传统屏障不同，超屏障具有远超过其实际尺寸的散射截面，使其能够在增强的阻挡效应之外提供相干干涉效应。而相干干涉效应则可直接降低由开孔辐射的声波辐射效率。此外，涂层中固有的材料阻尼在宽频范围内对超屏障的降噪性能具有积极影响。论文详细推导了超屏障的构成参数，并给出了超屏障与开孔之间的多重散射现象的理论描述。基于有限元数值模型，演示了在大放置距离和宽入射角的情况下超屏障的稳健降噪性能。制备的元屏障样件，具备75%的风速比，可以在500–1000Hz的频率范围内实现卓越的透射声衰减。这项工作对基于变换声学的无源声学装置的设计和开发具有极大的启发和推动作用。变换声学的基本原理是通过数学变换，通常为坐标变换，来设计声学材料或结构，从而实现对声波传播的控制。变换声学是一个跨学科的研究领域，它结合了数学、物理和工程学的知识，为声波的控制和应用提供了新的可能性。随着声学超材料技术的发展，变换声学有望在未来的声学研究和应用中发挥更大的作用。这项工作可视为基于变换声学的超屏障实现低频宽带降噪和高效通流应用的前奏。后续研究工作包括使用更多的单元组成层来构建双负声学超材料涂层以接近连续梯度阻抗，制造三维超屏障并在真实房间尺度进行试验验证，平面结构形式设计的超屏障以减少空间占用，并寻求更容易生产和更具成本效益的制造超屏障的技术以促进其实际应用。 查看详细>>

自从1986年铜氧化物高温超导体被发现以来，凝聚态物理学界就致力于在相似结构的镍氧化物中探测可能存在的高温超导体。2023年，中山大学王猛研究组发现双层镍氧化物单晶La3Ni2O7-δ在高压下具有高达80K的超导转变温度，迅速引起了学术界的广泛兴趣。然而，该体系中较小的超导相比例表明其中可能具有较强的空间不均匀性和电子相分离，因此需要一种局域探测手段来区分样品中的不同相及对应的电子结构。近日，清华大学物理系王亚愚研究组合作利用扫描透射电子显微镜（STEM）和电子能量损失谱（EELS）技术，揭示了La3Ni2O7-δ单晶中氧原子空位的特征及其对电子结构的影响。该研究开发了新的能量过滤多片层电子叠层衍射成像技术，成功实现了La3Ni2O7-δ中氧原子空位的原子尺度高精度定量表征。电子叠层衍射（MEP）成像技术是近年来电子显微学领域的重要进展，陈震此前主导了该技术的突破，实现了优于20皮米的横向分辨率和纳米级别的纵向分辨率。MEP原理上可以用于确定局域原子空位和掺杂原子的数目，但这种定量测量此前尚未在实验中实现。该研究通过引入电子能量过滤器，过滤掉成像中的非弹性散射电子，极大地提高了重构图像的精度，首次实现了原子尺度氧空位含量的精确测量。La3Ni2O7-δ的晶胞由两层NiO2面组成，而氧原子占据三个不等价的位置：外部顶点位（位于NiO2面外侧）、平面位（位于NiO2面内）、内部顶点位（位于两层NiO2面之间）（图1a）。值得注意的是，内部顶点氧连接相邻两层NiO2面，为3dz2电子提供层间耦合和超交换作用，可能是形成高温超导相的一个重要因素。该研究利用MEP直接观测到样品中氧空位的存在（图1b），并发现氧空位主要存在于内部顶点位上，而且样品不同区域的氧含量在纳米尺度出现明显区别（图1b对应样品区域的氧空位含量统计结果见图1c）。进一步分析成像区域的EELS谱发现，对应氧原子轨道空穴型电子态的O-K边前置峰强度随着氧空位的增加而逐渐减弱，直至完全消失（图2a）。因此，氧空位诱导的掺杂电子主要占据O-2p轨道的空穴态，而非进入空的Ni-3d轨道。这意味着La3Ni2O7包含强的基态O-2p轨道成分和p-d轨道杂化（图2b），因此在强关联氧化物的分类中处于电荷转移区间，而此前发现的无限层镍基超导体RNiO2（Tc≈20 K）处于相反的Mott-Hubbard区间。由此表明La3Ni2O7更加接近铜氧化物高温超导体，可能与其较高的超导转变温度密切相关。另一方面，大视场下O-K边前置峰强度的测量进一步证实了该体系氧含量在纳米尺度具有显著不均匀性（图2c），可能是其超导相比例较小的成因。研究进一步利用STEM-EELS的原子级空间分辨率，揭示了不同氧原子位的2p轨道空穴态密度分布。如图3a-b所示，O-K边的前置峰主要存在于内部顶点氧和平面氧上，其强度随着氧空位含量增加同步减弱。因此，氧原子上的空穴态主要存在于面内和内部顶点氧上，而掺杂的电子也等权重地分布在这两个位置上，说明在这两个氧位上存在强p-d轨道杂化和共价性，如图3c所示。这也意味着在与La3Ni2O7相关的有效模型中，有必要考虑来自这两个位置的O-2p轨道的贡献。研究首次在原子尺度精确测量了氧化物中氧空位的含量，进而将La3Ni2O7-δ中局域氧含量和电子结构直接关联起来，证明体系中存在强p-d轨道杂化和电荷转移机制，为镍基高温超导机理的研究提供了重要的实验依据。同时，研究也发展了一种精确测定原子尺度轻元素含量的技术，为固体材料中普遍存在的原子缺陷提供了一种新的定量表征工具。6月5日，相关研究成果以“La3Ni2O7-δ中氧空位和自掺杂配体空穴的可视化”（Visualization of oxygen vacancies and self-doped ligand holes in La3Ni2O7-δ）为题发表在《自然》（Nature）杂志。 查看详细>>

抗生素被用于治疗危及生命的感染已有近百年，随着日益增加的耐药性细菌的出现，传统疗法对耐药细菌感染已不再有效，抗生素耐药性危机已成为亟待解决的全球健康问题，迫切需要新的下一代抗菌药物（以核酸和肽为基础）的发现方法。抗菌肽（AMP）存在于所有生命领域，能够导致细胞裂解从而完全杀死或抑制微生物生长。与传统的广谱抗生素相比，AMP更具针对性，且其耐药性演变速度很低，有望成为一种潜在的治疗方法。近日，复旦大学类脑智能科学与技术研究院（下文简称“类脑研究院”）青年研究员路易斯·佩德罗·科埃略（Luis Pedro Coelho）、名誉教授皮尔·伯克（Peer Bork）、特聘教授赵兴明团队与来自美国与德国的科学家将人工智能与生物医学交叉融合，从全球微生物组中预测近100万种新型抗菌肽。相关成果以《利用机器学习发现全球微生物组中的抗菌肽》（“Discovery of antimicrobial peptides in the global microbiome with machine learning”）为题，在《细胞》（Cell）主刊上发表。在研究中，团队提出了一种针对微生物多肽识别的机器学习算法，可大大降低抗菌肽（AMP）识别的假阳性率。基于该机器学习算法，研究团队从来自环境和宿主相关栖息地的全球63,410个宏基因组和87,920个高质量细菌与古菌基因组预测得到了近100万种新型非冗余抗菌肽，并建立了AMP综合数据资源（AMPSphere）。研究发现，AMP的产生特定于栖息地，且其功效表现出菌株特异性。研究团队测试了100种合成的AMP对11种临床相关致病菌株和人类肠道共生菌的作用，共有79种AMP表现出针对病原体和/或共生菌的抗菌活性，其中63种AMP成功抑制了被认为是公共卫生问题的ESKAPEE病原体的生长。此外，研究团队在小鼠感染模型中发现一些AMP具有抗感染功效，相当于临床前小鼠模型中的多粘菌素B（一种商业临床抗生素，同样是AMP）。该研究证明了人工智能方法从全球微生物组中识别功能性AMP的潜力，研究团队提出的该AMPSphere数据库为微生物领域研究提供了宝贵资源，这些研究发现对于理解抗菌肽的起源和作用机制具有重要意义，为未来抗菌药物的研发迈出了重要一步，为人类健康研究提供了重要贡献。近年来，人工智能技术蓬勃发展，已广泛地应用于生物学、神经科学、医学等领域，在蛋白质结构预测、生物基础大模型建立、生物医学图像识别等方面取得了新突破。复旦大学类脑研究院生物医学人工智能（BioMed AI）团队长期聚焦于人工智能与生物医学交叉研究，团队负责人为复旦大学特聘教授、上海市生物信息学学会理事长、类脑智能科学与技术研究院副院长、计算神经科学与类脑智能教育部重点实验室副主任赵兴明。此前，在生物医学大数据方面，团队已构建了首个全球微生物基因目录，成果刊发于《自然》主刊，构建了中国人肠道病毒组目录，在国际率先提出了人体真菌肠型的概念并揭示了人类四种真菌“肠型”结构等。与此同时，团队还针对生物医学大数据开发了一系列人工智能算法与工具，如宏基因组组装错误识别与矫正算法metaMIC、基于sMRI的多模态PET指标预测方法等，并成功应用于微生物组学、基因组学、影像组学等不同场景。本次研究成果为团队将人工智能算法应用于微生物组学的里程碑式进展。据赵兴明介绍，未来，团队将继续聚焦人工智能与生物医学大数据交叉领域的研究，“比如基于中国人肠道病毒组目录开发人工智能算法与工具，进行相关微生物大模型的训练”，在AI for Science的前沿持续探索。 查看详细>>

When Tomás Vega SM’19 was 5years old,he began to stutter.The experience gave him an appreciation for the adversity that can come with adisability.It also showed him the power of technology.“A keyboard and amouse were outlets,”Vega says.“They allowed me to be fluent in the things Idid.I was able to transcend my limitations in away,so Ibecame obsessed with human augmentation and with the concept of cyborgs.I also gained empathy.I think we all have empathy,but we apply it according to our own experiences.”Vega has been using technology to augment human capabilities ever since.He began programming when he was 12.In high school,he helped people manage disabilities including hand impairments and multiple sclerosis.In college,first at the University of California at Berkeley and then at MIT,Vega built technologies that helped people with disabilities live more independently.Today Vega is the co-founder and CEO of Augmental,a startup deploying technology that lets people with movement impairments seamlessly interact with their personal computational devices.Augmental’s first product is the MouthPad,which allows users to control their computer,smartphone,or tablet through tongue and head movements.The MouthPad’s pressure-sensitive touch pad sits on the roof of the mouth,and,working with apair of motion sensors,translates tongue and head gestures into cursor scrolling and clicks in real time via Bluetooth.“We have abig chunk of the brain that is devoted to controlling the position of the tongue,”Vega explains.“The tongue comprises eight muscles,and most of the muscle fibers are slow-twitch,which means they don’t fatigue as quickly.So,I thought why don’t we leverage all of that?”People with spinal cord injuries are already using the MouthPad every day to interact with their favorite devices independently.One of Augmental’s users,who is living with quadriplegia and studying math and computer science in college,says the device has helped her write math formulas and study in the library—use cases where other assistive speech-based devices weren’t appropriate.“She can now take notes in class,she can play games with her friends,she can watch movies or read books,”Vega says.“She is more independent.Her mom told us that getting the MouthPad was the most significant moment since her injury.”That’s the ultimate goal of Augmental:to improve the accessibility of technologies that have become an integral part of our lives.“We hope that aperson with asevere impairment can be as competent using aphone or tablet as somebody using their hands,”Vega says. 查看详细>>