BABY BLUE-TONGUE ARE BORN SMART…
Reading Time: < 1 minuteYoung Australian eastern blue-tongue lizards (Tiliqua scincoides) are every bit as clever as adults, researchers have found. Life is hard for baby blue-tongues. As soon as they are born, they are on their own, with neither parental support nor protection. Adults of the species can grow to 600 millimetres long and enjoy the benefits of […]
Detecting depression through voice
Reading Time: < 1 minuteAI algorithms can now more accurately detect depressed mood using the sound of your voice, according to new research by University of Alberta computing scientists. The research was conducted by PhD student Mashrura Tasnim and Professor Eleni Stroulia in the Department of Computing Science. Using standard benchmark data sets, Tasnim and Stroulia developed a methodology […]
HELLO, the big world out there!
Reading Time: < 1 minuteIN conjunction with USM’s 50th anniversary, a dedicated blog for communicating science and the arts has been launched. The blog — Simply Speaking — was created to specially appeal to the stakeholders who matter and the public at large. This blog marks another milestone in the continuing efforts of USM to reach out to society […]
AI fit to monitor volcanoes
Reading Time: < 1 minuteMORE than half of the world’s active volcanoes are not monitored instrumentally. Hence, even eruptions that could potentially have rung an alarm can occur without people at risk having a clue of the upcoming disaster. As a first and early step towards a volcano early warning system, a research project headed by Sébastien Valade from […]
Forecasting volcanic eruptions
Reading Time: < 1 minuteTHE molten rock that feeds volcanoes can be stored in the Earth’s crust for as long as a thousand years, a result which may help with better forecasting of when eruptions might occur. Researchers from the University of Cambridge used volcanic minerals known as ‘crystal clocks’ to calculate how long magma can be stored in […]
Oil palm DNA fingerprinting innovation gets silver accolade
Reading Time: 2 minutesTHE oil palm DNA fingerprinting service offered by FGV R&D Sdn Bhd has won the Silver Award in the International Invention, Innovation and Technology Exhibition (ITEX) held in May 2019. The DNA fingerprinting services began in 2016 by utilising the Short Sequence Repeat (SSR) region as markers for generating DNA profiling. Through continuous process improvement, […]
FGV’s PalmaShield wins gold award at ITEX’19
Reading Time: 2 minutesFGV R&D Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of FGV Holdings Berhad recently won the Gold Award in the Invention and Design Competition for its innovative product – PalmaShield under the Agriculture Category in the 30th International Invention, Innovation & Technology Exhibition (ITEX’19) held in May 2019. PalmaShield is a biological product developed to manage Ganoderma infection […]
Is Singapore’s decades-long shift away from agriculture about to take a U-turn?
Reading Time: 6 minutesSINGAPORE has gone through such spectacular changes in its bicentennial history that today’s visitors to the country may be forgiven if they think it has always been a glitzy concrete shopping paradise and financial hub. It was only at the turn of the 19th century that Singapore grew, exported and traded in gambier, nutmeg, cinnamon, […]
What is a paraben and how do they work?
Reading Time: < 1 minuteAmong the ingredients that frequently turn up on labels of products ranging from toothpaste to deodorant are parabens. Parabens are identified by a wide array of names, such as propylparaben and parahydroxybenzoate. Despite the occasionally tongue-twisting names, parabens of any name are simply preservatives. They are colourless and odourless. They have no taste, do not discolour and […]
How do magicians trick your mind?
Reading Time: < 1 minuteMagicians, have studied, understood and thus exploited human cognitive responses and illusions for as long as history permits our vision. The human mind’s response to stimuli, is exploited by the magician. A phenomenon called lateral inhibition, where the activation of a neuron by a stimulus, inhibits the activation of neighbouring neurons which prevent the brain from responding […]