Scientists use stem cells to grow working inner ear parts to treat deafness

Why it matters to you

Growing functioning inner ear tissues could lead to future treatment for deafness.

In many cases, deafness can have a significant impact on a person’s well-being, from obvious primary challenges like, well, not being able to hear, to no-less-important secondary issues like resulting social isolation.

In recent years, a number of increasingly high-quality hearing aids have helped resolve some of these issues, but a new research project coming out of Indiana University School of Medicine may have the biggest impact yet.

What professor Karl Koehler and his team have been working on is a method to grow human inner ear organs from stem cells.

“Human stem cells have the potential to form any organ in the body, but they require special guidance cues at the right time to form a specific organ, like the inner ear,” Koehler told Digital Trends. “After about three years of careful trial and error, we came up with a ‘cue recipe’ that tells stem cells to form inner ear organ-like structures. We call these ‘inner ear organoids.’ In the study, we show how inner ear organoids are structured and function like real inner ear organs.”

The inner ear is one of the few organs in the body with which a biopsy is not performed, which makes the tissues rare for the purposes of research. “It’s hard to obtain inner ear tissue from patients for research, which has made it difficult to test new drugs or gene therapies,” Koehler explained. “We are aiming to set up large-scale screens to identify new drugs. We hope this human ear-in-a-dish will accelerate development of promising drugs that could regenerate the inner ear hair cells, the sound and movement sensing cells, of someone with profound deafness or dizziness.”

We’re still far from the point at which this tech could be used to restore hearing to someone who has lost it, but the tissues grown by the team do recognizably appear like our own — right down to the presence of normal functioning hair cells, and neurons that send sound signals to the brain.

The work is described in the new issue of the journal Nature Biotechnology.

Acer’s 32-inch monitor for pros packs lots of pretty colors for a pretty penny

Why it matters to you

Acer’s new ProDesigner BM320 desktop monitor should be the ideal solution for graphics designers, video editors, and anyone who’s not afraid to spend a little coin.

Acer on Thursday introduced a new 4K monitor for processionals, the ProDesigner BM320. The company says the panel provides “precise” color reproduction due to its support for 100 percent of the Adobe RGB and sRGB color spaces. It’s backed by a 10-bit color depth and support for the Rec. 709 and DCI-P3 color spaces.  Needless to say, this isn’t your typical desktop monitor.

Here are the specs:

Screen size:
32 inches
Panel type:
In-Plane Switching
Resolution:
3,840 x 2,160 @ 60Hz
Aspect ratio:
16:9
Response time:
5ms
Colors supported:
1.07 billion
Color spaces:
Adobe RGB @ 100 percent
sRGB @ 100 percent
Rec. 709 @ 100 percent
DCI-P3 @ 90 percent
Color depth:
10-bit
Contrast ratio:
100,000,000:1
Brightness:
350 nits
Ports:
1x DVI
1x HDMI 2.0
1x DisplayPort 1.2
1x Mini DisplayPort
5x USB 3.1 Gen1 ports (1 up, 4 down)
Audio:
2x two-watt speakers
Stand height:
Up to 5.9 inches
Stand swivel:
+/- 45 degrees
Stand tilt:
-5 to 25 degrees
Stand pivot:
+/- 90 degrees
Dimensions (no stand):
17 x 28.6 x 2.3 inches
Dimensions (with stand):
24.24 x 28.64 x 7.91 inches

As the specs show, the panel is based on In-Plane Switching (IPS) technology, which promises rich colors and wide viewing angles. By comparison, the oldest and more widely used Twisted Nematic (TN) technology offers a better brightness and response time, making it a good fit for PC gaming. IPS panels are ideal for color-accurate applications like photo editing, graphic design, and so on.

“Featuring a sleek ZeroFrame design, the Acer ProDesigner BM320 provides maximum viewing area and virtually eliminates the screen’s bezel for a seamless visual experience in multiple display setups,” the company said. “An IPS panel enables wide viewing angles with accurate colors up to 178 degrees both horizontally and vertically.”

According to Acer, the monitor provides 6-axis color adjustment for tuning the hue and saturation to the exact colors designers need. It also packs “super sharpness technology,” so low-resolution images have slightly better edges. Acer even tunes and tests each panel before shipping to ensure a Delta-E color accuracy so precise, it’s the smallest difference in hues that the human eye can barely see.

Other goodies thrown into Acer’s new monitor include Flicker-less technology to reduce the amount of headache-inducing flicker, BlueLightShield to protect your brain’s melatonin from burning blue light, and low dimming to automatically change the brightness as the room’s light fluctuates. ComfyView reduces the screen glare as well, easing the visual strain of staring at a bright monitor for hours on end.

Acer’s new 31-inch ProDesigner BM320 is available now through Acer and participating retailers for a hefty price of $1,300. It appears to be the first in Acer’s new ProDesigner BM Series lineup, so expect additional units in Acer’s portfolio to arrive in the near future.

Gmail for Android now features better phishing protection

Based on Google’s Safe Browsing technology, the new ability will help immediately identify nasty links.

The popular word for the week appears to be phishing; first with the Google Docs snafu, and then with an update to the Gmail app that helps prevent phishing from happening in the first place.

The new phishing protection relies on the same technology that powers Google’s Safe Browsing, which is utilized in apps like Google Chrome and the Play Store. Just as the many dialer apps will warn you about spam callers, Gmail will now alert you to suspicious links embedded in the body text of the email. When you open up the message, it will warn you explicitly of dubious links. It’s the kind of thing that could really help those who aren’t too privy to the connected world’s many tricks.

Phishing attacks have become eerily specific and even somewhat passable lately, which is precisely why the Google Docs attack managed to run rampant in the first place. The attachments often arrived from a familiar email address, and offered interface prompts that were similar to the rest of the Android experience. This sort of thing wouldn’t have protected it, however, since it doesn’t appear to scan for attachments.

This new kit from Google adds voice commands to your Raspberry Pi

Google and the creators of the Raspberry Pi have teamed up, and the result is you now can say “OK, Google” to your home-made computer.

The companies have released a hardware accessory, a Voice HAT (Hardware Accessory on Top), which can turn a Raspberry Pi 3 into an assistant. It adds a speaker and a microphone to the tiny computer. You can then integrate voice interaction using Google Assistant’s SDK. That means it will be possible to build a voice-controlled speaker with your Raspberry Pi 3, and you can control it just like a Google Home.

• Google Home just became the perfect sous-chef for your kitchen
• Google Home recognises who speaks to it: How to add multiple users

The entire kit, Google AIY Projects, is only available with the latest issue of The Mag Pi – the official Raspberry Pi magazine. So, for £5.99, you will get the magazine plus the kit that includes Voice Hat and everything needed to start building right away. It even includes step-by-step instructions for connecting the Pi to Google’s voice services.

The video below details the kit and what you can do with it. If you’re interested, you can go to The Mag Pi’s website and order it now.

Soft, synthetic retinas may offer a better implant solution

Scientists have been trying to replace retinas in otherwise healthy eyes to help people suffering from diseases like retinitis pigmentosa. Unfortunately, earlier efforts were only able to use rigid, hard materials, which are very different from the natural retina. A researcher at Oxford University, however, has created a synthetic retina made of biological materials to better match natural human tissues. The study, titled “Light-Patterned Current Generation in a Droplet Bilayer Array” was published this April in Scientific Reports.

Your retina sits at the back of your eye collecting light and converting them to electrical signals for your brain. The research, led by 24-year-old Vanessa Restrepo-Schild, uses a retina made of soft water droplets called hydrogels and biological cell membrane proteins. These cells act like pixels to detect light and create a gray scale image. It can then generate electrical signals to stimulate the neurons at the back of your eye just like a natural retina does. The artificial tissues don’t contain anything other than natural, biodegradable materials, making it less likely that recipients’ bodies will reject the implant. It’s also far less invasive than devices that reproduce the system mechanically.

While the new synthetic retina has only been tested in the laboratory, Restrepo-Schild hopes to continue her research to explore its potential with living tissues. That may still be a ways off, but it could surely become a more viable way than other efforts to restore sight to people with retinal issues.

Via: MedicalXpress

Source: Nature.com

US may require visa applicants to divulge social media accounts

The State Department has proposed a new requirement for select visa applicants: Their social media handles from the last five years. This would only apply to about 0.5 percent of those applying worldwide and wouldn’t target nationals from particular countries (say, those under a travel ban), the government insisted. But should the suggested changes be approved, you’ll need to fork over every internet alias you’ve used or risk jeopardizing your visa.

Having an applicant’s social media handles would supposedly allow the State Department to more strenuously vet whomever it suspects of terrorist ties or national security-related danger. It’s not the first time intelligence agencies have proposed requiring incoming foreign nationals to fork over their internet aliases, either: Homeland Security asked to add it last June, reflecting the increased scrutiny the DHS wanted to pay to visa applicants after the 2015 San Bernardino shooting. The department got its wish back in December, if only for those applying to the visa waiver program.

The proposal, found here, would ramp up the vetting process, just as Trump promised during his Presidential run. In addition to social media handles (but not passwords), it would require applicants to list names and dates of birth for siblings as well as up to 15 years of biographical details like home addresses and travel histories. But it hasn’t been adopted just yet: The proposed changes must endure a public comment period before the Office of Management and Budget approves or denies them by May 18th.

Via: The Verge

Source: Reuters

Classic Zombies maps are coming to ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops 3’

I’m not a big Call of Duty fan, admittedly, but I have fond memories of Black Ops 2’s Zombies mode. And I’m sure I’m not the only one. The shambling undead have been a popular part of the franchise for many years. Now, Treyarch is tapping into that nostalgia with its next DLC for Black Ops 3. Zombies Chronicles will feature eight remastered versions of classic Zombies mode maps, co-studio head Jason Blundell announced today in an interview with YouTuber JCbackfire.

Blundell describes Zombies Chronicles as a “love letter from Treyarch to the community.” He says it’s a good primer for newer fans too. “I felt like it was more important to give people the beginnings,” he says.

The eight maps span a number of Call of Duty games, from Zombies’ debut in World at War to Black Ops 2. They include:

• Nacht der Untoten
• Verruckt
• Shi No Numa
• Kino Der Toten
• Ascension
• Shangri-la
• Moon
• Origins

Zombies Chronicles will launch May 16th on the PlayStation 4, Blundell said. There’s no word yet on how much it’ll cost or when it’ll come to other platforms. Treyarch will give more details during a livestream on Monday, May 8th.

Via: Polygon

Source: JCbackfire

Survival RPG ‘The Long Dark’ gets official release date, story mode

After years of development as a crowdfunded project and, later, a pre-alpha build on Xbox One and Steam, wilderness survival RPG The Long Dark from Hinterland Studios finally has a release date of August 1st. Better yet, the studio announced on Wednesday that the game will be be making the jump to PS4 on that date and all three platforms will gain access to the first two chapters of a new five-part story mode dubbed “Wintermute”.

The new story mode follows the adventures of bush pilot Will Mackenzie and Dr. Astrid Greenwood, who are separated in the Northern Canadian woods after their plane crashes in a mysterious electrical storm. Over the first two chapters, which the studio expects to take around 6-10 hours to complete, the player must first survive long enough to find shelter after the crash and subsequently set off in search of Astrid while beginning to understand the nature of the electrical phenomenon. The three remaining episodes will be released throughout the rest of this year and the first bit of 2018. The company also plans to continue updating its original sandbox mode for the foreseeable future.

Before that happens though, the studio plans to release a major update to the existing system called the “Faithful Cartographer”. Current players will see an overhauled (and far more stable) save system and an external map feature that the player must fill in with campfire ash as they explore new areas. Gameplay improvements include the ability to hunt rabbits by throwing stones at them, to ward off predators by throwing torches and flares, and to quarter animal carcasses after hunting them. These come in addition to a slew of new artwork, a brand new UI and a host of bug/stability fixes.

As for pricing, if you’ve already bought the game on Steam or Xbox One for the original $20 price, you’re in luck. Come August 1st, you’ll retain full access to the game, its new features and all five chapters of Wintermute for no additional charge. If you’re buying it for the PS4 or haven’t been part of the early access programs, the price is going to be $35 but you’ll still get all the same stuff.

Via: Hinterland Games (Twitter), Xbox Wire

Source: The Long Dark

Puzzle Game ‘Zip-Zap’ Available for Free as Apple’s App of the Week

Puzzle game Zip-Zap has been named Apple’s App of the Week, and as a result, it is available to download for free for the next seven days. Zip-Zap is normally priced at $1.99 and this is the first time it’s been free since its September 2016 launch.

Zip-Zap is a puzzle game that asks users to solve puzzles using Rube Goldberg-style hinges and levers that are put into place via well-timed taps. There are more than 100 levels to complete, and the game has no ads or in-app purchases.

Zip-Zap will be available for free until next Thursday, when a new App of the Week will be chosen. It can be downloaded from the App Store. [Direct Link]

Tag: App of the Week
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Apple Named World’s Largest Wearables Vendor With an Estimated 3.5M Apple Watch Shipments in Q1 2017

Apple became the world’s largest wearables vendor in the first quarter of 2017 with an estimated 3.5 million Apple Watch shipments, according to new research data shared this afternoon by Strategy Analytics.

Apple Watch shipments overtook Fitbit shipments during Q1 2017, allowing Apple to capture 15.9 percent global marketshare to become the top wearables vendor. Fitbit shipped an estimated 2.9 million wearable devices during the quarter, while Apple’s closest competitor, Xiaomi, shipped an estimated 3.4 million wearable devices.

Apple’s estimated 3.5 million shipments are up from an estimated 2.2 million Apple Watch shipments in the year-ago quarter. As Apple Watch shipments have grown, Fitbit shipments have dropped sharply from an estimated 4.5 million units in Q1 2016.

Xiaomi is still close to Apple at 15.5 percent global marketshare, but has seen its shipment numbers slip while Apple’s have grown.
In the year-ago quarter, Xiaomi’s marketshare was at 20.9 percent, while Apple’s was at 12.1 percent. Fitbit, meanwhile, has dropped from 24.7 percent in Q1 2016 to 13.2 percent in Q1 2017.

Cliff Raskind, Director at Strategy Analytics, said, “Fitbit shipped 2.9 million wearables worldwide in Q1 2017, falling a huge 36 percent annually from 4.5 million in Q1 2016. Fitbit has lost its wearables leadership to Apple, due to slowing demand for its fitnessbands and a late entry to the emerging smartwatch market. Fitbit’s shipments, revenue, pricing and profit are all shrinking at the moment and the company has a major fight on its hands to recover this year.”

Apple does not share official Apple Watch sales numbers, instead lumping the device into its “Other Products” category that also includes the Apple TV, Beats products, iPod, and Apple-branded and third-party accessories, so Apple Watch sales numbers shared by various analytics firms are all estimates.

Revenue from “Other Products” was $2.87 billion during the second quarter of 2017 according to Apple’s recently released earnings report, up from $2.19 in the year-ago quarter. According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, Apple Watch sales have nearly doubled year-over-year.

“Combine Apple Watch, AirPods, and Beats and our revenue from wearable products in the last four quarters was the size of a Fortune 500 company,” said Cook.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch Series 2, watchOS 3
Tag: Strategy Analytics
Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Neutral)
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