# bots: xenobot (from Xenopus laevis), the first living, programmable organism

<< A remarkable combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and biology has produced the world’s first "living robots".  (..) The term "xeno" comes from the frog cells (Xenopus laevis) used to make them. >>

<< One of the researchers described the creation as "neither a traditional robot nor a known species of animal", but a "new class of artifact: a living, programmable organism". >>

<< Xenobots are less than 1mm long and made of 500-1000 living cells. They have various simple shapes, including some with squat "legs". They can propel themselves in linear or circular directions, join together to act collectively, and move small objects. Using their own cellular energy, they can live up to 10 days. >>

Simon Coghlan, Kobi Leins. Not bot, not beast: scientists create first ever living, programmable organism. University of Melbourne. Jan 19, 2020.

https://theconversation.com/not-bot-not-beast-scientists-create-first-ever-living-programmable-organism-129980

Sam Kriegman, Douglas Blackiston, et al. A scalable pipeline for designing reconfigurable organisms. PNAS. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1910837117.  Jan 13, 2020

https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/01/07/1910837117

Also

keyword 'bots' in FonT

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=bots

# behav: walking with turning

<< Normal human locomotion in daily life involves walking with turning, not just straight line walking. (..) the metabolic rate while walking in circles increases with decreasing radius for fixed speed. (..) this increase in energy cost for turning has behavioral implications >>

<< to save energy, (..) humans should walk slower in smaller circles, slow down when path curvature increases when traveling along more complex curves, turn in place around a particular optimal angular speed, and avoid sharp turns but use smooth gentle turns while navigating around obstacles or while needing to turn while walking. >>

Geoffrey L. Brown, Nidhi Seethapathi, Manoj Srinivasan. Walking with turning: energy optimality explains walking behavior while turning and path planning. arXiv: 2001.02287v1 [q-bio.NC]. Jan 7, 2020.

https://arxiv.org/abs/2001.02287

# gst: irregular sampling design to address behaviours

<< Animal movement studies have become ubiquitous in animal ecology for the estimation of space use and the analysis of movement behavior. In these studies, animal movement data are primarily collected at regular time intervals. (AA) propose an irregular sampling design that could lead to greater efficiency and information gain in animal movement studies. (The) novel sampling design, called lattice and random intermediate point (LARI), combines samples at regular and random time intervals. >>

<<  in each of the data and simulation examples explored in this paper, LARI sampling results in more accurate and precise parameter estimation and, thus, better prediction of missing data as well.  >>

Elizabeth Eisenhauer,  Ephraim Hanks. A lattice and random intermediate point sampling design for animal movement. Environmetrics. doi: 10.1002/env.2618. Jan 3, 2020.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/env.2618

Gail McCormick. Including irregular time intervals improves animal movement studies. Pennsylvania State University. Jan 15, 2020.

https://m.phys.org/news/2020-01-irregular-intervals-animal-movement.html

Also

keyword "pause" in Notes

https://inkpi.blogspot.com/search?q=pause

keyword "pause" in FonT

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=pause

# lang: huru (freeman) by CLICS - database of Cross-Linguistic Colexifications

keyword 'huru' (freeman) in CLICS

https://clics.clld.org/valuesets/wold-Swahili-384

https://clics.clld.org/parameters/384#0/25/18

<< Every language has cases in which two or more concepts are expressed by the same word, (..) Building on the new guidelines for standardized data formats in cross-linguistic research, which were first presented in 2018, the CLICS team was able to increase the amount of data from 300 language varieties and 1200 concepts in the original database to 3156 language varieties and 2906 concepts in the current installation. >>

CLICS: World's largest database of cross-linguistic lexical associations. Max Planck Society. Jan 13, 2020.

https://m.phys.org/news/2020-01-clics-world-largest-database-cross-linguistic.html

Christoph Rzymski, Tiago Tresoldi, et al. The Database of Cross-Linguistic Colexifications, reproducible analysis of cross-linguistic polysemies. Scientific Data. Volume 7, Article number: 13. Jan 13,  2020.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-019-0341-x

# gst: a concrete image, chirality by dissipation, 'this effect actually owes its existence to dissipation'

<< Normally, dissipation alters or weakens existing quantum effects-but here we have an effect that actually owes its existence to dissipation, >>  Tilman Esslinger

<< "No scientist thinks in formulae," Albert Einstein allegedly once told his colleague Leopold Infeld. In fact, especially for physicists, who deal with such abstract things as quantum physics, it is often immensely useful to work with concrete images rather than mathematical symbols. >>

Oliver Morsch. Unexpected twist in a quantum system. ETH Zurich.  Jan 10, 2020.

https://m.phys.org/news/2020-01-unexpected-quantum.html

Nishant Dogra, Manuele Landini, et al.  Dissipation-induced structural instability and chiral dynamics in a quantum gas.  Science  20 Dec 2019:

Vol. 366, Issue 6472, pp. 1496-1499

DOI: 10.1126/science.aaw4465

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/366/6472/1496   

# astro: you might find erratic massive black holes in dwarf galaxies ...

<< The new VLA (Very Large Array) observations revealed that 13 of these galaxies have strong evidence for a massive black hole that is actively consuming surrounding material. (AA) were very surprised to find that, in roughly half of those 13 galaxies, the black hole is not at the center of the galaxy, unlike the case in larger galaxies, >>  Amy Reines.

<< The scientists said this indicates that the galaxies likely have merged with others earlier in their history. This is consistent with computer simulations predicting that roughly half of the massive black holes in dwarf galaxies will be found wandering in the outskirts of their galaxies. >>

<< This work has taught us that we must broaden our searches for massive black holes in dwarf galaxies beyond their centers to get a more complete understanding of the population and learn what mechanisms helped form the first massive black holes in the early Universe, >> Amy Reines.

Astronomers find wandering massive black holes in dwarf galaxies. National Radio Astronomy Observatory. Jan 6, 2020.

https://m.phys.org/news/2020-01-astronomers-massive-black-holes-dwarf.html    

Amy Reines, James Condon, et al. A New Sample of (Wandering) Massive Black Holes in Dwarf Galaxies from High Resolution Radio Observations. arXiv:1909.04670v1 [astro-ph.GA] Sep 10, 2019.

https://arxiv.org/abs/1909.04670

Also

keyword 'astro' in FonT

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=astro

# gst: apropos of 'large deviations', the instanton, to trace rogue waves

<< Strong evidence is given that the rogue waves observed in the tank are hydrodynamic instantons, that is, saddle point configurations of the action associated with the stochastic model of the wave system. (..) these hydrodynamic instantons are complex spatiotemporal wave field configurations which can be defined using the mathematical framework of large deviation theory and calculated via tailored numerical methods. These results indicate that the instantons describe equally well rogue waves created by simple linear superposition (in weakly nonlinear conditions) or by nonlinear focusing (in strongly nonlinear conditions), paving the way for the development of a unified explanation to rogue wave formation. >>

Giovanni Dematteis, Tobias Grafke, et al. Experimental Evidence of Hydrodynamic Instantons: The Universal Route to Rogue Waves. Phys. Rev. X 9, 041057. Dec 18, 2019.

https://journals.aps.org/prx/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevX.9.041057

Stefano Trillo, Amin Chabchoub. Viewpoint: A Unifying Framework for Describing Rogue Waves. Physics 12, 146. Dec18, 2019.

https://physics.aps.org/articles/v12/146