Knowledge Update

New York, Nov 28 (IANS) US researchers have identified neuro-metabolite alterations across the brain that linked stuttering to changes in brain circuits that control speech production and circuits that support attention and emotion.

Stuttering is a speech disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds and syllables.

The study found that affected brain regions included major nodes of the speech-production network -- associated with the regulation of motor activity, the default-mode network -- involved in the regulation of attention -- and the emotional-memory network -- responsible for regulating emotion.

Attention-regulating portions of the brain are related to control circuits that are important in governing behaviour, the researchers said. 

"People with changes here are more likely to stutter and have more severe stuttering. And emotions like anxiety and stress also tend to make stuttering worse, likely because this network interacts with language and attention control circuits," said lead author Bradley S. Peterson, Director at Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) in the US. 

For the study, the scientists performed proton shift imaging of the brain in 47 children and 47 adults, both with and without stuttering.

The results confirmed that disturbances in neuronal or membrane metabolism contribute to the development of stuttering.

The study was published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

​Washington, Nov 28 (IANS) US consumers spent about $44.5 billion during this Thanksgiving weekend, slightly below a year ago, the country's largest retail trade association said on Sunday. More than 154 million consumers shopped over Thanksgiving weekend, from Thursday to Sunday, two per cent above the 151 million shoppers last year, Xinhua news agency quoted the National Retail Federation as saying. "It was a strong weekend for retailers, but an even better weekend for consumers, who took advantage of some really incredible deals," NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said. "In fact, over one-third of shoppers said 100 per cent of their purchases were on sale," he said. Average spending per person over Thanksgiving weekend totalled $289.19, about 3.5 per cent lower than $299.6 last year, making the total spending 1.56 per cent lower than the last year, said the NRF. Stronger sales were expected in the rest of the holiday season as less people have finished their holiday shopping compared with last year. "With mid-season shopping behind us, it's not too late for retailers to tweak their online and in-store strategies to help increase traffic and see a big payoff during the last few weeks of the holiday season," Shay said. The total retail sales in this year's holiday season from November to December were expected to reach $655.8 billion, 3.6 per cent higher than the last year, better than the average level of 3.4 per cent since 2009, because stronger US economic fundamentals have driven income gains, said NRF in October.

Seoul, Nov 28 (IANS) Hit by Galaxy Note 7 fiasco and a massive corruption scandal, south Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics may be heading for a split as part of a restructuring plan during a shareholders' conference call on Tuesday.

​Beijing, Nov 28 (IANS) Archaeologists have found ruins of a pentagonal structure in China's Shanxi province which is believed to have been a tribal meeting hall or a leader's office 6,000 years ago, authorities said on Monday.

The semi-subterranean house, discovered at the neolithic ruins in Taoyuan, a village in the province, covered a total area of 90 square metres, with surviving walls reaching a maximum of 50 cm, Xinhua news agency quoted Xue Xinming, a researcher with Shanxi provincial Institute of Archaeology, as saying.

The walls were painted with a mixture of grass and mud inside, and several holes were also found where wooden pillars were located to support the house and walls, said Xue.

A cylinder-shaped fireplace was also found underground in the house, which ancient people used for heating, cooking and lighting.

According to Xue, the pentagonal building was rare for that period as the prehistoric people only built structures larger than 80 square metres in the shape.

"Such a big building perhaps was an office of a tribe leader or a public venue for meetings or worship ceremonies of a major tribe," he said, adding it was the first of its kind found in Shanxi province.

Previously, a dozen prehistoric pentagonal buildings had been found in China, mainly located in Lingbao city in Henan province.

The discovery is part of findings from an excavation that began in August in Taoyuan to prepare for highway construction in the area, said Zheng Yuan, excavation team leader of the project.

Zheng said the total excavation area is 2,500 square metres, and aside from four house ruins, they have also discovered ruins of a pottery kiln and unearthed a variety of pottery pieces.

She said the excavation is important for researching society and life in the Miaodigou Culture, the most powerful period in prehistoric China, which was centred around the provinces of Shanxi, Shaanxi and Henan.

New York, Nov 27 (IANS) A novel way to pause the development of early mouse embryos for up to a month in the lab has been identified, a finding that has potential implications for assisted reproduction, regenerative medicine, ageing and even cancer, researchers say.

In the study, the researchers were able to stop the development of early-stage mouse embryos -- known as blastocysts -- using drugs that inhibit the activity of mTor, a master regulator of cell growth.

"Normally, blastocysts only last a day or two, maximum, in the lab. But blastocysts treated with mTOR inhibitors could survive up to four weeks," said the study's lead author Aydan Bulut-Karslioglu, post-doctoral student at the University of California -San Francisco (UCSF).

The paused embryos could quickly resume normal growth when mTOR inhibiters were removed. When implanted back into a recipient mother, they developed into healthy mice, the researchers said.

"mTOR is this beautiful regulator of developmental timing that works by being a nutrient sensor. It doesn't just drive cells into growing willy-nilly. It tunes cell growth based on the level of nutrients that are available in the environment," added Miguel Ramalho-Santos, Associate Professor at UCSF. 

The new research could have a big impact on the field of assisted reproduction -- technology used to achieve pregnancy in procedures such as fertility medication, artificial insemination, in vitro fertilisation and surrogacy -- where practitioners are currently limited by the rapid degradation of embryos once they reach the blastocyst stage.

Further, pausing the development of early-stage embryos may also avoid the compromise of freezing embryos and give practitioners more time to test fertilised blastocysts for genetic defects before implanting them, Bulut-Karslioglu said.

Humans too may have the ability to delay implantation of fertilised embryos in some circumstances, suggested the practitioners of in vitro fertilisation, in the paper published online in the journal Nature.

Singapore, Nov 27 (IANS) Indian-origin researchers from Singapore have developed a new material that will make vehicles and buildings cooler and quieter as compared to the current insulation materials in the market.

Known as aerogel composites, this new foam insulates against heat 2.6 times better than a conventional insulation foam.

The product, which is expected to hit the market by early 2017, was compared to traditional materials used in soundproofing. It was found that it can block out 80 per cent of outside noise -- 30 per cent more than the usual ones.

The foam is made from silica aerogels with a few other additives. The details of the new material were published in peer-reviewed Scientific Journals.

A patent has been filed for by Nanyang Technological University's (NTU) innovation and enterprise arm NTUitive.

A local company, Bronx Creative and Design Centre Pte Ltd (BDC), has licensed the aerogel composites technology with a joint venture of 7 million Singapore dollars ($5.2 million) and will produce the products in various forms such as sheets or panels, in line with current industry sizes.

According to Sunil Chandrankant Joshi, Associate Professor at the NTU, the foam will be easy to install and use as it is thinner than conventional foam.

"Our NTU thin foam is also greener to manufacture as it does not require high heat treatment or toxic materials in its production. It is, therefore, eco-friendly and less hazardous to the environment," said Joshi, who is from NTU's School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

Meanwhile, BDC has various negotiations underway with other companies to expand the production to India and various Southeast Asia countries within the next three years.

The new aerogel composite has been branded "Bronx AeroSil" by BDC and is being developed for various applications by Mahesh Sachithanadam, Chief Technology Officer at BDC.

"For both heat insulation and sound-proofing, we can now use less material to achieve the same effect, which will also lower the overall material and logistic costs," said Sachithanadam, who was Joshi's PhD student at the university.

Apart from being a good thermal and acoustic insulator, the new material is also non-flammable -- a crucial factor for materials used in high heat environments common in the oil and gas industries.

It is also resilient and can withstand high compression or heavy loads. 

A small 10cm by 10cm piece of the aerogel composite material weighing just 15 grams can take up to 300 kg of weight, maintaining its shape without being flattened.

​New York, Nov 27 (IANS) Nearly three weeks ahead of the next instalment of Star Wars series "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story", Japanese mobile carrier SoftBank has unveiled a smartphone dedicated to the science fiction film, a media report said on Sunday. Available in two colours -- Dark (black) and Light (White) side editions -- the device lets you choose your "Force allegiance". The 7.6 mm thin Star Wars mobile phones are made by electronic products manufacturer Sharp and sport a 5.3-inch, full HD (1080p) display, The Verge reported. It runs on Android 6.0 and has skin in both light and dark side themes. The device is powered by Snapdragon 820 processo with 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage which can be expanded by a microSD card. Apart from a 22.6 MP primary camera and 3,000 mAh battery for extended running hours, the device also has "Live wallpapers" that make the phone look like an X-Wing or TIE fighter cockpit, a Star Wars Movie Player app that lets a user watch The Force Awakens until the year 2020 and pre-loaded Star Wars: Force Collection card game. The phone, which will go on sale from December 2 in Japan, has Star Wars-themed alarm clock app, Star Wars emoji and Star Wars ringtones.

​London, Nov 27 (IANS) In a first, scientists from Switzerland have developed a new perovskite material with unique magnetic properties that can be used to build next-generation hard drives, making writing and accessing data on them easy.

​Dubai, Nov 27 (IANS) US space agency NASA will work with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Space Agency to put communications capability on the UAE's Mars spacecraft Hope that will reach the Red Planet in 2021, an official said on Sunday.

​Tokyo, Nov 27 (IANS) Japan's Beppu city has figured out how to create a place that will calm your senses while driving your heartbeat through the roof, media reported on Sunday.

The mayor of Beppu, a city known for its hot springs, issued a posting on social media last week: "If this YouTube video hits a million views, I'll build a 'spamusement park' in the city." 

The hot-spring themed amusement park would be where you can soak in a tub while zooming down a rollercoaster, wearing only a towel, the Mashable reported.

In seven days, the video hit 1.8 milliion views and the mayor's office released a statement to the press celebrating the project's commencement.

It hasn't said when the park will be completed, but the city is now seeking creative types to submit ideas for rides and attractions at tghe proposed "spamusement" park.