A Laser Phase Plate Lets Cryo-EM See Proteins Too Small to Image

Posted on October 31, 2026October 31, 2026 by IE Contributor

Illustration of a cryo-transmission electron microscope, the class of instrument the laser phase plate upgrades. Image: Ryan Kissinger, courtesy of NIAID, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) has transformed how scientists see the molecules of life, earning its pioneers the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Yet it has a stubborn blind spot: most human proteins are too small to image clearly. Physicists at the University of California, Berkeley, have now built ...

CT Scans May Replace Invasive Angiographies

Posted on November 28, 2016 by

Using data from a standard CT scan, the non-invasive HeartFlow Analysis creates a personalized 3D model of the coronary arteries and analyzes the impact that blockages have on blood flow. Today’s non-invasive diagnostic tests provide little explanation of chest pain, leading many patients to unnecessary invasive testing. In fact, more than half of patients who undergo these invasive tests have no significant blockage. Enables clinicians to identify significant coronary artery disease and dete...

Activity Trackers Learn The Difference Between Fake and Real Activity

Posted on March 10, 2016 by 41629066

Researchers from Northwestern Medicine and Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) have made smartphone activity trackers smarter than ever; they have trained trackers to have the ability to detect the difference between fake and real activity. Insurance companies and health care providers base rewards to individuals who stay active and healthy on the results from wearable activity trackers, among them smartphones. They also rely on these devices to monitor a patient’s activity and determin...

Drawing in the third dimension

Posted on September 14, 2015 by

Storybooks and graphic novels could soon be three dimensional. A new software platform from small business Mental Canvas reimagines drawing in the digital age. The company has introduced a new concept of picture books and graphic novels which are not flat two dimensional but could let us spin the whole story in a three dimensional setup. The company believes that digital illustration does not enhance the sketch value whereas if the image is presented in 3D, it acts as a communication tool ...

Csound – computer programming language for sound

Posted on July 19, 2015 by 41629066

Csound is a computer programming language for sound, also known as a sound compiler or an audio programming language, or more precisely, an audio DSL. It is called Csound because it is written in C, as opposed to some of its predecessors. Csound was originally written at MIT by Barry Vercoe, based on his earlier system called Music 11, which in its turn followed the MUSIC-N model initiated by Max Mathews at the Bell Labs. Its development continued throughout the 1990s and 2000s, led by John f...