Ending Bacterial Resistance, Denser Energy Storage and a Temperature Switch in the Southern Ocean
August 1
Firstly, Happy Birthday to all the horses in the Southern Hemisphere. All horses born in the south are born at this time of year and are deemed to have been born on August 1st (no matter when they were actually born, most are born between August and November). This stops breeders gaming the age related racing categories. This week in addition to having a party for the horses we examine a new method for ending Bacterial resistance from drugs. We investigate a new way to use Carbon Nanotubes as an energy storage mechanism with 3 times the energy density of lithium-ion batteries. We discover a temperature switch in the southern ocean near Australia and New Zealand that impacts the weather across the entire southern hemisphere and finally we look at a new method to detect deepfaked images.
Ending Bacterial Resistance
The World Health Organization estimates that bacterial resistance was directly responsible for 1.27 million deaths globally in 2019. It contributed to another 4.95 million deaths that year. The misuse and overuse of antimicrobials (antibiotics) in humans and animals are the main drivers of drug resistant pathogens. The problem is rapidly getting worse.
A team from the University of Illinois in Chicago have developed a new antibiotic that makes it 100 million times harder for bacteria to evolve a resistance. The drug works by targeting two different cellular functions at the same time. Bacteria would have to implement defenses to both attacks at the same time, making the evolution of a genetic resistance nearly impossible.
Macrolones are synthetic antibiotics that combine the structures of two widely use antibiotics with different mechanisms. Macrolides such as erythromycin block the ribosome (the protein manufacturing center of the cell). Fluroquinolones target a bacterial specific enzyme, DNA gyrase.
Future work will concentrate on maximizing the macrolones to hit both targets. This will further improve the effectiveness of the treatment and hopefully bring an end to antibiotic resistant superbugs.
Denser Energy Storage
An international team at the University of Maryland have shown that twisted carbon nanotubes can store three times more energy per unit mass than advanced lithium iron batteries. The new type of energy storage will be suitable for storing energy in devices that need to be lightweight, compact and safe such as medial implants and sensors.
Single walled carbon nanotubes are like straws. They are made from pure carbon, one atom thick. The nanotubes are lightweight and relatively easy to manufacture with 100 times the strength of steel. The team manufactured carbon nanotube ropes by pulling and twisting the tubes into a single thread. The tubes were then coated with different substances to increase the rope’s strength and flexibility.
The ropes were then twisted and the team measured the energy that was released as the ropes unwound. The best performing ropes held 15,000 times more energy per unit of mass than a steel spring. Three times more energy than lithium ion batteries. This performance remained consistent from -60C to +100C. The ropes are safer for use in the human body.
The team is now incorporating the ropes into prototype sensors that are under development.
Temperature Switch in the Southern Ocean
A team at the University of Reading in England have discovered a small area in the southwestern Pacific Ocean near New Zealand and Australia that can trigger temperature changes that affect the entire Southern Hemisphere. This new pattern is similar to El Nino and has been named the Southern Hemisphere Circumpolar Wavenumber-4 Pattern.
A climate model which simulated 300 years of climate conditions combined atmospheric, oceanic and sea ice components was used to represent the Earth’s Climate System. An analysis of the simulated data showed a recurring pattern of sea surface temptation variations circling the Southern Hemisphere.
This pattern created four alternating warm and cool areas in the oceans forming a complete circle in the Southern Hemisphere. A small warming change in the area near Australia and New Zealand creates a ripple effect in the atmosphere. A wave like pattern then travels around the world carried by strong westerly winds. As the atmospheric wave moves it affects ocean temperatures creating four warm and cool areas.
When the atmospheric wave changes wind patterns, it affects how heat moves between the ocean and the air. This changes the depth of the ocean’s upper layer of warmer water making temperature changes stronger or weaker. The pattern is independent of other warming patterns of trade winds and currents. The team believe that the pattern has always been there but we have never noticed it.
The team described the discovery like finding a new switch in the Earth’s climate. The relatively small area of the ocean can have a wide reaching effect on global weather and climate patterns. The discovery may improve weather forecasting and prediction in the Southern Hemisphere.
Detecting Deepfakes, it’s in the Eyes
A team from the University of Hull has found that light reflections in the eyes of deepfaked images of humans do not line up as they should. The reflections that we can see in the eyeballs are consistent for images of real people however they are incorrect in AI generated images.
The team used methods that are usually used to measure the shape of galaxies and the light distribution of galaxies to identify the deepfaked images. The team ran the morphological features of the faked images through a system called CAS which measures concentration, asymmetry and smoothness. They then compared the results for the left and right eye and found that fake images have inconsistent differences between the two eyes. The reflections from each eye should be similar (they won’t be exactly the same).
The team then used the Gini index which measures the inequality of light distribution in images of galaxies to determine which images were faked. By using these two methods they were able to identify deepfakes 70% of the time.
Other researchers are using the distribution of light across an image to look for inconsistencies in lighting, shadows and reflections to identify fakes. The downside of identifying these errors in deepfake images is that AI models can now be trained to improve their performance on that metric. Staying in front of the faking of images is a constant battle.
Paying it Forward
If you have a start-up or know of a start-up that has a product ready for market please let me know. I would be happy to have a look and feature the startup in this newsletter. Also if any startups need introductions please get in touch and I will help where I can.
If you have any questions or comments please comment below.
I would also appreciate it if you could forward this newsletter to anyone that you think might be interested.
Till next week.