Zapping the brain with electricity twice a day may reverse symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, a small study has suggested. Researchers put a low intensity electrical current through brains of patients with mild to moderate dementia and compared them to patients who received a sham treatment. All 63 patients showed improved scores in word recall and recognition after six weeks, compared to none in the control group. It is thought that the electrical current might'fire up' the brain's ability to change and grow, which enables'rewiring' through the formation of new neural networks. The researchers, from Ningbo University in China, said the results'strongly indicate' the treatment is a'significant and promising intervention for improving cognitive function'.

Summary: Novel AI technology allows researchers to understand which brain regions directly interact with each other, which helps guide the placement of electrodes for DBS to treat neurological diseases. For millions of people with epilepsy and movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease, electrical stimulation of the brain already is widening treatment possibilities. In the future, electrical stimulation may help people with psychiatric illness and direct brain injuries, such as stroke. However, studying how brain networks interact with each other is complicated. Brain networks can be explored by delivering brief pulses of electrical current in one area of a patient's brain while measuring voltage responses in other areas.

MIT engineers have discovered a new way of generating electricity using tiny carbon particles that can create a current simply by interacting with liquid surrounding them. The liquid, an organic solvent, draws electrons out of the particles, generating a current that could be used to drive chemical reactions or to power micro- or nanoscale robots, the researchers say. "This mechanism is new, and this way of generating energy is completely new," says Michael Strano, the Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT. "This technology is intriguing because all you have to do is flow a solvent through a bed of these particles. This allows you to do electrochemistry, but with no wires." In a new study describing this phenomenon, the researchers showed that they could use this electric current to drive a reaction known as alcohol oxidation -- an organic chemical reaction that is important in the chemical industry.

New AI'smart' cycling shorts equipped with sensors and wires that emit electrical currents into rider's muscles to improve performance have been unveiled by a UK start-up. While technology had previously been used to enhance other areas of cycling equipment, riding shorts have remained largely unchanged, except for perhaps additional padding and improved materials. But now, a British start-up called Impulse has developed a pair of riding shorts that employ electoral sensors and artificial intelligence to shape and stimulate cyclists' muscles while they are on the move, The Times has reported. The company also plans to utilise the same technology for other activities too, such as for runners and gym-goers. Pictured: A graphic showing how the Impulse smart shorts work, employing sensors, AI and electrical currents that stimulate the rider's muscles to improve cycling performance Devon Lewis (pictured left), a PHD student in neuroscience at the University of Southampton, designed the smart shorts (pictured right) that emit tiny electric currents to improve a rider's performance Devon Lewis, a PHD student in neuroscience at the University of Southampton, designed the shorts that emit tiny electric current into the wearer's hamstring muscles and quads to improve their cycling technique.

A small device that'zaps the ear' to trigger nerves in the brain that hold the key to learning languages has been developed and it could improve your language skills. The simple gadget dramatically improves the wearer's ability to learn new words, say the University of Pittsburgh team behind the research new development. The painless technique called tVNS (transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation) may also be applied to other forms of education beyond learning a new language. Electrical currents are sent through the ear and led to English speakers distinguishing Mandarin sounds more easily - and picked up some twice as quickly. It was achieved through precisely timed stimulation of the vagus nerve - the longest of the 12 cranial nerves connecting the brain to the rest of the body.

Modern artificial intelligence lacks a strong theoretical basis, and so it's often a shrug of the shoulders why it works at all (or, oftentimes, doesn't entirely work). One of the deepest mysteries of deep learning is one of its most brilliant successes, what's known as stochastic gradient descent. Stochasticity, the process of randomly picking out examples of data, has yielded breakthroughs in image recognition and other deep learning tasks. And now, one computer chip company thinks they may have a kind of machine for stochasticity, a chip whose power comes from randomness. It might not lead to a theory of why machine learning works, but it might lead to knew breakthroughs in what stochasticity can achieve.

Zapping older people's brains could sharpen their memories to be as good as those of people decades younger. Scientists found stimulating a certain part of the brain boosted the memory of over-64s who had normal age-related memory loss. It worked so well the researchers saw no difference in the test results of volunteers who'd had the therapy and younger, healthier adults. The findings are the latest in a long line of medical trials to delve into the benefits of electrical stimulation on the brain. Just two weeks ago a similar study found zapping the brains of over-60s can restore their memory power to that of people in their twenties.

Mike Henry, CEO One cannot possibly miss all the hype and recognition around artificial intelligence (AI) these days. AI has percolated deep into our everyday lives in ways we cannot fathom. Even for most of the tech-savvy millennials, the AI experience is not defined by complex algorithms, huge computing power, or advanced analytical methods. Instead, it sounds like the voice of a smart speaker that responds to weather-related queries or tunes into a podcast. The truth is, the potential for a "digital me" resides in every device.

Robotic surgery sounds like the ultimate in safe, efficient and effective 21st-century health care. Instead of a surgeon's potentially fallible human hand, you have a robot with its precision-built mechanical arms able to perform micro-accurate procedures on tissues deep within the body. With robot-assisted surgery, the surgeon sits at a nearby console with a 3D view of the surgical site. If the surgeon's hand develops a tremor, the computer system knows to ignore it. The technology also means surgeons can use finer instruments that cause less damage to the body. In turn, this should reduce blood loss and the need for blood transfusions - and mean that patients recover more quickly.

It may not be good news for anyone who finds insects creepy. Scientists have proved they can control how beetles fly and walk by turning them into cyborgs. Researchers fitted giant flower beetles, which measure two inches long and weigh around 0.3 ounces, with radio transmitter backpacks and wired them to their limbs. This allowed them to electrically stimulate muscles in the insects' legs so they could control their walking speed, gait and direction. Scientists have shown they can control the movement of giant flower beetles by inserting tiny electrodes into their muscles.