Machine learning (ML) models have recently become popular in the field of heterogeneous catalyst design.

The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded a Consolidator Grant to the computer scientist and neuroscientist Professor Fabian Sinz at the University of Göttingen. The project “Vision2Action: A data-driven computational framework to discover how behavior impacts processing in mouse visual cortex” has been awarded around two million Euro for five years. In the project, Sinz and his team plan to develop new machine learning methods to understand how motor movement influences visual processing in the brain.

Can electric stimulation help the brain regain speech after a stroke? Can generative artificial intelligence create realistic 3D objects? Can qubits, the fundamental units of quantum computing, be entangled using light? These are among the questions that five research teams at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) aim to answer with the support of prestigious ERC Consolidator Grants.

Three studies recently published within just one month by the journal Cerebral Cortex present new models of spiking networks in the brain. Electrical spikes of neurons are at the core of neural information processing. With millions of neurons and billions of synapses, the new generation of open models are powerful tools to study the complex dynamics in large networks, with implications for basic neuroscience, neuromorphic computing and AI. On EBRAINS, researchers will be able to use the large-scale neuronal network models as adaptable building blocks in their investigations and combine them with other brain simulation tools across scales.

The HU neuroscientist wants to develop methods for analysing large brains using the elephant brain as an example.

Elephants are majestic animals with dexterous trunks and have been shown to use tools. Flexibility, extension, and water-flow make water hoses exceptionally complex tools. In the upcoming issue of Current Biology, Urban, Becker, Ochs, Sicks, Brecht and Kaufmann from the Bernstein Center Berlin/Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the Berlin Zoological Garden describe water hose tool use in Asian elephants.

Sleep is one of the most mysterious, yet ubiquitous components of our biology. It has been described in all major groups of animals, including worms, jellyfish, insects or cephalopods, and in all vertebrates, from fish to humans. Common characteristics of sleep include reduced movement, decreased muscle tone, and an increased need for sleep after periods of deprivation, for example after a night out. Recent research at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research provides important insights into how sleep rhythms are controlled in a reptile, the Australian dragon (Pogona vitticeps).

Physicists at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS) have investigated to which extent a piece of music can evoke expectations about its progression. They were able to determine differences in how far compositions of different composers can be anticipated. In total, the scientists quantitatively analyzed more than 550 pieces from classical and jazz music.

Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will continue his “Werkstatt des Wandels” series in Baden-Württemberg on November 15. There he will visit the final of the Bundeswettbewerbs Künstliche Intelligenz (BWKI) in Tübingen and Robert Bosch GmbH in Renningen. The focus will be on the importance of AI applications and digital infrastructure for the international competitiveness of Germany and Europe.

Researchers from LMU, TU Berlin, and Charité have developed a new AI tool that uses imaging data to also detect less frequent diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.