A new paper demonstrates distinct improvements to the inference and generalization performance of diffractive optical neural networks. Ultimately these improvements may provide major advantages for autonomous vehicles, robotics and various defense-related applications, among others.

Technology that can help interpret inaudible calls from laboratory mice has been developed in a bid to improve research. The computer tool can reveal valuable insights into rodents' communication patterns and is more reliable than existing methods, which rely on human interpretation.

Stock market investors often rely on financial risk theories that help them maximize returns while minimizing financial loss due to market fluctuations. Inspired by those theories, researchers have developed a "risk-aware" mathematical model that could improve the performance of cloud-computing networks across the globe.

For scientists investigating genomes and molecular mechanisms of microbes, it is vital that they can collate existing knowledge and understanding in the context of their current work to draw conclusions and fill gaps in knowledge. We spoke to Dr Peter Karp, leader of the BioCyc project, a microbial genomes and metabolic pathways web portal, about the evolution of BioCyc and its role in research.

In February 2018, Russian nuclear scientists at the Federal Nuclear Center were arrested for using their supercomputer resources to mine crypto-currency. Previously, HPC security breaches like this tended to be few and far between. However, recent trends are increasing the vulnerabilities and threats faced by HPC systems. In this article, OCF's Mischa van Kesteren takes a look at the new threats facing HPC systems.

In this exclusive article, Dr Peter Crane, corporate strategy manager at Synthace, explains why augmented and assistive technologies could enhance the scientist and provide the first step towards a data science-led future for biopharma.