What are enzymes? Detailed answer

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What are enzymes? Detailed answer

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What are enzymes?

The body of every animal and plant is, in fact, a chemical plant. If the body does not undergo constant chemical changes, then life is virtually impossible. We can eat, breathe, move because chemical changes occur in cells, tissues and organs.

Here is an example of a chemical life process. You eat a piece of bread, porridge or potatoes. The starch of this food is converted into glucose, which then enters the bloodstream. There, glucose is burned with the help of oxygen that you breathe in, and the body receives energy.

Chemists have determined that such processes occurring in any organism are possible due to a small amount of protein. Protein is made by living cells. These cells are called enzymes. Enzymes perform a specific function. Each enzyme contributes to only one chemical process.

Chemical processes, as already mentioned, occur in all living organisms. When grains of wheat, barley, or other grain begin to grow, they produce enzymes. Enzymes convert the starch in grains into glucose. This process is called malting.

The enzyme involved in this process is called diastase. Although we know what processes take place with the help of enzymes, their nature is not yet clear. Enzymes are chemical compounds that always contain carbon, hydrogen, sometimes oxygen and nitrogen.

There are a huge number of different enzymes, but only a few of them can be isolated from the juices of plants and animals. It is curious that enzymes are produced only by living cells and can perform chemical reactions even without living tissue.

Author: Likum A.

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Drones to search for people lost in the forest 31.12.2020

Scientists at the Johannes Kepler University (Linz, Austria) have developed a new method based on machine learning technologies that should radically increase the efficiency of finding people lost in areas with dense vegetation.

Today, if it is necessary to urgently find people lost in the forest, search and rescue teams usually use helicopters or drones. Rescuers fly over the area where the missing are most likely to be found. The problem is that in conditions of dense vegetation it is almost impossible to see human figures in the thickets. Thermal imagers help a little in this situation, allowing you to "see" through the crowns of trees. But here, too, there are significant limitations. Unfortunately, in some cases, thermal imaging is also not particularly effective, for example, when the sun heats trees to a temperature close to human body temperature.

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To create a training AI base, volunteers were photographed using drones in different positions on the ground, which made it possible to ensure the accuracy of detecting people at the level of 87-95%.

To train the AI system, the researchers had to create their own database of images. They used drones to take pictures of volunteers on the ground in a variety of positions.

During testing of the AI system, the accuracy of detecting people in dense forest was at the level of 87-95%, compared to 25% for traditional thermal imaging. The researchers suggest that their system is ready for use by search and rescue teams, and can also be used by law enforcement, military or wildlife groups.

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