MIT and Hong Kong University researchers have shown that some simple biodegradable liquids can stop bleeding in wounded rodents within seconds, a development that could significantly impact medicine. When the liquid, composed of protein fragments called peptides, is applied to open wounds, the peptides self-assemble into a nanoscale protective barrier gel that seals the wound …
Pointed out by colony worlds Superthread fibers, developed by Los Alamos scientist Yuntian Zhu, are 100 times stronger than steel (pound for pound for the same weight), tougher than diamonds, and roughly one-ten-thousandth of a human hair in diameter. This would be about 50 GPA. Currently, Laboratory scientists, including Zhu, also of MPA-STC, are developing …
From Nuclear Space, a site dedicated to promoting the use of nuclear power in space Pictures that imagine what it would have looked like to have Project Orion nuclear pulse propulsion ships Brian WangBrian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is …
Thanks to Foresight nanodot for pointing out this Nature article about molecular motors, machines, and valves The exquisite solutions nature has found to control molecular motion, evident in the fascinating biological linear and rotary motors, has served as a major source of inspiration for scientists to conceptualize, design and build — using a bottom-up approach …
Accelerating futures discusses the leap in capabilities that will happen when we go from the first full desktop nanofactory to 200 million in 1 month We will have lower performance version of full diamondoid molecular nanotechnology. DNA nanotechnology and maturing near nanotech (I define near-nano as the growing matter control capabilities in the 2-20nanometer range). …
The road map to space elevator (SE) development outlines what tests and demonstrations need to be done before we can build the first SE. Determination was made of activities that absolutely had to be done. They estimated the time it would take with feedback from a couple of independent people with space experience. The short …
Another useful pdf that discusses various issues for Orion style systems in detail Here is a paper from 1964 Thanks to from the writer Mauk2 on the nasaspaceflight forums The forum has a lengthy discussion on all things nuclear pulsed propulsion. Mauk2 has an interesting speculation about using the planned Ares V and some SRBs …
Aluminum Conductor Composite Core can double the current capacity of regular power cable and increase reliability by reducing cable sag This will help address the problems with an overloaded and unreliable power grid. Brian WangBrian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com …
A new method developed at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., for sorting single-walled carbon nanotubes promises to overcome the problem of sorting carbon nanotubes by size and type. The method works by exploiting subtle differences in the buoyant densities of carbon nanotubes as a function of their size and electronic behavior. Current methods for synthesizing …
The X-prize foundation is joining wealthy Canadian geologist Stewart Blusson in not only offering $10 million for the complete decoding of the genes of 100 people in 10 days, but also an additional $1 million for decoding another 100 people’s genes, including a group of wealthy donors and celebrities, The Wall Street Journal reported. The …
From CNET, physicists in Denmark have teleported information from light to matter, bringing quantum communication and computing closer to reality. The experiment involved, for the first time, a macroscopic atomic object containing thousands of billions of atoms. They also teleported the information a distance of half a meter, but believe it can be extended further. …