Another longevity related gene

People with a cholesterol gene variant are more likely to live longer and with better brain function. Brian WangBrian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, …

Read more

2006 nanotechnology highlights

MIT Technology review discusses nanotechnology developments in 2006 Nanotech is enabling several new kinds of flat panel displays. Carbon nanotube displays are coming out of the lab. MIT spinoff QD Vision, of Watertown, MA, is developing ultrathin and potentially flexible displays based on nanoscale semiconductor crystals called quantum dots. These would require much less energy …

Read more

2007 a big year for robots

MIT technology review shows 2007 will be another big year for robots There will be more of them doing non-industrial work, they will get physically stronger, safer, drive better and Microsoft is making a developers kit for them. Brian WangBrian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers …

Read more

Regenerating teeth and bone structure

Stem cells used to grow teeth in animal models Utilizing stem cells harvested from the extracted wisdom teeth of 18- to 20-year olds, Shi and colleagues have created sufficient root and ligament structure to support a crown restoration in their animal model. The resulting tooth restoration closely resembled the original tooth in function and strength. …

Read more

Prospects for room temperature superconductors

A pfd physics paper with a design for a room temperature superconductor MgB2 is the superconductor with the highest critical temperature for a phonon-mediated superconductor. The superconductors with higher critical temperatures are the high temperature cuprates. The high temperature cuprates do not have a good theory to explain them. There is a good theory for …

Read more

Service science research

From IEEE spectrum, IBM is making a major research effort into services science. The goal is to measureably improve service productivity. Paul Maglio, a senior manager at IBM’s Almaden Research Center in San Jose, says his services group has grown from nine people in December 2002 to more than 70 now. He estimates that 550 …

Read more

Hacking the nervous system

An early milestone on the path to reverse engineering the brain for the purposes of Artificial Intelligence and achieving the singularity is hacking the nervous system for military purposes. The simplest aspects are using electromagnetic beams to trigger various nerves to create pain, feeling cold or hot or other sensations. Next would be trigger muscle …

Read more

State of cognitive enhancement

A pdf by Nick Bostrom and Anders Sandberg that surveys the state of cognitive enhancement in 2006 Nick Bostrom’s website The paper reviews ways to train ourselves to be more intelligent/expert, drugs for enhancement /nootropic drugs, genetic modification, enhancing devices like computers, and brain /computer interfaces. I think collaboration and collective productivity as in corporations …

Read more

Nanowelding nano-electronics

Researchers in Switzerland have developed a new technique for joining nanotubes. One technique, called “nanorobotic” spot welding, uses molten copper to join up objects in the same way that a human electrician might use solder. They position 50-nanometre-wide carbon nanotube filled with copper inside a nanorobotic manipulator, and run a small voltage through it to …

Read more

MSN’s anti-aging advice

MSN health and fitness gives anti-aging advice 0. Mentioned is do not smoke1. Stay the weight you were at 182. Take 800 mg of alpha-lipoic acid and 2,000 mg of acetyl-L-carnitine to boost mitocondria3. Skip a meal for calorie restriction lite (skip breakfast every day OR fast for one day a week) but drink a …

Read more

New state of matter quantum spin Hall state could make better computers

three Stanford researchers proposed that a new state, called the quantum spin Hall effect, could be realized without applying an external magnetic field. Since quantum wells in mercury telluride/cadmium telluride sheets can be readily fabricated, it is possible to experimentally test the theoretical predictions of Zhang, Bernevig and Hughes. A research group at the University …

Read more