University of Colorado have now obtained the first 3D visualisation of a complete eukaryotic cell at a resolution high enough to resolve the cytoskeleton’s precise architectural plan in fission yeast. The site has a 2MB downloadable picture. Yeast cells are 2-20 microns in size. The resolution is probably down to about 5-10 nanometers. The electron …
Back in 2004 and 2005, the national labs looked at extreme computing frontiers An important new workshop is being organized to match the continuum of important supercomputing applications with over-the-horizon computing methods fostered by the approaching nanoscale devices and to determine the limits of practical computing imposed by the constraints of basic physics and technology. …
Futurepundit points out a Nature article about the discovery of 120 new cancer related genes The researchers used data generated by the human genome project to sift through a family of 500 genes, called kinase genes, linked to cell growth and division. Defects in some of these genes have already been linked to cancer. Using …
An Israeli defense firm, Elbit, on Thursday unveiled a portable robot billed as being capable of entering most combat zones alone and engaging enemies with an onboard armory that includes a machine-pistol and grenades. As well as bomb-sniffing and bomb disposal equipment, the VIPeR can carry an Uzi machine-pistol or plant a grenade. The weapons …
IDC estimates that the world had 185 exabytes of storage available last year and will have 601 exabytes in 2010. But the amount of stuff generated is expected to jump from 161 exabytes last year to 988 exabytes (closing in on 1 zettabyte) in 2010. Brian WangBrian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a …
I want to create a new term, media equivalence, for debates about the problems of civilization, technology and society. We currently have the term moral equivalence From wikipedia, moral equivalence is a term used in political debate, usually to characterize in a negative way the claim that there can be no moral or ethical hierarchy …
Evidence for particles beyond the standard model of physics The Next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model seems to fit the data that has been found. We will not know for sure until about 2009 when enough data has been gathered by the new Large Hadron Collider (LHC) that start this year. Although He and colleagues showed in …
Different materials for solar sails with wide variation in capability are all in development. The lighter the sail then the faster it will accelerate. This link has a table which shows the different speeds possible with different accelerations. The carbon nanotube sail has the highest potential. 1 square kilometer 30 kg or 0.03 grams per …
Reviewing the Delta scan predictions of the Stanford humanities lab.I had already reviewed one of the predictions Here are several of the computer related predicions They predict Working prototypes of quantum computers may be demonstrated by 2040 The working prototype demo was Feb 13 of this year By next year quantums will be well scaled …
Bigelow Aerospace is gearing up to launchits second prototype space station into orbit. The company has set its sights on something much, much bigger: a project to assemble full-blown space villages at L1 orbit and then drop them to the lunar surface, ready for immediate move-in. The next test module, Genesis 2, is due for …
Wired has an interview with Jeff Hawkins about how his Numenta Artificial Intelligence system will work Scan and match1) The system is shown a poor-quality image of a helicopter moving across a screen. It’s read by low-level nodes that each see a 4 x 4-pixel section of the image.2) The low-level nodes pass the pattern …