Evolutionary biologist Alan Walker, a professor at Penn State University, argues that humans may lack the strength of chimps because our nervous systems exert more control over our muscles. Our fine motor control prevents great feats of strength, but allows us to perform delicate and uniquely human tasks. Walker’s hypothesis stems partly from a finding …
Two 5-10 nanometer dimers are put together. Single dots of that size put together to form pairs of dots Using DNA to assemble nanoclusters: (a) (1) DNA linker strands (squiggly lines) are used to attach DNA-coated nanoparticles to a surface. (2) Linker strands are attached to the top side of the nanoparticle. (b) (3a) A …
The James Martin 21st Century school has received 36 million pounds in a matching grant donation from James Martin. [H/T to Michael Anissimov at Accelerating future The Institutes who will share the money:AgeingArmedConflict Cancer Therapy Carbon Reduction Emerging Infections Energy Materials Environmental Change Ethics of Biosciences Future of Humanity [this is where Nick Bostrom, Robin …
The JILA team has controlled the probe’s position in three dimensions to better than 40 picometers (1 nanometer = 1000 picometers) over 100 seconds. In imaging applications, they showed the long-term drift at room temperature was a mere 5 picometers per minute, a 100-fold improvement over the best previous results under ambient conditions. Just like …
NASA is working on smart shape changing helicopter rotors. Twenty years from now, large rotorcraft could be making short hops between cities such as New York and Washington, carrying as many as 100 passengers at a time in comfort and safety. Routine transportation by rotorcraft could help ease air traffic congestion around the nation’s airports. …
Shown here is an MRI image of a one-centimeter-wide tube containing smaller tubes covered with a molecule called pyridine MIT Technology Review reports of a novel method of transferring magnetic spin can amplify the sensitivity of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) a thousandfold, according to new research from the University of York in the United Kingdom. …
A Tel Aviv University researcher’s fingertip (bottom right) points to a “Smart Dew” droplet. Proposed smart dust designs were of comparable size. More advanced concepts exist for even smaller version of smart dust but this is the smallest and cheapest to date. A new invention from Tel Aviv University — a network of tiny sensors …
Two thirds of the temperature warming of the Atlantic is because of less dust from Volcanoes over the last thirty years. This also means the ideas of adding volcanic dust into the air would work for cooling the climate if necessary. Researchers have calculated how much of the Atlantic Oceans warming observed during the last …
Algae Ventures claims to have a method of lowering the cost for harvesting, dewatering, and drying algae by Over 99.75%. Patent documents have been filed and an operational prototype unit has been demonstrated to collaborators who have participated in research and commercialization proposals. Prototype and laboratory testing has successfully been achieved with three species attempted …
Collapsitarians are described the Technium. Former President Reagan defined a recession as when your friend lost his job and a depression as when you lost your job. Collapse is when no one has a job; in fact, there are no longer any such things as jobs to be had. Various types of doomers/collapsitarians/dystopians: * Luddites, …
The Invariant Set Hypothesis: A New Geometric Framework for the Foundations of Quantum Theory and the Role Played by Gravity. Ted Palmer studied general relativity at the University of Oxford, working under the same PhD adviser as Stephen Hawking. He has worked for the last 20 years as a leading mathematical climatologist. The Invariant Set …