A hot ice Neptune sized world with water has been found The star GJ 436, a diminutive star (red dwarf) 30 light-years from the Sun, was known since 2004 to harbour a 22-Earth mass planet, orbiting 4 million kilometers from the star (0.03 Astronomical Units). Measurements show that the planet has a diameter of about …
Chris Phoenix writes about Rob Freitas and Ralph Merkle’s computational chemistry work 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, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, …
Loss of only one of the genes, a gene encoding the protein PHA-4, negated the lifespan-enhancing effect of calorie-restriction in worms. And, when researchers undertook the opposite experiment—by overexpressing pha-4 in worms—the longevity effect was enhanced. “PHA-4 acts completely independent of insulin/IGF-1 signaling and turns out to be essential for CR-mediated longevity,” says Panowski. “We …
Xiao-Gang Wen at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Michael Levin at Harvard University have come up with a prediction for a new state of matter (string-net liquid) and even a tantalising picture of the nature of space-time itself. Herbertsmithite could be the new silicon – the building block for quantum computers. In theory, quantum …
How will NNI style nanotech or later nanotech be used to help the poor ? “Nanotechnology has the potential to generate enormous health benefits for the more than five billion people living in the developing world,” according to Dr. Peter A. Singer, senior scientist at the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health and Professor of Medicine …
This paper is the Abrahms-Lloyd algorithm which is at the heart of most quantum simulations algorithms Being able to implement this would massively speed up molecular modeling for the development of molecular manufacturing. Geordie Rose, CTO of Dwave indicates, In contrast to factoring, quantum simulation is both extremely commercially valuable (a large fraction of the …
NNadir at DailyKos has an analysis of radionuclides and what we really should and should not be worried about them. To keep the nuclear risks in perspective remember that coal causes over 1 million deaths per year from particulates causing heart disease, lung disease and cancer. Plus 10,000 per year from coal mining deaths. 27,000 …
Quantum hall effect observed at room temperature using strong magnetic fields observations of graphene. The quantum Hall effect was previously believed to only be observable at temperatures close to absolute zero (equal to minus 459 degrees). But when scientists at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in the U.S. and at the High Field Magnet …