Left is previous work where DNA was wrapped around carbon nanotubes. Scientists at IBM are conducting research into arranging carbon nanotubes–strands of carbon atoms that can conduct electricity–into arrays with DNA molecules. Once the nanotube array is meticulously constructed, the laboratory-generated DNA molecules could be removed, leaving an orderly grid of nanotubes. The nanotube grid, …
A naturally myostatin blocked boy. Antisense RNA has been used to activate myostatin inhibition in mice Mice lacking the myostatin gene have 25–30% increased muscle mass. Individual muscles, such as the pectoralis and quadriceps, of myostatin mutant mice are two- to threefold heavier than those of wild type mice. Antisense RNAs were injected into normal …
During the fourth quarter of 2007, Marathon Oil completed the acquisition of more than 70,000 net leaseholdacres in the Bakken Shale play in North Dakota. The acreage brings Marathon’s total Bakken Shale leasehold to more than 320,000 net acres. Marathon currently has six rigs running in its Bakken program and ended 2007 with a net …
The Carnival of Space week 39 is up at Visual Astronomy My contribution is an article on what the 2008 space elevator contest will look like (an impressive 1000 meter line from a blimp) and what are the targets for the prizes Astropixie has a simulation video of a Spaceship Two flight. BAd Astronomy confirms …
The new designs for Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane and WhiteKnightTwo mothership were unveiled in New York. The biggest twist is that the WhiteKnightTwo plane has spread out and sprouted another passenger cabin on its 140-foot-long wing. The two cabins and four Pratt & Whitney jet engines straddle a central mount for the rocket plane, …
GE Global Research, the centralized research organization of the General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), announced that scientists on their Nano Photovoltaics (PV) team have demonstrated a scalable silicon nanowire-based solar cell, which has the potential to achieve up to 18% efficiency and be produced at a dramatically lower cost than conventional solar cells. “GE’s demonstration …
Lockheed has signed an exclusive international license to use EEStor’s power system for military and homeland-security applications–everything from advanced remote sensors and missile systems to mobile power packs and electric vehicles. Zenn motors is now expecting delivery of the energy-storage unit in mid-2008. It will be a mass-produced commercial product. Brian WangBrian Wang is a …
Toyota Motor Corp. the world’s biggest maker of gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles, plans to lease cars whose batteries can recharge from normal electrical sockets by 2010, matching General Motors Corp.’s target for introducing the fuel-efficient vehicles. The planned new plug-in hybrids would use lithium-ion batteries. Toyota plans low- exhaust diesel engines for large Tundra pickups and …
The KMT, pro-China party, won 81 of 113 seats in the legislative elections. I have predicted that KMT victories in the legislative election and then in the presidential election in Taiwan would lead to better relations between Taiwan, China and the USA This is the first third of that prediction. Landslide legislative victory. Then a …
Biologists have created baker’s yeast capable of living to 800 in yeast years without apparent side effects. The basic but important discovery, achieved through a combination of dietary and genetic changes, brings science closer to controlling the survival and health of the unit of all living systems: the cell. The study is scheduled to appear …
Duke University engineers will reveal Friday (Jan. 11) details of an acoustic cloak fabricated from metamaterials that they claim can render objects invisible to sonar. If this works then we will have unprecedented control to hide from the effects or to enhance the effects of sound and other waves in all kinds of material. Submarines …