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 …
The Brookhaven group uses magnetism to manipulate spin in graphene, a material consisting of flat sheets of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal pattern. They’ve proposed ways to make materials consisting of layers of graphene mated to magnetic and nonmagnetic layers. These “graphene-magnet multilayers” (GMMs) are expected to retain their properties at room temperature, an …
Space Wars by William Scott, Michael Coumatos, and William Birnes, Forge Books (April 17, 2007) describes how the first hours of World War III might play out in the year 2010. While fiction, it’s based on real-world military scenarios and technologies, dramatically highlighting the West’s vulnerability to destruction of its space-based commercial and military communications …
Researchers have developed an organic lighting device with “100 percent internal quantum efficiency” by employing newly designed host materials coupled with optimized device architecture. What’s particularly significant about the researchers’ work is that their optimized device adopts an even simpler structure than any yet reported by other research groups. “There is no waste of electricity,” …
Robert Freitas had a very interesting essay a few years back called “Death is an Outrage”, which discusses how long life spans could be extended if our bodies could be rejuvenated and maintained without aging as a factor. If we cure diseases but do not have effective rejuvenation then we get less overall life extension …
From Nanowerjs, researchers at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in Japan have newly designed and synthesized amphiphilic molecules, and have developed a technique for the synthesis of various organic nanotubes of 40-200 nm in inner diameter, 70-500 nm in outer diameter, and several to hundreds µm in length by self-assembling …
British scientists say they have succeeded in growing part of a human heart from stem cells in a medical research first with far-reaching implications. The researchers say it could mean replacement tissue for transplants could become available as quickly as three years, The (London) Guardian reported Monday. Reaching that level, however, will depend on the …
Researchers in Japan have developed a pair of molecular-scale scissors that open and close in response to light. The tiny scissors are the first example of a molecular machine capable of mechanically manipulating molecules by using light, the scientists say.The scissors measure just three nanometers in length, small enough to deliver drugs into cells or …
NEw research shows high-frequency terahertz signals can be switched on and off to carry data in the digital code of ones and zeroes, and that it someday may be possible to build superfast switches to carry terahertz data at terahertz speeds. That is 1,000 times faster than gigahertz fiber optic lines that carry data as …
Samsung releasing 64 GB flash drive in Q2 2007 The read and write performance on the drive has been increased by 20 and 60 percent (over last years 32 GB unit): the 64 GB unit can read 64 MB/S, write 45 MB/s, and consumes just half a Watt when operating (one tenth of a Watt …
Nuclear magnetic resonance, or NMR, generates a true-to-life fingerprint – a unique pattern indicating the presence of specific molecules – for a research sample that is being analyzed. It has been found that a higher power magnet (21.1 tesla) increases the picture’s brightness by a factor of about 10 relative to low-field images (14.1 tesla) …