Genetic Basis of intelligence involves about twenty times the genes as the genes for height

Scientists looking for the genes underlying intelligence are in for a slog. One of the largest, most rigorous genetic studies of human cognition1 has turned up inconclusive findings, and experts concede that they will probably need to scour the genomes of more than 1 million people to confidently identify even a small genetic influence on …

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NASA Cannae Drive and EMDrive propellantless propulsion were not the result of a thermal error

Paul March is one of the NASA researchers who did the work on the EMdrive, Q drive and Woodward Mach effect propulsion. Paul has some comments about how they did not make a simple thermal error in discussion at Talk Polywell. Most of the observed forces in the Eagleworks Lab frustum devices were prompt with …

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Venter Human Longevity Company hires Google Translate Chief Data Scientist to help analyze the ten of thousands of genome sequences to enable life extension

—Human Longevity, Inc. (HLI), a genomics and cell therapy-based diagnostic and therapeutic company focused on extending the healthy, high performance human life span, announced they have hired Franz Och, Ph.D., an expert in machine learning and machine translation as the company’s Chief Data Scientist. Och comes to HLI from Google where he was Distinguished Research …

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Google X tried to design a Space Elevator

Rich DeVaul, head of Google X’s Rapid Evaluation team, has confirmed for the first time ever that Google’s research and development lab actually tried to design a space elevator. “It would be a massive capital investment,” he said in this month’s issue of Fast Company. But once this hypothetical machine was built, “it could take …

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Roadmap to Supercritical CO2 turbines

Here is a presentation on Closed Brayton Cycle (supercritical CO2) Research Progress and Plans at Sandia National Labs The EU also sees a role for Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Power Cycles in power generation with CCS (carbon capture and storage, both in terms of efficiency increase and costs reduction. The reasons of growing interest toward this …

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Senior Fusion researchers give major endorsement to Lawrenceville Plasma Physics Dense Plasma Focus Fusion Work and say they expect feasibility will be shown within two years with adequate funding

In a major endorsement of the fusion energy research and development program of start-up Lawrenceville Plasma Physics (LPP), a committee of senior fusion researchers, led by a former head of the US fusion program, has concluded that the innovative effort deserves “a much higher level of investment … based on their considerable progress to date.” …

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Reddit Futurology is having a vote for top futurist sites

Reddit Futurology is determining what futurist websites to list on the sidebar of their subreddit. The vote on futurist sites appears to be at this link. Please go and vote up Nextbigfuture. Thanks If you liked this article, please give it a quick review on ycombinator or StumbleUpon. Thanks Brian WangBrian Wang is a Futurist …

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Carnival of Space 283

1. thevenustransit site has a short explanation about the rising moon with a nice video 2. The Meridiani Journal has more ‘bubbles’ from Curiosity – a lot of them Mastcam image from sol 137 showing more of the “bubbles” on the bedrock. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech 3. Omega Centauri is on the hot spot! Personal …

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Composites for large-scale manufacturing

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft -Continuous fiber-reinforced composites with thermoplastic matrix resins are very well suited for use in automotive manufacturing. However, to manufacture them is complicated. A new approach now makes it possible to use the injection molding process. To date, it has been very laborious to manufacture fiber-reinforced composites with a thermoplastic matrix in large quantities. Researchers …

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Progress to a vaccine for heart disease?

Eurekalert – Most people probably know that heart disease remains the nation’s No. 1 killer. But what many may be surprised to learn is that cholesterol has a major accomplice in causing dangerous arterial plaque buildup that can trigger a heart attack. The culprit? Inflammatory cells produced by the immune system. A number of research …

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