proteins

Intel invests in Europe exascale computing center and Reviewing Big Numbers and Unit Prefixes

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Goal is supercomputers with 1 one million trillion (a quintillion) instructions per second [IEEE had an error with a terascale trillion instructions per second] The Exascale Computing Research Center will integrate multi petaFLOPS systems, develop advanced performance optimization techniques, and collaborate with end users to optimize supercomputer performance in areas such as energy, seismology, computational …

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Complete Genomics Sequences Human Genome for $1726 Cost of Materials and a New Project to Sequence 10 thousand Vertebrate Genomes

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1. Complete Genomics has a report in the journal Science describing its proprietary DNA sequencing platform, including analysis of sequence data from three complete human genomes. The consumables cost for these three genomes sequenced on the proof-of-principle genomic DNA nanoarrays ranged from $8,005 for 87x coverage to $1,726 for 45x coverage for the samples described …

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Better heart repair patches from stem cells and Closed Heart Surgery from Gene Therapy

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University of Washington (UW) researchers have succeeded in engineering human tissue patches free of some problems that have stymied stem-cell repair for damaged hearts. Pre-formed blood vessels in patches connect to rodents’ heart circulation. The disk-shaped patches can be fabricated in sizes ranging from less than a millimeter to a half-inch in diameter. Until now, …

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Near Term Prospects for Increased Longevity

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NY Times: “In five or six or seven years,” said Christoph Westphal, Sirtris co-founder [Sirtis was bought by GlaxoSmithKline for $720 million], “there will be drugs that prolong longevity.” [H/T Michael Annisimov, Accelerating Future] SRT-501, the company’s special formulation of resveratrol, is being tested against two cancers, multiple myeloma and colon cancer that has spread …

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Robust versus Vulnerable Roundup: Blast Resistant Glass, Electric Grid Vulnerability, Life Survives Big Asteroid

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1. University of Missouri researchers are developing and testing a new type of blast-resistant glass that will be thinner, lighter and less vulnerable to small-scale explosions. Conventional blast-resistant glass is made with laminated glass that has a plastic layer between two sheets of glass. MU researchers are now replacing the plastic layer with a transparent …

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DARPA and Other Programmable Matter Projects

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The goal of Programmable Matter Program is to demonstrate a new functional form of matter, based on mesoscale particles, which can reversibly assemble into complex 3D objects upon external command. These 3D objects will exhibit all the functionality of their conventional counterparts. Programmable Matter represents the convergence of chemistry, information theory, and control into a …

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Europe Space Agency Hypersonic Plane Work: FAST 20XX and Lapcat II

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European Space Agency (ESA) activities in the non-space themes of EC’s programmes are the Long Term Advanced Propulsion Concepts and Technologies (LAPCAT) II and Future High-Altitude High-Speed Transport (FAST) 20XX. LAPCAT II is a logical follow-up of the previous LAPCAT I, whose objective was to reduce the duration of antipodal flights (that is, flights between …

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Research advances nanowire technology For Jumbo Displays Like the 120 Foot High NASDAQ Sign in Times Square

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Researchers at Northeastern created a network of nanowires that can be scaled up more efficiently and cost-effectively to create displays such as the NASDAQ sign in New York City’s Times Square. The seven-story NASDAQ sign is at the NASDAQ MarketSite at 4 Times Square on 43rd Street. The Nasdaq sign was unveiled in January 2000 …

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Casimir Force Affected by Temperature

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Scientists at the RIKEN Advanced Science Institute in Wako, and co-workers at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU), have shown for the first time that the Casimir force has a complex dependence on temperature. They propose a related experiment that could clarify the theory around this important interaction, which has widespread applications in …

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Carnival of Space Week 85

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Carnival of Space week 85 is up at Cheap Astronomy. This site provided information on space elevator tether strength requirements and development status Centauri Dreams looks at interstellar mission possibilities. A longbet was made: the first true interstellar mission, targeted at the closest star to the Sun or even farther, will be launched before or …

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IEA oil market report

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The August 12th IEA oil market report shows global oil supply increased by 890 Kb/d in July to 87.8 Mb/d. Norway, Canada, Argentina and Brazil underpinned non-OPEC growth of 520 Kb/d, amid a lull in seasonal maintenance elsewhere. Growth in non-OPEC output now averages 455 Kb/d for 2008 and 665 Kb/d for 2009, after 425 …

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