Oregon Health & Science University scientists have successfully produced functional auditory hair cells in the cochlea of the mouse inner ear. The breakthrough suggests that a new therapy may be developed in the future to successfully treat hearing loss. Successful production of functional sensory hair cells in the inner ears of mice suggests that a …
South Africa’s National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) has given the go-ahead for the start of production of graphite feedstock for the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) demonstration unit. The lifting of the work stop order paves the way for the production of long-lead items. This includes the manufacture of the graphite feedstock material which will be …
Aubrey de Grey interview on longevity, life extension and Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS) at betterhumans.com Estimate of the timing of results: I [Aubrey] think there’s a 50% chance of getting the first-generation SENS therapies working within 25-30 years. But that’s only an estimate, and it’s a highly speculative one: I think there’s at …
engineers and physicists from Stanford and the University of California at Santa Barbara demonstrate a potential progenitor of an essential component of quantum computers, “a logic gate” that enables interaction between just two particles of light. “We have demonstrated a system composed of a single quantum dot in a cavity that can be used to …
There is a new comic book series entitled Transhuman Note: a comment on the pictured excerpt talking about average life expectancy. Some countries such as Japan already have life expectancy over 82 years. People who do not smoke, exercise, eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables and moderate alcohol consumption live 14 years longer In …
Packers Plus Energy Services Inc., Calgary-based company, says its unique technology can deliver precisely-controlled fracs along a horizontal wellbore at an affordable price. “Without our StackFrac system, the Bakken formation in southeastern Saskatchewan would still be uneconomic for the most part,” says Dan Themig, president of the seven-year-old private firm. Producers had already attempted straightforward …
Image at left: This robot shares some features with the lunar truck [below after the jump], but is equipped with a drill designed to find water and oxygen-rich soil on the moon. Credit: Carnegie Mellon University The moon has one-sixth the gravity of Earth, so a lightweight rover will have a difficult job resisting drilling …
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, …
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, …
Nanowerk has a review of nanomedicine. In particular the EU view from the 7th FWP which refers to the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program this shows the many different aspects and capabilities related to nanomedicine The expected change in the understanding of disease that they discuss in this quote: Future nanomedical diagnostics with an ultimate …
Robert Zubrin makes the case that conservation will not free us from dependence on middle east oil. Robert shows that only fuel substitution policies have worked. In electricity generation oil for electricity was substituted for nuclear power. Robert indicates that we need all cars to be flex fuel vehicles. I agree that this is a …