Synthetic biology used to make viruses to combat harmful ‘biofilms’ This diagram shows how an engineered virus,T7, destroys a biofilm composed of E. coli bacteria. Graphic courtesy / Timothy Lu and James Collins In one of the first potential applications of synthetic biology, an emerging field that aims to design and build useful biomolecular systems, …
Futurepundit had an article which referred to a study that humanity is already using 25% of the biomass of the earth I don’t believe that is accurate, but even if it is I think that changes can and are being made. Improving on existing established trends in food production with more technical refinements. More domestication …
From the New Scientist, new ways of turning heat into sound waves – and then into electricity – may be the next step toward a practical new source of alternative energy. 40% of waste heat from power plants could be converted to electricity if this works and can be scaled up and installed on power …
New Scientist reports on new catalysts to help take CO2 from the atmosphere to make fuel The team heated a mixture of CO2 and benzene with the catalyst to a temperature of 150 ºC, at about three times atmospheric pressure. In a first step, the catalyst enabled the CO2 to form a reactive carbamate, like …
A group of researchers at Tufts University has launched a multidisciplinary initiative focused on the science and engineering of a new class of robots that are completely soft-bodied. These devices will make possible advances in such far flung arenas as medicine and space exploration. According to Kaplan, the project will bring together biology, bioengineering and …
The New Scientist, examines the efforts to reduce ship drag using tiny bubbles, slippery polymers and trapped sheets of air. As a ship moves through water it encounters three types of drag: wave drag, pressure drag and frictional drag. Wave resistance is mainly a problem at high speed, and can be minimised with a carefully …
