A process that could make 20,000 gallons of biofuel per acre per year, replacing all fossil fuels used for transportation, has been developed by Joule Biotechnologies.
Joule Biotechnologies grows genetically engineered microorganisms in specially designed photobioreactors. The microorganisms use energy from the sun to convert carbon dioxide and water into ethanol or hydrocarbon fuels.
For researchers in the biological sciences, however, the future training of robots has been made much easier thanks to a new program called “PaR-PaR” (Programming a Robot).
Nathan Hillson, a biochemist at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), led the development of PaR-PaR, a simple high-level, biology-friendly, robot-programming language that allows researchers to make better use of liquid-handling robots… read more
Second Sight’s Argus II, the first retinal prosthesis has received European approval for clinical and commercial use, with FDA approval expected in 2012.
The $115,000 device uses a camera mounted on a pair of glasses to capture images, and corresponding signals are fed wirelessly to a chip implanted near the retina. These signals are sent to an array of implanted electrodes that stimulate retinal cells, producing light in the patient’s field of… read more
Stanford University and NASA/Ames scientists have developed the CPOD, which typically keeps track of the wearer’s heart performance, blood pressure, respiration, temperature, blood oxygen levels, and movements.
The device can store data for eight-hour periods for later downloading or send it wirelessly in real time.
While developed for astronauts, it also has possible terrestrial uses. EMT’s at an accident scene could quickly gain information about a victim’s condition.… read more
New blood tests that can gauge the length of telomeres in the human body are now going on sale, marketed by some laboratories as revealing the subject’s biological age.
Experts disagree on the relevance of telomere length as an indicator of biological age.
Some of the labs offering the test call it more of a warning flag than an indicator of the biological age. Certain telomere experts, such… read more
New technology from the University of Florida and IBM creates the first-ever roadmap for widespread commercial development of “smart” devices that, for example, take a person’s blood pressure, temperature or respiration rate the minute a person steps into his or her house — then transmit it immediately and automatically to doctors or family.
To find clues to the salamander’s remarkable ability to regrow damaged limbs and organs, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have sequenced the genes most highly expressed during limb-bud formation and growth.
They found that at least 10,000 genes were transcribed during regeneration, with a few thousand that don’t resemble known genes. They plan to make a gene chip designed to detect levels of some of these… read more
German publisher Bertelsmann plans to publish a book with the most credited individual authors ever–approximately 90,000: “The One-Volume Wikipedia Encyclopedia,” containing the 25,000 most popular articles on German Wikipedia.
In a controversial paper in Nature Physics, theorists claim they can prove that wavefunctions — the entity that determines the probability of different outcomes of measurements on quantum-mechanical particles — are real states.
The paper is thought by some to be one of the most important in quantum foundations in decades. The authors say that the mathematics leaves no doubt that the wavefunction is not just a statistical tool, but rather, a… read more
Evolution Robotics’ new ER1 mobile robot can learn on the fly, enabling it to roam around new environments entirely on its own.
Following simple commands, it can recognize an ever-changing environment by processing 30 still-frame photos a minute looking for a picture that matches its memory. It comes with a digital camera and speech recognition, and voice response systems.
Researchers at Medtronic are developing a prototype neural implant that uses light to alter the behavior of neurons in the brain.
The device is based on the emerging science of optogenetic neuromodulation, in which specific brain cells are genetically engineered to respond to light.
The company plans to market the device to neuroscience researchers and use it for in-house research on the effects of DBS.
Researchers at IBM Almaden Research Center have captured the first three-dimensional image of a virus, using a new technique, magnetic resonance force microscopy, or MRFM, which is similar to MRI.
They captured a 3-D image of tobacco mosaic virus particles with a spatial resolution down to four nanometers.
The first steps in developing virtual-world interoperability are now being tested between Second Life and other independent virtual worlds, with the launch of Linden Lab’s Open Grid Beta.
Another approach to creating optical quantum networks has been developed by Cal Tech, HP, and University of Washington researchers. (See The quantum internet,)
In an optical quantum network, information is carried between points by photons. It could enable quantum computers that are millions of times faster at solving certain problems than what we are used to today.
This new device, which combines a single… read more