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SpiderFab: low-cost kilometer-scale antennas in space

September 17, 2012

SpiderFabConcept

“We’d like someday to be able to have a spacecraft create itself entirely from scratch, but realistically that’s quite a ways out; that’s still science fiction,” says Robert Hoyt, CEO and chief scientist of Tethers Unlimited Inc. Instead, with his “SpiderFab” project, he proposes to use 3D printing technology aboard a tiny CubeSat to create a much larger structure in space.

The  project received $100,000 from NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts… read more

Topics: Electronics | Energy | Nanotech/Materials Science | Space

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Low-cost design makes ultrasound imaging affordable to the world

September 17, 2012

ultrasound-fetus

An ultra-low cost scanner that can be plugged into any computer to show images of an unborn baby has been developed by Newcastle University engineers.

The handheld USB device — roughly the size of a computer mouse — works like existing ultrasound scanners, using pulses of high frequency sound to build up a picture of the unborn child on the computer screen.

However, unlike the… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Innovation/Entrepreneurship | Physics/Cosmology

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Moving plane exchanges quantum keys with Earth

September 17, 2012

plane

An airplane has beamed quantum encryption keys to a station on the ground, paving the way for an ultra-secure global communications network, New Scientist reports.

Quantum key distribution (QKD) uses photons polarized in two different ways to encode the1′s and 0′s of an encryption key.

Quantum keys had previously been exchanged between two land-based stations. Now Sebastian Nauerth at the Ludwig Maximilian… read more

Topics: Physics/Cosmology | Quantum

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Getting (drugs) under your skin

Using ultrasonic waves, researchers boost skin’s permeability to drugs
September 17, 2012

getting_drugs_under_skin

 

Using ultrasound, MIT engineers have found a way to enhance the permeability of skin to drugs, making transdermal drug delivery more efficient. This technology could pave the way for noninvasive drug delivery or needle-free vaccinations, according to the researchers.

“This could be used for topical drugs such as steroids — cortisol, for example — systemic drugs and proteins such as insulin, as well… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Physics/Cosmology

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What technologies will crowdfunding create?

September 17, 2012

IMG_9407

Inventor Jay Silver, creator of MaKey MaKey, an “invention kit” consisting of a processor board and alligator clips that turns objects with high electrical resistance — bananas, Play-Doh, human flesh — into computer controllers, listed the project on Kickstarter this year hoping to raise $25,000.

He ended up with $568,106 from 11,124 people, Technology Review reports.

In the U.S., Internet funding occurs on Indiegogo,… read more

Topics: Innovation/Entrepreneurship | Social Networking/Web/Education

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A nose-like sensor array that ‘smells’ different cancers

Gold nanoparticles and proteins can “smell” different cancer types
September 17, 2012

gold nanoparticles

In the fight against cancer, knowing the enemy’s exact identity is crucial for diagnosis and treatment, especially in metastatic cancers, those that spread between organs and tissues.

A rapid, sensitive way to detect microscopic levels of many different metastatic (cancer-spreading) cell types in living tissue has been developed by chemists led by professor Vincent Rotello of the Chemistry Department of University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Close to… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Nanotech/Materials Science

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Cryonics movement in Brevard soldiers on after loss of key figure

September 14, 2012

fred_linda

The cryonics movement in Brevard lost one of its guiding lights earlier this year — at least temporarily, Florida Today reports..

Fred Chamberlain III was declared legally dead at about 12:50 a.m. on March 22 at a Scottsdale, Ariz., hospice.

Moments later, a specially trained team from Alcor began preparing Chamberlain — who founded Alcor with his wife, Linda, in 1972 in Southern California — for his… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Human Enhancement | Singularity/Futures

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‘Social voting’ really does rock the vote

September 14, 2012

The experiment and direct effects. Examples of the informational message and social message Facebook treatments (a) and their direct effect on voting behaviour (b). Vertical lines indicate s.e.m. (they are too small to be seen for the first two bars). (Credit: /Nature)

Brace yourself for a tidal wave of Facebook campaigning before November’s U.S. presidential election. A study of 61 million Facebook users finds that using online social networks to urge people to vote has a much stronger effect on their voting behavior than spamming them with information via television ads or phone calls, Science Now reports.

The study follows a Science paper that tracked how… read more

Topics: Social Networking/Web/Education | Social/Ethical/Legal

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New benchtop sequencers shipping; sequence genome in under a day

September 14, 2012

oxford_nanopore_technologies

Life Technologies began shipments of its new Ion Proton benchtop sequencing instrument on Thursday, but the sequencing race is still on.

Illumina and Oxford Nanopore have also promised new machines by the end of the year, each capable of sequencing a human genome in less than a day, Nature News Blog reports.

The Ion Proton machine costs $150,000 and performs 4-hour sequencing runs using $1,000 disposable… read more

Topics: Biotech | Innovation/Entrepreneurship

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Microstructure breakthroughs to dramatically enhance material properties

DARPA merges structural engineering principles with new fabrication technologies to demonstrate microstructural control of materials at the micron level
September 14, 2012

darpa_mcma

With its Materials with Controlled Microstructural Architecture (MCMA) program, DARPA seeks breakthroughs or dramatic improvements in strength, weight and other properties of materials.
MCMA is combining engineering principles developed for large structures with emerging fabrication techniques to engineer and control the architecture of a material’s microstructure down to the micron level.

Microstructure refers to the arrangement of the constituents that make up a material at the… read more

Topics: Nanotech/Materials Science

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How to print 3D microstructures in seconds

September 14, 2012

fast_printed_3d_microstructures

Nanoengineers at the University of California, San Diego have developed a novel technology that can fabricate, in mere seconds, microscale three dimensional (3D) structures out of soft, biocompatible hydrogels.

Near term, the technology could lead to better systems for growing and studying cells, including stem cells, in the laboratory. Long-term, the goal is to be able to print biological tissues for regenerative medicine.

For… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Nanotech/Materials Science

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Neural stem cells regenerate axons in severe spinal cord injury

New relay circuits, formed across sites of complete spinal transaction, result in functional recovery in rats
September 14, 2012

Neural_stem_cells_regenerate_axons

In a study at the University of California, San Diego and VA San Diego Healthcare, researchers were able to regenerate “an astonishing degree” of axonal growth at the site of severe spinal cord injury in rats.

Their research revealed that early stage neurons have the ability to survive and extend axons to form new, functional neuronal relays across an injury site in the adult central… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Biotech | Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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Building DIY research equipment

September 14, 2012

filter wheel

The open-source paradigm is now enabling creation of open-source scientific hardware by combining three-dimensional (3D) printing with open-source microcontrollers running on free and open-source software (FOSS), says Michigan Technological University scientist Joshua M. Pearce in the current issue of Science.

A key enabling open-source hardware project is the Arduino electronic prototyping platform. The $20 to $30 Arduino is a versatile yet easy-to-learn microcontroller that can run a number of associated scientific instruments, including Arduino Geiger (radiation detector), pHduino (pH meter), Xoscillo (oscilloscope), and OpenPCR… read more

Topics: Nanotech/Materials Science | Social Networking/Web/Education

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Musk teases Tesla superchargers

September 14, 2012

tesla-shareholders-meeting-0612-628

Topics: Energy | Environment/Climate | Innovation/Entrepreneurship | Singularity/Futures

Comments (20)

DARPA’s four-legged robots ace tests in demo

September 13, 2012

newls3-0

DARPA’s Legged Squad Support System (LS3) program demonstrated two robotic “pack mule” prototypes for the Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. James F. Amos, and DARPA Director, Arati Prabhakar.

The goal of the LS3 program is to demonstrate that a legged robot can unburden dismounted squad members by carrying their gear, autonomously following them through rugged terrain, and interpreting verbal and visual commands.

During… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Survival/Defense

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