A brain-computer interface created by Cyberkinetics called BrainGate could help patients with no mobility to control a computer, a robot, or eventually their own rewired muscles, using only their thoughts.
LaCie has introduced a 1 Terabyte disk for $1,199.
U.S. President George W. Bush today set in motion the most dramatic changes in NASA’s priorities since the dawn of the Apollo program more than 40 years ago and declared a new era in the age of space exploration.
An intelligent robot that could free genomics researchers from routine lab chores has proven as effective as a human scientist. The robot not only performs genetics experiments, it also decides which ones to do, interprets the results and comes up with new hypotheses.
The “Robot Scientist” consists of a PC running an experiment selection system called ASE and a hypothesis generator called Progol. The PC is linked up to… read more
Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have identified a gene that appears to have played a role in the expansion of the human brain’s cerebral cortex.
By comparing the gene’s sequence in a range of primates, including humans, as well as non-primate mammals, the scientists found evidence that the pressure of natural selection accelerated changes in the gene, particularly in the primate lineage leading to humans.
The researchers, led… read more
The world’s most powerful microscope, the SuperSTEM, is an electron microscope with a resolution of one angstrom, or one-tenth of a nanometer, allowing it to image nanoparticles.
The trick: eliminating positive spherical aberration.
Pigs grown from fetuses into which human stem cells were injected have surprised scientists by having cells in which the DNA from the two species is mixed at the most intimate level.
It is the first time such fused cells have been seen in living creatures. The discovery could have serious implications for xenotransplantation — the use of animal tissue and organs in humans — and even the origin… read more
Viruses and bacteria are the ultimate parasites — and our only true predators. With the advent of international jet travel, these parasites can escape from their remote lairs to every corner of the world in just a few hours. The greatest threat humanity is facing is that one day a virus will emerge that can spread as efficiently as tuberculosis and that is as deadly as Ebola.
A virulent form of tuberculosis was created in a laboratory by experts trying to alter its genetic structure. They disabled the collection of genes thought to give TB some of its virulence and expected to find a weakened form of TB as a result. Instead, the organism grew in virulence.
The world’s first hydrogen-powered aircraft, the Electric Airplane (Eplane) will be powered by an advanced electric motor. In its final form, it will fly solely on the power of a fuel cell and have a 500-mile range, with emergency assist from reserve batteries.
A car that runs on just hydrogen and solar power has completed a journey through Australia—the first crossing of a continent for a car of this type.
Autistic savants are born with miswired neurons—and extraordinary gifts. Geneticists are starting to pinpoint the DNA anomalies found in savants. More than a dozen genes may contribute to autism. Several other forms of mental impairment also produce islands of startling ability—known as splinter skills—as if fragments of savant code are scattered throughout the genetic database.
Scientists have coaxed stem cells from mice to change into immature sperm that can fertilize eggs to develop into embryos, an achievement that could pave the way for new ways of treating male infertility. The embryonic germ cells may also help scientists understand how erasure occurs and how stem cells are programmed to specialize and create different tissue and body parts.
A Hawaiian squid has a built-in flashlight made up of a previously unknown type of protein that could help researchers design novel nanoreflectors.
Glowing bacteria provide the light source, which is surrounded by stacks of reflective plates. The team notes that the reflectins are “a marked example of natural nanofabrication of photonic structures” and should inspire bottom-up synthesis of new spectroscopic and optic devices.