One way to put dentists out of the drilling and filling business is to find a way to re-establish and stimulate something our bodies do when our teeth first form. Stem cell researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle may have figured out a potential treatment to repair damaged teeth and regenerate those we lose.

Hai Zhang, a professor of restorative dentistry at the University, along with several colleagues has found a way to generate ameloblasts. What are they? Ameloblasts are one of two cells that exist in human embryos responsible for the formation of our teeth. The other cells are called odontoblasts—the former secrete enamel, the latter dentin.

The process of tooth development is called odontogenesis. The two cells mentioned above are critical to tooth formation. Enamel keeps our teeth surfaces hard and strong throughout our lifetimes. Mineralization of teeth begins early in embryonic development. Dentin precedes enamel production, both critical to giving us a healthy set of choppers.

The need for window-washing humans or robots, therefore, is only going to get bigger in 21st-century cities around the world.

Ozmo combines a flexible robotic arm, artificial intelligence, machine learning and computer vision to clean building facades. It has onboard sensors that can adjust the pressure needed based on the type and thickness of the glass. Onboard LiDAR maps the building facades it is working on in three dimensions. As it moves it calculates its cleaning path hundreds of times per second while adapting to variable external environments by using onboard machine learning. Windy conditions pose no threat. And no humans are at risk as it allows for remote control operations by a handler should Ozmo need to be shut down.

Blood vessels form the transportation network within our bodies. They are streets where red and white blood cells drive. They are the delivery system to oxygenate our brain and other vital organs and muscles. There are other highways in our bodies such as our nervous and lymphatic systems, but blood vessels are the ones that are central to healthy heart function and keeping our brain supplied with oxygen. When blood vessels are compromised we can suffer a stroke, heart attack, aneurysm or die.

When usual causes of heart attacks are blocked coronary arteries. The coronary arteries supply blood and oxygen to the heart. When partially blocked people experience symptoms like angina. When blocked they can suffer a myocardial infarction, the fancy name for a heart attack.

Today, harvested blood vessel grafts from human donors or the patient are used for bypassing coronary blood vessel blockages. But researchers at the University of Melbourne believe that fabricated blood vessel tissue that can be shaped to any need would be an effective substitute for existing grafts. The team in its search for a graft alternative has combined a variety of materials and living tissue with a fabrication technique to create complex blood vessels that can serve multiple purposes.

Among NASA’s 11 winners is one long-shot prospect that could benefit greatly from some government cash.

DRACO is a demonstrate prototype of a nuclear-powered rocket that is scheduled for launch in 2027.

A satellite demonstrator showed that energy collected from solar panels in space can be beamed to Earth using diffuse microwaves.

Should we pay attention to António Guterres, ‘global boiling’ hyperbole, or believe the new head of the IPCC who is telling us to chill.

The future of cities as seen by architects and urban planners. Future cities: Urban planners get creative | DW DocumentaryYOUTUBE.COMFuture cities: Urban planners get creative | DW Documentary.

Will the cities of the future be climate neutral? Might they also be able to actively filter carbon dioxide out of the air? Futurologist Vincente Guallarte thinks so. In fact, he says, our cities will soon be able to absorb CO₂, just like trees do.

To accomplish this, Guallarte wants to bring sustainable industries and agriculture to our urban centers, with greenhouses atop every building. But in order for Guallarte’s proposal to work, he says, cities will have learn to submit to the laws and principles of nature.

Urban planners also have big plans for our energy supply. In the future, countries like Germany could become energy producers. In Esslingen am Neckar, residents are working on producing green hydrogen in homes, to be used as fuel for trucks. It’s a project that‘s breaking new ground, says investor Manfred Norbert.

Our future cities will be all about redefining a new normal. Architects and urban planners are expecting to see entirely new approaches to communal living, as well as new urban concepts for autonomous supply chains. The repurposing of old buildings, and the generation of food as well as energy, are other important topics.

The architect Arno Brandhuber thinks the current building stock available, and the possibilities it offers, have been underestimated. His spectacular business headquarters are located in an old silo in Berlin’s Lichtenberg district. His most provocative project, something he calls his “Anti-villa,” is a repurposed East German factory for cotton knitwear. It‘s a prime example of sustainable design.

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The most well-known wiki today is Wikipedia. But software to create personal or organization wikis can harvest collective wisdom.

DNA produces a metamaterial stronger and lighter than steel. Desiccants reduce HVAC system energy use. And fungi is turned into concrete.