I don’t entirely understand what this means, but here’s how they explained it in an upcoming scientific paper from the journal of Biology:
Using a library of ~2000 strands [of DNA origami] that can be combinatorially assembled to yield any of ~1e48 distinct DNA origami slats, we realize five-gigadalton structures composed of 1,000 uniquely addressable slats, and periodic structures incorporating 10,000 slats. Thus crisscross growth provides a generalizable route for prototyping and scalable production of devices integrating thousands of unique components that each are sophisticated and molecularly precise.
Okay, so I still don’t totally understand what that means. But I did see this tweet from the lead author on the paper:
𝘼𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙟𝙪𝙧𝙮, 𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙜𝙜𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙬 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮, 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙧𝙚𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙢𝙤… See more.
After an injury, nerves often struggle to regrow completely, leaving patients with reduced mobility and sensation. In tests on rats, Irish researchers have now demonstrated a way to improve nerve repair using proteins from the supporting network around cells.
Peripheral nerves have some capacity for regeneration after an injury, but they often need help. For major damage, sections can be surgically replaced with nerves taken from other parts of the patient’s body, but that obviously creates injuries elsewhere. Implants called nerve guidance conduits (NGCs) are often used, which, as the name suggests, help direct nerves to regenerate along specific paths.
MIT team develops steerable soft thread-like robot capable of navigating tiny blood vessels
Snake robots are among the most familiar type of mechanical device for working in confined spaces. Flexible, tubular robots have been used for applications such as working in the interior of nuclear reactors, water distribution systems and inside the human body to aid surgery. The MIT team, mechanical engineers affiliated to the institution’s Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies, have downsized the snake paradigm to the scale of a thread half a millimetre in diameter, which can be remotely controlled by magnetic fields to worm its way through the convoluted blood vessels of the brain to deliver clot-busting drugs or devices to break up and remove the blockage. Such robots have the potential to quickly treat a stroke and prevent damage to the brain, the team claims.
The back of your eye, called the retina, reveals a wealth of health information to doctors, and may one day show your body’s true biological age, regardless of how old you are.
They claim that more than 100,000 passengers could be affected in a single day. 🤔
#engineering
Several high-profile executives of U.S. airlines warned on Monday, January 17, of an oncoming “catastrophic” aviation crisis that will take hold by Wednesday should AT&T and Verizon activate their new 5G services, a report from Reuters reveals.
In a letter obtained by Reuters, the CEOs of several passenger and cargo airlines in the United States, including Delta, United, and Southwest Airlines, warned that signals from the two companies’ new C-Band 5G cell towers could interfere with navigation and safety equipment on their planes.
US airline executives claim the public will be grounded by 5G services
“Unless our major hubs are cleared to fly, the vast majority of the traveling and shipping public will essentially be grounded,” the executives stated in their letter, which was sent to various government organizations, including the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the White House Economic Council. “Immediate intervention is needed to avoid significant operational disruption to air passengers, shippers, supply chain and delivery of needed medical supplies.”
“The time taken to optimize antibiotic therapy might mean the difference between life and death if an infection is serious,” says Adrian Egli. “A fast, accurate diagnosis is extremely important in those kinds of cases.” (Credit: Getty Images)
This could help treat serious infections more efficiently in the future.
In less than two years, you might be able to buy a smartwatch —powered with a radioactive diamond battery—that will outlive you and your progeny for generations.
The potentially game-changing battery comes from the San Francisco–based startup Nano Diamond Battery (NDB), which lauds its namesake “high-power diamond-based alpha, beta, and neutron voltaic battery” for its ability to give devices “life-long and green energy.” Imagine: Just one battery could power your insulin pump or pacemaker for your entire life (with loads of time to spare). Or it could provide the juice for a space rover, collecting Mars regolith samples for decades without any human assistance.
Those are ambitious goals. So, could NDB’s bold claims actually become reality?
Culinary Herbs & Spices For Health, Wellness & Longevity — Dr. Hamed Faridi Ph.D., Executive Director, McCormick Science Institute
Dr. Hamed Faridi, Ph.D. is the founder of Faridi Strategy Group LLC and serves as the Executive Director of the McCormick Science Institute (https://www.mccormickscienceinstitute.com/).
Hamed is renowned as an innovative food industry leader, business executive, strategist, and board director. He is a visionary leader who conceives and implements innovative approaches — often using technology — to create and sustain business growth in the highly competitive food manufacturing industry. Hamed is known as someone who creates “momentum” and superior customer intimacy.
Hamed is a sought-after consultant and frequent industry speaker with valuable perspectives on the food industry and the “future of food”. He has a reputation for developing strong and trusting relationships with CEOs, executive leaders, industry peers, and board directors. He is considered an effective communicator, a good listener, and a team-mate whose insights are valued. He has significant experience in the technology, health care, and food / flavor industries.
Hamed has served on boards of directors of several organizations including Maryland University of Integrative Health, St. Joseph Medical Center, and the International Association of Cereal Chemists. He has been a director and president of both the Flavor & Extract Manufacturers Association and the American Association of Cereal Chemists. He has served on the partnership committee of a McCormick joint venture and on the advisory boards of the food science departments of four different universities.
About the Bioprint FirstAid Handheld Bioprinter capabilities.
Astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) are testing 3D bioprinted bandages made of their own cells that could be used to better heal flesh wounds in space.
The German Space Agency (DLR) is leading the experiment which was launched to the ISS at the end of December 2021 on SpaceX’s 24th commercial resupply mission. The payload contained the BioPrint FirstAid Handheld Bioprinter, which is designed to hold cells from astronauts within a bioink that can be used to apply bandages to wounds when needed.
While the experiment offers a promising tool for wound healing in space environments, it could also provide significant benefits back on earth, too.
Viruses can be wily adapters, changing their identities to find new hosts and thwart efforts to stop them. That’s why University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers and their collaborators are making progress toward developing universal vaccines against some the planet’s most harmful pathogens, including the virus family responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last fall, the National Institutes of Health announced it was investing in three teams working to develop a vaccine that would simultaneously work against a broad range of coronaviruses. Among them is a research collaboration, the Pan-Coronavirus Vaccine consortium, led by UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine Professor of Pathobiological Sciences Yoshihiro Kawaoka.
“This pan-coronavirus vaccine is basically preparing for the future,” Kawaoka says.
If the world already had a pan-coronavirus vaccine in March 2020, it could have served as a mitigation tool until vaccines specific to SARS-CoV-2 could be developed.
