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Jan 26, 2024

Chinese Lab Created New Coronavirus, 100% Mortality Rate in Human Transgenetic Mice

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, neuroscience

According to a paper submitted for peer review on January 4th, 2024, Lethal Infection of Human ACE2-Transgenic Mice Caused by SARS-CoV-2-related Pangolin Coronavirus GX_P2V(short_3UTR), a new lab-created coronavirus has the potential to kill 100% of those infected with the virus within 8 days of infection.

The mice were genetically modified to express the human ACE2 receptor. This is the receptor responsible for allowing coronavirus to gain cellular entry. The lab infected mice with a coronavirus engineered from a strain found in pangolins. Pangolins are medium-sized animals growing to 12 — 30 inches in length and have the appearance of a scale-plated anteater.

Researchers monitored the mice for signs of infection by recording body weight, taking tissue samples, and monitoring for other symptoms. By the third day post-infection, tissue samples from the infected mice had a significant amount of viral RNA in the brain, eye, lung, and nasal tissue.

Jan 26, 2024

Paper page — WebVoyager: Building an End-to-End Web Agent with Large Multimodal Models

Posted by in category: habitats

Join the discussion on this paper page.

Jan 26, 2024

Adaptive Mobile Manipulation for Articulated Objects in the Open World

Posted by in categories: habitats, robotics/AI

Paper page: https://huggingface.co/papers/2401.14403 https://open-world-mobilemanip.github.io/ Deploying robots in open-ended unstructured environments such as homes has been a long-standing research problem.

Jan 26, 2024

Chinese train that runs on road without track

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, transportation

The Rail Bus, a pioneering mode of transportation originating in Zhuzhou, China, is a groundbreaking discovery. Introduced by the Chinese manufacturer CRRC, this self-driving vehicle, resembling a train but without tracks, completed its inaugural journey in 2017. The Rail Bus seeks to revolutionise traditional concepts of buses, trains, and trams. The design of the Rail Bus was presented to the public in June 2023, and remarkably, within a span of fewer than five months, CRRC initiated testing on October 30, 2017. Covering a 3-kilometer route with stops at four stations in Zhuzhou, this marked a significant milestone in transportation evolution.

Jan 26, 2024

MIT researchers’ new rapid liquid printing technique is 10x faster

Posted by in category: futurism

Imagine printing a table leg or a chair frame in minutes using liquid metal. Researchers from MIT have developed a new additive manufacturing technique that can do just that.

Their technique, called liquid metal printing (LMP), involves depositing molten aluminum along a predefined path into a bed of tiny glass beads. The aluminum quickly hardens into a 3D structure, ready to be used or further processed.

Jan 26, 2024

Meet all muscle, no smoke, eWolf: US’ first innovative electric tugboat

Posted by in categories: innovation, sustainability

Embark on a greener maritime future with Crowley’s eWolf, the first all-electric tugboat in the US, setting sail to revolutionize sustainability on the seas.

Jan 25, 2024

Liebherr converted this massive mining excavator to electric power

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, futurism

For the first time in the company’s 40-year history, Liebherr have converted one of their R 9,400 excavators from a conventional diesel to an electric powertrain.

The re-powered mining machine was commissioned at Fortescue’s Christmas Creek mine site in Western Australia – but what’s more significant is that the conversion was done during the standard service life of the machine.

“The modular design of Liebherr equipment makes it possible to repower existing diesel excavators to new zero emission configurations, such as electric powertrains,” explains Oliver Weiss, Executive Vice President of R&D, Engineering, and Manufacturing for Liebherr Mining. “This means that the diesel equipment customers buy today is also future-proofed for many years to come. The fact that we can ease the transition from traditional to decarbonized mining fleets for our customers is one of the key strategies of the Liebherr Zero Emission Mining Program.”

Jan 25, 2024

Scientists show that quantum infrared spectroscopy can achieve ultra-broadband spectroscopic measurements

Posted by in categories: chemistry, quantum physics

Our understanding of the world relies greatly on our knowledge of its constituent materials and their interactions. Recent advances in materials science technologies have ratcheted up our ability to identify chemical substances and expanded possible applications.

Jan 25, 2024

Engineering multimode interactions in circuit quantum acoustodynamics

Posted by in categories: engineering, quantum physics

Quantum gates require controlled interactions between different degrees of freedom. A tunable coupling has now been demonstrated between the phonon modes of a mechanical resonator designed for storing and manipulating quantum information.

Jan 25, 2024

Ingenuity Mars Helicopter: A Journey Beyond Expectations Comes to a Close

Posted by in categories: futurism, space

The Little Helicopter That Could, also known as NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, has unfortunately ended its mission of exploring the surface of Mars after a historic 72 flights since its first flight in April 2021. The decision to end the mission came after teams discovered that at least one rotor blade was damaged enough to where it could no longer perform aerial duties. Despite this, Ingenuity remains standing upright and communicating with Earth continues, as well.

“The historic journey of Ingenuity, the first aircraft on another planet, has come to end,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement. “That remarkable helicopter flew higher and farther than we ever imagined and helped NASA do what we do best – make the impossible, possible. Through missions like Ingenuity, NASA is paving the way for future flight in our solar system and smarter, safer human exploration to Mars and beyond.”

Launched onboard NASA’s Perseverance rover on July 30, 2020, and landing in Jezero Crater on Mars on February 18, 2021, Ingenuity became the first aircraft to perform a powered flight on another world on April 19, 2021. Ingenuity was originally built for a 30-day mission where it would conduct five experimental flights to demonstrate that powered flight could be achieved on another planetary body other than Earth. With a total of 72 flights under its belt, Ingenuity has far exceeded expectations in terms of its original goals and objectives. This includes a horizontal flight distance of 2,315 feet (705 meters), which was accomplished just last month on December 20, 2023.