Researchers have created a new molecule — IMP-1088 — that can render the human body inhospitable for certain viruses. The tests carried out show it can block several strains of rhinovirus, which is the main cause of the common cold.
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Looking for a plastic straw to sip your soda? It’s no longer allowed in Seattle bars and restaurants.
Neither are plastic utensils in the latest push to reduce waste and prevent marine plastic pollution. Businesses that sell food or drinks won’t be allowed to offer the plastic items under a rule that went into effect Sunday.
Seattle is believed to be the first major U.S. city to ban single-use plastic straws and utensils in food service, according to Seattle Public Utilities. The eco-conscious city has been an environmental leader in the U.S., working to aggressively curb the amount of trash that goes into landfills by requiring more options that can be recycled or composted.
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There is increasing chatter among the world’s major military powers about how space is fast becoming the next battleground. China, Russia, and the United States are all taking steps that will ultimately result in the weaponisation of space. Any satellite that can change orbit can be considered a space weapon, but since many of the possible space-based scenarios have yet to occur, cybersecurity experts, military commanders, and policymakers do not fully understand the range of potential consequences that could result.
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union was interested in paralysing America’s strategic forces, strategic command, and control and communications, so that its military command could not communicate with its forces. They would do so by first causing electromagnetic pulse (EMP) to sever communication and operational capabilities, and then launch a mass attack across the North Pole to blow up US Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs).
In 1967, the US, UK and Soviet Union signed the Outer Space Treaty, which was either ratified by or acceded to 105 countries (including China). It set in place laws regarding the use of outer space and banned any nation from stationing nuclear warheads, chemical or biological weapons in space. However, the Treaty does not prohibit the placement of conventional weapons in orbit, so such weapons as kinetic bombardment (i.e. attacking Earth with a projectile) are not strictly prohibited.
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Cube Satellite
Posted in satellites
Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham have shown—for the first time—that established lung fibrosis can be reversed using a drug treatment that targets cell metabolism.
This novel finding, reported in the journal Nature Medicine, is important because, despite significant advances to reveal the pathological mechanisms of persistent fibrosis, effective treatment interventions are lacking.
Pulmonary fibrosis can develop after lung injuries like infections, radiation or chemotherapy, or it can have an unknown cause, as in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, or IPF is a progressive, and ultimately fatal, lung disorder that strikes more than 150,000 patients a year in the United States and more than 5 million worldwide.
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Thailand Leads in Crypto
Posted in cryptocurrencies
Securities, or not securities. That is the crypto question.
Except in Thailand.
While regulators around the world have grappled with the issue of what category digital currencies and assets fall into, Thailand has skipped the debate altogether.
Instead, using an emergency decree that came into effect earlier this year, authorities wrote an entirely new law.
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Geospatial analysis shows that ‘mini-grids’ would be the cheapest technology to provide universal electricity access by 2030.
Achieving universal access to electricity is essential for solving many global development challenges. Decentralized renewable energy technologies have emerged as a viable solution. Small, clean energy utilities called mini-grids are a key piece of the puzzle. They are community-based grids that generate and distribute power at the point of consumption. And they could be the most cost-effective way to deliver access to more than a third of the 1.1 billion people across the world who still lack any electricity supply, according to new analysis by the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Yet mini-grids are still largely an afterthought for many governments and their financial backers in Africa and Asia. Evidence strongly suggests that this mindset must change if the world is to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 – access to modern, affordable, clean and reliable energy for all by 2030.
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A two-ton rock from the depths of space just plunged into the Pacific Ocean, and researchers want to find it. Fortunately, an oceanic research vessel is nearby, and it’s ready to deploy its high-tech to aid in the search. The Nautilus contains sophisticated sensors and two remote-controlled submarines that can scour the seafloor for fragments.
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In the famous sci-fi TV show Battlestar Galactica, John Cavil, a Cylon that appeared human, went on an epic rant that forever changed my perception of biology and my own biological substrate.
MIT rockstar Hugh Herr delivers another TED talk, only this time revealing a major breakthrough that’ll unleash a brave new future of cyborgs!
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