Genetics is influencing more and more of our decisions, but we can’t make the right choices if we don’t understand it.
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How the Enlightenment Ends
Posted in futurism
But if robots kill weeds, who will spray Roundup on everything.
AI-powered weed hunters could soon reduce the need for herbicides and genetically modified crops.
How it’s done now: Current farming methods involve spraying large amounts of indiscriminate weed killer over fields full of crops that have been genetically tweaked (usually by the same company that makes the weed killer) to resist the chemicals. The pesticide and seed industry is enormous, worth $100 billion globally. Of that, herbicide sales alone account for $26 billion.
The future: Robots like the one created by ecoRobotix (shown above) will be able to roll through fields, using computer vision to target and spray individual weeds as they go. EcoRobotix claims its robo-brigade will decrease total herbicide use by a factor of 20. You might even be able to get a smaller Roomba-esque version for your home garden.
The telescope may give us a long-awaited glimpse at what lies behind the cosmic veil of the Milky Way’s super-massive black hole.
Scientists have used telescopes from all over the earth to edge closer to imaging the supermassive back hole (SMBH) at the center of the Milky Way, reports Newsweek. An SMBH, the largest type of black hole, is found in the middle of almost all known massive galaxies. The SMBH that inhabits our galaxy is located at approximately the galactic center of the galaxy (18hrs, −29 deg), and it is known as Sagittarius A*.
Pronounced Sagittarius A-star, this spiral structure within Sagittarius A West and Sagittarius A East “contains an intense compact radio source.” It’s located approximately 26,000 light years away from earth, and it can’t be seen by normal optics. Instead, Sagittarius A* lies hidden beneath the Milky Way’s enormous dust clouds.
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It isn’t always easy to wrap your mind around how light works. It’s a particle, but it’s also a wave, and that wave can be powerful. Photons generally travel en masse — we’re talking densities in the range of quadrillions per square inch if they’re coming from the sun. But what if instead of the whole wave crashing over you, you were only hit by a single drop of light — would you know? In other words, is it possible for the human eye to see a single photon?
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Glioblastoma is one of the most deadly forms of cancer. Affecting the brain, those unlucky enough to receive a diagnosis don’t have many treatment options – and usually a median life expectancy of just over a year. Now, researchers at MIT have developed nanoparticles that could provide hope, crossing the blood-brain barrier and delivering two types of drugs to fight tumors.
The MIT nanoparticles are liposomes, fatty droplets that can carry one drug on the inside and another in the outer layer. On the inside, the particles were loaded with a common chemotherapy drug called temozolomide, while the outer shell contained a more experimental substance known as JQ-1.
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Exoskeleton Technologies
Posted in cyborgs
Exoskeleton technologies can bring new capabilities to fighting forces and improve endurance and safety in industrial settings. Lockheed Martin continues refinement of next-generation industrial products with primary focus on powered exoskeletons. Lockheed Martin’s new lower-body exoskeleton has demonstrated to increase mobility. By reducing the effort in walking and climbing this technology can literally help soldiers and first responders go the extra mile while carrying mission-essential equipment.
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