“The European Union may announce its decision in its long-running probe into Apple Inc.’s tax arrangements with Ireland in July, the country’s finance minister said Thursday.”
When cancer hits, your immune system shuts down. Over the past 5–10 years, research into cancer has therefore increasingly focused on helping the immune system start up again. Because if we succeed in that, there is much to indicate that this approach will prove significantly more effective than the aggressive, all encompassing chemotherapy treatments we currently use.
One of the initiatives in this area is the work of Professor Thomas Andresen from DTU Nanotech. He has recently been awarded a grant from Innovation Fund Denmark for a project in which biological nano-drones are used to train the immune system to recognize cancer cells; and kill them.
This is something it cannot do on its own, because cancer cells are adept at concealing themselves. It is true that when chemotherapy or radiotherapy is used to kill cancer cells today, the immune system steps in afterwards to clear away the dead cells, but it doesn’t learn anything from the process. This is what Thomas Andresen is looking to change.
Continue reading “Biological nano-drones can vaccinate against cancer” »
A team from the University of Science and Technology of China has shattered the quantum entanglement record, entangling 10 photon pairs.
Quantum entanglement is one of the strangest occurrences in the already strange world of quantum physics. Basically, entanglement is the state where quantum particles become so deeply linked that they share what is, in essence, the same existence.
The video below delves into the ins and outs of this phenomenon.
Continue reading “Physicists Just Entangled 10 Photon Pairs And Set A New World Record” »
Quantic Dream, the studio behind Heavy Rain, has revealed its ambitious new project. Here’s the full trailer!
Sometimes it’s the accidental discoveries that make the biggest impact. Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have learned that carbon-rich nanorods created in a botched experiment might be ideal for harvesting water. When there’s relatively low humidity (below 50 percent), the rods trap water inside their gaps; if it’s any more humid, however, they promptly expel that water as vapor. It’s a very unusual trait that’s likely caused by water condensing into a “bridge” in the nanorods, whose surface tension forces them to close and eventually kick the water out.
If scientists can refine the shape of these nanorods and get them to spray water on a consistent basis (only 10 to 20 percent do that right now), the implications are huge. They’d be ideal for harvesting and purifying water in dry climates — you could gather ambient moisture until there’s enough to drink. Alternately, you could use it for anti-sweat clothing that soaks up your perspiration and spits it outside. All told, you’d have direct control over just when and how you get water.
I’m 55 years old. I’m shooting for a multihundred-year lifespan. That’s my goal. If you don’t shoot for it, you’re not going to hit it, right?”
I guess he’ll want to speak to George Church.
The author of this titles it “to 150” yet Peter here says multi hundred, and included a pic of Venter who has said he doesn’t think people should live past 120.
Physicists have just published new calculations that suggest the controversial EM drive — or electromagnetic drive — could actually work, and doesn’t defy Newton’s third law after all.
In case you’ve missed the hype, here’s a quick catch-up: a lot of space lovers are freaking out about the EM drive because of claims it could get humans to Mars in just 10 weeks, but just as many are sick of hearing about it, because, on paper at least, it doesn’t work within the laws of physics.
Despite that not-insignificant setback, the EM drive shows no signs of quitting, and test after test — including trials by NASA scientists at the Eagleworks lab, and an independent researcher in Germany — has conceded that the propulsion system, somehow, does produce thrust.
Continue reading “New paper claims that the EM Drive doesn’t defy Newton’s 3rd law after all” »
