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Dec 21, 2016
Artificial leaf could make a medicinal mini-factory
Posted by Shane Hinshaw in categories: biotech/medical, drones, internet, sustainability
Leaves are kind of like nature’s power plants, converting incoming sunlight into energy for the plant to thrive on. Inspired by the real thing, scientists have previously created artificial leaves that function in much the same way as their natural counterparts to produce electricity and even liquid fuels. Now a team at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) is using a similar system to produce chemicals, which could one day lead to solar-powered “mini-factories” that can produce drugs, pesticides and other chemicals almost anywhere.
To mimic the light-capturing molecules in leaves, the researchers turned to luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs), materials seen in solar-harvesting window technology and used to catch and amplify laser beams carrying data in Facebook’s drone-mounted internet projec t. These LSCs absorb incoming light, convert it to specific wavelengths and then guide the photons to the edges of the device.
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Dec 21, 2016
Solar System’s Next Close Encounter Will Be With Gliese 710, Say Astronomers
Posted by Bruce Dorminey in category: asteroid/comet impacts
Gaia continues to reap dividends; per this new paper detailing a much closer solar system trajectory for Gliese 710, a sunlike star some 64 light years away in the constellation of Serpens.
Gliese 710, a star about half the size of our Sun, will rip through a portion of our solar system’s Oort Cloud of comets some 1.35 million years from now. In the process, it’s likely to dislodge a huge swath of long-period Earth-crossing comets.
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Dec 21, 2016
Microsoft gives a detailed presentation on Holoportation at the ACM’s Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction UIST ‘16 symposium
Posted by Klaus Baldauf in categories: augmented reality, computing
In March this year Microsoft unveiled their new project – Holoportation, which they envision as the future of teleconferencing.
Holoportation is a new type of 3D capture technology that allows high quality 3D models of people to be reconstructed, compressed, and transmitted anywhere in the world in real-time. When combined with mixed reality displays such as HoloLens, this technology allows users to see and interact with remote participants in 3D as if they are actually present in their physical space.
Dec 21, 2016
China Dominates Solar Energy
Posted by Karen Hurst in categories: solar power, sustainability
Dec 21, 2016
How virtual reality could help Congress understand the issues
Posted by Karen Hurst in categories: government, virtual reality
Dec 21, 2016
Immersion Research — Touch Hologram in Mid-Air
Posted by Karen Hurst in categories: augmented reality, holograms
Dec 21, 2016
Scientists build bacteria-powered battery on single sheet of paper
Posted by Karen Hurst in categories: energy, futurism
Instead of ordering batteries by the pack, we might get them by the ream in the future.
Researchers at Binghamton University, State University of New York have created a bacteria-powered battery on a single sheet of paper that can power disposable electronics. The manufacturing technique reduces fabrication time and cost, and the design could revolutionize the use of bio-batteries as a power source in remote, dangerous and resource-limited areas.
“Papertronics have recently emerged as a simple and low-cost way to power disposable point-of-care diagnostic sensors,” said Assistant Professor Seokheun “Sean” Choi, who is in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department within the Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science. He is also the director of the Bioelectronics and Microsystems Lab at Binghamton.
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Dec 21, 2016
The Goals of Extraterrestrial AI May “Conflict With Those of Biological Life”
Posted by Karen Hurst in categories: alien life, biological, robotics/AI
In Brief
- An expert on the intersection of science and philosophy posits that our current transition to “postbiological” life could have already been undertaken by extraterrestrial species.
- She warns that these alien lifeforms could by artificially intelligent, in which case they could pose a tremendous threat to life on Earth.
Susan Schneider is a fellow at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (IEET). She is also an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Connecticut, and her expertise includes the philosophy of cognitive science, particularly with regards to the plausibility of computational theories of mind and theoretical issues in artificial intelligence (AI).
In short, Schneider has a keen understanding of the intersection between science and philosophy. As such, she also has a unique perspective on AI, offering a fresh (but quite alarming) view on how artificial intelligence could forever alter humanity’s existence. In an article published by the IEET, she shares that perspective, talking about potential flaws in the way we view AI and suggesting a possible connection between AI and extraterrestrial life.
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Dec 21, 2016
Bionic pancreas system manages blood sugar levels in patients with type 1 diabetes living at home
Posted by Karen Hurst in categories: biotech/medical, cyborgs, engineering, health, transhumanism
The bionic pancreas system developed by Boston University (BU) investigators proved better than either conventional or sensor-augmented insulin pump therapy at managing blood sugar levels in patients with type 1 diabetes living at home, with no restrictions, over 11 days. The report of a clinical trial led by a Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) physician is receiving advance online publication in The Lancet.
“For study participants living at home without limitations on their activity and diet, the bionic pancreas successfully reduced average blood glucose, while at the same time decreasing the risk of hypoglycemia,” says Steven Russell, MD, PhD, of the MGH Diabetes Unit. “This system requires no information other than the patient’s body weight to start, so it will require much less time and effort by health care providers to initiate treatment. And since no carbohydrate counting is required, it significantly reduces the burden on patients associated with diabetes management.”
Developed by Edward Damiano, PhD, and Firas El-Khatib, PhD, of the BU Department of Biomedical Engineering, the bionic pancreas controls patients’ blood sugar with both insulin and glucagon, a hormone that increases glucose levels. After a 2010 clinical trial confirmed that the original version of the device could maintain near-normal blood sugar levels for more than 24 hours in adult patients, two follow-up trials — reported in a 2014 New England Journal of Medicine paper — showed that an updated version of the system successfully controlled blood sugar levels in adults and adolescents for five days. Another follow-up trial published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology in 2016 showed it could do the same for children as young as 6 years of age.
