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Mar 14, 2016

US Bets $100 Million on Machines That Think More Like Humans

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, government, military, space

“One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

When Neil Armstrong stepped onto the dusty surface of the moon on July 20, 1969, it was a victory for NASA and a victory for science.

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Mar 14, 2016

Michigan company looks to halve offshore wind costs

Posted by in categories: climatology, energy, physics

Company uses physics of thunderstorms to summon energy out of air.

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Mar 14, 2016

Humanoid robots can’t outsource their brains to the cloud due to network latency

Posted by in categories: neuroscience, robotics/AI

Ars talks to robotics rockstar Hiroshi Ishiguro, on crafting convincing human-android interactions.

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Mar 14, 2016

World’s Thinnest Lens Could Revolutionize Nanotechnology

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, nanotechnology

Another great invention by the folks from Australia.


Researchers said they developed the new thinnest lens in the world. Made from a crystal called molybdenum disulphide, the new lens is 2,000 thinner than a human hair and can revolutionize the field of nanotechnology. (Photo : Gerd Altmann | Pixabay)

A team of Australian scientists said they have developed the thinnest lens in the world. The new 6.3-nanometer lens, which is 2,000 times thinner than a human hair, can lead to novel advances in medicine and science which could revolutionize nanotechnology.

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Mar 14, 2016

The ‘great smoky dragon’ of quantum physics

Posted by in categories: nanotechnology, particle physics, quantum physics

Abstract: Since the 17th century, science was intrigued by the nature of light. Isaac Newton was certain that it consists of a stream of particles. His contemporary Christiaan Huygens, however, argued that light is a wave. Modern quantum physics says that both were right. Light can be observed both as particles and as waves — depending which characteristic is measured in an experiment, it presents itself more as one or the other. This so-called wave-particle dualism is one of the foundational principles of quantum physics. This questions our common sense: can one and the same indeed be of two contradictory natures at the same time?

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Mar 14, 2016

Scientists grow eye lens from patients’ own stem cells, restoring vision

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Lens regeneration in monkeys after minimally invasive surgery. Slit-lamp microscopy showed regenerating lens tissue grew from the peripheral to the central lens in a circular symmetrical pattern 2–3 months after surgery, reaching the center at 5 months post-surgery; direct illumination showed that the visual axis remained translucent. (credit: Haotian Lin et al./Nature)

Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Shiley Eye Institute, with colleagues in China, have developed an eye lens restoration treatment that has been tested in monkeys and in a small human clinical trial. It produced much fewer surgical complications than the current standard-of-care and resulted in regenerated lenses with superior visual function in all 12 of the pediatric cataract patients who received the new surgery.

Congenital cataracts — lens clouding that occurs at birth or shortly thereafter — is a significant cause of blindness in children.

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Mar 13, 2016

Laser inscribing the characters onto a computer keyboard

Posted by in category: computing

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Mar 13, 2016

This is a spherical flight vehicle built by Korea Aerospace University

Posted by in category: transportation

It has a single rotor and uses four control surfaces.

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Mar 13, 2016

Tiny, artificial trees could form the next generation of windmills

Posted by in categories: energy, materials, sustainability, transportation

Researchers in the US have proposed a new form of wind power: small, artificial, mechanical trees capable of producing energy from their vibrations. Working with the natural breeze, or small movements caused by other factors, the scientists hope that new forms of renewable energy can be developed in the future.

The idea is to create a device that can convert random forces – whether that’s from the footfall of pedestrians on a bridge, or a passing gust of wind – into electricity that can be used to power devices. And the researchers have found that tree-like structures made from electromechanical materials are perfect for the task.

“Buildings sway ever so slightly in the wind, bridges oscillate when we drive on them and car suspensions absorb bumps in the road,” said project leader Ryan Harne from Ohio State University. “In fact, there’s a massive amount of kinetic energy associated with those motions that is otherwise lost. We want to recover and recycle some of that energy.”

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Mar 13, 2016

NASA announced that it is developing a supersonic jet intended

Posted by in category: transportation

Click on photo to start video.

A supersonic passenger plane.

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