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Jan 15, 2016

Microbots individually controlled using magnetic fields

Posted by in category: engineering

This image shows how two microbots can be independently controlled when operating within a group. (Purdue University image/David Cappelleri)

Purdue University researchers have developed a method to use magnetic fields to independently control individual microrobots operating within groups.

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Jan 15, 2016

Frozen Tardigrade Brought Back to Life After 30 Years

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, space

Tardigrades, or “water bears,” are renowned for their remarkable survival skills. But these microscopic creatures are far more indestructible than we thought. In a recent experiment, scientists in Japan successfully revived a tardigrade that had been frozen for more than three decades.

That’s a new record.

Tardigrades are tiny water-dwelling extremophiles that are capable of withstanding some of the most severe environmental conditions, including freezing, total dehydration, radiation, and even the vacuum of space. Much of this has to do with their extraordinary genome, of which nearly 18% is comprised of DNA from other organisms, including plants, fungi, bacteria, and viruses.

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Jan 15, 2016

Space Mining Could Set Off a Star War — By Clive Thompson | Wired

Posted by in categories: business, space

thomson_deep_space4-977x1024

“Space is lousy with profits. Consider the asteroid Ryugu: It’s made of so many tons of nickel, iron, cobalt, and water, it’s worth an estimated $95 billion.”

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Jan 15, 2016

The future is coming! (h/t Watercar watercar.com)

Posted by in category: futurism

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Jan 15, 2016

‘Spermbots’ are a bionic suit for your sperm

Posted by in categories: cyborgs, transhumanism

One of the main causes of infertility in men is low sperm motility. That is to say, the sperm are present and alive, but they have the swimming prowess of a toddler that’s afraid to lose its water wings.

In short, they just aren’t fast enough to reach the egg.

It’s hard to fault them, I can’t get to the front door fast enough for the FedEx guy not to leave my package in the bushes these days.

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Jan 15, 2016

Y-3 and Virgin Galactic — Shaping the future of space access

Posted by in categories: futurism, space

https://youtube.com/watch?v=yGi1qz1zWrw

Y-3 in space! We officially announce our partnership with Virgin Galactic to create their future pilot flight-suits.

A pioneering spirit and dedication to pushing the boundaries of possibility- Y-3 announce a space-apparel partnership with Virgin Galactic.We have been developing the intersection of fashion and space, underpinned by a shared approach to design and innovation, as they create apparel system for the world’s first commercial spaceline.

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Jan 14, 2016

Space Oddity (David Bowie + Kristen Wiig) — The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Posted by in category: space

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Jan 14, 2016

Obama to Propose $4 Billion for Self-Driving Cars

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, transportation

The administration hopes driverless cars will solve traffic and pollution problems.

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Jan 14, 2016

100 Years Of Fashion: Women Vs. Men

Posted by in category: futurism

Play Video.

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Jan 14, 2016

A Mysterious Mammoth Carcass Could Change Human History

Posted by in category: futurism

The carcass was remarkably well preserved, but something was clearly wrong. A rounded hole through the interior jugal. Deep incisions along the ribs. Dents in the left scapula. A broken mandible.

This 45,000 year-old mammoth’s life ended violently at the hands of hunters. That wouldn’t be surprising—it’s well known that Pleistocene humans were expert mammoth killers—but for the location. It was excavated from a permafrost embankment at Yenisei bay, a remote spot in central Siberia where a massive river empties into the Arctic Ocean.

That makes this brutalized mammoth the oldest evidence for human expansion into the high Arctic by a wide margin. Its discovery, published today in Science, might push back the timeline for when humans entered the northernmost reaches of the world—including the first entries into North America.

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