Physicists will collide lead ions to replicate and study the embryonic universe.
11/24/15.
New York Times.
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Nov 26, 2015
New Generation Gamma-Ray Spectroscope Can Detect Hidden Minerals in Asteroids
Posted by Andreas Matt in categories: innovation, space
This breakthrough technology is great for both asteroid mining and determining whether an asteroid poses a threat to our planet.
Nov 26, 2015
Spherical Underwater ‘Fish Tower’ Skyscraper Recycles Debris from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Posted by Montie Adkins in category: governance
I love seasteading art. This one concerns garbage clean up but it’s not hard to see it could be lived in. A Bernal Sphere underwater despite this design having the top above surface. If the whole thing can be done underwater then perhaps one day colonizing Europa could become a reality.
The Plastic Fish Tower, by the South Korean team of Kim Hongseop, Cho Hyunbeom, Yoom Sunhee and Yoom Hyungsoo, was awarded honorable mention in Evolo’s skyscraper contest.
Nov 26, 2015
Zeoform: A New Plastic That Turns Hemp Into Almost Anything
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: energy, materials
A new type of plastic removes the need for fossil fuels and toxic chemicals, replacing it with a simple mixture of hemp and water.
Nov 25, 2015
The tardigrade genome has been sequenced, and it has the most foreign DNA of any animal
Posted by Matthew White in categories: biotech/medical, food, life extension, space
Scientists have sequenced the entire genome of the tardigrade, AKA the water bear, for the first time. And it turns out that this weird little creature has the most foreign genes of any animal studied so far – or to put it another way, roughly one-sixth of the tardigrade’s genome was stolen from other species. We have to admit, we’re kinda not surprised.
A little background here for those who aren’t familiar with the strangeness that is the tardigrade – the microscopic water creature grows to just over 1 mm on average, and is the only animal that can survive in the harsh environment of space. It can also withstand temperatures from just above absolute zero to well above the boiling point of water, can cope with ridiculous amounts of pressure and radiation, and can live for more than 10 years without food or water. Basically, it’s nearly impossible to kill, and now scientists have shown that its DNA is just as bizarre as it is.
So what’s foreign DNA and why does it matter that tardigrades have so much of it? The term refers to genes that have come from another organism via a process known as horizontal gene transfer, as opposed to being passed down through traditional reproduction.
Nov 25, 2015
President Obama Signs Bill Recognizing Asteroid Resource Property Rights into Law
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: Peter Diamandis, space
Redmond, Wash. – November 25, 2015 – Planetary Resources, the asteroid mining company, applauds President Obama who signed the U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act (H.R. 2262) into law. This law recognizes the right of U.S. citizens to own asteroid resources they obtain and encourages the commercial exploration and utilization of resources from asteroids.
“This is the single greatest recognition of property rights in history,” said Eric Anderson, Co-Founder and Co-Chairman, Planetary Resources, Inc. “This legislation establishes the same supportive framework that created the great economies of history, and will encourage the sustained development of space.”
Peter H. Diamandis, M.D., Co-Founder and Co-Chairman, Planetary Resources, Inc., said, “A hundred years from now, humanity will look at this period in time as the point in which we were able to establish a permanent foothold in space. In history, there has never been a more rapid rate progress than right now.”
Nov 25, 2015
Toshiba Machine Announces a Metal 3D Printer Ten Times Faster Than Others on the Market
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: 3D printing, innovation
It’s rare to see technology sectors advance as quickly as metal 3D printing has. Until very recently, the technology was lagging a bit behind other forms of 3D printing. Its cost, plus the size of the printers required, limited it mostly to large industrial companies, but just in the last few months there’s been a burst of innovations making metal printers smaller, cheaper and more accessible. From startups like Desktop Metal to major corporations like Additive Industries, this year’s major focus seems to be on advancing metal 3D printing.
The latest company to announce a new metal printer is Toshiba Corporation, which has, in conjunction with its machine tools unit Toshiba Machine, developed a prototype for a metal printer that promises to be ten times faster than most powder bed fusion sintering printers.
Nov 25, 2015
Mining the Solar System –Will it Spawn the Next Google?
Posted by Gerard Bain in categories: materials, space
Asteroids are primordial material left over from the formation of the Solar System. They are scattered throughout it: some pass close to the Sun, and others are found out beyond the orbit of Neptune. A vast majority have been collected by Jupiter’s gravity into a belt between it and Mars – an area known as the Main Belt. As it turns out, we have been discovering thousands of asteroids that do not belong to the Main Belt, but instead pass near Earth’s orbit – nearly 9,000 to date, with almost a thousand more are discovered every year.
Nov 25, 2015
New technology makes metal wires on solar cells nearly invisible to light
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: solar power, sustainability
A solar cell is basically a semiconductor, which converts sunlight into electricity, sandwiched between metal contacts that carry the electrical current.
But this widely used design has a flaw: The shiny metal on top of the cell actually reflects sunlight away from the semiconductor where electricity is produced, reducing the cell’s efficiency.
Now, Stanford University scientists have discovered how to hide the reflective upper contact and funnel light directly to the semiconductor below. Their findings, published in the journal ACS Nano, could lead to a new paradigm in the design and fabrication of solar cells.
