Why Plants? Part III – Rise of The Plant Machines by Orlando de Lange.
Everyone talks about the rise of the robots. What about the rise of the “Vegetation/ Plant Machines?”
In part 3 of our series on plant synthetic biology, Orlando de Lange (@SeaGreenODL) of The New Leaf blog introduces how synbio approaches are being used to develop novel disease resistant crops, overcoming some of the challenges faced by monoculture farming.
The King’s man
With the need for smaller more cost effective living spaces in mind, Ori Systems has developed a line of modular furniture that makes the most of the space that is becoming more and more of a premium. And, though not yet applied outside the residential market, the technology has clear applications for maximizing precious office space as well.
The Ori in Ori Systems comes from the Japanese word origami, which makes a lot of sense when you see the furniture as it transforms a room with just the push of a button. And in so doing it can quickly transform a small living space with a variety of possible configurations. See the video below.
Yale University scientists have reached a milestone in their efforts to extend the durability and dependability of quantum information.
For the first time, researchers at Yale have crossed the “break even” point in preserving a bit of quantum information for longer than the lifetime of its constituent parts. They have created a novel system to encode, spot errors, decode, and correct errors in a quantum bit, also known as a “qubit.” The development of such a robust method of Quantum Error Correction (QEC) has been one of the biggest remaining hurdles in quantum computation.
The findings were published online July 20 in the journal Nature.
Researchers have demonstrated how to control the “electron spin” of a nanodiamond while it is levitated with lasers in a vacuum, an advance that could find applications in quantum information processing, sensors and studies into the fundamental physics of quantum mechanics.
Electrons can be thought of as having two distinct spin states, “up” or “down.” The researchers were able to detect and control the electron spin resonance, or its change from one state to the other.
“We’ve shown how to continuously flip the electron spin in a nanodiamond levitated in a vacuum and in the presence of different gases,” said Tongcang Li, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy and electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University.
I was at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland yesterday representing transhumanism with Transhumanist Party supporters. So were many protesters. This is a humurous write up in one of Florida’s largest papers by a well known comedy writer.
Dave Barry is in Cleveland for the Republican National Convention, and he has met a presidential candidate from the Transhumanist Party named Zoltan Istvan, who wants to put robotic bits in our bodies.
ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, Ill. — Former Washington Post reporter, Joel Garreau, Lincoln professor of Law, Culture, and Values at Arizona State University spoke at Heritage Hall on his book “Radical Evolution,” here, July 14.
Garreau, whose seminar provoked thoughts on the future of Army sustainment, logistics and warfighter readiness, was invited to speak as part of ASC Commanding General Maj. Gen. Kevin O’ Connell’s Leadership Professional Development seminar series.
Garrea’s main argument is that for the first time in human history, we now have the technological ability to take control of our evolution.
