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Sep 21, 2015

New ‘shape-shifting’ material can reconstruct faces

Posted by in categories: 3D printing, biotech/medical, materials

Called a shape-memory polymer (SMP) and developed by a team at Texas A&M University in the US, this biodegradable material can be used to fill in gaps in a damaged face and act as a scaffold to guide the growth of existing bones.

The researchers made their shape-memory polymer by linking molecules of another material — polycaprolactone, or PCL — and whipping it into a foam. According to Jackie Hong at Motherboard, the material is soft and easy to mould when heated to 60°C (140°F), and sets when it’s cooled to body temperature without becoming brittle. It can be used in 3D printing and moulding, which means it can be shaped into extremely precise models and bone scaffolds, and it’s full of tiny holes like a sponge, which allows bone-producing cells called osteoblasts to collect inside and grow.

According to Hong, the researchers enhanced this osteoblast-growing effect by coating their SMP material in polydopamine — a different kind of polymer substance that helps bind existing bones to the SMP scaffold, and has been shown in previous studies to encourage the growth of osteoblasts. Over a three-day trial, their coated SMP scaffold grew five times more osteoblasts than their uncoated scaffold.

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Sep 21, 2015

Nanogel Speeds Healing Process for Burn Victims

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, nanotechnology

Got a nasty burn? Nanogel has you covered. Using the power of nanotechnology, this cutting-edge simply sprays burns away, and speeds the healing process.

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Sep 21, 2015

Kickstarter campaign bringing magnetic charging to iPhone

Posted by in categories: energy, mobile phones

If you’ve got an iPhone, there is a good chance you also have a MacBook. The MagSafe charger on Apple’s laptop offerings is easy to use, leading some to want an iPhone with the same functionality. A recently funded Kickstarter is attempting to bring it to us, and even slaps in a battery pack for good measure.

The draw for Cabin is twofold: the magnetic charging, and the battery pack. The battery pack slips onto the rear of the device, much like we see with the Case+ lineup from Logitech. Aluminum, Cabin is relying on your sensitivity to style for the battery pack. At 2200mAh, it’ll charge you up more than once, too.

The magnetic charging is a bit more adapter than anything else. By taking a lightning connector and working a pinned magnetic charger on the end, we get simple, easy, and (hopefully) effective charging. What you won’t be able to do is use your MacBook charger. Cabin includes a Lightning adapter and dock (if you spend a touch more), though.

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Sep 21, 2015

Move aside, Segway: Honda’s Uni-Cub could make walking a thing of the past

Posted by in category: transportation

https://youtube.com/watch?v=_Me1P0JljVk

Behold, the future of personal mobility devices: The Honda Uni-Cub. The Uni-Cub, which is self-balancing, has zero turning radius, and is battery powered, is essentially a sit-on Segway without any handlebars. Most importantly, the Uni-Cub is much smaller and easier to maneuver than the Segway, allowing for Uni-Cub users to ride alongside or even within a pack of pedestrians (and yes, when you sit on the Uni-Cub, you don’t tower above everyone else: your head is at the same height as someone standing up). The main usage scenario for the Uni-Cub is moving around internal spaces, such as offices and museums: Not only is it easier and faster than walking, but compared to other personal mobility devices it also leaves your hands free to operate a smartphone or some other implement of your choosing.

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Sep 21, 2015

This tree produces 40 different types of fruit (Science Alert)

Posted by in categories: food, sustainability

An art professor from Syracuse University in the US, Van Aken grew up on a family farm before pursuing a career as an artist, and has combined his knowledge of the two to develop his incredible Tree of 40 Fruit.

In 2008, Van Aken learned that an orchard at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station was about to be shut down due to a lack of funding. This single orchard grew a great number of heirloom, antique, and native varieties of stone fruit, and some of these were 150 to 200 years old. To lose this orchard would render many of these rare and old varieties of fruit extinct, so to preserve them, Van Aken bought the orchard, and spent the following years figuring out how to graft parts of the trees onto a single fruit tree.

Working with a pool of over 250 varieties of stone fruit, Van Aken developed a timeline of when each of them blossom in relationship to each other and started grafting a few onto a working tree’s root structure. Once the working tree was about two years old, Van Aken used a technique called chip grafting to add more varieties on as separate branches. This technique involves taking a sliver off a fruit tree that includes the bud, and inserting that into an incision in the working tree. It’s then taped into place, and left to sit and heal over winter. If all goes well, the branch will be pruned back to encourage it to grow as a normal branch on the working tree.

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Sep 21, 2015

This Computerized Exoskeleton Could Help Millions of People Walk Again

Posted by in categories: computing, cyborgs, transhumanism

The ReWalk is the first bionic exoskeleton approved by the FDA for personal use. Here’s the story of how it came to be.

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Sep 21, 2015

‘Optical fibre’ made out of thin air

Posted by in category: space

Scientists have split light into a ring of multiple beams to form a pipe like an optical fibre. This allows them to transmit light through air without losing intensity. It could one day be used for long distance communication in space: http://ab.co/1xff8r2 via ABC Science.

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Sep 21, 2015

Here’s why your phone and laptop batteries degrade so fast

Posted by in categories: energy, mobile phones, transportation

Researchers in the US have identified the two main culprits in rechargeable battery degradation, which could lead to longer-lasting phone, laptop and electric car batteries.

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Sep 21, 2015

The First Man-Made Biological Leaf Turns Light and Water Into Oxygen

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, space travel

If humanity hopes to realize its dreams of exploring the stars, we’re going to need to find ways to recreate life on Earth aboard a spaceship. Simply stockpiling enough vital supplies isn’t going to cut it, which is what led Julian Melchiorri, a student at the Royal College of Art, to create an artificial biological leaf that produces oxygen just like the ones on our home planet do.

The problem with using natural foliage on our interstellar explorations is that plants may not flourish in zero gravity as much as we’d need them to. But since they’re a better way to produce oxygen than simply trying to carry countless tanks full of O2, Melchiorri wanted to engineer a better alternative that would easy survive the rigors of space travel.

The First Man-Made Biological Leaf Turns Light and Water Into Oxygen

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Sep 21, 2015

Google’s Larry Page envisions a world with less work

Posted by in categories: economics, futurism

Do you dream of pursuing your passion, but find yourself hindered by a daily work schedule? That might not be a problem in the future, at least not in the future envisioned by Google’s Larry Page, where humans are required to work less while having their needs met.

In a Fireside chat with Vinod Khosla, both Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin talked a lot about Google and the world surrounding it, with the entire chat (featured in the video below) lasting a bit over 40 minutes. Among the different topics was discussion about our working future.

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