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Sep 16, 2023

Elon Musk’s ‘enraging qualities’ are key to his success, says biographer

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, space travel, sustainability

“He has these enraging qualities, these drives and these demons, but if you pull those out, you don’t have the impulsive character that sets things off,” said Isaacson, who shadowed Musk for two years while researching his book, which published on Tuesday.

“Musk would say you are actually being selfish if you’re sitting there hoping the people in front of you like you,” said Isaacson. “As opposed to cutting off that sense of emotional connection and saying, ‘What’s best for the larger mission?’”

Continue reading “Elon Musk’s ‘enraging qualities’ are key to his success, says biographer” »

Sep 15, 2023

Mathematicians find 12,000 new solutions to ‘unsolvable’ 3-body problem

Posted by in category: mathematics

Calculating the way three things orbit each other is notoriously tricky — but a new study may reveal 12,000 new ways to make it work.

Sep 15, 2023

Company Appoints Robot as Experimental CEO

Posted by in categories: business, robotics/AI

The company says the robot’s artificial intelligence shows how robots could have a role to play in business.

Sep 15, 2023

Whirlwind Tech: The Future of Energy-Efficient Spintronics Computing

Posted by in categories: computing, particle physics, sustainability

Researchers in Germany and Japan have been able to increase the diffusion of magnetic whirls, so-called skyrmions, by a factor of ten.

In today’s world, our lives are unimaginable without computers. Up until now, these devices process information using primarily electrons as charge carriers, with the components themselves heating up significantly in the process. Active cooling is thus necessary, which comes with high energy costs. Spintronics aims to solve this problem: Instead of utilizing the electron flow for information processing, it relies on their spin or their intrinsic angular momentum. This approach is expected to have a positive impact on the size, speed, and sustainability of computers or specific components.

Magnetic whirls store and process information.

Sep 15, 2023

Unlocking the Secrets of Aging: Squishy Sea Creature Rewrites Science

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension, science

Researchers from the National Institutes of Health and their partners have unearthed new findings about healing and aging by studying a tiny sea creature capable of regenerating its entire body using just its mouth. They analyzed the RNA

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule similar to DNA that is essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. Both are nucleic acids, but unlike DNA, RNA is single-stranded. An RNA strand has a backbone made of alternating sugar (ribose) and phosphate groups. Attached to each sugar is one of four bases—adenine (A), uracil (U), cytosine ©, or guanine (G). Different types of RNA exist in the cell: messenger RNA (mRNA), ribosomal RNA (rRNA), and transfer RNA (tRNA).

Sep 15, 2023

Targeted evolution of adeno-associated virus capsids for systemic transgene delivery to microglia and tissue-resident macrophages

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, evolution, genetics

Cool paper that adds a useful tool to the gene therapist’s toolbox! Young et al. utilize an in vivo screening method to develop adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) which target microglia. They show that their AAVs transduce central nervous system microglia as well as tissue macrophages after intravenous injection. #biotechnology


Tissue macrophages, including microglia, are notoriously resistant to genetic manipulation. Here, we report the creation of Adeno-associated viruses (AAV) variants that efficiently and widely transduce microglia and tissue macrophages in vivo following intravenous delivery, with transgene expression of up to 80%. We use this technology to demonstrate manipulation of microglia gene expression and microglial ablation, thereby providing invaluable research tools for the study of these important cells.

Sep 15, 2023

AI and atoms: How artificial intelligence is revolutionizing nuclear material

Posted by in categories: particle physics, robotics/AI

There’s a three-dimensional solution to manage the evolving dual-use concern of AI: advance states-centric monitoring and regulation, promote intellectual exchange between the non-proliferation sector and the AI industry, and encourage AI industrial contributions.

Sep 15, 2023

A zero-carbon transport sector needs smart EV charging

Posted by in categories: engineering, government, sustainability, transportation

Decarbonising Australia’s transport systems will take more than a transition to electric vehicles. Understanding how and when owners like to charge their cars is important. Our researchers are examining how we might persuade the increasing electricity demand to meet the time-dependent renewable energy supply.

How many people do you know who own an electric vehicle? Most Australians still drive petrol-fuelled cars. But the proportion of electric vehicles (EVs) on our roads is set to boom in coming years, particularly if the government’s plans to introduce a fuel efficiency standard prove successful.

Transport researchers at the University of Melbourne Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology have studied the expectations EV owners have for charging – and what they think of policies and technologies that aim to shape EV charging behaviours.

Sep 15, 2023

Scientists identify link between sitting and dementia

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

New insights into the medical mysteries behind dementia have been revealed this week, with two studies identifying drivers of the brain-degenerating condition.

One study, released on September 11 in the journal General Psychiatry, shows that the shortening of little caps on the end of chromosomes may be linked to increased dementia risk. Another, published in the journal JAMA on September 12, reveals that spending more time sedentary, such as sitting down, may also increase the risk.

These studies may help scientists to further understand the mechanisms behind what causes dementia to develop, and therefore how to stop it.

Sep 15, 2023

Mystery of ‘living fossil’ tree frozen in time for 66 million years finally solved

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

The Wollemi pine was thought to have gone extinct 2 million years ago until it was rediscovered by a group of hikers in 1994. Now, scientists have decoded its genome to understand how it’s survived — almost unchanged — since the time of the dinosaurs.