Nov 21, 2022
Graphene — Material of the Future?
Posted by Quinn Sena in categories: futurism, materials
face_with_colon_three circa 2014.
What is graphene? Why has it taken researchers so long to discover it? Is it truly the material of the future?
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Nov 21, 2022
DNA nanobots build themselves: How can we help them grow the right way?
Posted by Quinn Sena in categories: biotech/medical, health, nanotechnology
Circa 2020 face_with_colon_three
UNSW researchers have overcome a major design challenge on the path to controlling the dimensions of so-called DNA nanobots—structures that assemble themselves from DNA components.
Continue reading “DNA nanobots build themselves: How can we help them grow the right way?” »
Nov 21, 2022
Molecular Nanomachines Can Destroy Tissue or Kill Multicellular Eukaryotes
Posted by Quinn Sena in categories: biotech/medical, nanotechnology
Circa 2020 face_with_colon_three
Light-activated molecular nanomachines (MNMs) can be used to drill holes into prokaryotic (bacterial) cell walls and the membrane of eukaryotic cells, including mammalian cancer cells, by their fast rotational movement, leading to cell death. We examined how these MNMs function in multicellular organisms and investigated their use for treatment and eradication of specific diseases by causing damage to certain tissues and small organisms. Three model eukaryotic species, Caenorhabditis elegans, Daphnia pulex, and Mus musculus (mouse), were evaluated. These organisms were exposed to light-activated fast-rotating MNMs and their physiological and pathological changes were studied in detail. Slow rotating MNMs were used to control for the effects of rotation rate. We demonstrate that fast-rotating MNMs caused depigmentation and 70% mortality in C.
Nov 21, 2022
It’s Official: Scientists Confirm a New Expanded Scale of Measurement
Posted by Paul Battista in category: futurism
Say hello to ronnagrams and quettameters: International scientists gathered in France voted on Friday for new metric prefixes to express the world’s largest and smallest measurements, prompted by an ever-growing amount of data.
It marks the first time in more than three decades that new prefixes have been added to the International System of Units (SI), the agreed global standard for the metric system.
Joining the ranks of well-known prefixes like kilo and milli are ronna and quetta for the largest numbers – and ronto and quecto for the smallest.
Nov 21, 2022
What Makes Humans Different? A New Window Into the Brain
Posted by Paul Battista in categories: biotech/medical, computing, neuroscience
Researchers have discovered the human brain’s enhanced processing power may stem from differences in the structure and function of our neurons. Credit: Queensland Brain Institute / Professor Stephen Williams.
The human brain’s function is remarkable, driving all aspects of our creativity and thoughts. However, the neocortex, a region of the human brain responsible for these cognitive functions, has a similar overall structure to other mammals.
Researchers from The University of Queensland (UQ), The Mater Hospital, and the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital have shown that changes in the structure and function of our neurons may be the cause of the human brain’s increased processing power.
Nov 21, 2022
One unexpected Solar System moon could be key to finding alien life
Posted by Atanas Atanasov in category: alien life
It’s frigid and strange and orbits its home planet backward.
But Enceladus isn’t the only location in our solar system with active geysers, as another small moon near the edge of the solar system shares similar characteristics, as well. This is Neptune’s largest moon, Triton, which has been visited only once by NASA’s Voyager 2 in 1989. But are Triton’s geysers the only characteristics that make it a good target for astrobiology and finding life beyond Earth?
“Triton may be an ‘ocean world’, a moon that has a solid ice crust over a liquid water subsurface ocean,” said Candice Hansen-Koharchek, a planetary scientist who was a Voyager Imaging Team Assistant Experiment Representative during the Voyager missions. “If that is the case, and if we are able someday to reach that ocean and find life, that would extend the habitable zone to the Kuiper Belt, not just the inner solar system. That has profound implications, both in our solar system and at exoplanets.”
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Nov 21, 2022
Strange Science: Why Some People Have Two Sets of DNA and Other Mysteries
Posted by Liliana Alfair in categories: biotech/medical, science
Unusual types of DNA.
In very rare cases, some people may be carrying two completely different sets of DNA and are unaware of it.
Nov 21, 2022
New superstring theory says black holes may be portals to other universes
Posted by Quinn Sena in categories: cosmology, quantum physics
Circa 2021 face_with_colon_three
We don’t know very much about our universe. We’re fairly certain it exists, but we don’t know how it got here, how long it’s been here, or how big it is. Heck, we don’t even know if our universe is unique.
Ever since Albert Einstein came up with the theory of relativity and other scientists realized that classical physics and quantum mechanics don’t really line up, we’ve been trying to reconcile those worlds.
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Nov 21, 2022
Leading gas importer Japan says LNG is sold out until 2026, as energy-squeezed countries battle over dwindling supplies
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: energy
“The LNG procurement environment has changed completely. Procurement can also be said to be in a state of war,” they told the ministry.
A dwindling supply of natural gas worldwide has sent countries racing to secure shipments of the key fuel. The squeeze is due to a lack of investment in LNG export projects, according to the trade ministry.
At the same time, European buyers are set to step up their imports of LNG from next year after Moscow cut off pipeline-borne gas flows to the continent in retaliation to Western sanctions. They have already been in “huge competition” with Asian buyers for exports from Qatar to replace the Russian supplies.
