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Nov 11, 2022

Four common misconceptions about quantum physics

Posted by in categories: particle physics, quantum physics

Quantum mechanics, the theory which rules the microworld of atoms and particles, certainly has the X factor. Unlike many other areas of physics, it is bizarre and counter-intuitive, which makes it dazzling and intriguing. When the 2022 Nobel prize in physics was awarded to Alain Aspect, John Clauser and Anton Zeilinger for research shedding light on quantum mechanics, it sparked excitement and discussion.

But debates about —be they on chat forums, in the media or in science fiction—can often get muddled thanks to a number of persistent myths and misconceptions. Here are four.

Nov 11, 2022

New Drug Reverses Neural and Cognitive Effects of a Concussion

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

ISRIB, a tiny molecule identified by University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) researchers can repair the neural and cognitive effects of concussion in mice weeks after the damage, according to a new study.

ISRIB blocks the integrated stress response (ISR), a quality control process for protein production that, when activated chronically, can be harmful to cells.

The study, which was recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, discovered that ISRIB reverses the effects of traumatic brain injury (TBI) on dendritic spines, an area of neurons vital to cognition. The drug-treated mice also showed sustained improvements in working memory.

Nov 11, 2022

For local mRNA delivery, nanoparticles stick to the bone

Posted by in category: nanotechnology

Researchers designed a lipid nanoparticle that sticks to bone minerals, increasing mRNA delivery and therapeutic protein expression in the bone.

Nov 11, 2022

In a first, doctors treated a fatal genetic disease before birth

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

A toddler is thriving after doctors in the U.S. and Canada used a novel technique to treat her before she was born for a rare genetic disease that caused the deaths of two of her sisters.

Ayla Bashir, a 16-month-old from Ottawa, Ontario, is the first child treated as a fetus for Pompe disease, an inherited and often fatal disorder in which the body fails to make some or all of a crucial protein.

Nov 11, 2022

Overcoming Scale-Up Challenges in Gene Therapy Manufacturing

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, materials

My good friend Logan collins posted this.


Gene therapies can scale economically, but not just with practices adapted from traditional biologics. According to Avantor, gene therapies pose unique material, workflow, and partnering challenges.

Nov 11, 2022

Interview with author/futurist Arthur C. Clarke, from an AT&T-MIT Conference, 1976

Posted by in categories: computing, satellites

Arthur C. Clarke, science fiction author and futurist, crossed paths with the scientists of the Bell System on numerous occasions. In 1945, he concurrently, but independently, conceived of the first concept for a communications satellite at the same time as Bell Labs scientist, John Robinson Pierce too, was a science fiction writer. To avoid any conflict with his day job at Bell Labs, Pierce published his stories under the pseudonym J.J. Coupling.

In the early 1960s, Clarke visited Pierce at Bell Labs. During his visit, Clarke saw and heard the voice synthesis experiments going on at the labs by John L. Kelly and Max Mathews, including Mathews’ computer vocal version of “Bicycle Built for Two”. Clarke later incorporated this singing computer into the climactic scene in the screenplay for the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, where the computer HAL9000 sings the same song. According to Bob Lucky, another Bell Labs scientist, on the same visit, Clarke also saw an early Picturephone, and incorporated that into 2001 as well.

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Nov 11, 2022

Meta’s new AI just predicted the shape of 600 million proteins in 2 weeks

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Many of the protein shapes are from organisms that are completely unknown to science.

Nov 11, 2022

‘Drone warfare’ a game changer in Ukraine? I DW News

Posted by in categories: drones, military

Ukraine’s president says he wants to start raising funds to buy “a whole fleet of sea drones.” Kyiv used sea drones to attack the Russian Black Sea fleet in the end of October, and according to the Ukrainian military, they hit three Russian warships.

Meanwhile, for weeks now the Russian military has been flying explosive-laden “Iranian drones” into critical Ukrainian infrastructure facilities and residential areas. Although British intelligence says most of the drones are now intercepted by air defenses, a third still reach their targets. Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, has said the Russians use “20 to 30 Iranian ‘kamikaze’ drones’” every day.

Continue reading “‘Drone warfare’ a game changer in Ukraine? I DW News” »

Nov 11, 2022

Elon Musk details his plan to turn Twitter into a bank

Posted by in category: Elon Musk

Money transfer features are a “high priority” for the team.

Nov 11, 2022

Is Big Tech Growth Losing Steam?

Posted by in category: futurism

This chart shows revenue growth for selected tech companies in the first nine months of 2021.