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Oct 13, 2021

A Different Kind of VTOL Nails Its First Test Flight, Uses a New Type of Thrust System

Posted by in category: transportation

An Austrian-based company is working on a patented propulsion technology for VTOLs (vertical take-off and landing) and has recently shared the first test flight of a prototype aircraft using the unique approach.

Oct 13, 2021

Photographer offers visual slant on space shuttle in ‘Orbital Planes’

Posted by in category: space

Kickstarter campaign offers signed books, photo prints.


For more than 30 years, Roland Miller has used photography to bring new light to the U.S. space program, from visual tours of abandoned launch pads to floating among the laboratories on the International Space Station. Now, Miller is preparing to release his third collection, this one focused on the space shuttle, the winged orbiters that were central to U.S. human spaceflight for three decades.

Orbital Planes: A Personal Vision of the Space Shuttle” presents Miller’s own interpretation of the iconic spacecraft, based on his effort to capture the fleet in its transition to retirement.

Oct 13, 2021

Bone Regeneration Boosted by Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension

Researchers have identified a subpopulation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) that boost the healing of bone fractures and show an ability to differentiate into various cell types.

Their findings are published in the journal Bone Reports in a paper titled, “Bone marrow CD73+ mesenchymal stem cells display increased stemness in vitro and promote fracture healing in vivo,” and led by researchers from the University of Tsukuba, in collaboration with the University of Bonn, Germany.

“MSCs are multipotent and considered to be of great potential for regenerative medicine,” the researchers wrote. “We could show recently (Breitbach, Kimura, et al. 2018) that a subpopulation of MSCs, as well as sinusoidal endothelial cells (sECs) in the bone marrow (BM) of CD73-EGFP reporter mice, could be labeled in vivo. We took advantage of this model to explore the plasticity and osteogenic potential of CD73-EGFP+ MSCs in vitro and their role in the regenerative response upon bone lesion in vivo.”

Oct 13, 2021

Migraines Caused by Alterations in Metabolite Levels

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, chemistry, genetics, health, neuroscience

“Lower levels of DHA are associated with inflammation, cardiovascular and brain disorders, such as depression, which are all linked to migraine risk.”

Professor Nyholt said LPE(20:4) was a chemical compound that blocked the production of an anti-inflammatory molecule called anandamide.


Summary: Researchers have identified causal genetic links to three blood metabolite levels that increase migraine risks.

Continue reading “Migraines Caused by Alterations in Metabolite Levels” »

Oct 13, 2021

Chinese AI Research and Business is Booming, but America is Still King

Posted by in categories: business, robotics/AI

There is no doubt that artificial intelligence (AI) is on the cusp of achieving significant disruption across several sectors in the world — one can simply look to companies like American company Alfi (NASDAQ: ALF) which is attempting to revolutionize the ad-tech industry with privacy-conscious AI —. It is becoming a key driver of productivity and gross domestic product growth for many nations and is pushing the boundaries of technology as we know it.

According to a report, the United States leads the AI pack today, with China in a close 2nd and the European Union in 3rd. Out of 100 total available points in the report’s scoring methodology, the United States leads with 44.2 points, China with 32.3, and the European Union with 23.5.

Although it may seem like the U.S. has an unassailable lead, the fact is that China is rapidly catching up and stands today as a full-spectrum peer competitor of the U.S. in many applications of AI.

Oct 13, 2021

China’s closing the AI gap with U.S.

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

China’s national share of smart-computing power is 52%, compared to 19% in the U.S.

Recently, the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) released a white paper on the country’s computing power. According to the paper, which was translated by ChinAI, the country’s computing power reached 135 exaFlops (EFlops), an increase of 48 EFlops from last year. One EFlop is equivalent to the computing power of roughly two million laptops.


So, what’s the point in all this computing speed? China is accelerating its computing power for a faster AI adoption. It is evident in the way it prioritizes its resources for next-generation computing. Beijing divides its AI needs into basic-, smart-, and super-computing. Between 2016 and 2,020 the country dropped its basic-computing share to 57% from 95% and increased smart-computing to 41% from 3%.

Continue reading “China’s closing the AI gap with U.S.” »

Oct 13, 2021

Scientists Genetically Modify Plants to Grow Meat Protein

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, genetics

Researchers in Iceland are growing over 100,000 genetically modified barley plants inside a greenhouse for a very unusual purpose: creating lab-grown meat, the BBC reports.

The altered barley gets harvested and purified to extract “growth factor” proteins, which, in turn, can be used to cultivate lab-grown meat — an innovation that could make the lab-grown meat industry rely even less on live animals in the future.

The company behind the greenhouse, ORF Genetics, is growing the biogenetically engineered barley over 22,000 square feet using high-tech hydroponic cultivation methods.

Oct 13, 2021

ECMO Support May Save Lives in COVID-19

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

In patients with severe lung disease caused by viral infections, physicians sometimes turn to ECMO—a life support machine that takes over the functions of the lungs, heart, or both when other support options appear to be failing. But initial reports of ECMO use in patients with COVID-19 described very high mortality, and some physicians recommended against its use.

New data from Columbia University and other ECMO centers throughout the world now show that more than 60% of severe COVID-19 patients who received ECMO have survived.

“The results of this large-scale international registry study, while hardly definitive evidence, provide a real-world understanding of the potential for ECMO to save lives in a highly select population of COVID-19 patients,” says senior author Daniel Brodie, MD, professor of medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and director of the Adult ECMO Program at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

Oct 13, 2021

NASA’s Perseverance Initiates Remarkable Sample Return Mission

Posted by in category: space

NASA, along with the European Space Agency, is developing a campaign to return the Martian samples to Earth.

Oct 13, 2021

How to watch NASA’s Lucy asteroid mission launch this week online

Posted by in category: space

NASA is getting ready to launch a new science spacecraft Saturday (Oct. 16) to study asteroids near Jupiter, and you can watch mission coverage live all week.

Lucy — which will study Trojan asteroids, or asteroids that share the orbit of the giant planet — will fly to space from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. With blast-off targeting 5:34 a.m. EDT (0934 GMT), live launch coverage will begin at 5 a.m. EDT (0900 GMT) on NASA Television, the NASA app, NASA social media channels and here at Space.com.