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Mar 29, 2021

CRISPR Fixes Rare Mutation for the First Time in a Live Animal

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

In the case of DMD caused by a duplication mutation, CRISPR can simply snip away the harmful duplicate gene, which is much simpler than delivering a new gene or replacing the old.


For the first time in a live animal, researchers have successfully reversed a gene mutation, called a “duplication mutation,” by gene editing.

Mar 29, 2021

See a dust devil whirl by the Mars Perseverance rover

Posted by in category: space

Desert sighting.


While taking images of its new surroundings on the arid Martian surface, the Perseverance rover recently spotted a dust devil whirling by in the distance.

Mar 29, 2021

Former prisoners struggle to re-enter society. What happens when society moves online?

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, mobile phones

When Renaldo Hudson left the Danville Correctional Center on Sept. 2, he was beaming. As the sun shone down on a hot day in Eastern Illinois, Hudson took his first free steps in 37 years.

Later that day, he arrived at the Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation, a restorative justice nonprofit that helps former prisoners get on their feet. There, he saw friends for the first time in years and hugged his attorney, Jennifer Soble.

He was also handed a Samsung smartphone, a piece of technology that wouldn’t have been imaginable to an American in 1983.

Mar 29, 2021

This quadruple amputee will fly on Elon Musk’s starship

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, space travel

Meet Philippe Croizon, a French quadruple amputee who is set to become the first disabled person to visit outer space on Elon Musk’s space mission.

Mar 29, 2021

Visa will allow the use of a dollar-backed cryptocurrency to settle payment transactions on its network

Posted by in categories: business, cryptocurrencies

US payments firm Visa announced Monday that it will enable the use of USD Coin to settle payment transactions on its platform.

Visa piloted the payment option via payment platform Crypto.com, and plans to allow more partners the same route later this year.

“Crypto-native fintechs want partners who understand their business and the complexities of digital currency form factors,” Jack Forestell, Visa’s executive vice president and chief product officer, said in a statement.

Mar 29, 2021

Boston Dynamics warehouse robot to debut in 2022

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, transportation

Boston Dynamics – famous for robots like Atlas, BigDog, Handle, and Spot – has now revealed Stretch, its new box-moving robot designed to support the growing demand for flexible automation solutions in the logistics industry. This debut marks the company’s official entrance into warehouse automation, a fast-growing market fuelled by increased demand in e-commerce.

Stretch is Boston Dynamics’ first commercial robot specifically designed for warehouse facilities and distribution centres, of which there are more than 150000 around the world. The multi-purpose, mobile robot is designed to tackle a number of tasks where rapid box moving is required, first starting with truck unloading and later expanding into order building. Stretch’s technology builds upon Boston Dynamics’ decades of advancements in robotics to create a flexible, easily-integrated solution that can work in any warehouse to increase the flow of goods, improve employee safety in physically difficult tasks and lower expensive automation costs.

Mar 29, 2021

Electronics-free DraBot dragonfly signals environmental disruptions

Posted by in categories: biological, robotics/AI

Engineers at Duke University have developed an electronics-free, entirely soft robot shaped like a dragonfly that can skim across water and react to environmental conditions such as pH, temperature or the presence of oil. The proof-of-principle demonstration could be the precursor to more advanced, autonomous, long-range environmental sentinels for monitoring a wide range of potential telltale signs of problems.

The soft robot is described online March 25 in the journal Advanced Intelligent Systems.

Soft robots are a growing trend in the industry due to their versatility. Soft parts can handle delicate objects such as biological tissues that metal or ceramic components would damage. Soft bodies can help robots float or squeeze into tight spaces where rigid frames would get stuck.

Mar 29, 2021

Mars Helicopter Ingenuity takes vertical position under Perseverance Rover

Posted by in categories: solar power, space, sustainability

https://youtube.com/watch?v=m3Hm0PGQb0I

On March 28, 2021 NASA’s Mars Helicopter Ingenuity took vertical position (upright) under Perseverance Rover at Helipad. Helicopter release system unlocked yesterday. Today ingenuity made one more step to be deployed from Perseverance. As for now, NASA’s rover prepares to unlock Helicopter’s landing legs and put it on the Mars’s surface. Flight scheme is known. Solar panel charges Lithium-ion batteries, providing enough energy for one 90-second flight per Martian day (~350 Watts of average power during flight). Atmospheric weather relates to conditions such as air density at flight time, which affects the thrust that can be produced by the rotor and could result in adjustments of flight parameters. Temperature and wind profiles during the day are used to estimate the energy required to operate heaters. Winds at the time of the flight are tied to risks associated with takeoff, landing, and flying in high winds or very gusty conditions. All the things that a pilot on Earth would care about too!

Credit: nasa.gov, NASA/JPL-Caltech, NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU

Continue reading “Mars Helicopter Ingenuity takes vertical position under Perseverance Rover” »

Mar 29, 2021

First known gene transfer from plant to insect identified

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

“The results were surprising, but convincing, says Yannick Pauchet, a molecular entomologist also at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology. ” According to the data they provide, horizontal gene transfer is the most parsimonious explanation,” he says.

But how the whitefly managed to swipe a plant gene is unclear. One possibility, says Turlings, is that a virus served as an intermediate, shuttling genetic material from a plant into the whitefly genome.

As researchers s… See More.

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Mar 28, 2021

Why More and More Environmentalists Want to Go Nuclear

Posted by in categories: climatology, nuclear energy, sustainability

Unfounded fears about nuclear technology may be undercutting the fight against climate change.


Nuclear power could be a big help in the fight against climate change. Learn why more environmentalists are starting to endorse it.