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Dec 31, 2020

Why Opioids Cannot Fix Chronic Pain

Posted by in category: futurism

Summary: Study explores the role the reward system plays in chronic pain, finding emotional and physical pain are bidirectional. Opioids, researchers report, ultimately make things worse.

Source: University of Washington.

A broken heart is often harder to heal than a broken leg. Now researchers say that a broken heart can contribute to lasting chronic pain.

Dec 31, 2020

Data breach broker selling user records stolen from 26 companies

Posted by in category: cybercrime/malcode

A data breach broker is selling the allegedly stolen user records for twenty-six companies on a hacker forum, BleepingComputer has learned.

When threat actors and hacking groups breach a company and steal their user databases, they commonly work with data breach brokers who market and sell the data for them. Brokers will then create posts on hacker forums and dark web marketplaces to market the stolen data.

Last Friday, a data broker began selling the combined total of 368.8 million stolen user records for twenty-six companies on a hacker forum.

Dec 31, 2020

30 Years Since the Human Genome Project Began, What’s Next?

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, futurism

Eric Green, head of the nation’s top genomics research institute, looks back on how far the field has come and shares his bold vision for the future.

Dec 31, 2020

Lunar Crater Radio Telescope (LCRT) on the Far-Side of the Moon

Posted by in category: space

An ultra-long-wavelength radio telescope on the far-side of the Moon has tremendous advantages compared to Earth-based and Earth-orbiting telescopes, including: (i) Such a telescope can observe the universe at wavelengths greater than 10m (i.e., frequencies below 30MHz), which are reflected by the Earth’s ionosphere and are hitherto largely unexplored by humans, and (ii) the Moon acts as a physical shield that isolates the lunar-surface telescope from radio interferences/noi… See More.

Dec 31, 2020

Designing Dirac vortex topological photonic crystal fibres

Posted by in category: futurism

Optical fibres made of topological photonic crystals allow improved versatility and control across the modes and polarization of light they transmit. Compositionally, photonic crystals contain bandgaps to prevent the passage of light relative to specific wave energies and momenta much like an on/off switch. In a new report now published on Nature Light: Science & Applications, Hao Lin, and Ling Lu at the Institute of Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences transmitted pure “single mode” light across a large frequency range via a topological feature known as a “Dirac vortex.” The concept can lead to applications that transmit light signals more stably across long distances. While the work is theoretical at present, the researchers suggest the use of fibers made from silica based on stack-and-draw methods or three-dimensional (3D) printing technologies to fabricate and test these theoretical concepts.

Understanding the nodal lines and Weyl points in a photonic crystal fibre.

Photonic crystal fibres rely on the endless variety of two-dimensional (2-D) crystals for their functionality. The concept of topological photonics based on robust waveguides can inspire new fibre concepts including the development of a one-way fibre inside a magnetic, 3D photonic crystal. In this work, Lin and Lu introduced a topological fibre (PCF) resembling the Dirac vortex topological cavity in its cross-section using 2-D photonic crystals. The Dirac vortex fibre is an ideal design to develop ultrabroadband single-polarization single-mode (SPSM) fibres due to the singlet mid-gap dispersion within the bandgap. The scientists eased the fabrication step by introducing a simplified design of only four capillary silica tubes to finally achieve an octave-spanning SPSM.

Dec 31, 2020

Almost Six Hundred New High-Velocity Stars Spotted in Milky Way

Posted by in categories: mapping, space

Using data from the Large Sky Area Multi-object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) and ESA’s star-mapping satellite Gaia, astronomers have discovered 591 new high-velocity stars in the halo of our Milky Way Galaxy.

Dec 31, 2020

St. Jude scientists make breakthrough and discover possible COVID-19 treatment

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, innovation

The team focused on cytokines, small proteins released in the body in response to inflammation. They concentrated on the most elevated cytokines in COVID-19 patients and found one duo that stood out.

Turns out, the drugs to treat these cytokine reactions, or cytokine storms, already exist.

When tried on mice, the medication protected them from COVID-19 death and from sepsis, a deadly infection of the blood.

Continue reading “St. Jude scientists make breakthrough and discover possible COVID-19 treatment” »

Dec 31, 2020

Vertical Farms Run by AI and Robots To Solve the Land Crisis

Posted by in categories: food, robotics/AI, sustainability

Do you agree Eric Klien.


Ag-tech startup Plenty’s vertical farm produces 400 times more food per acre than a flat farm. Learn about the future of farming here.

Dec 31, 2020

Elon Musk says ‘Building ~1,000 Starships to create a self-sustaining city on Mars’ is SpaceX’s Mission

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, space travel

That’s a lot of ships. 😃


To achieve that ambitious goal, SpaceX could build one hundred Starships per year over the course of ten years. –“Building 100 Starships per year gets to 1000 in 10 years or 100 megatons per year or maybe around 100000 people per Earth-Mars orbital sync,” Musk said in January. SpaceX would launch a Starship fleet approximately every 26 months, which is when Earth and Mars orbits align closer to each other.

Building 100 Starships/year gets to 1000 in 10 years or 100 megatons/year or maybe around 100k people per Earth-Mars orbital sync— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 172020

Continue reading “Elon Musk says ‘Building ~1,000 Starships to create a self-sustaining city on Mars’ is SpaceX’s Mission” »

Dec 31, 2020

Study Delves Into Emotional Wellness in the Human Brain

Posted by in category: neuroscience

Summary: NAA, a compound in the brain, plays a key role in emotional agency and flexibility in healthy people.

Source: Brown University.

A new study is the first to reveal specific brain compounds that signal emotional wellness in healthy people.