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Aug 23, 2020

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule for next NASA astronaut launch arrives in Florida

Posted by in category: space travel

The Crew Dragon capsule that will launch the Crew-1 flight to the International Space Station this fall arrived in Florida on Tuesday (Aug. 18).

Aug 23, 2020

Pentagon approves five US drone makers ahead of likely ban on China’s DJI

Posted by in categories: drones, government, military, robotics/AI

Ahead of a likely ban on the US federal government’s use of Chinese-made quadcopters, including popular DJI drones, the Department of Defense has approved the products of five US-based unmanned air vehicle (UAV) makers for government use.

Those companies are Altavian, Parrot, Skydio, Teal and Vantage Robotics.

Small UAVs from these manufacturers have been deemed cyber-secure by the Pentagon – not vulnerable to backdoor spying that some suspect might be possible from the video cameras and other sensors attached to Chinese-made DJI drones. The US Congress is considering banning the US federal government from using foreign-made drones as part of its 2021 National Defense Authorization Act.

Aug 23, 2020

Genetically modified mosquitoes OK’d for a first U.S. test flight

Posted by in category: genetics

After a decade of heated debate, free-flying swarms aimed at shrinking dengue-carrying mosquito populations gets a nod for 2021 in the Florida Keys.

Aug 23, 2020

The 5 Greatest Things Ever Accomplished While High

Posted by in category: media & arts

We always wonder how that “Eureka Moment” turns up…but truth may lie in the “High and Mighty”.


Cracked.com’s new book is now on sale. What follows is one of the classic articles that appear in the book, along with 18 new articles that you can’t read anywhere else.

Any dreadlocked white guys finding this article after Googling “Drugs Rule” should know that we’ve given this list about drugs a rule. To make the cut, an accomplishment has to be considered great by people who could pass a field sobriety test. So no Grateful Dead music. We’re sure someone somewhere has enjoyed the Dead perfectly sober, just as there are probably non-Christians who listen to Christian Rock. But we’re just as sure that in the grand scheme of things, those people don’t count.

Continue reading “The 5 Greatest Things Ever Accomplished While High” »

Aug 23, 2020

Elucidating cancer metabolic plasticity

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Metabolic plasticity allows cancer cells to adjust their metabolic phenotypes to adapt in hostile environments. There is an urgent need to understand the cross-talk between gene regulation and metabolic pathways underlying cancer metabolic plasticity. We establish a theoretical framework to decode the coupling of gene regulation and metabolic pathways. Our work characterizes a hybrid metabolic state where cells can use both glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) and a possible metabolically inactive state where cells have low activity of both glycolysis and OXPHOS. We show that targeting both OXPHOS and glycolysis may be necessary to eliminate cancer aggressiveness. Our work serves as a platform to target abnormal metabolism in cancer by modulating both genes and metabolic pathways.

Metabolic plasticity enables cancer cells to switch their metabolism phenotypes between glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) during tumorigenesis and metastasis. However, it is still largely unknown how cancer cells orchestrate gene regulation to balance their glycolysis and OXPHOS activities. Previously, by modeling the gene regulation of cancer metabolism we have reported that cancer cells can acquire a stable hybrid metabolic state in which both glycolysis and OXPHOS can be used. Here, to comprehensively characterize cancer metabolic activity, we establish a theoretical framework by coupling gene regulation with metabolic pathways. Our modeling results demonstrate a direct association between the activities of AMPK and HIF-1, master regulators of OXPHOS and glycolysis, respectively, with the activities of three major metabolic pathways: glucose oxidation, glycolysis, and fatty acid oxidation.

Aug 23, 2020

Large Hadron Collider Beauty Discovers First “Open-Charm” Tetraquark

Posted by in category: particle physics

The particle, which has been called X(2900), was detected by analyzing all the data LHCb has recorded so far from collisions at CERNs Large Hadron Collider.

The LHCb experiment at CERN has developed a penchant for finding exotic combinations of quarks, the elementary particles that come together to give us composite particles such as the more familiar proton and neutron. In particular, LHCb has observed several tetraquarks, which, as the name suggests, are made of four quarks (or rather two quarks and two antiquarks). Observing these unusual particles helps scientists advance our knowledge of the strong force, one of the four known fundamental forces in the universe. At a CERN seminar held virtually on August 12, LHCb announced the first signs of an entirely new kind of tetraquark with a mass of 2.9 GeV/c²: the first such particle with only one charm quark.

First predicted to exist in 1964, scientists have observed six kinds of quarks (and their antiquark counterparts) in the laboratory: up, down, charm, strange, top and bottom. Since quarks cannot exist freely, they group to form composite particles: three quarks or three antiquarks form “baryons” like the proton, while a quark and an antiquark form “mesons.”

Aug 23, 2020

Delage returns with a 1,100-horsepower, $2.3-million tandem hypercar

Posted by in categories: energy, transportation

A historic French brand is set to return with one of the most extreme hypercar designs ever. The new holders of the Delage brand are squarely focused on the Nurburgring lap record with the monstrous D12 and its 7.6-liter, naturally aspirated V12.

Miami-based French entrepreneur Laurent Tapie has leased the rights to the Delage name, with an option to buy, and is building the first Delage car in some 64 years. And how! With backing from “four deeply invested billionaires” according to an interview with Robb Report, he’s fulfilling his dream of an F1 car for the street.

The D12 is a wasp-waisted monster whose dart-shaped cabin is so separated from the front wheels that it might as well be an open-wheeler. Its colossal mid-mounted V12, developed in-house, will put power down through an eight-speed single-clutch transmission with an electric motor built in to form a hybrid system.

Aug 23, 2020

Harnessing wave energy to power households

Posted by in category: energy

This ginormous device turns wave energy into electricity.

Aug 23, 2020

Robots That Can Deliver Parcels

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Click on photo to start video.

Digit is a semi-autonomous delivery robot that can also double up as a workout buddy! 💪🤖

Agility Robotics

Aug 23, 2020

These photorealistic portraits of ancient Roman emperors were created using old statues and AI

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Designer Daniel Voshart has created photorealistic portraits of ancient Roman emperors by transforming old statues using AI. With the help of Photoshop and a tool named ArtBreeder, Voshart’s work brings these long-dead figures back to life. Uncanny and realistic all at the same time.