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May 9, 2020

Temporal Supersymmetry Breakthrough Paves Way to Omnidirectional Invisible Materials

Posted by in categories: innovation, materials

A team at UPV’s Nanophotonics Technology Center has discovered a new fundamental symmetry in electromagnetism, acoustics and elasticity laws: a temporal supersymmetry.

According to Carlos García Meca and Andrés Macho Ortiz, researchers at NTC-UPV, this new symmetry allows the conservation of the linear moment between dramatically different physical systems. This paves the way to designing pioneering optical, acoustic and elastic devices, including invisible omnidirectional, polarization-independent materials, ultra-compact frequency shifters, isolators and pulse-shape transformers.

“These devices allow us to unusually modify different properties of light signals inside photonic circuits to process the spread of information. This is vital in communication systems. Moreover, we can adapt the functionality of those devices to the requirements at any time, as they are dynamically configurable,” explained Carlos García Meca.

May 9, 2020

In a potential big win for renewable energy, Form Energy gets its first grid-scale battery installation

Posted by in categories: energy, sustainability

Form Energy, which is developing what it calls ultra-low-cost, long-duration energy storage for the grid, has signed a contract with the Minnesota-based Great River Energy to develop a 1 megawatt, 150 megawatt hour pilot project.

The second-largest electric utility in the Minnesota, Great River Energy’s installation in Cambridge, Minn. will be the first commercial deployment of the venture-backed battery technology developer’s long-duration energy storage technology.

From Energy’s battery system is significant for its ability to deliver 1 megawatt of power for 150 hours — a huge leap over the lithium ion batteries currently in use for most grid-scale storage projects. Those battery systems can last for two- to four-hours.

May 9, 2020

Snake stem cells used to create venom-producing organoids

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

O,.o…


Organoids have become an important tool for studying many disease processes and testing potential drugs. Now, they are being used in a surprising and unexpected way: for the production of snake venom. On January 23 in the journal Cell, researchers are reporting that they have created organoids of the venom glands of the Cape coral snake (Aspidelaps lubricus cowlesi) and that these glands are capable of producing venom.

“More than 100,000 people die from snake bites every year, mostly in developing countries. Yet the methods for manufacturing antivenom haven’t changed since the 19th century,” says senior author Hans Clevers of the Hubrecht Institute for Developmental Biology and Stem Cell Research at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. “It’s clear there is a huge unmet medical need for new treatments.”

He adds: “Every snake has dozens of different components in their venom. These are extremely potent molecules that are designed to stop prey from running away. They affect systems as varied as the brain, neuromuscular junctions, blood coagulation, and more. Many of them have potential bioprospecting applications for new drugs.”

May 9, 2020

Could scientists create dragons using CRISPR gene editing?

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical

Circa 2016 o,.o.


It is possible large, winged dragons could be created using cutting-edge genome editing, academics have suggested.

May 9, 2020

This “Mutant Enzyme” Can Break Down Plastic Bottles in Hours

Posted by in category: materials

The cost of producing the enzyme was just four percent of the cost of making brand new plastic using oil.

May 9, 2020

Cuttlefish change skin texture to blend in

Posted by in category: military

Crispr could lead to skin that color changes for humans in the military.


The masters of marine masquerade can morph from rough to smooth in less than a second.

May 9, 2020

Rubber “exoskeleton” lets liquid metal structures retain their shape

Posted by in categories: 3D printing, cyborgs

This could allow for nanosuit armor :3.


Imagine if there were a metallic device that could be transported all squished down into a compact ball, but that would automatically “bloom” out into its useful form when heated. Well, that may soon be possible, thanks to a newly developed liquid metal lattice.

Led by Asst. Prof. Pu Zhang, a team of scientists at New York’s Bingham University started by 3D printing lattice-type structures out of an existing metal known as Field’s alloy. Named after its inventor, chemist Simon Quellen Field, the alloy consists of a mixture of bismuth, indium and tin. It also melts when heated to just 62 °C (144 °F), but then re-solidifies upon cooling.

Continue reading “Rubber ‘exoskeleton’ lets liquid metal structures retain their shape” »

May 9, 2020

Polar vortex 2020: Why is this happening to us

Posted by in category: futurism

After a mild winter, snow is coming to many parts of the U.S. The incoming polar vortex could set record low temperatures and high snowfalls for May.

May 9, 2020

How to Build AGI? (Ilya Sutskever) | AI Podcast Clips

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Full episode with Ilya Sutskever (May 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13CZPWmke6A
Clips channel (Lex Clips): https://www.youtube.com/lexclips
Main channel (Lex Fridman): https://www.youtube.com/lexfridman
(more links below)

Podcast full episodes playlist:

Continue reading “How to Build AGI? (Ilya Sutskever) | AI Podcast Clips” »

May 9, 2020

Why Fear AI When You Can Become It? | Mind Uploading

Posted by in categories: biological, entertainment, robotics/AI

Hey all! I’ve recently made a video on how humans can one day become AI and how this can be good for individuals and humanity on its own! If you are interested, please give it a watch!


AI is oftentimes the ultimate bane of science-fiction. Artificial intelligence oftentimes becomes smarter than humanity and turns on us in sci-fi movies and films. However, what if people could become AI one day and use this to their advantage? And if so, would people choose to become AI? Here’s why I believe this may be possible and why people may actually voluntarily choose to become AI themselves- thus blurring the lines between computer science and biology.

Continue reading “Why Fear AI When You Can Become It? | Mind Uploading” »