Menu

Blog

Page 6766

Mar 19, 2020

La Maison De La Celle-Saint-Cloud’ Art Installation

Posted by in categories: habitats, space

‘La Maison de La Celle-Saint-Cloud’ is an art installation from 1974, in a house built by French artist, Jean Pierre Raynaud. Fascinated by space, uniformity and identity, he began to build this house in 1969 using entirely white tiles with black grout, creating the regular grid pattern in a rigid and geometric form. In 1974, the house was opened to the public in Paris showing the ultimate perfection and flawlessness. But then in 1988, the artist decided to closed the house to himself only and subsequently demolished it in 1993 and presented the debris in 976 surgical containers.

The life of La Maison didn’t stop there, the fragments of which, have since been exhibited in various installations, and the fashion industry has also been paying tribute to it with different ad campaigns and collections inspired by the house.

Mar 19, 2020

Chloroquine May Fight Covid-19—and Silicon Valley’s Into It

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

The old malaria drug is getting used against the coronavirus. Tech enthusiasts are abuzz. One missing step: clinical trials.

Mar 19, 2020

Musk the Virus Skeptic Makes Reluctant Ventilator Offer After GM

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, sustainability

Tesla Inc. joined General Motors Co. in offering to manufacture hospital ventilators in auto factories shuttered by the coronavirus outbreak, an effort that would echo Detroit’s contribution to Allied powers during World War II.

Mar 19, 2020

This AI system predicts air pollution before it happens

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, sustainability

Computer scientists from Loughborough University in the UK have developed a new AI system that predicts air pollution levels days in advance.

The system developed analyzes air data through sensors installed in cities to predict the pollution levels.

It could be used to help us understand the environmental factors that affect one of the most dangerous pollutants in the world: PM2.5.

Mar 19, 2020

Here are the stories — in their own words — of five women of synthetic biology

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical

Numbers don’t lie, they say. And the numbers show that, as with other life sciences and biotech fields, the number of women in leadership positions in the synthetic biology space is disappointingly low. Last year, I reported that only 14% of the 236 synthetic biology companies I surveyed were led by women. I think most people would agree this is a serious issue — and that something needs to be done about it. But all too often, well-meaning, proactive efforts fizzle out before they have a chance to make a real impact. Why?

I think one of the biggest problems lies in what the numbers can’t show us. The numbers can’t help us understand what it is like, day in and day out, to be a woman in a space where your authority, expertise, and qualifications are constantly questioned. The numbers can’t help us feel the sadness, anger, and frustration facing many women in synthetic biology. The numbers don’t adequately describe what it is really like to be a woman in synthetic biology, so for those that aren’t a woman in synthetic biology, the problem is easily forgotten, or assumed to be taken care of by, who else, the women in synthetic biology.

To put some emotion and empathy behind the numbers — rather than distance and apathy — I recently reached out to several leading women in the synthetic biology space for their stories. In their own, non-sugar coated words, here’s what’s it’s really like to be a woman in synthetic biology. I hope you are as inspired by their stories as I am.

Mar 19, 2020

Stretchable supercapacitors to power tomorrow’s wearable devices

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing, engineering, wearables

Researchers at Duke University and Michigan State University have engineered a novel type of supercapacitor that remains fully functional even when stretched to eight times its original size. It does not exhibit any wear and tear from being stretched repeatedly and loses only a few percentage points of energy performance after 10,000 cycles of charging and discharging.

The researchers envision the being part of a power-independent, stretchable, flexible electronic system for applications such as wearable electronics or .

The results appear online March 19 in Matter, a journal from Cell Press. The research team includes senior author Changyong Cao, assistant professor of packaging, and electrical and computer engineering at Michigan State University (MSU), and senior author Jeff Glass, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Duke. Their co-authors are doctoral students Yihao Zhou and Qiwei Han and research scientist Charles Parker from Duke, as well as Ph.D. student Yunteng Cao from the Massachusetts Institutes of Technology.

Mar 19, 2020

In the coronavirus pandemic, we’re making decisions without reliable data

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Countermeasures like social distancing may help stop the spread of Covid-19. But how can policymakers tell if they are doing more good than harm? Data!

Mar 19, 2020

Posthuman Organisation

Posted by in category: futurism

New logo and new FB page for videos/ streaming events.


Hi, have set up this page for streamed or posted videos to support FB groups.

Mar 19, 2020

US military sets laser PHASRs to stun

Posted by in category: military

Circa 2005


The “non-lethal” laser rifle aims to dazzle suspects without causing permanent harm, but it will need to comply with a UN protocol on laser weaponry.

Mar 19, 2020

Artificial solid fog material creates pleasant laser light

Posted by in categories: computing, nanotechnology, space, transportation

With a porosity of 99.99 %, it consists practically only of air, making it one of the lightest materials in the world: Aerobornitride is the name of the material developed by an international research team led by Kiel University. The scientists assume that they have thereby created a central basis for bringing laser light into a broad application range. Based on a boron-nitrogen compound, they developed a special three-dimensional nanostructure that scatters light very strongly and hardly absorbs it. Irradiated with a laser, the material emits uniform lighting, which, depending on the type of laser, is much more efficient and powerful than LED light. Thus, lamps for car headlights, projectors or room lighting with laser light could become smaller and brighter in the future. The research team presents their results in the current issue of the renowned journal Nature Communications, which was published today.

More light in the smallest space

In research and industry, has long been considered the “next generation” of light sources that could even exceed the efficiency of LEDs (light-emitting diode). “For very bright or a lot of light, you need a large number of LEDs and thus space. But the same amount of light could also be obtained with a single diode that is one-thousandth smaller,” Dr. Fabian Schütt emphasizes the potential. The materials scientist from the working group “Functional Nanomaterials” at Kiel University is the first author of the study, which involves other researchers from Germany, England, Italy, Denmark and South Korea.