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Oct 14, 2019

Brain Mechanisms have potential to Block Arthritis Pain

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Existing compound produces pain-relieving effects and relieves anxiety. Past pain research typically has focused upon the spinal cord or the peripheral areas of the nervous system located outside the spinal cord and brain. However, a research team headed by Volker E. Neugebauer, M.D., Ph.D., at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) School of Medicine recently investigated how some mechanisms in the brain contribute to pain. His study, “Amygdala group II mGluRs Mediate the Inhibitory Effects of Systemic Group II mGluR Activation on Behavior and Spinal Neurons in a Rat Model of Arthritis Pain,” was published recently by the journal Neuropharmacology. Mariacristina Mazzitelli, a TTUHSC research assistant and Ph.D. candidate, is the study’s lead author.

“Our group has been interested in understanding pain mechanisms, and our unique area of expertise is really understanding that changes in the brain contribute to the persistence, intensity and other side effects of pain,” Neugebauer said. “It is not just a sensation that let’s you know where it hurts and how intense the pain feels. It also causes anxiety, impairs quality of life and causes depression. We’re studying the brain because all of those things reside there.”

To better understand what pain-related changes may occur in the brain, and how to normalize those changes, Neugebauer’s study applied an arthritis pain model and focused on the amygdala, which are almond-shaped clusters located deep inside each of the brain’s temporal lobes. The amygdala is part of what is known as the limbic brain, a complex arrangement of nerve cells and networks that control basic survival functions, motivations and emotions like fear and play a central role in disorders like anxiety, addiction and pain.

Oct 14, 2019

Molecular and phenotypic biomarkers of aging

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension, robotics/AI

Individuals of the same age may not age at the same rate. Quantitative biomarkers of aging are valuable tools to measure physiological age, assess the extent of ‘healthy aging’, and potentially predict health span and life span for an individual. Given the complex nature of the aging process, the biomarkers of aging are multilayered and multifaceted. Here, we review the phenotypic and molecular biomarkers of aging. Identifying and using biomarkers of aging to improve human health, prevent age-associated diseases, and extend healthy life span are now facilitated by the fast-growing capacity of multilevel cross-sectional and longitudinal data acquisition, storage, and analysis, particularly for data related to general human populations. Combined with artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques, reliable panels of biomarkers of aging will have tremendous potential to improve human health in aging societies.

Keywords: physiological age, phenotypic, molecular, age-associated diseases, aging process.

Aging is the time-dependent physiological functional decline that affects most living organisms, which is underpinned by alterations within molecular pathways, and is also the most profound risk factor for many non-communicable diseases. To identify biomarkers of aging would, on one hand, facilitate differentiation of people who are of the same chronological age yet have variant aging rates. Quantitative biomarkers of aging could also define a panel of measurements for ‘healthy aging’ and, even further, predict life span. On the other hand, biomarkers of aging could also assist researchers to narrow their research scope to a specific biological facet in their attempts to explain the biological process behind aging or aging-related diseases. Here, we review the phenotypic and molecular biomarkers of aging. Phenotypic biomarkers can be non-invasive, panoramic, and easy to obtain, whereas molecular biomarkers can reflect some of the molecular mechanisms underlying age status.

Oct 14, 2019

Elon Musk: Tesla Pickup looks like ‘an armored personnel carrier from the future’

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, sustainability, transportation

Elon Musk gave another hint about the Tesla Pickup truck design, which he now calls ‘Cybertruck’. The CEO says that it looks like ‘an armored personnel carrier from the future.’

The CEO shocked some when he said that the Tesla Pickup Truck will have a ‘really futuristic-like cyberpunk Blade Runner’ design without explaining what that meant other than saying that ‘it won’t be for everyone’.

Continue reading “Elon Musk: Tesla Pickup looks like ‘an armored personnel carrier from the future’” »

Oct 14, 2019

Former NASA Scientist Demonstrates Why Star Trek’s Warp Speeds Are Painfully Slow

Posted by in categories: alien life, physics

In the sci-fi universe of “Star Trek”, spaceships with warp drives can zoom past the normally impenetrable limit of light speed, or about 186,282 miles per second (299,792 kilometers per second) in a vacuum.

This trouncing of theoretical physics makes reaching alien-rich planets across the galaxy seem like just a convenient TV-commercial-break-length trip away.

Continue reading “Former NASA Scientist Demonstrates Why Star Trek’s Warp Speeds Are Painfully Slow” »

Oct 14, 2019

The Fork in the Road for the Future of Humanity

Posted by in categories: futurism, innovation

On 25 September 2019, Steve Fuller gave a Codex Talk at the Royal Society of London, commemorating the ‘world’s top 50 innovators’ on the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci. Da Vinci authored the ‘Codex’ in question, which is a notebook of his thoughts, including a drawing of ‘Vitruvian Man’, which begins Fuller’s talk.

The ‘fork in the road for the future of humanity’ refers to transhumanism and posthumanism, which Fuller treats as projecting radically alternative visions for the human condition.

You can watch the sixteen-minute video on YouTube:

Oct 14, 2019

3D integrated metasurfaces stacking up for impressive holography

Posted by in categories: computing, encryption, engineering, holograms, nanotechnology, physics, security, transportation

Physicists and materials scientists have developed a compact optical device containing vertically stacked metasurfaces that can generate microscopic text and full-color holograms for encrypted data storage and color displays. Yueqiang Hu and a research team in Advanced Design and Manufacturing for Vehicle Body in the College of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering in China implemented a 3D integrated metasurface device to facilitate miniaturization of the optical device. Using metasurfaces with ultrathin and compact characteristics, the research team designed optical elements by engineering the wavefront of light at the subwavelength scale. The metasurfaces possessed great potential to integrate multiple functions into the miniaturized optoelectronic systems. The work is now published on Light: Science & Applications.

Since existing research on multiplexing in the 2-D plane remains to fully incorporate capabilities of metasurfaces for multi-tasking, in the present work, the team demonstrated a 3D integrated metasurface device. For this, they stacked a hologram metasurface on a monolithic Fabry-Pérot (FP) cavity-based color filter microarray to achieve simultaneous cross-talk, polarization-independent and highly efficient full-color holography and microprint functions. The dual function of the device outlined a new scheme for data recording, security, encryption and information processing applications. The work on 3D integration can be extended to establish flat multi-tasking optical systems that include a variety of functional metasurface layers.

Metasurfaces open a new direction in optoelectronics, allowing researchers to design optical elements by shaping the wavefront of electromagnetic waves relative to size, shape and arrangement of structures at the subwavelength. Physicists have engineered a variety of metasurface-based devices including lenses, polarization converters, holograms and orbital angular momentum generators (OAM). They have demonstrated the performance of metasurface-based devices to even surpass conventional refractive elements to construct compact optical devices with multiple functions. Such devices are, however, withheld by shortcomings due to a reduced efficiency of plasmonic nanostructures, polarization requirements, large crosstalk and complexity of the readout for multiwavelength and broadband optical devices. Research teams can therefore stack 3D metasurface-based devices with different functions in the vertical direction to combine the advantages of each device.

Oct 14, 2019

Brilliant Midnight Fireball Lights Up Sky Over Northeast China

Posted by in category: surveillance

What appears to be a dazzling meteor lit up the sky over northeast China on Friday (Oct. 11), appearing as a brilliant fireball in surveillance videos of the event.

The meteor occurred at about 12:16 a.m. Beijing Time, turning night into day and casting dark shadows as it streaked through the sky, according to the state-run CCTV. Videos of the fireball were captured by surveillance cameras in the city of Songyuan in the province of Jilin, as well as by many residents across northeast China, CCTV reported.

The meteor also visible from Heilongjiang Province, the news agency reported.

Oct 14, 2019

Razer’s new Blade 15 Advanced has a clickier keyboard with deeper travel

Posted by in categories: computing, entertainment

Razer has announced a new iteration of its Blade 15 Advanced gaming laptop. Its new, clickier keyboard might be the biggest change. Otherwise, much of what this configuration offers isn’t new for Razer.

Oct 14, 2019

Suzanne Somers RAADfest 2019: 73 years old. The older I get the better my brain is

Posted by in category: neuroscience

I am chronically old, but I am not old. I was on dancing with the stars. This is the new way to age. It’s not that old paradigm that says you wrinkle, frail, hunch over, have heart and other illnesses, be in a nursing home. No, there is a new paradigm. I’m the new paradigm. The older I get, the stronger and better my brain gets. I fully expect to be on the Vegas stage when I am 80.

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Oct 14, 2019

DJI Mavic Mini launch date rumored to be October 30

Posted by in category: futurism

We now have information that this sub-250-grams DJI Mavic Mini launch date will be very soon. As soon as October 30th. No information on any possible…