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Apr 10, 2019

Scientists Have Created A Star Trek-Like Plane That Flies Using ‘Ion Thrusters’ And No Fuel

Posted by in categories: futurism, space travel

Scientists have taken a major step towards creating an aircraft of the future, one powered by an ion drive rather than using moving parts and fuel like conventional aircraft.

In a paper published today in Nature, a team led by Steven Barrett from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) described how they created a so-called electroaerodynamic-powered plane, one that uses solid-state propulsion, meaning no propellers or jet engines with expendable fuel.

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Apr 10, 2019

Bacteria flip an electric switch to worsen food poisoning

Posted by in category: food

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Salmonella bacteria flip an electric switch as they hitch a ride inside immune cells, causing the cells to migrate out of the gut toward other parts of the body, according to a new study publishing on April 9 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Yaohui Sun and Alex Mogilner of New York University and colleagues. The discovery reveals a new mechanism underlying the toxicity of this common food-borne pathogen.

Salmonella are among the commonest, and deadliest, causes of food poisoning, causing over 400,000 deaths every year. Many of those deaths result when the bacteria escape the gut inside called macrophages. Macrophages are drawn to bacteria in the gut by a variety of signals, most prominently chemicals released from the site of . Once there, they engulf the bacteria as a regular part of their infection-fighting job. However, rather than remaining there, bacteria-laden macrophages often leave the site and enter the bloodstream, disseminating the bacteria and greatly increasing the gravity of the infection.

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Apr 10, 2019

A Previously Unknown, Tiny Human Species Has Just Been Discovered in The Philippines

Posted by in category: futurism

Archaeologists just pried another secret of our past from the clutches of the earth, welcoming a new human species to our growing family tree.

This discovery began with an ancient foot, or what was left of one. A foot bone, called the third metatarsal, was found in the Callao Cave on the Philippine island of Luzon back in 2007.

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Apr 10, 2019

New species of ancient human discovered in Philippines cave

Posted by in category: futurism

Homo luzonensis fossils found in Luzon island cave, dating back up to 67,00 years.

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Apr 10, 2019

Event horizon shadow of supermassive black hole candidates are now possible via electromagnetic waves, thus transforming this elusive boundary from a mathematical concept to a physical entity that can be studied and tested via repeated astronomical observations

Posted by in categories: cosmology, mathematics

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ab0ec7

No photo description available.

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Apr 10, 2019

Inflatable space robots with integrated dielectric elastomer transducers (DETs)

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, robotics/AI, space

Researchers at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute and Technische Universit\xE4t Dresden have recently designed a new type of inflatable robot for space navigation. These robots, presented in a paper published in SPIE Digital Library, were created using dielectric elastomer transducers (DETs), which are essentially electrical capacitors made from soft rubbery materials.

“Current technology is limited by its mass and volume. It takes thousands of dollars to launch even a single kilogram into orbit,” Joseph Ashby, one of the researchers who carried out the study, told TechXplore. “Our research aims to replace or augment current technology with lighter smart-material replacements combined with inflatable structures.”

If they are integrated with inflatable structures, DETs could aid the development of soft and low-mass robots, which have high packaging efficiency and are easy to deploy. In fact, DETs deform when a voltage is applied to them, due to the Maxwell stress generated by the electric field.

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Apr 10, 2019

Walmart robot janitors will mop floors, scan shelves, sort items and more

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Walmart wants sales associates to help customers instead of mopping floors, unloading boxes, and passing off online orders. So it’s adding robots.

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Apr 10, 2019

Grapes on Mars? Georgia winemakers aiming high

Posted by in categories: climatology, space

Georgia is immensely proud of its ancient wine-making tradition, claiming to have been the first nation to make wine. Now it wants to be the first to grow grapes on Mars.

Nestling between the Great Caucasus Mountains and the Black Sea, Georgia has a mild climate that is perfect for vineyards and has developed a thriving wine tourism industry.

Now Nikoloz Doborjginidze has co-founded a project to develop grape varieties that can be grown on Mars.

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Apr 10, 2019

LUCAS CPR device may save your life

Posted by in categories: futurism, robotics/AI

This automated CPR device may save your life.
More info: http://bit.ly/2yID28F

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Apr 10, 2019

A Jetsons future? Assessing the role of flying cars in sustainable mobility

Posted by in categories: sustainability, transportation

In the 1960s animated sitcom The Jetsons, George Jetson commutes to work in his family-size flying car, which miraculously transforms into a briefcase at the end of the trip.

A new study of the environmental sustainability impacts of flying cars, formally known as electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, or VTOLs, finds that they wouldn’t be suitable for a Jetsons-style short commute.

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