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Apr 14, 2020

Hyperbaric Application to COVID-19 Pulmonary Infection

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

In the midst of the coronavirus epidemic/pandemic it bears remembering the application of hyperbaric oxygen therapy to the last major pandemic that impacted the United States in 1918, the Spanish Flu Pandemic. Death was primarily by pulmonary infection and its attendant hypoxemia and respiratory failure. The first application of hyperbaric medicine to a Spanish Flu victim was likely also the first application to a human being in the United States. In 1918 Dr. Orval Cunningham of Kansas City was brought a dying friend of a fellow physician. The patient was moribund and blue. Before Cunningham could perform his planned animal experiments he was asked to treat this dying patient. With just a one-hour treatment with compressed air at 1.68 atmospheres absolute the patient experienced improvement. Combined with additional hyperbaric treatments over the next 3 days this patient’s life was saved. Others followed.

Today’s coronavirus’ mortality is due to pulmonary infection and respiratory failure. While there are differences between the Spanish Flu and coronavirus the primary pathology is in the lungs, the first organ of contact with hyperbaric therapy beyond the skin. The ability of hyperbaric oxygen to penetrate inflammatory pulmonary secretions allows adequate oxygen to reach the blood while inhibiting the inflammatory process. Applied correctly, hyperbaric therapy may have utility in coronavirus patients similar to its life-saving history with the Spanish Flu. Harch Hyperbarics Inc 504 309‑4948 www.hbot.com

Apr 14, 2020

Doctors Suspect Mystery COVID-19 Lung Problems, Plea for New Approach

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Some doctors are questioning the way ventilators are being used for people with serious cases of COVID-19. Why? More data shows a high death rate for patients treated under current ventilator practices.

At the same time, these doctors are saying their patients behave more like they have high altitude sickness than a viral infection. They talk about two different types of COVID-19 patients with differing severe lung problems.

While some patients respond to treatment as expected, doctors also describe patients whose lungs seem relatively fine, but who still can’t get enough oxygen into their blood. These patients may make up the majority with severe infections.

Apr 14, 2020

Neuroscientists find memory cells that help us interpret new situations

Posted by in category: neuroscience

Neuroscientists at MIT have now identified types of cells that encode distinctive segments of an overall experience — a memory. The brain stores these chunks of memory in the hippocampus They are activated whenever a similar experience takes place, and are distinct from the code that stores detailed memories of a specific location. Learn more.

Apr 14, 2020

Engineers Unveil First Casimir Chip That Exploits The Vacuum Energy

Posted by in categories: computing, cosmology, quantum physics

Could be made into a generator of some kind :3.


One of the strangest effects to arise from the quantum nature of the universe is the Casimir force. This pushes two parallel conducting plates together when they are just a few dozen nanometres apart.

At these kinds of scales, the Casimir force can dominate and engineers are well aware of its unwanted effects. One reason why microelectromechanical machines have never reached their original promise is the stiction that Casimir forces can generate.

Continue reading “Engineers Unveil First Casimir Chip That Exploits The Vacuum Energy” »

Apr 14, 2020

‘Nuclear Pasta’ Inside Neutron Stars Is Strongest Material in Universe

Posted by in categories: cosmology, physics

A neutron star is the dead husk of a star more massive than the sun, but not large enough to become a black hole upon its demise. These stars are between 10 and 29 solar masses during their active lifetime. When they exhaust their nuclear fuel and go supernova, all that’s left is the ultra-dense collapsed core. We call that a neutron star.

The wild physics inside a neutron star are down to the incredible mass packed into such a small space. A neutron star might have twice the mass of our sun packed into an object just a few miles across. The crush of gravity contorts and squeezes neutrons into unusual configurations, based on the models developed by scientists studying neutron stars.

Scientists currently believe that neutron stars have layers characterized by different configurations of distorted neutron matter. For whatever reason, researchers have decided to name the various structures after pasta. Near the surface there’s gnocchi, which are round bubble-like neutrons. Go a bit deeper, and the pressure forces neutrons into long tubes called spaghetti. Go further down, and you have sheets of neutrons called lasagna. That’s just the start of the Italian-inspired interior of neutron stars.

Apr 14, 2020

Military labs test plastic billed as ‘armor’ against lasers

Posted by in category: materials

Circa 1988 o.,o.


While the Pentagon is busy developing laser weapons, a small California company claims it has discovered a type of plastic that acts as armor against laser energy. The company stumbled on the material by accident and doesn’t fully understand why it works. Samples have been sent to several United States military labs, which are running tests to see how strong a laser beam the plastic can withstand.

“We’re trying to find out the full magnitude of its capabilities,” says Slava Harlamor, president of Harlamor-Schadeck Company, which developed the material.

Continue reading “Military labs test plastic billed as ‘armor’ against lasers” »

Apr 14, 2020

This was the first tank designed for nuclear war

Posted by in categories: existential risks, military

The T-55 medium tank took all the best traits of the T-54, but added on a series of upgrades necessary for the crew to survive the penultimate weapon: the atomic bomb.

Apr 14, 2020

The Army Is Testing a Missile-Proof ‘Iron Curtain’

Posted by in categories: futurism, military

Circa 2018 o,.,o.


The U.S. Army is testing a system designed to protect military vehicles smaller than tanks from attacks. The “Iron Curtain” uses a combination of sensors and downward-firing projectiles to stop incoming rockets and missiles from striking vehicles by setting off their shaped charge warheads. The result could be vehicles as small Humvees protected from anti-tank guided weapons.

The proliferation of anti-tank weapons with shaped charges has made the modern battlefield very deadly for any vehicle daring to cross it. High explosive, anti-tank (HEAT) warheads are found on everything from shoulder-fired rocket propelled grenade launchers of the Taliban to Kornet-EM anti-tank guided missiles arming the Russian Army. Defeating them is one of the Army’s top concerns, and a brigade of Abrams tanks equipped with the Israeli Trophy active protection system (APS) is headed to Europe in the near future.

Continue reading “The Army Is Testing a Missile-Proof ‘Iron Curtain’” »

Apr 14, 2020

The deadly germ warfare island abandoned by the Soviets

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, military

During the Cold War, Vozrozhdeniya Island was a top-secret testing ground for deadly Soviet super-pathogens. Despite over two decades of abandonment, their legacy lives on.

Apr 14, 2020

How Do You Shield Astronauts and Satellites From Deadly Micrometeorites?

Posted by in category: satellites

Circa 2013