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Apr 13, 2020

In Good News, Scientists Built a Device That Generates Electricity ‘Out of Thin Air’

Posted by in categories: biological, nanotechnology

They found it buried in the muddy shores of the Potomac River more than three decades ago: a strange “sediment organism” that could do things nobody had ever seen before in bacteria.

This unusual microbe, belonging to the Geobacter genus, was first noted for its ability to produce magnetite in the absence of oxygen, but with time scientists found it could make other things too, like bacterial nanowires that conduct electricity.

For years, researchers have been trying to figure out ways to usefully exploit that natural gift, and this year they might have hit pay-dirt with a device they’re calling the Air-gen. According to the team, their device can create electricity out of… well, almost nothing.

Apr 13, 2020

The Pope Just Endorsed Universal Basic Income

Posted by in category: economics

In an Easter letter to world leaders, Pope Francis opined that “this may be the time to consider a universal basic wage which would acknowledge and dignify the noble, essential tasks you carry out.”

“It would ensure and concretely achieve the ideal, at once so human and so Christian, of no worker without rights,” the Pope argued.

In the letter, Francis argued that many workers, including “street vendors, recyclers, carnies, small farmers, construction workers, dressmakers, the different kinds of caregivers” were being “excluded from the benefits of globalization,” while “the lockdowns are becoming unbearable.”

Apr 13, 2020

Reinforcement Learning a Self-driving Car AI in Unity

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, transportation

Note: This article is for people who already have a basic idea about working with Unity and are interested in Neural Networks and Reinforcement Learning. No prior experience with neural networks and/or PhD required! This article provides all needed to obtain the following…

Apr 13, 2020

Team designs carbon nanostructure stronger than diamonds

Posted by in categories: engineering, nanotechnology

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine and other institutions have architecturally designed plate-nanolattices—nanometer-sized carbon structures—that are stronger than diamonds as a ratio of strength to density.

In a recent study in Nature Communications, the scientists report success in conceptualizing and fabricating the material, which consists of closely connected, closed-cell plates instead of the cylindrical trusses common in such structures over the past few decades.

“Previous beam-based designs, while of great interest, had not been so efficient in terms of mechanical properties,” said corresponding author Jens Bauer, a UCI researcher in mechanical & aerospace engineering. “This new class of plate-nanolattices that we’ve created is dramatically stronger and stiffer than the best beam-nanolattices.”

Apr 13, 2020

Closing in on ‘holy grail’ of room temperature quantum computing chips

Posted by in categories: computing, engineering, nanotechnology, quantum physics

To process information, photons must interact. However, these tiny packets of light want nothing to do with each other, each passing by without altering the other. Now, researchers at Stevens Institute of Technology have coaxed photons into interacting with one another with unprecedented efficiency — a key advance toward realizing long-awaited quantum optics technologies for computing, communication and remote sensing.

The team, led by Yuping Huang, an associate professor of physics and director of the Center for Quantum Science and Engineering, brings us closer to that goal with a nano-scale chip that facilitates photon interactions with much higher efficiency than any previous system. The new method, reported as a memorandum in the Sept. 18 issue of Optica, works at very low energy levels, suggesting that it could be optimized to work at the level of individual photons — the holy grail for room-temperature quantum computing and secure quantum communication.

“We’re pushing the boundaries of physics and optical engineering in order to bring quantum and all-optical signal processing closer to reality,” said Huang.

Apr 13, 2020

Clinical presentation and virological assessment of hospitalized cases of coronavirus disease 2019 in a travel-associated transmission cluster

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Can you be reinfected with Covid-19?

I’m skeptical as to whether reinfection is possible or not from Covid-19. However studies have shown that the virus lasts longer than 2 weeks within the human body:

10 days: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.03.05.

More than 2 weeks: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2762452

Continue reading “Clinical presentation and virological assessment of hospitalized cases of coronavirus disease 2019 in a travel-associated transmission cluster” »

Apr 13, 2020

2 Israeli COVID-19 patients said to improve in experimental drug trial

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

“Our hope is that the unique mechanism of action of Opaganib, with both anti-viral and anti-inflammatory activity, will help COVID-19 patients by reducing lung inflammation, and thus preventing the disease from progressing to a stage which requires mechanical ventilation,” said Mark L. Levitt, RedHill’s medical director.

Apr 13, 2020

Glutamine Attenuates Acute Lung Injury Caused by Acid Aspiration

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, electronics

Inadequate ventilator settings may cause overwhelming inflammatory responses associated with ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI) in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Here, we examined potential benefits of glutamine (GLN) on a two-hit model for VILI after acid aspiration-induced lung injury in rats. Rats were intratracheally challenged with hydrochloric acid as a first hit to induce lung inflammation, then randomly received intravenous GLN or lactated Ringer’s solution (vehicle control) thirty min before different ventilator strategies. Rats were then randomized to receive mechanical ventilation as a second hit with a high tidal volume (TV) of 15 mL/kg and zero positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) or a low TV of 6 mL/kg with PEEP of 5 cm H2O. We evaluated lung oxygenation, inflammation, mechanics, and histology. After ventilator use for 4 h, high TV resulted in greater lung injury physiologic and biologic indices. Compared with vehicle treated rats, GLN administration attenuated lung injury, with improved oxygenation and static compliance, and decreased respiratory elastance, lung edema, extended lung destruction (lung injury scores and lung histology), neutrophil recruitment in the lung, and cytokine production. Thus, GLN administration improved the physiologic and biologic profiles of this experimental model of VILI based on the two-hit theory.

Keywords: acid aspiration, ARDS, glutamine, ventilator-induced lung injury.

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a catastrophic syndrome among critically ill patients. One of its major causes is acid aspiration as an initial pneumonitis that may be complicated by subsequent bacterial pneumonia after inhaling low pH gastric fluid [1, 2, 3, 4]. Gastric fluid aspiration frequently occurs in trauma or critical patients with head trauma, alcohol or cerebrovascular accidents, and is also a complication of general anesthesia that occurs in 1 in 2000–3000 cases when anesthetics are used [3, 4].

Apr 13, 2020

Who was Jeff Bezos Before Amazon?

Posted by in category: futurism

Ladies Monday with ReallyGraceful.


Patreon: http://patreon.com/reallygraceful

Continue reading “Who was Jeff Bezos Before Amazon?” »

Apr 13, 2020

The Fictional Future of Cyberpunk Is About to Come True

Posted by in categories: futurism, robotics/AI

The real future may be more Amazon and less androids, but the dystopian power dynamics are hard to miss.