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May 24, 2019
Fossil Discovery Pushes Back the Origin of Fungi
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: biotech/medical
Biologists don’t call them “the hidden kingdom” for nothing. With an estimated 5 million species, only a mere 100,000 fungi are known to scientists. This kingdom, which includes molds, yeasts, rusts and mushrooms, receives far less attention than plants or animals. This is particularly true for fossils of fungi, most of which are discovered while hunting for more charismatic, at least to the eyes of some, plant fossils.
Fungi were key partners of plants during their colonization of land approximately 500 million years ago – an important and well-documented evolutionary transition. Therefore, it is unsurprising that the earliest fungal fossils, found in 450 million-year-old rocks, resemble modern species associated with the roots of plants. But that conflicts with DNA-based estimates, which suggest that fungi originated much earlier – a billion or more years ago. It’s a riddle in the tree of life that evolutionary biologists like me have long been puzzled about.
Fossils Versus DNA
Continue reading “Fossil Discovery Pushes Back the Origin of Fungi” »
May 24, 2019
When You Eat This Mini Robot, It Crawls Around Your Organs
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: biotech/medical, robotics/AI
May 24, 2019
Exposure to air pollution before and after birth may affect fundamental cognitive abilities
Posted by Xavier Rosseel in categories: education, health, mathematics, neuroscience, sustainability
A growing body of research suggests that exposure to air pollution in the earliest stages of life is associated with negative effects on cognitive abilities. A new study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a centre supported by “la Caixa”, has provided new data: exposure to particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) during pregnancy and the first years of life is associated with a reduction in fundamental cognitive abilities, such as working memory and executive attention.
The study, carried out as part of the BREATHE project, has been published in Environmental Health Perspectives. The objective was to build on the knowledge generated by earlier studies carried out by the same team, which found lower levels of cognitive development in children attending schools with higher levels of traffic-related air pollution.
The study included 2,221 children between 7 and 10 years of age attending schools in the city of Barcelona. The children’s cognitive abilities were assessed using various computerized tests. Exposure to air pollution at home during pregnancy and throughout childhood was estimated with a mathematical model using real measurements.
May 24, 2019
3D-printed guns are back, and this time they are unstoppable
Posted by Derick Lee in category: 3D printing
A new network of 3D-printed gun advocates is growing in America – and this time things are different. Unlike previous attempts to popularise 3D-printed guns, this operation is entirely decentralised. There’s no headquarters, no trademarks, and no real leader. The people behind it reckon that this means they can’t be stopped by governments.
A decentralised network of gun-printing advocates is mobilising online, they’re anonymously sharing blueprints, advice and building a community. There’s no easy way they can be halted.
May 24, 2019
‘Like trying to build the USA in the middle of the Atlantic’: Elon Musk just dunked on Jeff Bezos’ vision to build floating space colonies
Posted by Montie Adkins in categories: Elon Musk, habitats, space
I agree with Bezos on this one.
Elon Musk dismissed Jeff Bezos’ plan of housing a trillion people in orbiting ‘O’Neill colonies,’ which resemble gargantuan spinning cylinders.
May 24, 2019
Hey, let’s fight global pandemics by maybe starting one… Say WHAT?
Posted by Pat Maechler in categories: biotech/medical, government, health, policy
The US government quietly resumed funding experiments on the deadly H5N1 avian flu — research that makes the virus more easily transmissible to mammals.
The researchers say making new strains of the H5N1 flu virus in a secure lab can help them see what might happen naturally in the real world. Sounds logical, but many scientists oppose it because the facts show most biosafety labs aren’t really secure at all, and experts say the risks of a mutated virus escaping outweigh whatever public health benefit comes from creating them.
Continue reading “Hey, let’s fight global pandemics by maybe starting one… Say WHAT?” »
May 23, 2019
Starlink: SpaceX is targeting Thursday, May 23 for the launch of 60 Starlink satellites from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
Posted by Klaus Baldauf in category: satellites
SpaceX is developing a low latency, broadband internet system to meet the needs of consumers across the globe. Enabled by a constellation of low Earth orbit satellites, Starlink will provide fast, reliable internet to populations with little or no connectivity, including those in rural communities and places where existing services are too expensive or unreliable.
May 23, 2019
SpaceX’s deploys 60-satellite Starlink blob, all spacecraft successfully phone home
Posted by Klaus Baldauf in categories: Elon Musk, space travel
SpaceX’s first 60 “production-design” Starlink satellites have been successfully placed in orbit, kicking off a constellation beta test at an unprecedented scale. According to CEO Elon Musk, all spacecraft also managed to successfully ‘phone home’ after separation.
The company’s Redmond satellite operators still need to verify that all spacecraft are functional and healthy after a Falcon 9 launch and chaotic deployment from the rocket’s upper stage, but the riskiest part of the mission is now arguably behind SpaceX. What remains is essentially a massive, hardware-rich test of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite constellation, ranging from granular flight testing of individual components to an effective simulation of a full constellation’s operations.
May 23, 2019
Cloud Run: Bringing serverless to containers
Posted by Quinn Sena in category: futurism
Run for serverless containers includes new metrics, supports Cloud SQL, and is available from new GCP regions.