Lifeboat Foundation

This story is brought to you by SynbiCITE, which is accelerating the commercialization of synthetic biology applications. To learn how SynbiCITE is nucleating a sustainable UK economy, visit www.synbicite.com.

Just as Henry Ford’s assembly line revolutionized the automobile industry, synthetic biology is being revolutionized by automated DNA assembly (see SynBioBetaLive! with Opentrons). The key features of an assembly line translate well into the field of synthetic biology – speed, accuracy, reproducibility and validation. Instead of welding chassis together, small robotic arms are lifting delicate plates holding dozens of samples, adding and removing miniscule amounts of fluid.

Continue reading “The assembly line of the future: Automation, DNA construction, and synthetic biology” »

Estimated worth: $10 Quintillion. ( NASA conception)

Consumer DNA tests have taken off in popularity, promising to give you clues to your heritage and health. But after the test is done, who owns your personal genetic data? Bloomberg QuickTake explains why you should think twice before sending in that vial.

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Dear Mr Howard Bloom-The modern Einstein,next Stephen Hawking and Freud,

Its an honor to be known by you. Your work on Space Sciences are revolutionary Sir. Your association and projects with CalTech and other scientific organizations will change the world we live in.I also have great passion in Space and Astronomy Sciences and that led me attending multiple workshops of NASA apart from attending its three credit course and organizing its prestigious essay contest in Indian schools in India and Abroad. I have searched NASA websites for close to 16 years and have found that it stores trillions of pages of materials where you can learn and research without help of any other source. I also have written my fundamental concept called The Cosmic Mask which I have sent to National Research Council and The American Astronomical Society for their review. I plan to publish it on AAS website.My two books–The Cosmic Mask(Not the Fundamental Concept) and NASA-The Story of Manned and Unmanned Missions is dedicated to youths of this world for their love and passion in Space and Astronomy Sciences.

I want to know how you can associate me with National Space Society and other organizations you are associated with.

You asked me few things and here is what I think.

Continue reading “In Reply to Modern Einstein,Next Stephen Hawking and Freud-With Reply of Howard Bloom” »

A new, super-insulating gel developed by researchers at CU Boulder could dramatically increase the energy efficiency of skyscrapers and other buildings, and might one day help scientists build greenhouse-like habitats for colonists on Mars.

MIT researchers have developed novel photography optics that capture images based on the timing of reflecting light inside the optics, instead of the traditional approach that relies on the arrangement of optical components. These new principles, the researchers say, open doors to new capabilities for time- or depth-sensitive cameras, which are not possible with conventional photography optics.

Specifically, the researchers designed new optics for an ultrafast sensor called a streak camera that resolves images from ultrashort pulses of light. Streak cameras and other ultrafast cameras have been used to make a trillion-frame-per-second video, scan through closed books, and provide depth map of a 3D scene, among other applications. Such cameras have relied on conventional optics, which have various design constraints. For example, a lens with a given focal length, measured in millimeters or centimeters, has to sit at a distance from an imaging sensor equal to or greater than that focal length to capture an image. This basically means the lenses must be very long.

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A new form of electronics manufacturing which embeds silicon nanowires into flexible surfaces could lead to radical new forms of bendable electronics, scientists say.

In a new paper published today in the journal Microsystems and Nanoengineering, engineers from the University of Glasgow describe how they have for the first time been able to affordably ‘print’ high-mobility semiconductor nanowires onto flexible surfaces to develop high-performance ultra-thin electronic layers.

Those surfaces, which can be bent, flexed and twisted, could lay the foundations for a wide range of applications including video screens, improved health monitoring devices, implantable devices and synthetic skin for prosthetics.

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Lasers are widely used as high power sources of light operating at a specific frequency. But how does this frequency get selected when a laser is turned on, and how quickly?

Pioneering engineers working with terahertz frequency technology have been researching how individual frequencies are selected when a laser is turned on, and how quickly the selection is made.

The development of specific terahertz equipment has allowed them to investigate this process for the first time. Their results, published in Nature Communications, will underpin the future development of semiconductor lasers, including those used in public and private sector-owned telecommunications systems.

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A team of scientists has uncovered new molecular properties of water—a discovery of a phenomenon that had previously gone unnoticed.

Liquid water is known to be an excellent transporter of its own autoionization products; that is, the charged species obtained when a water molecule (H₂O) is split into protons (H^{+) and hydroxide ions (OH−). This remarkable property of water makes it a critical component in emerging electrochemical energy production and storage technologies such as fuel cells; indeed, life itself would not be possible if water did not possess this characteristic.}

Water is known to consist an intricate network of weak, directional interactions known as hydrogen bonds. For nearly a century, it was thought that the mechanisms by which water transports the H⁺ and OH⁻ ions were mirror images of each other – identical in all ways except for directions of the hydrogen bonds involved in the process.

Continue reading “The behavior of water—scientists find new properties of H2O” »