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Feb 11, 2018

Researchers crack secret code to genetic changes causing our cancer

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, life extension

Summary: Researchers at the University of California discovered a key way that cancer manipulates the genetic code using DNA methylation that has important implications for the treatment of cancers. [This article first appeared on the website LongevityFacts.com. Author: Brady Hartman. ]

Up until now, scientists haven’t fully understood how DNA methylation causes changes in our genetic code that enable cancer to thrive.

Now, a team led by associate professor Jikui Song at the University of California Riverside have deciphered the crystal structure of an enzyme that plays a crucial role in DNA methylation that allows tumors to survive and grow.

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Feb 11, 2018

Elon Musk’s record-breaking ‘virtual power plant’ will see 50,000 homes given free solar panels and Tesla batteries

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, energy, government, sustainability, transportation

Elon Musk has agreed to build what is being hailed the “world’s largest virtual power plant”, by rolling out solar panels and Tesla batteries to 50,000 homes in South Australia. The scheme, which will be completed over the next four years, will see any excess energy stored in each battery fed back into the grid to provide power to the rest of the state whenever required. The South Australian government claims participating households will generate a total of 250MW of electricity – about half as much energy produced by a typical coal-fired power station. Read more — Elon Musk about to launch…

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Feb 11, 2018

Gene therapy researchers find viral barcode to cross the blood-brain barrier

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

This image shows AAV therapy affecting pyramidal neurons in the hippocampus. Credit: Blake Albright, Asokan Lab Gene therapies promise to revolutionize the treatment of many diseases, including neurological diseases such as ALS. But the small viruses that deliver therapeutic genes can have adverse side effects at high doses. UNC School of Medicine researchers have now found a structure on these viruses that makes them better at crossing from the bloodstream into the brain – a key factor for administering gene therapies at lower doses for treating brain and spinal disorders. This structural…

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Feb 11, 2018

Forging a quantum leap in quantum communication

Posted by in category: quantum physics

In quantum communication, the participating parties can detect eavesdropping by resorting to the fundamental principle of quantum mechanics — a measurement affects the measured quantity. Thus, an eavesdropper can be detected by identifying traces his measurements of the communication channel leave behind. The major drawback of quantum communication is the slow speed of data transfer, limited by the speed at which the parties can perform quantum measurements. Researchers at Bar-Ilan University have devised a method that overcomes this, and enables an increase in the rate of data transfer by…

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Feb 11, 2018

‘Ultra-intense laser’ stops electrons travelling at near-light speed for first time, mimicking black holes

Posted by in categories: cosmology, quantum physics

Using a laser beam one quadrillion times brighter than the Sun, physicists have stopped electrons travelling at near-light speeds for the first time. The experiment produced a quantum mechanical phenomenon that was previously only thought to occur around black holes and quasars.

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Feb 11, 2018

Space exploration should be an initiative of nations, not just some rich guy

Posted by in categories: neuroscience, policy, space travel

Maybe it’s because Robert Lepage is touring The Far Side of the Moon to the Adelaide Festival. Or that a new Star Trek is on TV. Or maybe it’s because I feel like the only person alive who really – really – liked Luc Besson’s Valerian, but space, fantasies of the final frontier, and the real voyages that human beings may yet dare to make into it are very much on my mind. This week saw a number of news items concerning our tentative outreach to the stars that, for all their frustrating revelations, might yet prick the aspiration for space missions back into the popular policy consciousness…

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Feb 11, 2018

Particle interactions on Titan support the search for new physics discoveries

Posted by in categories: nuclear energy, particle physics, supercomputing

Nuclear physicists are using the nation’s most powerful supercomputer, Titan, at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility to study particle interactions important to energy production in the sun and stars and to propel the search for new physics discoveries.

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Feb 11, 2018

Life lessons: The tiny neuro-gadgets rebuilding our bodies

Posted by in category: futurism

Nature’s designs are helping to build amazing new devices that link to the body and each other, reveals a fascinating book called Bioinspired Devices.

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Feb 11, 2018

This self-driving battleship has joined the US Navy

Posted by in categories: military, robotics/AI

A prototype autonomous ship has officially been transferred to the U.S. Navy from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) after a two-year testing and evaluation program.

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Feb 11, 2018

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy Launch Was a Smashing Success—What’s Next for Space Travel?

Posted by in categories: innovation, satellites

Moreover, the launch accomplished SpaceX’s overarching goal of making access to space travel affordable, with a price tag of $90 million per launch, compared to roughly $500 million for the second most powerful rocket, the United Launch Alliance’s Delta IV Heavy. Now that the Falcon Heavy ’ s abilities have been demonstrated, it can be used to send satellites, payloads, and potentially tourists into space.

Days since the historic launch, this surreal image of a Tesla Roadster and Starman cruising away from Earth has become a symbol and foreshadowing of humanity’s exciting future as a space-faring species. After all, SpaceX’s massive transformative purpose is not simply to make space travel affordable, but rather to allows humans to become a multi-planetary species. Ultimately, Tuesday’s launch left many speechless because it brought us closer to accomplishing this aspirational goal.

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