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Jan 24, 2018

Amazon has opened a store that has no checkouts

Posted by in category: futurism

Walk in, pick up, walk out.

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Jan 24, 2018

The first 5G smartphones should be available by 2019

Posted by in categories: internet, mobile phones

“Virtually every industry will be impacted by 5G ”.

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Jan 24, 2018

Smart Windows Use Iron Nanoparticles to Harvest Heat

Posted by in categories: internet, nanotechnology, particle physics

Many of the previously dumb devices in our homes are getting smarter with the advent of internet-connected lights, thermostats, and more. Surely the windows can’t be smart, can they? A team of engineers from the German Friedrich-Schiller University Jena have created just that — a smart window that can alter its opacity and harvest energy from the sun’s rays.

There have been a number of “smart” electrochromatic window designs over the years, but these are mostly aimed at changing tint or opacity only. The windows designed by Friedrich-Schiller University researchers are vastly more functional. The so-called Large-Area Fluidic Windows (LaWin) design uses a fluid suspension of iron particles. This fluid is contained within the window in a series of long vertical channels. These “functional fluids” allow the window to change opacity, but also absorb and distribute heat.

The iron-infused fluid remains diffused until you switch the window on — the nanoparticles cloud up the channels and block light. When you flip the switch, magnets drag the nanoparticles out of the liquid to make the window fully transparent. When the magnet is switched off, the nanoparticles are resuspended to darken the panel. In general, the more nanoparticles you add, the darker the window becomes. You can even completely black it out with enough iron.

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Jan 24, 2018

See why NASA is calling next week’s supermoon ‘extra special’

Posted by in category: space

2018’s second supermoon is a triple treat.

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Jan 24, 2018

Physicists are planning to build lasers so powerful they could rip apart empty space

Posted by in category: physics

China’s ‘Station of Extreme Light’ could be first laser to reach 100 petawatts.

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Jan 24, 2018

‘Floating 3D printing’ brings sci-fi-style projections closer

Posted by in category: 3D printing

‘Optical trap display’ projects graphics into the air, where they are visible from all angles.

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Jan 24, 2018

Identical monkeys born through true cloning

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, innovation

The first monkeys have been cloned in a historic breakthrough — could humans be next?

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Jan 24, 2018

SpaceX fires up powerful new Falcon Heavy rocket

Posted by in category: space travel

SpaceX test-fires 27 engines in its powerful new Falcon Heavy rocket in key milestone.

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Jan 24, 2018

Better than holograms: A new 3D projection into thin air

Posted by in categories: holograms, particle physics, space

One of the enduring sci-fi moments of the big screen—R2-D2 beaming a 3D image of Princess Leia into thin air in “Star Wars”—is closer to reality thanks to the smallest of screens: dust-like particles.

Scientists have figured out how to manipulate nearly unseen specks in the air and use them to create 3D images that are more realistic and clearer than holograms, according to a study in Wednesday’s journal Nature. The study’s lead author, Daniel Smalley, said the new technology is “printing something in space, just erasing it very quickly.”

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Jan 24, 2018

Tiny implant opens way to deliver drugs deep into the brain

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, engineering, neuroscience

WASHINGTON — Scientists have created a hair-thin implant that can drip medications deep into the brain by remote control and with pinpoint precision.

Tested only in animals so far, if the device pans out it could mark a new approach to treating brain diseases — potentially reducing side effects by targeting only the hard-to-reach circuits that need care.

“You could deliver things right to where you want, no matter the disease,” said Robert Langer, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology whose biomedical engineering team reported the research Wednesday.

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