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Mar 22, 2018

Nanospears deliver genetic material to cells with pinpoint accuracy

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

UCLA scientists have developed a new method that utilizes microscopic splinter-like structures called “nanospears” for the targeted delivery of biomolecules such as genes straight to patient cells. These magnetically guided nanostructures could enable gene therapies that are safer, faster and more cost-effective.

The research was published in the journal ACS Nano by senior author Paul Weiss, UC Presidential Chair and distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry, materials science and engineering, and member of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA.

Gene therapy, the process of adding or replacing missing or defective genes in patient cells, has shown great promise as a treatment for a host of diseases, including hemophilia, muscular dystrophy, immune deficiencies and certain types of cancer.

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Mar 22, 2018

Laser weapons: Is this the dawn of the death ray?

Posted by in categories: drones, military

When the first laser was invented the idea of using it as a superweapon seemed like science fiction. Almost 60 years later and it still seems that way, despite a remarkable degree of progress. Prototypes have been used to destroy small watercraft, shoot down missiles and drones, and have even been deployed at least once in a war zone, but the revolutionary destructive ray that would change the face of battle as fundamentally as the longbow or the airplane has yet to appear. So just what is the current state of laser weapons technology, and what does it hold in store for the future of warfare?

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Mar 22, 2018

Worn Like a Helmet, a New Brain Scanner Aims to Make It Easier to Treat Kids with Epilepsy

Posted by in categories: electronics, neuroscience

Lightweight equipment is not much larger than what a bicyclist would wear.

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Mar 22, 2018

Chinese Space Station Could Crash In Iowa

Posted by in category: space

Des Moines, IA — Tiangong-1 is expected to fall back to earth in late March or early April, and pieces could land in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana or Wisconsin.

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Mar 22, 2018

Optical computers light up the horizon

Posted by in categories: mobile phones, space, supercomputing

Since their invention, computers have become faster and faster, as a result of our ability to increase the number of transistors on a processor chip.

Today, your smartphone is millions of times faster than the computers NASA used to put the first man on the moon in 1969. It even outperforms the most famous supercomputers from the 1990s. However, we are approaching the limits of this electronic technology, and now we see an interesting development: light and lasers are taking over electronics in computers.

Processors can now contain tiny lasers and light detectors, so they can send and receive data through small optical fibres, at speeds far exceeding the we use now. A few companies are even developing optical processors: chips that use laser light and optical switches, instead of currents and electronic transistors, to do calculations.

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Mar 22, 2018

New LightSail 2 Spacecraft Will Boost Solar-Sailing Interplanetary Missions

Posted by in categories: futurism, space travel

The Planetary Society’s LightSail 2 spacecraft will be a test bed for future missions wanting to use solar sails — including NASA’s proposed Near-Earth Asteroid Scout cubesat.

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Mar 22, 2018

Explore the cosmos with ESASky

Posted by in category: computing

Meet ESASky, a discovery portal that provides full access to the entire sky. This open-science application allows computer, tablet and mobile users to visualise cosmic objects near and far across the electromagnetic spectrum.

ESASky’s intuitive interface. Credit: ESA.

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Mar 22, 2018

10 Amazing Robots in Space Right Now (In Pictures)

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, space

Robots, including floating spheres and spacewalkers, are performing critical tasks for astronauts and researchers as we speak.

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Mar 22, 2018

SICE researchers part of grant to grow quantum information science

Posted by in categories: computing, engineering, particle physics, quantum physics, science

Researchers from the School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering are part of a group that has received a multi-million dollar grant from IUs’ Emerging Areas of Research program.

Amr Sabry, a professor of informatics and computing and the chair of the Department of Computer Science, and Alexander Gumennik, assistant professor of Intelligent Systems Engineering, are part of the “Center for Quantum Information Science and Engineering” initiative led by Gerardo Ortiz, a professor of physics in IU’s College of Arts and Sciences. The initiative will focus on harnessing the power of quantum entanglement, which is a theoretical phenomenon in which the quantum state of two or more particles have to be described in reference to one another even if the objects are spatially separated.

“Bringing together a unique group of physicists, computer scientists, and engineers to solve common problems in quantum sensing and computation positions IU at the vanguard of this struggle,” Gumennik said. “I believe that this unique implementation approach, enabling integration of individual quantum devices into a monolithic quantum computing circuit, is capable of taking the quantum information science and engineering to a qualitatively new level.”

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Mar 22, 2018

What would happen if the Yellowstone volcano erupted? How catastrophic blast could impact the world

Posted by in category: futurism

Watching this closely.


After it emerged a huge ‘fountain of magma’ has been discovered under the supervolcano we take a look at the catastrophic effects it could have if it blows

By.

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