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Jun 29, 2017

‘Biological Teleportation’ Edges Closer With Craig Venter’s Digital-to-Biological Converter

Posted by in categories: alien life, biological, security

The year is 2030. In a high-security containment lab, scientists gathered around a towering machine, eagerly awaiting the first look at a newly discovered bacterium on Mars.

With a series of beeps, the machine—a digital-to-biological converter, or DBC—signaled that it had successfully received the bacterium’s digitized genomic file. Using a chemical cocktail comprised of the building blocks of DNA, it whirled into action, automatically reconstructing the alien organism’s genes letter-by-letter.

Within a day, scientists had an exact replica of the Martian bacterium.

Continue reading “‘Biological Teleportation’ Edges Closer With Craig Venter’s Digital-to-Biological Converter” »

Jun 29, 2017

The Tiny Satellites Ushering in the New Space Revolution

Posted by in category: satellites

Planet Labs and other companies are sending hundreds of low-cost satellites into orbit. We’re only beginning to understand how that will change life on Earth.

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Jun 29, 2017

New study explores plant adaptations to drought and cold stress | Phys.org

Posted by in categories: complex systems, environmental, science

“Understanding interactions between different gene networks, which are evolved to respond to different stressors, and understanding natural variation in these responses could have important agricultural applications in challenging environments.”

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Jun 29, 2017

Finland tests a new form of welfare

Posted by in categories: business, habitats

The study’s design faced constraints. The constitution ordains equality for all, so getting permission to afford some welfare recipients special treatment was difficult. That limitation, and a budget of only €20m (plus diverted welfare funds that would have otherwise gone to the recipients), restricted the sample size to just 2,000 people. Mr Kangas frets that might prove too small to be statistically robust. And it limits the questions the study can investigate.


JUHA JARVINEN, an unemployed young father in a village near Jurva, in western Finland, brims with ideas for earning a living. He has just agreed to paint the roofs of two neighbours’ houses. His old business, making decorative window frames, went bust a few years ago. Having paid off debts, he recently registered another, to produce videos for clients.

Mr Jarvinen says that for six years he hoped to start a new business but it was impossible. The family got by on his wife’s wages as a nurse, plus unemployment and child benefits. He had a few job offers from local businesses, which are mainly in forestry, furniture and metalwork. But anything less than a permanent, well-paid post made no sense, since it would jeopardise his welfare payments. To re-enroll for benefits later would be painfully slow.

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Jun 29, 2017

Biotech startup Aortica raising $4M to develop personalized blood vessel stents for aortic aneurysms

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

The aorta is an important blood vessel, to say the least. It’s the body’s main artery, carrying blood from the heart up to the head and down to the other major organs. That’s why aortic aneurysms, or weak spots in the aorta, are so concerning: if they break, the extreme blood loss is often fatal.

Seattle-area biotech startup Aortica is working on a personalized approach to treating aortic aneurysms, specifically complex abdominal aortic aneurysms, which are more tricky to treat. The company has closed just over $1 million out of a $4 million round of insider funding to further develop the treatment, and Aortica CEO and founder Thomas Douthitt told GeekWire the company has commitments to finish the full $4 million round.

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Jun 29, 2017

MSNW’s plasma thruster just might fire up Congress at hearing on space propulsion

Posted by in categories: government, space travel

How will we send humans to the moon, Mars and other destinations in space? The chances are good that electric propulsion will play a role, and a company called MSNW is at the cutting edge of that technology.

The director of propulsion research for Redmond, Wash.-based MSNW, Anthony Pancotti, will take a share of Capitol Hill’s spotlight on Thursday during a hearing organized by the House Subcommittee on Space. And he expects to learn as much from his encounter with lawmakers as they’ll learn from him.

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Jun 29, 2017

Railgun science and technology phase completing by 2019

Posted by in categories: energy, military, science

A BAE railgun system is undergoing multi-shot rep-rate operations at Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren, in Virginia. Railgun firing test will continue over the next three years. The railgun system has been tested at Dahlgren’s railgun advanced research facility since November. The Navy has successfully tested a next-generation 32-megajoule railgun.

The US Navy is gradually increasing the railgun firing rate and energy level.

Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee’s subcommittee on seapower and projection forces, said * the pulsed power units, the batteries are getting smaller and are getting more efficient * more shots are being fired without having to replace the barrel.

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Jun 28, 2017

Universe Was Rife With Iron Early On, Say Astrophysicists

Posted by in category: alien life

Early space aliens wouldn’t need to have worried about iron-poor blood astrophysicists now report. Apparently, iron was distributed uniformly throughout the cosmos quite quickly.

The implications for #astrobiology are obvious.


Iron — a building block of everything as we know it — was ubiquitous much earlier in the cosmos than anyone could have imagined, astrophysicists now report.

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Jun 28, 2017

Bionic leg brace

Posted by in categories: cyborgs, transhumanism

This leg brace stores and saves your energy.

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Jun 28, 2017

Amazon delivery airship

Posted by in category: futurism

Amazon’s next warehouse could be in the skies.

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