Lifeboat Foundation

Although solar panels might appear bright and shiny, in desert environments, where they are most frequently installed, layers of dust and other particles can quickly coat their surface. These coatings can affect the panels’ ability to absorb sunlight and drastically reduce the conversion of the sun’s rays into energy, making it necessary to periodically wash the panels with water. But often, in areas like Nevada, water resources are scarce.

Consequently, NEXUS scientists have turned their attention toward developing technologies for waterless cleaning. NASA has already been using such techniques to wash panels in the lunar and Mars missions, but their developed methodologies prove too expensive for widespread public application. NEXUS scientist Biswajit Das of UNLV and his team are aiming to develop a water-free cleaning technology that will be cost-effective for large-scale photovoltaic generation, whereby they look to nanotechnology, rather than water, to clean the panels. “Our mission is to develop a waterless, or at least a less-water cleaning technique to address the effect of dust on solar panels,” Das says. “Once developed, this method will significantly reduce water use for the future PV generation.”

Continue reading “Using Nanotechnology, not Water, to Clean Solar Panels” »

Artificial Intelligence has come a long way in a short time. So at what point will it be able to emulate the great artists and writers of our time?

The first clinical trials are slated to begin in the U.S. and Europe while others are stalled.

Just three years ago, the idea of wiping out disease-causing mosquitoes using gene drives seemed a distant theoretical possibility. Now it’s in reach.

Thanks to the Pineapple Fund we have now raised $1,142,000 of our $1,250,000 goal this year. We are very close now to the finish line and with your help, we can win!

To help us reach our goal visit: http://www.sens.org/donate

We will be using these donations to support our research programs both at the SENS Research Foundation Research Center in Mountain View, as well as our programs at Yale, the Buck Institute, the Babraham Institute, and Oxford.

Continue reading “The Holidays are almost here and with it the last days of the winter fundraiser!” »

Space nations, UFOs, and Mars colonies are on the wish list.

Drivers in Beijing, beware: soon, you’ll be driving alongside autonomous vehicles.

On Monday, Beijing’s Municipal Commission of Transport announced (Chinese) provisional regulations for testing self-driving cars on city roads. Companies that are registered in China and have tested self-driving cars in enclosed spaces can now apply for permission to test their vehicles on Beijing’s bustling roads.

It certainly won’t be the first city in Asia—or the rest of the world—to embrace autonomous vehicles: self-driving startup nuTonomy already operates in Singapore, and several U.S. cities are home to the cars of Uber, Waymo, and others. But the news is the latest sign of China’s commitment to making autonomous vehicles a reality, in hopes of alleviating congestion on city streets and becoming a leading technology power.

Continue reading “China Is Opening Up City Roads for Driverless Cars” »

NEW YORK (Reuters) — The early hope that stem cell therapy would make the paralyzed walk, the blind see and cure diabetes have given way to a long list of failures, highlighted by early stem cell champion Geron Corp abandoning the field in 2011.

But two small companies, Athersys Inc and Mesoblast Ltd, are beginning final stage trials in hundreds of patients that they — along with loyal investors — say could change the course of devastating stroke and heart failure.

Both have overcome major hurdles to manufacturing stem cell treatments on a large scale that are off-the-shelf products derived from healthy donor bone marrow and do not face immune system rejection issues.

Continue reading “Tiny stem cell companies close in on major heart disease goals” »