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Jun 28, 2018
Is ‘Oumuamua an Interstellar Asteroid or Comet?
Posted by Michael Lance in category: space travel
Scientists have confirmed ′Oumuamua, the first known interstellar object to travel through our solar system, got an unexpected boost in speed and shift in trajectory as it passed through the inner solar system last year. Examine what scientists found: https://go.nasa.gov/2Mwospx
Jun 28, 2018
Building Bones: Testing a New Osteoporosis Therapy in Microgravity
Posted by Klaus Baldauf in categories: biotech/medical, space travel
Every three seconds, a person somewhere in the world breaks a bone due to osteoporosis—a progressive disease that decreases bone density, making bones weak and fragile. Osteoporotic fractures greatly reduce quality of life, and immobilization following a fracture can lead to further bone loss which puts these patients at risk for breaking another bone.
When SpaceX CRS-11 launched to the space station last June, it carried 40 mice to the ISS National Lab for a mission aimed at improving treatment for the millions of people with osteoporosis back on Earth. The Rodent Research (RR)-5 mission successfully proved the robustness of a new potential osteoporosis therapy based on a naturally produced protein, NELL-1, and also led to significant improvements in the delivery of the therapy.
Jun 28, 2018
Two New Papers Offers Clues to Mars’ Weird History
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: space travel
As far as humans are concerned, Mars has two stories. One is in the present: We’re trying to send our ships and our astronauts to the Red Planet in order to understand what it’s like today. But much of that work is meant to tell a second story—what the planet used to be like.
Jun 28, 2018
Bill Gates says gamer bots from Elon Musk-backed nonprofit are ‘huge milestone’ in A.I.
Posted by Klaus Baldauf in categories: Elon Musk, robotics/AI
Jun 28, 2018
Electric vehicles are gaining momentum, despite Trump
Posted by Bill Kemp in category: transportation
Policymakers and analysts are digging into the details of how to get more EVs on the road.
Jun 28, 2018
Sleep-focused neurotech firm Dreem raises $35M from Johnson&Johnson Innovation and Bpifrance
Posted by Alvaro Fernandez in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience
Dreeming big.
Dreem Announces $35 Million Financing from lead investors Johnson & Johnson Innovation and Bpifrance (press release):
“Dreem, a neurotechnology company, today announced the closing of a new round of funding, raising $35 million USD to rapidly accelerate product development, invest in strategic research and development, and advance the future of sleep technology. Last year, Dreem introduced a comprehensive solution to address a suite of sleep problems and enhance the quality of rest during the night. The Dreem headband monitors brain activity to track sleep accurately and uses auditory stimulation as a medium to help people fall asleep faster, get deeper sleep, and wake up refreshed.
Jun 28, 2018
Ocasio-Cortez’s climate plan is the only one that matches scientific consensus on the environment
Posted by Bill Kemp in categories: climatology, economics, government, sustainability
Ocasio-Cortez’s 100%-renewable plan puts her in agreement with a coalition of US mayors who have committed to the goal of complete decarbonization within their own cities. But Ocasio-Cortez, who has an economics degree, also couples that plank with an economic plan she is calling the Green New Deal.
In a major upset on Tuesday night, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old Latina democratic socialist from the Bronx, beat out the longtime US representative Joe Crowley in the New York primaries. In the overwhelmingly Democratic district, she is practically certain to win a seat in Congress during the general election in November.
Ocasio-Cortez’s climate-change platform would become the most progressive of that of any sitting Congressperson in the Democratic party—and her primary victory catapults that platform into the mainstream.
Jun 28, 2018
Kroger to test grocery deliveries with driverless cars
Posted by Bill Kemp in categories: robotics/AI, transportation
Kroger Co. is about to test whether it can steer supermarket customers away from crowded grocery aisles with a fleet of diminutive driverless cars designed to lower delivery costs.
The test program announced Thursday could make Kroger the first U.S. grocer to make deliveries with robotic cars that won’t have a human riding along to take control in case something goes wrong.
Cincinnati-based Kroger is teaming up with Nuro, a Silicon Valley startup founded two years ago by two engineers who worked on self-driving cars at Google. That Google project is now known as Waymo, which plans to introduce a ride-hailing service that is supposed to begin picking up passengers in fully autonomous cars by the end of this year.
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Jun 28, 2018
Dr. Anthony Atala — Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine
Posted by Nicola Bagalà in categories: biotech/medical, life extension
An interview with regenerative medicine luminary Dr. Anthony Atala.
After meeting him at the Astana Global Challenges Summit 2018, we’ve kindly been granted an interview by Dr. Anthony Atala, M.D., Director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the W. Boyce Professor and Chair of Urology at Wake Forest University.
Dr. Atala is one of the most influential names in the field of regenerative medicine and biotechnology. His research focuses on growing human cells and tissues for use in transplants, and given the constant dire need for organ donors worldwide, his work is poised to improve—and save—the lives of millions. He and his team have already successfully engineered and transplanted bladders into living patients, and as he’s told us himself, more types of tissue have been engineered and tested in models; hopefully, they will one day be usable in patients as well.
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