Newly-Developed 'Synthetic Pores' Could Purify Water, Kill Tumours
Said to be 'inspired by nature' (calm down Galaxy S3 fans), a team of international researchers have created synthetic pores that accurately re-produce the function of cellular ion channels – proteins that allows our cells to absorb essential nutrients but keep the more harmful substances out, a vital role in human health.
NASA's Inflatable Heat Shield Passes Its Biggest Test Yet
Having travelled to a distance some 450 kilometres above the Atlantic Ocean and outside of Earth's atmosphere, before detaching from its launch rocket, inflating itself with nitrogen and proceeding to fall through Earth's atmosphere at hypersonic speeds, NASA's test of the latest iteration of inflatable heat shield has been a huge success.
A New Insight Into A Harvard Scientists' Bid For Immortality
Self-described “outlandishly futuristic thinker” and post-doctoral scientist at Harvard Ken Hayworth believes that he can live forever. Described in the article ‘The Strange Neuroscience of Immortality’ by Evan R. Goldstein, Hayworth theorises that the day will come where his ‘consciousness’ will be “revived on computer” after death, and predicts that by 2110 mind uploading – the transfer of a biological brain to a silicon-based operating system – will “be as common as laser eye surgery is today”.
Laser-Powered Bionic Eye Lends 576-Pixel Grayscale Vision To The Blind
A new bionic eye implant developed by company Nano Retina and which uses a vision-restoring sensor placed directly inside the eye is paving the way to restoring sight to completely blind patients.
Lab-Engineered Muscle Implants Prove Effective In Restoring Function To Animals
Researchers from the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have reported in the latest issue of Tissue Engineering Part A how laboratory-developed muscle tissue can significantly aid muscle regeneration and greatly improve function when implanted back into test subjects.
DARPA Fights Fire With Electricity And A Wall Of Sound
Throwing any conventional method of fire extinguishing out of the window, DARPA has been exploring the use of electricity and sound to put out the flames.
Asteroid-Miners Planetary Resources To Catch A Ride With Virgin Galactic
Though its best known for pushing ahead with plans to take paying customers into space, kick-starting widespread space tourism, Richard Branson this week announced at the Farnborough International Airshow that the company is still firmly behind its small satellite launch system. And the billionaire-backed asteroid-mining company Planetary Resources might well be one of its earliest adopters...
Self-Confessed Science Geek Builds Hand-Crafted Particle Accelerator
July 3rd 2012 will go down in scientific history for the day in which scientists from CERN confirmed they had evidence of the elusive ‘God particle’, or Higgs Boson. But for designer Patrick Stevenson-Keating, it brought a new-found relevancy to his very own, working model of a particle accelerator made entirely out of common household objects. Namely, glass bulbs, a pump, magnets and some 45,000 volts.
Researchers Develop Robotic Camera That Accurately Mimics Eye Movement
Researchers at the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology have succeeded in developing a robotic camera system equipped with muscle-like action that replicates the muscle motion of the human eye in ways never before seen. It is hoped the milestone will eventually make robotic tools safer, as well as making camera feeds from robots more intuitive to use.
Here's What Jupiter Would Look Like If It Was The Same Distance From Us As Our Moon
Space is massive, we get it. In fact, to us as humans, trying to get even the faintest inclination of the scope and size of our own solar system, let alone the universe or the milky way, is a task inconceivably difficult. To make sense of it all, there's a treasure trove of information, diagrams and visualisations out there that give us a remote idea of how enormous space and its respective planets truly are. But even so, few can match this picturesque effort by Redditor jb2386.
CERN Confirms Discovery Of New Particle Consistent With Higgs Boson
The European Organization For Nuclear Research have announced their observation of the heaviest boson particle ever found, which has given a strong case for proving the existence of the elusive Higgs.
Crowd-Funded Space Mission To Protect The Earth From Killer-Asteroids
Former NASA Astronauts and space scientists have announced their crowd-funded mission to map out the orbit of every potential earth-destroying asteroid, using a space telescope which will orbit around the sun.
US Army Tests 50 Billion Watt Lightning Bolt Laser Weapon
Imagine a weapon capable of firing 50 billion watt-powered laser-guided lightning bolt targets at enemies, and able to put out more power during the duration of the laser pulse than what a large city needs. While that might sound reminiscent of advanced warfare videogame or high-concept blockbuster, the device is in fact entirely real and has already been through extensive testing by the US armed forces.
Researchers Invent Oxygen-Restoring Micro-Particles, Gives Life To Those Who Can Not Breathe
A team of researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital have invented a liquid solution containing tiny, gas-filled micro-particles that can be injected directly into the bloodstream to quickly oxygenate the blood.
Heavy-Ion Collider Earns World Record For Producing Hottest Man-Made Temperature Ever
Scientists at New York’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, operators of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) who seek to duplicate the conditions that existed in the moments immediately following the Big Bang, have earned themselves a Guinness World Record (announced Monday 25th July) for reaching the hottest man-made temperature ever recorded. How hot you ask? Incomprehensibly hot - the scorching heat produced was an astonishing 7.2 trillion degrees Fahrenheit. Or 250,000 times hotter than the center of the sun.
Parkinson's Diagnosed By Voice Analysis Project
Parkinson's disease currently has no cure, is difficult to diagnose, and is an agonising condition for those living with it. This is where Applied mathematician Max Little comes in, as he introduced his fascinating work into spotting Parkinson's simply by analysing a person's voice.
'Science: It's A Girl Thing!' The Backlash Against The European Commission
The European Commission has made a great error. A frankly moronic error that makes them appear to be misogynistic idiots trying to sell a new perfume for teenagers called “Science”. But no, the following video isn’t advertising a new perfume (“with subtle hints of sulphur and a lingering scent of formaldehyde in a beautiful bottle designed to pay homage to the double helix”) it’s in fact trying to interest young women in science.
Aerospace Company Selling Tickets To The Moon, A Snip At $100 Million
The Isle Of Man-based commercial aerospace company Excalibur Almaz has said it is now ready to sell tickets for a 500,000-mile round trip, six month journey to the Moon's orbit and back. Tickets for the once-in-a-lifetime journey are expected to sell for as much as $100 million, though this has yet to be confirmed, and only those in peak physical condition will be accepted to board.
Scientists Develop Glucose Fuel Cell Which Could Power Medical Implants
Scientists from MIT have developed a fuel cell capable of running on the same sugar that powers the human bodies’ own cells. So far, the fuel cell is capable of generating hundreds of megawatts in power and has the capacity to be able to power highly-efficient medical implants which could be used to allow paralysed patients to move their arms and legs again.
London To New York In An Hour, By 4,000Mph ‘Vactrain’
From the west to the east coast of the United States in no more than 45 minutes, London to New York in just an hour, Washington DC to Beijing in a little over two hours through travelling at speeds of up to 4000 miles per hour. It sounds entirely implausible, but according to company ET3 and its ‘vactrain’ concept, it’s within our reach and it could well be the future of long-distance transportation.