Gufi
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Yes leave the video,,, robot friends I am against throwing dodge balls on you and I like you
Micro stories - small news bits too small to have their own thread
- Thread starter SvenSvensonov
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Hamartia Antidote
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A Boston Dynamics Robot Montage Set to Scarface's Push It To The Limit
Boston Dynamic's robots increasingly resemble something from a Hollywood movie. So this montage of the automatons in action, set to the iconic piece of 80s movie soundtracking that isScarface (Push it to the Limit), is so very right. And so very wonderful, too.
Featuring the like of the Atlas robots running upstairs and PetMan doing push-ups, it's a synth-fuelled three minutes of robotic action that's impossible to resist. Tony Montana would be proud, we're sure.
It doesn't top this
Levina
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Thats an amazing robot isn't it?Watch This Bipedal Robot Get Hammered With Dodgeballs
Introducing ATRIAS, a bipedal robot designed and built by Dynamic Robotics Labs. Its developers are optimistic that it'll eventually become the world's fastest two-legged robot. Until then, it'll have to endure the physical abuse typically afforded robots these days.
ATRIAS stands for "Assume The Robot Is A Sphere." Alternately, the robot could have been named "Assume The Robot Is A Chicken" because its legs were inspired by that particular bird. According to Jonathan Hurst, a roboticist at the Oregon State University College of Engineering, it'll eventually be the fastest bipedal robot in the world. Much of its agility is derived from legs made from a lightweight carbon-fiber mechanism built up on fiberglass springs.
As noted by Dynamics Robotics Labs, the robot is "designed to move like a simple 'spring-mass' model, a theoretical model which is comparable to a pogo stick. This springy model can both walk and run with remarkable energy economy and in a fashion highly similar to humans and other animals".
In the latest batch of testing, ATRIAS successfully managed to resist kicks and a flurry of dodgeball strikes. Well, until one of the balls hit the emergency stop button.
View attachment 203427
The DARPA-funded robot could eventually serve in rescue situations, and even inspire prosthetic limbs, which will help restore natural movement. ATRIAS is scheduled to demo its skills at the upcoming DARPA Robotics Challenge in June.
@Nihonjin1051 @levina @Peter C @AMDR @Gabriel92 - would you guys (and gal) like to join me in welcoming our new robot overlords?
I'm somebody who celebrates trivial achievements in my life, like I was on cloud nine when I created my first animation (which was create a rotating fan Lolzz).
I'm wondering what kinda high do the roboticist get when they create such successful robots. To add to it, these robots would bring a change in the lives of many. I wish I could be roboticist too working on something which would serve humanity. I wish!
SvenSvensonov
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A New Synthetic Compound Can Neutralize Chemical Weapons in Minutes
Chemical weapons are a dangerous and all-to-real threat. Now, a team of scientists hasdeveloped a new compound that can deactivate chemical weapons—including nerve agents like sarin—in just minutes.
A team from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, have found inspiration for the new compound in enzymes called phosphotriesterases. Usually produced by bacteria, these proteins deactivate some pesticides—and nerves gases—in milliseconds. Problem is, those enzymes can break down easily, losing their ability to halt the actions of the dangerous compounds.
So the researchers attempted to reproduce the same effects using a synthetic catalyst. Science describes nicely how they went about the process:
They started with metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), a recently developed class of porous compounds composed of metals arranged in a crystalline network linked by carbon-based molecules. MOFs are highly adaptable materials... and because MOFs are porous, they have large surface areas that can rapidly create chemical bonds, making them good candidates for catalysts.
In the natural enzyme, phosphotriesterase, two zinc atoms act as so-called Lewis acids, which accept electrons to bind with the nerve agent. Once the agent has bonded, hydrolysis occurs—a water molecule attacks the agent, slicing and dicing essential chemical bonds, thereby deactivating it. The scientists designed a MOF with a similar structure, but they replaced the zinc with zirconium, which likewise behaves as a Lewis acid and makes for an ultrastable MOF.
In tests published in Nature Materials, the team used their catalyst to deactivate a pesticide similar to nerve agents but safer to use in the lab. Experiments showed that the new compounds—known as NU-1000—deactivated half of the pesticide in 15 minutes. Further testing by U.S army facilities has shown that it neutralizes half of the nerve agent GD—more toxic than the well-known sarin—in just three minutes. The researchers claim that that's 80 times faster than any previous compound has managed.
It's still not perfect, though. Indeed, the natural version—though fragile—works up to 100,000 times faster, so the team certainly has some way to go before it's as good as nature itself. But for now, it's a significant milestone in the quest to keep the world safe from chemical warfare.
This Is the World’s Highest Peak-Power Laser Diode Array
Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have created the world's highest peak-power laser diode array, capable of creating up to 3.2 megawatts. The new device will be used in Europe's new Extreme Light facility, which will be as bad-*** as it sounds.
The diode array will sit within the High-Repetition-Rate Advanced Petawatt Laser System at the European Union's Extreme Light Infrastructure Beamlines facility, which is being built in the Czech Republic. The new array is designed as a replacement for flashlamps, which are currently used as the primary light source for laser sources in extreme light testing facilities. Flashlamp installations typically create light pulses once per second; the new array can fire 10 times per second, sending out kilojoule laser pulses each time. Andy Bayramian, one of the researchers working on the project, explains:
"Flashlamp technology for lasers has been around for more than 50 years, and we've pretty much pushed the limits of that technology and maxed out what we can do with them. We've closed the books on flashlamps and started a new one with these laser diode arrays, enabling a far more advanced class of high-energy laser systems."
The new array uses a pulsed-power system that draws electricity from the grid and then converts it into "extremely high-current, precisely shaped electrical pulses." By high current, they mean a staggering 40,000 amps. The complete High-Repetition-Rate Advanced Petawatt Laser System will produce laser pulses with powers greater than one petawatt at a repetition rate of 10 Hertz, with each pulse lasting 30 femtoseconds. It should be up and running by 2017.
New Liquid 3D Printing System Is 25 Times Faster Than Its Competitors
3D printing isn't short of advocates in the design and engineering world, because of its ability to easily produce prototypes—but it can be slow. A new company called Carbon3D hopes to change that, though, with a new 3D printing method that claims to be 25-100 times faster than other resin printing techniques.
The start-up has just emerged from stealth, 3Dprint reports, announcing its new technique called Continuous Liquid Interface Production. CLIP seems to build on an existing 3D printing technique which uses photosensitive resin and a laser to cure it into a solid. But unlike similar techniques, which perform that process layer-by-layer, CLIP uses laser light to cure along with oxygen to inhibit the process—allowing it to actually print in 3 dimensions at once.
The printer uses a transparent and oxygen-permeable window, which allows it to control the amount of oxygen and laser light incident on the liquid resin. Its makers claim that the printer offers such fine control over oxygen exposure that it it can be used to create spots that won't be cured as small as tens of microns thick. Meanwhile, the laser can zip across the surface, curing spots that aren't exposed to oxygen. You can see it in action below.
Exact details of how they achieve all this remain under wraps—at least to most of us. But Carbon3D has told at least some people about how the technology works, because its managed to secure a cool $41 million in funding to date from venture capital firms.
Printing at such swift rates is clearly incredibly desirable. If CLIP can be turned into a commercial product it could take 3D printing from prototyping niche to something that's genuinely useful in everyday manufacturing. And that's exactly what 3D printing is waiting for.
Chemical weapons are a dangerous and all-to-real threat. Now, a team of scientists hasdeveloped a new compound that can deactivate chemical weapons—including nerve agents like sarin—in just minutes.
A team from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, have found inspiration for the new compound in enzymes called phosphotriesterases. Usually produced by bacteria, these proteins deactivate some pesticides—and nerves gases—in milliseconds. Problem is, those enzymes can break down easily, losing their ability to halt the actions of the dangerous compounds.
So the researchers attempted to reproduce the same effects using a synthetic catalyst. Science describes nicely how they went about the process:
They started with metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), a recently developed class of porous compounds composed of metals arranged in a crystalline network linked by carbon-based molecules. MOFs are highly adaptable materials... and because MOFs are porous, they have large surface areas that can rapidly create chemical bonds, making them good candidates for catalysts.
In the natural enzyme, phosphotriesterase, two zinc atoms act as so-called Lewis acids, which accept electrons to bind with the nerve agent. Once the agent has bonded, hydrolysis occurs—a water molecule attacks the agent, slicing and dicing essential chemical bonds, thereby deactivating it. The scientists designed a MOF with a similar structure, but they replaced the zinc with zirconium, which likewise behaves as a Lewis acid and makes for an ultrastable MOF.
In tests published in Nature Materials, the team used their catalyst to deactivate a pesticide similar to nerve agents but safer to use in the lab. Experiments showed that the new compounds—known as NU-1000—deactivated half of the pesticide in 15 minutes. Further testing by U.S army facilities has shown that it neutralizes half of the nerve agent GD—more toxic than the well-known sarin—in just three minutes. The researchers claim that that's 80 times faster than any previous compound has managed.
It's still not perfect, though. Indeed, the natural version—though fragile—works up to 100,000 times faster, so the team certainly has some way to go before it's as good as nature itself. But for now, it's a significant milestone in the quest to keep the world safe from chemical warfare.
This Is the World’s Highest Peak-Power Laser Diode Array
Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have created the world's highest peak-power laser diode array, capable of creating up to 3.2 megawatts. The new device will be used in Europe's new Extreme Light facility, which will be as bad-*** as it sounds.
The diode array will sit within the High-Repetition-Rate Advanced Petawatt Laser System at the European Union's Extreme Light Infrastructure Beamlines facility, which is being built in the Czech Republic. The new array is designed as a replacement for flashlamps, which are currently used as the primary light source for laser sources in extreme light testing facilities. Flashlamp installations typically create light pulses once per second; the new array can fire 10 times per second, sending out kilojoule laser pulses each time. Andy Bayramian, one of the researchers working on the project, explains:
"Flashlamp technology for lasers has been around for more than 50 years, and we've pretty much pushed the limits of that technology and maxed out what we can do with them. We've closed the books on flashlamps and started a new one with these laser diode arrays, enabling a far more advanced class of high-energy laser systems."
The new array uses a pulsed-power system that draws electricity from the grid and then converts it into "extremely high-current, precisely shaped electrical pulses." By high current, they mean a staggering 40,000 amps. The complete High-Repetition-Rate Advanced Petawatt Laser System will produce laser pulses with powers greater than one petawatt at a repetition rate of 10 Hertz, with each pulse lasting 30 femtoseconds. It should be up and running by 2017.
New Liquid 3D Printing System Is 25 Times Faster Than Its Competitors
3D printing isn't short of advocates in the design and engineering world, because of its ability to easily produce prototypes—but it can be slow. A new company called Carbon3D hopes to change that, though, with a new 3D printing method that claims to be 25-100 times faster than other resin printing techniques.
The start-up has just emerged from stealth, 3Dprint reports, announcing its new technique called Continuous Liquid Interface Production. CLIP seems to build on an existing 3D printing technique which uses photosensitive resin and a laser to cure it into a solid. But unlike similar techniques, which perform that process layer-by-layer, CLIP uses laser light to cure along with oxygen to inhibit the process—allowing it to actually print in 3 dimensions at once.
The printer uses a transparent and oxygen-permeable window, which allows it to control the amount of oxygen and laser light incident on the liquid resin. Its makers claim that the printer offers such fine control over oxygen exposure that it it can be used to create spots that won't be cured as small as tens of microns thick. Meanwhile, the laser can zip across the surface, curing spots that aren't exposed to oxygen. You can see it in action below.
Exact details of how they achieve all this remain under wraps—at least to most of us. But Carbon3D has told at least some people about how the technology works, because its managed to secure a cool $41 million in funding to date from venture capital firms.
Printing at such swift rates is clearly incredibly desirable. If CLIP can be turned into a commercial product it could take 3D printing from prototyping niche to something that's genuinely useful in everyday manufacturing. And that's exactly what 3D printing is waiting for.
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SvenSvensonov
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Awesome liquid 3D printer oozes out things from goo
This new Carbon3D printer totally looks like the science fiction future but it's real. The liquid 3D printing method uses liquid resin, laser light and oxygen to print out things up to 25-100 times faster than traditional 3D printers. It's fascinating technology and it looks like things are just magically rising from the gooey liquid, fully formed.
Below, you can see it print out a Eiffel Tower model pretty quickly. Read more about Carbon3D here.
This new Carbon3D printer totally looks like the science fiction future but it's real. The liquid 3D printing method uses liquid resin, laser light and oxygen to print out things up to 25-100 times faster than traditional 3D printers. It's fascinating technology and it looks like things are just magically rising from the gooey liquid, fully formed.
Below, you can see it print out a Eiffel Tower model pretty quickly. Read more about Carbon3D here.
SvenSvensonov
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A 3D View Inside the Earth's Liquid Core, Based On Earthquakes
Every so often, earthquakes remind us that the solid ground beneath our feet can tremble and shake like rock jello. But there's an upside to all this shaking: Seismic waves are how we peer deep inside the Earth to map what's under the crust.
The Titan computer at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee was used to generate this map based on how seismic waves pass through the Earth. Red indicates slower waves and blue faster ones. New Scientist explains.
Seismic data allows us to build up a picture of the mantle – the layer between the crust and outer core of the Earth – by following the fate of vibrations created by earthquakes. Since they travel more slowly through viscous materials, such as molten magma, than through solid rock, analysing the seismic fallout from hundreds of earthquakes worldwide reveals inner features like mineral deposits, subterranean lakes and the movement and shape of tectonic plates.
Having mapped parts of Europe, California, and China, the researchers are currently working on mapping the entire Earth down through its mantle, over 1800 miles deep. So what's all the way down there? Only an earthquake will tell...
A 3D View Inside the Earth's Liquid Core, Based On Earthquakes
Every so often, earthquakes remind us that the solid ground beneath our feet can tremble and shake like rock jello. But there's an upside to all this shaking: Seismic waves are how we peer deep inside the Earth to map what's under the crust.
The Titan computer at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee was used to generate this map based on how seismic waves pass through the Earth. Red indicates slower waves and blue faster ones. New Scientist explains.
Seismic data allows us to build up a picture of the mantle – the layer between the crust and outer core of the Earth – by following the fate of vibrations created by earthquakes. Since they travel more slowly through viscous materials, such as molten magma, than through solid rock, analysing the seismic fallout from hundreds of earthquakes worldwide reveals inner features like mineral deposits, subterranean lakes and the movement and shape of tectonic plates.
Having mapped parts of Europe, California, and China, the researchers are currently working on mapping the entire Earth down through its mantle, over 1800 miles deep. So what's all the way down there? Only an earthquake will tell...
A 3D View Inside the Earth's Liquid Core, Based On Earthquakes
SvenSvensonov
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A bit of trivia today
That Emergency Exit Sign Is Radioactive (But That's Okay)
One of the major requirements of an illuminated exit sign is it has to keep glowing no matter what. That means that, if power is cut to the building, or if the sign itself gets knocked around, power has to keep flowing. What's the power source? Radiation. But there's no need to panic.
In 1934, three physicists, among them the famous Ernest Rutherford, were smashing deuterium atoms with other deuterium atom nuclei. Deuterium atoms consist of a regular hydrogen atom with a neutron attached. Given the ingredients, the scientists should probably have gotten a lot of helium atoms. Instead, they got tritium – an isotope of hydrogen with two neutrons instead of just one.
Tritium isn't a hard isotope to produce. When cosmic rays go careening through the atmosphere and happen to hit a couple of deuterium atoms, they can produce tritium just the way the physicists did. Since deuterium is rare, it's more common for the cosmic rays to hit nitrogen, which scrambles and recombines with a neutron into tritium. Humans also create tritium. It's a by-product of nuclear reactions.
Tritium can be dangerous, but overall it has probably saved more lives than it has cost. It's what's powering the green glow of emergency exit lights. Tritium decays when one of its neutrons turns into a proton, turning it from a hydrogen isotope into a helium isotope. When the atom does this, it shoots out both an electron. If this electron should hit a phosphor, the phosphor will glow. Many luminous consumer goods are tubes or screens of glass, coated with phosphors and containing tritium gas.
So what happens when these tubes get broken? It's true that beta particles count as "ionizing radiation," which, in the body, has been known to cause cancer. However, outside of the body, the electrons, or "beta particles," can't get through a sheet of aluminum foil. Beta radiation generally only penetrates the outer layers of skin, but enough of it can burn the new-forming skin underneath the layers of dead cells.
Slightly more worrying than tritium gas is titrated water. Tritium, when exposed to oxygen, will combine to make H2O. This is a substance that people often put into their body. Fortunately, the tritium doesn't have to stay in the body any longer than the water does, and getting water out of a body can be fun. It wasn't uncommon for scientists at Los Alamos, when working with reactions that produced tritium, to head down to a bar and have a drink. The intake of beer would flush the tritium out of their system.
That Emergency Exit Sign Is Radioactive (But That's Okay)
One of the major requirements of an illuminated exit sign is it has to keep glowing no matter what. That means that, if power is cut to the building, or if the sign itself gets knocked around, power has to keep flowing. What's the power source? Radiation. But there's no need to panic.
In 1934, three physicists, among them the famous Ernest Rutherford, were smashing deuterium atoms with other deuterium atom nuclei. Deuterium atoms consist of a regular hydrogen atom with a neutron attached. Given the ingredients, the scientists should probably have gotten a lot of helium atoms. Instead, they got tritium – an isotope of hydrogen with two neutrons instead of just one.
Tritium isn't a hard isotope to produce. When cosmic rays go careening through the atmosphere and happen to hit a couple of deuterium atoms, they can produce tritium just the way the physicists did. Since deuterium is rare, it's more common for the cosmic rays to hit nitrogen, which scrambles and recombines with a neutron into tritium. Humans also create tritium. It's a by-product of nuclear reactions.
Tritium can be dangerous, but overall it has probably saved more lives than it has cost. It's what's powering the green glow of emergency exit lights. Tritium decays when one of its neutrons turns into a proton, turning it from a hydrogen isotope into a helium isotope. When the atom does this, it shoots out both an electron. If this electron should hit a phosphor, the phosphor will glow. Many luminous consumer goods are tubes or screens of glass, coated with phosphors and containing tritium gas.
So what happens when these tubes get broken? It's true that beta particles count as "ionizing radiation," which, in the body, has been known to cause cancer. However, outside of the body, the electrons, or "beta particles," can't get through a sheet of aluminum foil. Beta radiation generally only penetrates the outer layers of skin, but enough of it can burn the new-forming skin underneath the layers of dead cells.
Slightly more worrying than tritium gas is titrated water. Tritium, when exposed to oxygen, will combine to make H2O. This is a substance that people often put into their body. Fortunately, the tritium doesn't have to stay in the body any longer than the water does, and getting water out of a body can be fun. It wasn't uncommon for scientists at Los Alamos, when working with reactions that produced tritium, to head down to a bar and have a drink. The intake of beer would flush the tritium out of their system.
SvenSvensonov
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Stunning footage of molten lava proves that volcanoes are hell monsters
This is the most terrifying thing I've seen in a long time. Like, monsters are real and the apocalypse is nigh terrifying. And yet I can't look away because the footage of Hawaii's Kilauea volcano is so stunning that I can smell my fear burning as the molten lava rock starts taking over the Earth.
Kilauea is the most active volcano in Hawaii and Lance Page wanted to document the volcano's violent beauty and came away with absolutely daring footage for his short Kilauea - The Fire Within. Page writes:
Many in Hawaii refer to the lava as 'Pele', the Hawaiian goddess of fire. After our incredible experiences at the volcano it's not hard to see why so many islanders to this day see her as a living breathing thing. I wanted to capture her beauty and mysteriousness as well as her unimaginable power in the best way that I knew how. I wanted to just see it doing what it does. I shied away from any human interaction and turned the cameras to the fiery blood of the Earth.
This six and a half minute film is my best attempt at capturing what it felt like to witness molten rock slowly burning down a dense wet rainforest or to peer into a six-hundred-foot-wide lava lake at Kilauea's summit crater.
Harrier Has Stuck Nose Gear, Lands On A Stool, Pilot Is Awesome
They say Harrier pilots are some of the best in the world as the aircraft is notoriously hard to handle in hover. This video is further proof that this statement is true. Talk about nailing it!
This is the most terrifying thing I've seen in a long time. Like, monsters are real and the apocalypse is nigh terrifying. And yet I can't look away because the footage of Hawaii's Kilauea volcano is so stunning that I can smell my fear burning as the molten lava rock starts taking over the Earth.
Kilauea is the most active volcano in Hawaii and Lance Page wanted to document the volcano's violent beauty and came away with absolutely daring footage for his short Kilauea - The Fire Within. Page writes:
Many in Hawaii refer to the lava as 'Pele', the Hawaiian goddess of fire. After our incredible experiences at the volcano it's not hard to see why so many islanders to this day see her as a living breathing thing. I wanted to capture her beauty and mysteriousness as well as her unimaginable power in the best way that I knew how. I wanted to just see it doing what it does. I shied away from any human interaction and turned the cameras to the fiery blood of the Earth.
This six and a half minute film is my best attempt at capturing what it felt like to witness molten rock slowly burning down a dense wet rainforest or to peer into a six-hundred-foot-wide lava lake at Kilauea's summit crater.
Harrier Has Stuck Nose Gear, Lands On A Stool, Pilot Is Awesome
They say Harrier pilots are some of the best in the world as the aircraft is notoriously hard to handle in hover. This video is further proof that this statement is true. Talk about nailing it!
SvenSvensonov
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Spectacular Night Photos of the New Puma Helicopter
These night photos of an AF Puma Mk2 helicopter being loaded onto a C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft, illuminated by runway lights, at Brize Norton, the largest station of the Royal Air Force, are simply too good to handle.
The RAF's latest Puma helicopter is being deployed for the first time on operations in support of the NATO mission providing training and assistance to Afghan forces. Its departure came just days before the Ministry Of Defence announced that the new Puma, and the RAF's latest version of the Chinook, the Mark 6, were both ready for operational use, says the official statement released today.
These night photos of an AF Puma Mk2 helicopter being loaded onto a C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft, illuminated by runway lights, at Brize Norton, the largest station of the Royal Air Force, are simply too good to handle.
The RAF's latest Puma helicopter is being deployed for the first time on operations in support of the NATO mission providing training and assistance to Afghan forces. Its departure came just days before the Ministry Of Defence announced that the new Puma, and the RAF's latest version of the Chinook, the Mark 6, were both ready for operational use, says the official statement released today.
SvenSvensonov
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Say Hello To The Two Newest Species Of Vampire Crab
On the left is Geosesarma dennerle, on the right G. hagen. Both have yellow eyes, hence "vampire" crabs. The origins of these colorful crustaceans, which have long been sold as pets, have eluded scientists for years. Now, researchers have given them official names, and traced them to their Indonesian source.
On the left is Geosesarma dennerle, on the right G. hagen. Both have yellow eyes, hence "vampire" crabs. The origins of these colorful crustaceans, which have long been sold as pets, have eluded scientists for years. Now, researchers have given them official names, and traced them to their Indonesian source.
WAJsal
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DNA Nanobots Set To Seek and Destroy Cancer Cells In Human Trial
This year, researchers hope that tiny robots built entirely of DNA will help save a critically ill leukemia patient. These DNA nanobots are designed to seek out and destroy cancer cells, while leaving healthy cells unscathed. So far, they’ve only been tested in cell cultures and animal studies.
Ido Bachelet of Israel’s Bar-Ilan University (and formerly of Harvard’s Wyss Institute)announced their human trial last year at the British Friends of Bar-Ilan University event. “No, no it’s not science fiction,” he said. "It’s already happening."
The technology is modeled after our body’s own defenses. Like white blood cells, the nanobots patrol the bloodstream, looking for signs of distress. DNA is a naturally biocompatible and biodegradable material, and the devices are designed to not incite an immune response.
In a 2012 Science paper, Bachelet and colleagues described a DNA nanobot shaped like a hexagonal tube, with its two halves connected by a latched hinge (pictured above). When the little device recognizes a target cell based on its surface proteins, the two halves swing open like a clam to deliver a tiny but deadly cargo of drugs or nanoparticles. These could be molecules that force cancer cells to self-destruct by interfering with their growth, for example. When the researchers released their tiny bots into a mixture of healthy and cancerous human blood cells, half of the cancer cells were destroyed within three days. No healthy cells were harmed.
Then about a year ago, a newer version of these DNA nanobots were injected into live cockroaches. These devices were created using DNA strands that would self-assemble into a box with a controllable lid. Each box contained a molecule that binds hemolymph cells (like blood cells in people), and the nanobots themselves were labeled with fluorescent markers so Bachelet's could follow them. These findings, published in Nature Nanotechnology, demonstrated the accuracy of their tiny delivery system.
Is this nano-sized technology now ready for humans? In his announcement last year, Bachelet said the DNA nanobots can currently identify 12 different types of cells in humans, ranging from solid tumors to the abnormal white blood cells associated with leukemia.
The patient selected for this year’s early trial has been given only a few more months to live. The team expects to remove the cancer within one month.
@levina ,you opened a thread on somewhat similar topic,i guess.
How Quickly Would A Zombie Outbreak Spread?
A month ago we brought you the wondrous news that Cornell graduate students have used the latest epidemiological techniques to provide advice for surviving zombie outbreaks. Now, they have added an interactive map so you can play Zombietown, changing parameters to witness the effect it has on the undead spread.
To demonstrate the substance behind the moving pixels, Alex Alemi and Matt Bierbaum and their colleagues have submitted a paper to Quantitative Biology, available in preprint on ArXiv.org, under the wonderful name "You Can Run, You Can Hide: The Epidemiology and Statistical Mechanics of Zombies."
As the paper notes, “The idea of a deadly disease that not only kills its hosts, but turns those hosts into deadly vectors for the disease is scary enough to fuel an entire genre of horror stories and films.” Nevertheless, it adds, “zombism...should be amenable to some of the same kinds of analysis and study that more traditional diseases have long benefited from.”
After starting with the spread of zombism through a homogenous lattice, the authors repeated the research using census data for the continental United States to see how unevenly concentrated populations affect the outcomes.
While the previously reported research suggested the Rocky Mountains was the place to go if you want to survive a zombie outbreak long enough to invent a cure, the latest work has an interesting insight into where to avoid: After 28 days, it is not the largest metropolitan areas that suffer the greatest risk, but the regions located between large metropolitan areas. The area with the greatest one month zombie risk is northeastern Pennsylvania, which is susceptible to outbreaks originating in any of the large metropolitan areas on the east coast.
There's no need to take their word for it. Hours of fun can be had exploring the rate at which zombies will overrun districts using three parameters: the kill-to-bite ratio (i.e. the chance a human will kill a zombie they encounter before being bitten), the speed at which zombies shuffle and the number of steps. You start the game by choosing where the original zombie appears.
Screenshot from Matt Bierbaum interactive map. 28 days and a few minutes after a zombie washes ashore in New Orleans, the parameters (top left) see most of the South overrun.
The work has attracted attention from serious zombie geeks, who point out that these are "28 Days Later" zombies, rather than those that allow for the possibility of the dead rising. The simulation also does not allow for an incubation period, which would allow movement by air.
The authors have a serious intent behind their work. They want to teach people about the way infectious diseases spread. Originally, they were hoping to find a way to make classes more interesting for those studying the topic. Now, however, they are addressing the lack of understanding that provokes baseless panic about ebola in wealthy nations, while
preventable diseases make a comeback because people don't understand herd immunity.
What's The Highest And Lowest Point On Earth?
photo credit: Chiltern Thrust Bore
Whether it be ghostly fish swimming in the deep, dark depths of the ocean or hundreds of humans hurtling through the air on a man-made invention, this infographic has got you covered. Check out the highest and lowest points on Earth below.
Cancer Drug Shows Promise In Treating Spinal Cord Injuries
photo credit: BioMedical / Shutterstock
spinal cord injuries is often poor is because damaged nerve cells within this region don’t regenerate. Scientists are therefore endeavoring to develop therapies that promote nerve cell regrowth at the site of injury, but few have offered much hope so far. Now, scientists may have some promising candidates on their hands with the discovery that a class of FDA approved anticancer drugs not only boosted cell regeneration in rodents with spinal cord injuries, but they also improved the animals’ motor skills, such as walking. The study has been published in Science.
Unlike nerve cells in other areas of the body, such as the limbs and torso, those in the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) fail to regenerate after injury. Although scientists do not fully understand why, it is believed to be a consequence of several different factors, including the formation of scar tissue and the presence of various inhibitory factors that prevent the nerve cell’s long stringy projection, called an axon, from regrowing. If the axon can’t repair itself, the flow of information between nerves is interrupted, which is why many with spinal cord injuries suffer disabilities or paralysis.
Recently, lab studies demonstrated that it is possible to promote axon regeneration using a combination of drugs and interventions that ultimately result in stabilization of the rigid, hollow rods within cells known as microtubules. These structures, which are constantly growing and shrinking, perform a variety of cellular functions, including providing mechanical support, determining cell shape and assisting cell movement. Unfortunately, the fact that so many different treatments were required, some of which can’t reach the brain, meant that translating this as a valid clinical therapy would be exceedingly difficult.
Armed with the knowledge that it is indeed possible to boost axon regeneration, an international team of scientists, led by researchers at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, aimed to find a way to achieve this outcome but with a clinically feasible technique. They decided to investigate the potential of a class of FDA-approved anticancer drugs called epothilones, which are not only capable of reaching the brain, but also act to stabilize microtubules.
The researchers therefore administered one of these drugs, called epitholone B, to rats with spinal cord injuries and monitored their progress. They found that those treated with epothilone B showed a significant reduction in scar tissue at the site of trauma, which is important since this tissue contains axon growth inhibitory factors. They discovered that this was the result of the drug inhibiting the microtubules from forming within the scar tissue-producing cells, which prevented them from migrating towards the injury site. Concomitantly, epothilone B also promoted microtubule extension within the tips of nerve cell axons, which propelled their growth and thus assisted their regeneration.
Of course, these effects are fairly meaningless if a clinical improvement is not observed, so the researchers investigated whether the drug also benefitted their motor function. Using a clinically relevant spinal cord injury model, the researchers found that epothilone B improved both walking balance and coordination in the animals, which is promising. The researchers would therefore like to continue their work by investigating the drug’s efficacy in different types of injury.
This year, researchers hope that tiny robots built entirely of DNA will help save a critically ill leukemia patient. These DNA nanobots are designed to seek out and destroy cancer cells, while leaving healthy cells unscathed. So far, they’ve only been tested in cell cultures and animal studies.
Ido Bachelet of Israel’s Bar-Ilan University (and formerly of Harvard’s Wyss Institute)announced their human trial last year at the British Friends of Bar-Ilan University event. “No, no it’s not science fiction,” he said. "It’s already happening."
The technology is modeled after our body’s own defenses. Like white blood cells, the nanobots patrol the bloodstream, looking for signs of distress. DNA is a naturally biocompatible and biodegradable material, and the devices are designed to not incite an immune response.
In a 2012 Science paper, Bachelet and colleagues described a DNA nanobot shaped like a hexagonal tube, with its two halves connected by a latched hinge (pictured above). When the little device recognizes a target cell based on its surface proteins, the two halves swing open like a clam to deliver a tiny but deadly cargo of drugs or nanoparticles. These could be molecules that force cancer cells to self-destruct by interfering with their growth, for example. When the researchers released their tiny bots into a mixture of healthy and cancerous human blood cells, half of the cancer cells were destroyed within three days. No healthy cells were harmed.
Then about a year ago, a newer version of these DNA nanobots were injected into live cockroaches. These devices were created using DNA strands that would self-assemble into a box with a controllable lid. Each box contained a molecule that binds hemolymph cells (like blood cells in people), and the nanobots themselves were labeled with fluorescent markers so Bachelet's could follow them. These findings, published in Nature Nanotechnology, demonstrated the accuracy of their tiny delivery system.
Is this nano-sized technology now ready for humans? In his announcement last year, Bachelet said the DNA nanobots can currently identify 12 different types of cells in humans, ranging from solid tumors to the abnormal white blood cells associated with leukemia.
The patient selected for this year’s early trial has been given only a few more months to live. The team expects to remove the cancer within one month.
@levina ,you opened a thread on somewhat similar topic,i guess.
How Quickly Would A Zombie Outbreak Spread?
A month ago we brought you the wondrous news that Cornell graduate students have used the latest epidemiological techniques to provide advice for surviving zombie outbreaks. Now, they have added an interactive map so you can play Zombietown, changing parameters to witness the effect it has on the undead spread.
To demonstrate the substance behind the moving pixels, Alex Alemi and Matt Bierbaum and their colleagues have submitted a paper to Quantitative Biology, available in preprint on ArXiv.org, under the wonderful name "You Can Run, You Can Hide: The Epidemiology and Statistical Mechanics of Zombies."
As the paper notes, “The idea of a deadly disease that not only kills its hosts, but turns those hosts into deadly vectors for the disease is scary enough to fuel an entire genre of horror stories and films.” Nevertheless, it adds, “zombism...should be amenable to some of the same kinds of analysis and study that more traditional diseases have long benefited from.”
After starting with the spread of zombism through a homogenous lattice, the authors repeated the research using census data for the continental United States to see how unevenly concentrated populations affect the outcomes.
While the previously reported research suggested the Rocky Mountains was the place to go if you want to survive a zombie outbreak long enough to invent a cure, the latest work has an interesting insight into where to avoid: After 28 days, it is not the largest metropolitan areas that suffer the greatest risk, but the regions located between large metropolitan areas. The area with the greatest one month zombie risk is northeastern Pennsylvania, which is susceptible to outbreaks originating in any of the large metropolitan areas on the east coast.
There's no need to take their word for it. Hours of fun can be had exploring the rate at which zombies will overrun districts using three parameters: the kill-to-bite ratio (i.e. the chance a human will kill a zombie they encounter before being bitten), the speed at which zombies shuffle and the number of steps. You start the game by choosing where the original zombie appears.
Screenshot from Matt Bierbaum interactive map. 28 days and a few minutes after a zombie washes ashore in New Orleans, the parameters (top left) see most of the South overrun.
The work has attracted attention from serious zombie geeks, who point out that these are "28 Days Later" zombies, rather than those that allow for the possibility of the dead rising. The simulation also does not allow for an incubation period, which would allow movement by air.
The authors have a serious intent behind their work. They want to teach people about the way infectious diseases spread. Originally, they were hoping to find a way to make classes more interesting for those studying the topic. Now, however, they are addressing the lack of understanding that provokes baseless panic about ebola in wealthy nations, while
preventable diseases make a comeback because people don't understand herd immunity.
What's The Highest And Lowest Point On Earth?
photo credit: Chiltern Thrust Bore
Whether it be ghostly fish swimming in the deep, dark depths of the ocean or hundreds of humans hurtling through the air on a man-made invention, this infographic has got you covered. Check out the highest and lowest points on Earth below.
Cancer Drug Shows Promise In Treating Spinal Cord Injuries
photo credit: BioMedical / Shutterstock
spinal cord injuries is often poor is because damaged nerve cells within this region don’t regenerate. Scientists are therefore endeavoring to develop therapies that promote nerve cell regrowth at the site of injury, but few have offered much hope so far. Now, scientists may have some promising candidates on their hands with the discovery that a class of FDA approved anticancer drugs not only boosted cell regeneration in rodents with spinal cord injuries, but they also improved the animals’ motor skills, such as walking. The study has been published in Science.
Unlike nerve cells in other areas of the body, such as the limbs and torso, those in the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) fail to regenerate after injury. Although scientists do not fully understand why, it is believed to be a consequence of several different factors, including the formation of scar tissue and the presence of various inhibitory factors that prevent the nerve cell’s long stringy projection, called an axon, from regrowing. If the axon can’t repair itself, the flow of information between nerves is interrupted, which is why many with spinal cord injuries suffer disabilities or paralysis.
Recently, lab studies demonstrated that it is possible to promote axon regeneration using a combination of drugs and interventions that ultimately result in stabilization of the rigid, hollow rods within cells known as microtubules. These structures, which are constantly growing and shrinking, perform a variety of cellular functions, including providing mechanical support, determining cell shape and assisting cell movement. Unfortunately, the fact that so many different treatments were required, some of which can’t reach the brain, meant that translating this as a valid clinical therapy would be exceedingly difficult.
Armed with the knowledge that it is indeed possible to boost axon regeneration, an international team of scientists, led by researchers at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, aimed to find a way to achieve this outcome but with a clinically feasible technique. They decided to investigate the potential of a class of FDA-approved anticancer drugs called epothilones, which are not only capable of reaching the brain, but also act to stabilize microtubules.
The researchers therefore administered one of these drugs, called epitholone B, to rats with spinal cord injuries and monitored their progress. They found that those treated with epothilone B showed a significant reduction in scar tissue at the site of trauma, which is important since this tissue contains axon growth inhibitory factors. They discovered that this was the result of the drug inhibiting the microtubules from forming within the scar tissue-producing cells, which prevented them from migrating towards the injury site. Concomitantly, epothilone B also promoted microtubule extension within the tips of nerve cell axons, which propelled their growth and thus assisted their regeneration.
Of course, these effects are fairly meaningless if a clinical improvement is not observed, so the researchers investigated whether the drug also benefitted their motor function. Using a clinically relevant spinal cord injury model, the researchers found that epothilone B improved both walking balance and coordination in the animals, which is promising. The researchers would therefore like to continue their work by investigating the drug’s efficacy in different types of injury.
Levina
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Yes it was about cancer's cure but the method was different.
I had read about that jellyfish, but isnt it awesome that it is literally immortal.
WAJsal
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I know,it's so friggin cool and scary.I have always hated jelly fishes 90% water.Imagine swimming in this
or with this
I'm gonna have nightmares.
Taygibay
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Yeah, I keep having to say that too … but don't worry, they get used to it pretty fast!
Thanx for the effort put in this thread by the way, great work mate, Tay.
Levina
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Dont scare me
...I've just recently started to go swimming in the sea. The second jelly fish is so huge.
Now watch this for fun
