Page 10981
Aug 15, 2016
Engineers Create The First Dust-Sized Wireless Sensors That Can Be Implanted Into The Human Body
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience
Engineers at the University of California, Berkeley have created the very first dust-sized wireless sensors that may be implanted within the body. This is bringing technology closer to the day that technologies such as the Fitbit will be able to monitor internal nerves, muscles and organs all in real time.
These devices do not require batteries and may also be able to stimulate nerves and muscles opening up doors for electroceuticals to treat disorders including epilepsy and stimulate the immune system or lower inflammation.
Aug 15, 2016
No More Pills? Tiny Nerve-Zapping Implants to Fight Disease
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience
Imagine a future where we can treat diabetes or autoimmune disorders with an electrical zap delivered by a device no larger than a speck of dust.
The device, implanted through microsurgery, sits silently on a single nerve bundle, monitoring electrical signals sent out by the brain to itself and various organs in the body.
Continue reading “No More Pills? Tiny Nerve-Zapping Implants to Fight Disease” »
Aug 15, 2016
Stanford-led experiments point toward memory chips 1,000 times faster than today’s
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in category: computing
Silicon chips can store data in billionths of a second, but phase-change memory could be 1,000 times faster, while using less energy and requiring less space.
Aug 15, 2016
Legions of nanorobots target cancerous tumours with precision
Posted by Gerard Bain in categories: biotech/medical, robotics/AI
Researchers from Polytechnique Montréal, Université de Montréal and McGill University have just achieved a spectacular breakthrough in cancer research. They have developed new nanorobotic agents capable of navigating through the bloodstream to administer a drug with precision by specifically targeting the active cancerous cells of tumours. This way of injecting medication ensures the optimal targeting of a tumour and avoids jeopardizing the integrity of organs and surrounding healthy tissues. As a result, the drug dosage that is highly toxic for the human organism could be significantly reduced.
This scientific breakthrough has just been published in the prestigious journal Nature Nanotechnology in an article titled “Magneto-aerotactic bacteria deliver drug-containing nanoliposomes to tumour hypoxic regions.” The article notes the results of the research done on mice, which were successfully administered nanorobotic agents into colorectal tumours.
“These legions of nanorobotic agents were actually composed of more than 100 million flagellated bacteria — and therefore self-propelled — and loaded with drugs that moved by taking the most direct path between the drug’s injection point and the area of the body to cure,” explains Professor Sylvain Martel, holder of the Canada Research Chair in Medical Nanorobotics and Director of the Polytechnique Montréal Nanorobotics Laboratory, who heads the research team’s work. “The drug’s propelling force was enough to travel efficiently and enter deep inside the tumours.”
Continue reading “Legions of nanorobots target cancerous tumours with precision” »
Aug 15, 2016
Anti-inflammatory drug reverses memory loss in Alzheimer’s-disease-model mice
Posted by Sean Brazell in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, genetics, life extension, neuroscience
Anti-inflammatory drug mefenamic acid completely reversed memory loss and brain inflammation in mice genetically engineered to develop symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and amyloid beta-induced memory loss, a team led by David Brough, PhD, from the University of Manchester has discovered.
The non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) drug targets an important inflammatory pathway called the NLRP3 inflammasome, which damages brain cells, according to Brough. This is the first time a drug has been shown to target this inflammatory pathway, highlighting its importance in the disease model, Brough said.
Continue reading “Anti-inflammatory drug reverses memory loss in Alzheimer’s-disease-model mice” »
Aug 15, 2016
Researchers discover that DNA naturally fluoresces
Posted by Bruno Henrique de Souza in category: biotech/medical
DNA naturalmente fluorescente.
Professores Vadim Backman, Hao Zhang, e Cheng Sun descobriram que as estruturas de macromoléculas em células vivas, de fato, naturalmente fluorescente. Esta descoberta pode abrir a próxima fronteira da descoberta biológica com a pavimentação de uma nova maneira para, imagiologia nanoscopic super-resolução sem rótulo e expandir a compreensão dos processos biológicos.
Aug 15, 2016
Physicists confirm possible discovery of fifth force of nature
Posted by Andreas Matt in categories: cosmology, particle physics
Recent findings indicating the possible discovery of a previously unknown subatomic particle may be evidence of a fifth fundamental force of nature, according to a paper published in the journal Physical Review Letters by theoretical physicists at the University of California, Irvine.
“If true, it’s revolutionary,” said Jonathan Feng, professor of physics & astronomy. “For decades, we’ve known of four fundamental forces: gravitation, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces. If confirmed by further experiments, this discovery of a possible fifth force would completely change our understanding of the universe, with consequences for the unification of forces and dark matter.”
The UCI researchers came upon a mid-2015 study by experimental nuclear physicists at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences who were searching for “dark photons,” particles that would signify unseen dark matter, which physicists say makes up about 85 percent of the universe’s mass. The Hungarians’ work uncovered a radioactive decay anomaly that points to the existence of a light particle just 30 times heavier than an electron.
Aug 15, 2016
China launches world‘ first quantum satellite
Posted by Andreas Matt in category: quantum physics
Aug 15, 2016
Four Sets of Identical Twins Staged a Time Travel Prank on an NYC Subway
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: time travel, transportation
Most NYC subway riders are pretty blasé when panhandlers hit them up for cash between stations. When a panhandler announced he was collecting funds to build a time machine, riders chuckled at the odd request—until another man boarded the train and announced he was the inventor’s future self. He implored them not to give any money because time travel will ruin everything.
It sounds just like that X-Files episode (“Synchrony”) where a scientist travels from the future to stop his younger self from making the cryobiological compound that will one day enable time travel. But it’s actually an elaborate prank by Improv Everywhere:
For our latest mission, we staged an elaborate time travel prank on a New York City subway car with four sets of identical twins. A man enters a subway car and announces he is raising money to complete his time machine. At the next stop, his future self enters to try to talk him out of it. More and more time travelers convene on the subway car as the train rolls along, surprising the random commuters caught up in the middle.
Continue reading “Four Sets of Identical Twins Staged a Time Travel Prank on an NYC Subway” »