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Jul 20, 2016

One of the First Real-World Quantum Computer Applications Was Just Realized

Posted by in categories: computing, engineering, quantum physics

Luv it; and this is only the beginning too.


In the continued effort to make a viable quantum computer, scientists assert that they have made the first scalable quantum simulation of a molecule.

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Jul 20, 2016

Here’s How Google Is Racing to Protect You From Quantum Hackers

Posted by in categories: computing, encryption, quantum physics

This is a true question especially since China launches their new Quantum Satellite communications in the next few weeks. I do believe some will be protected; however, the broader majority will be a stretch.


The encryption of today will be broken by the computers of tomorrow, even retroactively.

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Jul 20, 2016

Thermal Separation of Complex Polymers

Posted by in categories: materials, particle physics

The Postnova TF2000 is an advanced thermal field flow fractionation (TF3) system that provides a highly efficient method of separating and characterising complex polymer samples such as natural or synthetic rubbers, starches and paints from approximately 10 kDa up to 100 MDa and more in organic and aqueous solvents.

The TF2000 uses a temperature gradient as the driving force for its separation of polymers and particles. Molecules affected by the thermal gradient undergo diffusion which enables separation by both their molar mass and chemical composition. This unique feature allows the separation of different materials having the same molar mass. The separation can be further optimized by the use of different eluents and various temperature programs.

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Jul 20, 2016

Computational design tool transforms flat materials into 3D shapes

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, space

“Computational design tool transforms flat materials into 3D shapes” — I could use this many times over.


Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland (EPFL) have developed a new computational design tool can turn a flat sheet of plastic or metal into complex 3D shapes. They say the tool enables designers to fully and creatively exploit an unusual quality of certain materials — the ability to expand uniformly in two dimensions.

In this case, the researchers were making hexagonal cuts into flexible, but not normally stretchable plastic and metal sheets to give them the ability to expand uniformly, up to a point. But the design tool could be useful for a variety of synthetic materials, known as auxetic materials that share this same distinctive quality.

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Jul 20, 2016

Proteins that move DNA around in a bacterium are surprisingly similar to those in our own cells

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, evolution, singularity

Perfecting Synthetic biology — this definitely is advancement forward in the larger Singularity story.


In both higher organisms and bacteria, DNA must be segregated when cells divide, ensuring that the requisite share of duplicated DNA goes into each new cell. While previous studies indicated that bacteria and higher organisms use quite different systems to perform this task, A*STAR researchers have now found a bacterium that uses filaments with key similarities to those in multicellular organisms, including humans.

Robert Robinson from the A*STAR Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology has a long-standing interest in what he calls the “biological machines” that move DNA around when cells divide. He and his co-workers had gleaned from gene sequencing analysis that there was something distinctive about the DNA-moving machinery in the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis.

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Jul 20, 2016

Computer ‘fingerprints’ may give out your identity and location

Posted by in categories: computing, electronics

Some folks will be freaked out by this while others will luv it.


A visitor tries out an HP Spectre XT laptop computer featuring an Intel Ultrabook processor at the Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA) 2012 consumer electronics trade fair on August 31, 2012 in Berlin, Germany. (Getty Images — Representational Image)

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Jul 20, 2016

New study uses computer learning to provide quality control for genetic databases

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing, genetics, robotics/AI

AI and Quality Control in Genome data are made for each other.


A new study published in The Plant Journal helps to shed light on the transcriptomic differences between different tissues in Arabidopsis, an important model organism, by creating a standardized “atlas” that can automatically annotate samples to include lost metadata such as tissue type. By combining data from over 7000 samples and 200 labs, this work represents a way to leverage the increasing amounts of publically available ‘omics data while improving quality control, to allow for large scale studies and data reuse.

“As more and more ‘omics data are hosted in the public databases, it become increasingly difficult to leverage those data. One big obstacle is the lack of consistent metadata,” says first author and Brookhaven National Laboratory research associate Fei He. “Our study shows that metadata might be detected based on the data itself, opening the door for automatic metadata re-annotation.”

The study focuses on data from microarray analyses, an early high-throughput genetic analysis technique that remains in common use. Such data are often made publically available through tools such as the National Center for Biotechnology Information’s Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), which over time accumulates vast amounts of information from thousands of studies.

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Jul 20, 2016

Synthetic biology used to limit bacterial growth and coordinate drug release

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, genetics

Beautiful.


Researchers at the University of California San Diego and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have come up with a strategy for using synthetic biology in therapeutics. The approach enables continual production and release of drugs at disease sites in mice while simultaneously limiting the size, over time, of the populations of bacteria engineered to produce the drugs. The findings are published in the July 20 online issue of Nature.

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Jul 20, 2016

Superhydrophobic coating repels blood cell damage

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, materials

This is amazing. I can see so much usage for this technique in the future in battling blood cancers, hemophilia, and other treatments beyond heart surgery and kidney dialysis.


Coating dialysis tubes with a water-repellent material leaves red blood cells unscathed.

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Jul 20, 2016

Musings on Synthetic Biology and Crop Disease Resistance

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, food, robotics/AI

Why Plants? Part III – Rise of The Plant Machines by Orlando de Lange.

Everyone talks about the rise of the robots. What about the rise of the “Vegetation/ Plant Machines?”


In part 3 of our series on plant synthetic biology, Orlando de Lange (@SeaGreenODL) of The New Leaf blog introduces how synbio approaches are being used to develop novel disease resistant crops, overcoming some of the challenges faced by monoculture farming.

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