Lifeboat Foundation

A failing pipe can be tough to spot. It may cause a puddle, produce another sign of damage, or simply burst before detection. A flooded kitchen or laundry room is messy and inconvenient, but the stakes are much, much higher in nuclear power plants—which on average contain many miles of pipeline.

As concern about aging plants escalates, Vanderbilt engineers are working on an early warning system. They are using polymer coatings on the inside of the pipe and 3D-printed polymer devices infused with nanoparticles as sensors to signal the changes on the outside of the pipe. And, they hope, sound.

A huge challenge is to detect the changes in the polymer film occurring inside the pipe. To create a useful and proactive technique, the team wants to use sound, or vibrometry, to identify these internal changes from outside the pipe.

You can protest about the Environment all you want, while some of us actually plant trees to heal it. Kenya is one country that has been instrumental in planting trees. Wangari Maathai had a coffin made of hyacinth, showing how real she was even in death. Ethiopia recently set a record planting trees. Some people talk, while others do. One Kenyan woman’s organization planted over 51 million trees, and still counting. #BeTheDifference

Equity Group has announced plans to implement an ambitious project to plant 35 million trees across the country within a year.

In an effort to conserve the environment, Equity has partnered with Kenya Forest Service (KFS) to promote Farm Forestry Initiatives.

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Gene-Edited Bulls

Although GMO wheat, corn, and other crops are frequently used in the US, scientists and farmers have begun shifting their focus to a far more accurate, cheaper, and potentially acceptable way of tinkering with the genome: genetic editing.

We’ve spilled plenty of ink on the merits of CRISPR and older-generation genetic editors such as TALEN. Rather than blindly sticking additional genes into a genome, these are guided approaches that surgically snip out or insert additional genetic material, and as such, are far more precise and predictable. Rather than inserting alien genes into our foods, scientists can now cut out genes detrimental to crop growth, or mimic mutations that provide advantages—a sort of “gene therapy” for food, but for enhancement rather than treatment.

People not washing their hands after going to the toilet, rather than undercooked meat, is behind the spread of a key strain of E. coli.

Experts looked at thousands of blood, faecal and food samples.

They found human-to-human transmission was responsible — “faecal particles from one person reaching the mouth of another”.

Lab-grown meat is coming to your plate, and thanks to a new breakthrough in its development, it may feel like traditional meat.

Researchers at Harvard University have discovered a way to use edible gelatin scaffolds to mimic real meat’s texture and consistency. The team used cow and rabbit muscle cells on the scaffolds to recreate the long, thin fibers that give meat its distinctive feel.

The research was published Monday in the journal NPJ Science of Food. Kit Parker, senior author of the study, said in a statement that he first started thinking about the idea after being a judge on the Food Network.

A new study out of the University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands details the type of diet that was found to fuel the growth of healthy gut bacteria, particularly strains that have anti-inflammatory effects in the body. The results aren’t terribly surprising — that is to say, you’ll have to eat a healthy diet if you want a healthy gut. Among other things, the study found that high amounts of sugar and meat make things worse.

Grab a mixing bowl from your kitchen, throw in a handful of aluminum balls, apply some high voltage, and watch an elegant dance unfold where particles re-arrange themselves into a distinct “crystal” pattern. This curious behavior belongs to the phenomenon known as Wigner crystallization, where particles with the same electrical charge repel one another to form an ordered structure.

Wigner crystallization has been observed in variety of systems, ranging from particulates the size of sand grains suspended in small clouds of electrons and ions (called a dusty plasma) to the dense interiors of planet-sized stars, known as white dwarfs. Professor Alex Bataller of North Carolina State University has recently discovered that Wigner crystallization inside white dwarfs can be studied in the lab using a new class of classical systems, called gravity crystals.

For the curious behavior of Wigner crystallization to occur, there must be a system composed of charged particles that are both free to move about (plasma), that strongly interact with each other (strongly coupled particles), and has the presence of a confining force to keep the plasma particles from repulsively exploding away from each other.

University of Southern California scientist Valter Longo talks in this Q&A about fasting and the adoption of a “longevity diet.” A researcher focusing on intermittent fasting and aging, Longo advocates a plant-based diet and smart, strategic caloric restriction for a longer, healthier life.

Outfield Technologies is a Cambridge-based agri-tech start-up company which uses drones and artificial intelligence, to help fruit growers maximise their harvest from orchard crops.

Outfield Technologies’ founders Jim McDougall and Oli Hilbourne have been working with Ph.D. student Tom Roddick from the Department’s Machine Intelligence Laboratory to develop their technology capabilities to be able to count the blossoms and apples on a tree via drones surveying enormous apple orchards.

Continue reading “Predicting fruit harvest with drones and artificial intelligence” »