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Aug 12, 2018

The food delivery robots hitting a sidewalk near you

Posted by in categories: food, robotics/AI

They’re based in Berkeley but spreading across the country.

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Aug 12, 2018

This Laser Can Turn Energy Into Mass

Posted by in category: energy

Guess what will they it use it for? #SolarSails

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Aug 12, 2018

Saudi Fund in Talks to Invest in Tesla Buyout Deal

Posted by in categories: business, Elon Musk, sustainability, transportation

While Elon Musk owns 20% of Tesla, more than $60 billion would be needed to buy the business from public shareholders.


Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is in talks that could see it becoming a significant investor in Tesla as part of Elon Musk’s plan to take the electric car maker private, according to a person with direct knowledge of the fund’s plans.

The Public Investment Fund, which has built up a stake just shy of 5 percent in Tesla in recent months, is exploring how it can be involved in the potential deal, the person said on condition of anonymity. Discussions began before the controversial Aug. 7 tweet by Musk, who is Tesla’s co-founder and chief executive officer, saying he was weighing a plan to take the company private.

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Aug 12, 2018

ResTORbio Announces Results in Phase 2b Human Trial

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension

#mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) Inhibiting TORC1 has been shown to increase lifespan.


Today, we are pleased to announce that the results are in from a human trial that targets the aging immune system and that an immune system-boosting drug appears to be effective.

Targeting TORC1 to boost the immune system

Continue reading “ResTORbio Announces Results in Phase 2b Human Trial” »

Aug 12, 2018

It’s official — we’re headed to “touch” the Sun!

Posted by in category: space travel

Our #ParkerSolarProbe spacecraft lifted off at 3:31 a.m. EDT aboard a United Launch Alliance #DeltaIV Heavy rocket for its journey to our closest star. Throughout its seven-year mission, our the spacecraft will swoop through the Sun’s atmosphere 24 times, getting closer than any spacecraft has gone before. Details: https://www.nasa.gov/…/nasa-ula-launch-parker-solar-probe-o…

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Aug 12, 2018

Small team of AI coders beats Google’s machine learning code

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

The success shows that advances in artificial intelligence aren’t the sole domain of elite programmers.

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Aug 12, 2018

A Mind-Controlled Robotic Hand With A Sense Of Touch

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, cyborgs, robotics/AI

Denis Aabo Sørensen lost his left hand nine years ago, while handling fireworks. Since then, he has used prosthetic hands, but never one like this. Last year, a team of European engineers created for him a prosthetic hand that connects directly to the remaining nerves in his upper arm. That means the hand is able to send sensations of touch back through his arm and into his brain. Plus, when Sørensen wanted to grab something, he could move the hand by simply thinking about it.

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Aug 12, 2018

Quantum Microscope May Be Able to See Inside Living Cells

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, quantum physics

By combining quantum mechanical quirks of light with a technique called photonic force microscopy, scientists can now probe detailed structures inside living cells like never before. This ability could bring into focus previously invisible processes and help biologists better understand how cells work.

Photonic force microscopy is similar to atomic force microscopy, where a fine-tipped needle is used to scan the surface of something extremely small such as DNA. Rather than a needle, researchers used extremely tiny fat granules about 300 nanometers in diameter to map out the flow of cytoplasm inside yeast cells with high precision.

To see where these miniscule fat particles were, they shined a laser on them. Here, the researchers had to rely on what’s known as squeezed light. Photons of light are inherently noisy and because of this, a laser beam’s light particles won’t all hit a detector at the same time. There is a slight randomness to their arrival that makes for a fuzzy picture. But squeezed light uses quantum mechanical tricks to reduce this noise and clear up the fuzziness.

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Aug 12, 2018

Giant neurons from the claustrum found wrapped around mouse brains could explain the biological origin of consciousness

Posted by in categories: biological, neuroscience

Finding the physical pathways that create consciousness in the brain has eluded scientists thus far.

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Aug 12, 2018

Revolutionary gene therapy could be a miracle cure for deafness

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Scientists have developed gene therapy that lets deaf mice hear whispers – and humans could be next.

An extreme form of inherited deafness has been cured in the rodents, which could pave the way for life-changing treatments for humans born with gene defects that affect hearing and balance.

In a groundbreaking experiment, scientists used a laboratory-made virus to deliver corrective DNA into the inner ear.

Continue reading “Revolutionary gene therapy could be a miracle cure for deafness” »