Last year, the US Air Force dropped US$25k on a Teleportation Physics Study to examine whether it might be possible to beam people and objects from one place to another. The report [pdf] was written by Eric W Davis who holds a PhD in astrophysics. Not mentioned in the article is that Davis apparently has also been affiliated with the National Institute for Discovery Science, a private research organisation that studies aerial phenomena, animal mutilations, and other related anomalous phenomena
— via BoingBoing
An old polymer may be the spaceship material of the future [podcast]. Polyethylene is in household garbage bags, and it is also an effective solar radiation shield. Polyethylene is used in the sleeping quarters on current orbiting space vehicles, but now NASA has developed a way to toughen the polymer into a product they call RXF1 which is even stronger and lighter than aluminum
. Radiation in space is currently a major obstacle to manned missions outside of the Earth’s magnetic field, so better radiation shielding is essential to planned manned missions to Mars and beyond
Scientists in the United States seem to have discovered a gene which controls aging. By stimulating this gene, which when malfunctioning causes premature aging, researchers have managed to prolong the average life span of lab mice from 2 to 3 years. Because a very similar gene is present in humans it is quite possible it will do the same thing for people But there may be downsides with Klotho. The long-lived mice in the new experiments tend to be less fertile. And the gene may also predispose people to diabetes. The trick for researchers will be to find ways of getting the life-enhancing results of Klotho while avoiding the drawbacks
With off-the-shelf components, scientists have managed to speed up light beyond the universal
constant of c, or roughly 300 million m/s. This, and the previous ability to slow light down could shake up the telecom world
British soldiers will be getting germ-fighting underwear. The antimicrobial underpants have been introduced by the Ministry of Defence as part of a new desert uniform for soldiers. They are the first undergarments issued to British troops, who traditionally have had to supply their own. Military officials said Thursday the unisex trunks were made from artificial fibres for comfort, with silver particles woven into the material to prevent sweating. According to Colonel Silas Suchanek: It is coated to prevent bacterial infection, and we have tried to arrange the seams so that they don’t chafe
Robert Hare, creator of the Psychopathy Checklist, has recently been applying his test Is your boss a psychopath
to businessmen and has found some disturbing results. From the article: Why wouldn’t we want to screen them? We screen police officers, teachers. Why not people who are going to handle billions of dollars?
Citing Enron and Worldcom management as an example, it seems a reasonable argument. The same source also has a quiz which allows you to test your own boss
The Genetiate‘s people claim that with over 500,000 collisions between cars and deer every year, the cost in lives and money is staggering. While insurers pay over a billion dollars in claims annually, over 200 people are killed. Countless other drivers and passengers suffer injuries and other serious medical complications. Many deer and their young suffer the same fate. By implanting the gene of a special jellyfish into deer, the transgenic NightSave deer produced by Genetiate (patent pending) have fluorescing hair and skin when illuminated by car headlights. The implanted gene has no other effect on the deer, who appear normal in daylight. The NightSave project aims to reduce the number of night time deer/auto collisions, saving the lives of both deer and people — via Improbable Research
Using human fetal cells, Swiss scientists have developed a new type of biological bandage for severe burns that appears to dramatically speed and improve the healing process and may well prove an effective treatment for other serious skin wounds. But the novel type of therapy is likely to generate some controversy in countries like the United States and Italy, which restrict the use of human embryos in scientific research, since the bandages are derived from the skin cells of aborted foetuses
In an ongoing effort to stop the spread of HIV, scientists in Australia have discovered that crocodiles can fight off HIV and kill the virus. This is a major boon to medicine because the crocodile serum can also fight things that are penicillin resistant such as staphylococcus aureus
Stirling engines are not a neglected or forgotten technology after all. With 20 years of in-the-field fine-tuning, Stirling Energy Systems is now ready to go big — real big. They signed a purchase agreement Tuesday with Southern California Edison, to install a 20,000 dish array that will cover 1,800 hectares and will be capable of generating 500 megawatts of electricity — more than all other US solar projects combined — making this the largest solar installation in the world. Each collector has a 11m diameter array of mirrors to focus the sun’s rays on the Stirling engine, which turns the heat into rotational torque for electricity generation
Education Minister Brendan Nelson — a man whose sole purpose in life appears to be destroying the education system — supports the teaching of creationism [BugMeNot]. Sure, he weaselled out of throwing his full support behind it, but it still stands as proof that he is unfit to serve as Education Minister and that John Howard has surrounded himself with loony fundie toadies — via Terry Frost
Japan has announced plans to deploy a massive broadband satellite operational in 2015. It will provide 100 Mb/s service to mountains, remote islands and bullet trains along with comm for disaster recovery. Its giant 20m diameter dish is supposed to be able to receive even weak mobile phone signals. Of course, the ping times wont be so good
King George II, living proof that man descended from apes and some haven’t quite managed to quite stand upright yet, has started a national debate in the US over the teaching of evolution in school. The retarded monkey boy has suggested that a theory known as intelligent design
— the current PC term for creationism — should be taught in the classroom. His championing of intelligent design will be interpreted as further evidence of the growing influence of the religious right
Professor Veena Sahajwalla of the University of New South Wales has won a prestigious Australian science award for developing a technique to use waste plastic in steel making, a process that could have implications for recycling scrap metal that accounts for 40% of steel production
Derek Lovley and his colleagues of the University of Massachusetts discovered that the Geobacter bacteria is capable of producing nanowires. The bacteria is normally used to clean up toxic waste. Geobacter does not use oxygen, but metal as its source for power. This probably explains the 3nm to 5nm nanowires it excretes while working. What metal the nanowires are made of is not yet known, but the genetic code responsible for their creation is. This opens up the possibility of modifying the bacteria to create nanowires on chips
The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) has come up with an interesting way of making sure information about how to handle the buried nuclear waste is left for future generations. Computer technology is notorious for being superceded rather quickly. In the light of this, the UKAEA decided to ditch all the high tech solutions and go for something that has a genuinely proven track record: Papyrus. Or, the closest thing we’ve got that doesn’t involve actual reeds: so-called permanent paper. After all, if it worked for the Ancient Egyptians, it should work for us
By mixing phosphorescent material with the usual white fluorescent material, American Environmental Products has developed a tfluorescent ube that continues to glow when shut off. Originally intended for submarines, and then used in places where terrorists could disrupt services, they are also perfect for power outages, providing some light so you don’t have to thrash around in the dark looking for your candles and flashlights. Since the hack is inside the tube, they can also be removed from their fixtures and carried around, as well as provide light even if they’re shattered
Heat & Glo has a new product that makes fire from water. Ordinary tap water (preferably distilled) is supplied to the fireplace through a pipe or tank, a 220 volt electrical service then separates the hydrogen and oxygen atoms through electrolysis, the Aqueon ignites the hydrogen, and ta-dah, fire! The oxygen is then added for colour and brightness, while the rest is released into the room. It doesn’t require venting because it doesn’t produce any harmful emittents like carbon monoxide — just water vapour. The manufacturer’s web site has more information on the science behind the product
South Korea’s king of cloning
has successfully cloned an Afghan hound called Snuppy. But producing the pup was far from easy. The team transferred 1095 embryos into 123 surrogate mothers — but just three pregnancies resulted
Working for the city of Auburn, goats are doing what a bulldozer could never do without tearing up the place — they are reducing a thicket of blackberry foliage into an ankle-high tangle of leafless if not lifeless blackberry canes and fist-sized piles of biodegradable pellets. From New England to the Southwest, goats and sometimes sheep are nibbling across areas heretofore dominated by the chemical industry
RSS – Posts