new scientific discoveries

[Raithe]

Nasa releasing fresh pictures from the Mars Rover after 13 miles and a three year journey...

 

New Pictures of Mars Crater

[Raithe]

Apparently a recent psychological study in San Diego has produced evidence that spoilers can actually increase enjoyment in reading books or watching films...

 

Spoiler's don't ruin enjoyment...

[Tale]

Apparently a recent psychological study in San Diego has produced evidence that spoilers can actually increase enjoyment in reading books or watching films...

 

Spoiler's don't ruin enjoyment...

Another point for Clemens!

[Orogun01]

Apparently a recent psychological study in San Diego has produced evidence that spoilers can actually increase enjoyment in reading books or watching films...

 

Spoiler's don't ruin enjoyment...

 

bull****

 

[Gfted1]

New drug could cure nearly any viral infection.

 

Researchers at MIT?s Lincoln Lab have developed technology that may someday cure the common cold, influenza and other ailments.

Anne Trafton, MIT News Office

 

Most bacterial infections can be treated with antibiotics such as penicillin, discovered decades ago. However, such drugs are useless against viral infections, including influenza, the common cold, and deadly hemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola.

 

Now, in a development that could transform how viral infections are treated, a team of researchers at MIT?s Lincoln Laboratory has designed a drug that can identify cells that have been infected by any type of virus, then kill those cells to terminate the infection.

 

In a paper published July 27 in the journal PLoS One, the researchers tested their drug against 15 viruses, and found it was effective against all of them ? including rhinoviruses that cause the common cold, H1N1 influenza, a stomach virus, a polio virus, dengue fever and several other types of hemorrhagic fever.

 

The drug works by targeting a type of RNA produced only in cells that have been infected by viruses. ?In theory, it should work against all viruses,? says Todd Rider, a senior staff scientist in Lincoln Laboratory?s Chemical, Biological, and Nanoscale Technologies Group who invented the new technology.

 

Because the technology is so broad-spectrum, it could potentially also be used to combat outbreaks of new viruses, such as the 2003 SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak, Rider says.

 

Other members of the research team are Lincoln Lab staff members Scott Wick, Christina Zook, Tara Boettcher, Jennifer Pancoast and Benjamin Zusman.

 

Few antivirals available.

 

Rider had the idea to try developing a broad-spectrum antiviral therapy about 11 years ago, after inventing CANARY (Cellular Analysis and Notification of Antigen Risks and Yields), a biosensor that can rapidly identify pathogens. ?If you detect a pathogenic bacterium in the environment, there is probably an antibiotic that could be used to treat someone exposed to that, but I realized there are very few treatments out there for viruses,? he says.

 

There are a handful of drugs that combat specific viruses, such as the protease inhibitors used to control HIV infection, but these are relatively few in number and susceptible to viral resistance.

 

Rider drew inspiration for his therapeutic agents, dubbed DRACOs (Double-stranded RNA Activated Caspase Oligomerizers), from living cells? own defense systems.

 

When viruses infect a cell, they take over its cellular machinery for their own purpose ? that is, creating more copies of the virus. During this process, the viruses create long strings of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), which is not found in human or other animal cells.

 

As part of their natural defenses against viral infection, human cells have proteins that latch onto dsRNA, setting off a cascade of reactions that prevents the virus from replicating itself. However, many viruses can outsmart that system by blocking one of the steps further down the cascade.

 

Rider had the idea to combine a dsRNA-binding protein with another protein that induces cells to undergo apoptosis (programmed cell suicide) ? launched, for example, when a cell determines it is en route to becoming cancerous. Therefore, when one end of the DRACO binds to dsRNA, it signals the other end of the DRACO to initiate cell suicide.

 

Combining those two elements is a ?great idea? and a very novel approach, says Karla Kirkegaard, professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford University. ?Viruses are pretty good at developing resistance to things we try against them, but in this case, it?s hard to think of a simple pathway to drug resistance,? she says.

 

Each DRACO also includes a ?delivery tag,? taken from naturally occurring proteins, that allows it to cross cell membranes and enter any human or animal cell. However, if no dsRNA is present, DRACO leaves the cell unharmed.

 

Most of the tests reported in this study were done in human and animal cells cultured in the lab, but the researchers also tested DRACO in mice infected with the H1N1 influenza virus. When mice were treated with DRACO, they were completely cured of the infection. The tests also showed that DRACO itself is not toxic to mice.

 

The researchers are now testing DRACO against more viruses in mice and beginning to get promising results. Rider says he hopes to license the technology for trials in larger animals and for eventual human clinical trials.

 

This work is funded by a grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the New England Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases, with previous funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and Director of Defense Research & Engineering (now the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering).

[pmp10]

Thorium powered cars

A U.S. company says it is getting closer to putting prototype electric cars on the road that will be powered by the heavy-metal thorium.

 

...

 

The key to the system developed by inventor Charles Stevens, CEO and chairman of Connecticut-based Laser Power Systems, is that when silvery metal thorium is heated by an external source, it becomes so dense its molecules give off considerable heat.

 

Small blocks of thorium generate heat surges that are configured as a thorium-based laser, Stevens tells Ward's. These create steam from water within mini-turbines, generating electricity to drive a car.

 

A 250 MW unit weighing about 500 lbs. (227 kg) would be small and light enough to drop under the hood of a car, he says.

 

Because thorium is so dense, similar to uranium, it stores considerable potential energy: 1 gm of thorium equals the energy of 7,500 gallons (28,391 L) of gasoline Stevens says. So, using just 8 gm of thorium in a car should mean it would never need refueling.

Thorium has highest melting point of all oxides at 3,182 F.

 

Stevens prototype systems generate electricity within 30 seconds of firing a laser. This can feed power into a car, without the need for storage.

 

...

 

The issue is having a customized application that is purpose-made, he says, admitting that developing a portable and usable turbine and generator is proving to be a tougher task than the laser-thorium unit.

 

"How do you take the laser and put these things together efficiently" he asks rhetorically. But once that is achieved, ?This car will run for a million miles. The car will wear out before the engine. There is no oil, no emissions, nothing.

 

Stevens says his company should be able to place a prototype on the road within two years. The firm has 40 employees and operates out of an in-house research workshop.

 

Hedrick, the industrial minerals expert, says 7,500 gallons is way more gasoline than an average person uses in a year. Switching to thorium-driven cars would make the U.S. energy self-sufficient, and carbon emissions would plummet.

 

"It would eliminate the major need for oil", he says. The main (remaining) demand would be for asphalt for roadways, natural gas, plastics and lubricants.

 

...

 

Canon Bryan, CEO of Vancouver, BC, Canada-based Thorium One, knows Stevens work and agrees thorium-based fuel sources are scalable and energy efficient. There's no reason why it should not be able to power cars.

 

...

 

The IEA notes research from Switzerland-based physics institute CERN that proposes ?the use of thorium as the feed material in accelerator-driven systems, which could serve as an energy source with minimum long-term waste production, although this is for power generation.

 

...

 

Reza Hashemi-Nezhad, director of the Institute of Nuclear Science at the University of Sydney, Australia, says nuclear power plants already run submarines and could operate oil tankers, but they are not small enough to fit in the boot (trunk) of a car.

 

And amid widespread concerns about terrorism, would governments allow scores of nuclear sources to roam the freeways? Processed thorium can produce uranium 233 as a byproduct. Would governments allow charging an electric vehicle using radioactive material in private garages?

 

"Nobody will allow that to happen", Hashemi-Nezhad says.

 

Hedrick thinks such concerns are overblown, stressing thorium's by-products are very hard to turn into weapons-grade material, requiring an immense amount of work and energy.

 

Stevens agrees, emphasizing his system is subcritical. This means no nuclear reaction occurs within the thorium. It remains in the same state and is not turned into uranium 233, which happens only if thorium is sufficiently super-heated to generate a fission reaction.

 

"It's very safe," he says.

Crank science at it's best.

Edited August 16, 2011 by pmp10

[Raithe]

Not strictly a new science thing.. but I kind of found it a note of quirky interest..

 

Teenager talks Mercedes GP team into getting him a bionic hand..

[Raithe]

And another fuzzy science thing..

 

California Crime Predicting Computers

[pmp10]

Newest LHC findings:

Higgs existence even less likely.

Supersymmetry in doubt.

That should upset a few things in participle physics.

[Pidesco]

Newest LHC findings:

Higgs existence even less likely.

Supersymmetry in doubt.

That should upset a few things in participle physics.

 

All we know about the physics of grammar will be overturned.

[Gfted1]

Scientists: Alloy will Revolutionize Energy by Generating Hydrogen on the Cheap

 

By IB Times Staff Reporter | August 31, 2011 6:25 AM EDT

 

Research funded by the U.S. Department of Energy has demonstrated how to "tweak" an inexpensive semiconductor material to generate hydrogen from water by using sunlight, a finding that could revolutionize the energy sector.

 

Scientists say hydrogen can be a crucial component in the transition to cleaner energy sources, but unlocking it from other compounds is the key as it is not abundantly available in a pure form on Earth.

 

Currently a large amount of electricity is needed to generate hydrogen by water splitting and the process entails a large amount of carbon dioxide emissions.

 

The new research by professors at the University of Kentucky Center for Computational Sciences and the University of Louisville Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research could change all that.

 

The finding shows that an alloy formed by a 2 percent substitution of antimony (Sb) in gallium nitride (GaN) has the right electrical properties to enable solar energy to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. "When the alloy is immersed in water and exposed to sunlight, the chemical bond between the hydrogen and oxygen molecules in water is broken. The hydrogen can then be collected," reported the Science Daily.

 

Hydrogen's potential utility in green tech initiatives is immense. It can be used to generate electricity, produce heat and run vehicles. It also has wide-ranging applications in science and industry. "When combusted, hydrogen combines with oxygen to form water vapor as its only waste product," the report points out.

 

"Previous research on PEC [photoelectrochemical] has focused on complex materials," said Professor Madhu Menon of the University of Kentucky. "We decided to go against the conventional wisdom and start with some easy-to-produce materials, even if they lacked the right arrangement of electrons to meet PEC criteria. Our goal was to see if a minimal 'tweaking' of the electronic arrangement in these materials would accomplish the desired results."

 

According to the Science Daily, the GaN-Sb alloy is the first simple, easy-to-produce material to be considered a candidate for photoelectrochemical water splitting.

 

According to another researcher, Professor Mahendra Sunkara of the University of Louisville Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research, the GaN-Sb alloy has the potential to convert solar energy into an economical, carbon-free source for hydrogen.

 

"Hydrogen production now involves a large amount of CO2 emissions ... Once this alloy material is widely available, it could conceivably be used to make zero-emissions fuel for powering homes and cars and to heat homes," said Sunkara.

 

The researchers are working on the production of the alloy and would test its ability to convert solar energy to hydrogen, the report says.

 

The components of the alloy, gallium nitride and antimony, are widely used in the electronics industry. While gallium nitride is used to make bright-light LEDs, antimony has been used as metalloid element in the microelectronics industry.

[Walsingham]

Thorium cars:

 

Bloody silly idea.

 

Thorium trains:

 

A lot more sensible

[Raithe]

LED Contact Lenses

 

Following in the wake of Deus Ex.. not sure if anything on this has been mentioned before, but Augmented Reality could be coming soon...

[Serrano]

Deus Ex: Eyeborg documentary About 15 seconds in there is footage of a real eye surgery, gruesome to say the least, you might want to fast forward to about 30 seconds if you're going to watch this but it's a very interesting look at real cutting-edge prosthetics today and some cool things in development. Edited September 4, 2011 by Serrano

[Gorth]

Newest LHC findings:

Higgs existence even less likely.

Supersymmetry in doubt.

That should upset a few things in participle physics.

Muahahah... lazy scientists will have to rethink the universe again. Growing all complacent and believing in the standard model like some kind of religion

 

@Thorium cars: Good thing the material isn't "reactive". Might bring the world one step closer to Fallout 3's exploding cars

 

I wonder why nobody has come up with ejector seats as replacement for the old airbag yet. Just imagine if the car computer could catapult you up in the air a fraction of a second before impact at terminal velocity. Of course, ramming the guy in front of you in a tunnel or under a bridge might still prove a bit of a challenge

[Humodour]

Newest LHC findings:

Higgs existence even less likely.

Supersymmetry in doubt.

That should upset a few things in participle physics.

Muahahah... lazy scientists will have to rethink the universe again. Growing all complacent and believing in the standard model like some kind of religion

 

Most physicists are aware that the Standard Model is wrong, and expected this result. They're just not sure what to replace it with. Whatever they do replace it with has to have greater predictive power, as happened when physicists transitioned from Newtonian the Einsteinian mechanics.

 

These results from the LHC will help determine what replaces the Standard Model, since they eliminate some lines of hypothesis immediately, as well as experimentally confirming that the Standard Model is wrong and that a new theory must be formulated.

 

More information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physics_beyon..._Standard_Model

Edited September 5, 2011 by Krezack

[Gfted1]

[Serrano]

Welcome to the future everybody, it's finally here.

[Humodour]

Welcome to the future everybody, it's finally here.

 

This.

[Tale]

That's not a flying car.

[Gorth]

Damn Romulans. How are you supposed to give them a speeding ticket?

[Humodour]

That's not a flying car.

 

Yes, it is.

 

http://www.terrafugia.com/about_us.html

[Walsingham]

[Maria Caliban]

Potentially habitable "Super-Earth" is among 50 newly discovered exoplanets

 

HD 85512 b is a rocky planet about 3.6 times the mass of Earth, located right at the edge of its star's habitable zone. That means it's capable of supporting life... and the early results suggest it's a very real possibility.

 

It's one of 50 new exoplanets discovered by the HARPS team at the La Silla Observatory in Chile, which is part of the European Southern Observatory. This is the largest number of exoplanets ever discovered at one time, and it brings the number of confirmed exoplanets up to about 600. (The Kepler Space Telescope discovered 1,200 exoplanet candidates at one time, as opposed to confirmed planets.)

 

Recently, HARPS offered some of the most damning evidence yet that Gliese 581 g, the first rocky exoplanet discovered in its planet's habitable zone, does not, in fact, exist. That's the culmination of months of controversy about the planet's status, and it leaves Gliese 581 d as the only known potentially habitable exoplanet, albeit one that enjoys far less ideal conditions than Gliese 581 g theoretically would have had.

 

But HARPS has found us a new planet to make up for the loss of Gliese 581 g, which could well be habitable. HD 85512 b is one of five planets discovered by the HARPS team whose mass is more than five times that of Earth. That puts it in the Super-Earth category, a type of rocky planet that is up to twenty times the mass of Earth. Although there are no such planets in our own solar system, they appear to be very common elsewhere in the galaxy.

 

HD 85512 b is the only one of these five rocky planets to be located in its star's habitable zone. The preliminary measurements suggest that its average surface temperature could be 77 degrees Fahrenheit, which would give it a very pleasant Mediterranean climate

[Gorth]

There are people who scans planets for a living?... *shiver*

 

Interesting stuff though, if you believe that mankinds future is not limited to the current planet.