new scientific discoveries

[Humodour]

Another thing:

 

Aussies have built the bionic ear and bionic eye. Other teams have built bionic legs and bionic hands (see the two links directly above). The bionic heart (pacemaker) has been around for a while, and artificial lungs are progressing rapidly

 

We also having working brain implants for a variety of things: some cure depression, some allow movement of a mouse cursor around the screen with your mind, some stop epilepsy, others counteract Parkinson's disease. One implant is put in the spinal cord to turn off chronic pain in those with extreme back pain.

 

Artificial bladders exist but they're grown in a lab so they're not electromechanical. Researchers are currently working on doing the same thing for the liver and pancreas.

 

Heck, it might sound gross, but apparently they've even created working parts for the **** for men with extreme impotence. And replacement ovaries for women.

 

Finally, an Aussie doctor recently saved some Mormon chick with artificially created blood... because she was too stupid to comprehend that she would die without a blood transfer and wouldn't accept human blood.

 

Many of these things are still prototypes, but the key thing is that they've been demonstrated to work. We're getting close to a stage where we can fix pretty much any part of the body that fails. I don't think it will be a stretch to expect that in the future, bionic body parts become far more common-place.

[WDeranged]

Apple causes religious reaction in brains of fans.

[Orogun01]

Concrete inflata-house. Just add water.

Had the greatest idea for an application of that technology. Concrete food, just add water and watch your guest turn to stone.

[Humodour]

Concrete inflata-house. Just add water.

 

I think this is really cool, btw.

[Walsingham]

Talking about that inflata-house I had the notion last night that you could use it like an arterial stent to support quake camaged buildings. Presumably.

[Gfted1]

Scientists reach a record 26Tbps by laser.

 

Researchers have used a single laser to transmit data at a 26 terabits per second over an optical fiber cable, a data-transmission breakthrough that promises to come in useful for cloud computing and 3D TV transmissions.

 

The transmission is biggest volume of data ever carried by a laser beam, according to the group of scientists, led by Germany's Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. With the demonstration, which sent the equivalent of 200,000 high-resolution images across 50 kilometers in one second, the researchers said they had broken their own record of 10Tbps, set in 2010.

 

"To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest line rate ever encoded onto a single light source," the researchers said in an announcement yesterday.

[Raithe]

Well, we've had the bionics.. how about the stealth cloaking?

 

Karlsruhe Invisibility Cloak

[Rosbjerg]

Well, we've had the bionics.. how about the stealth cloaking?

 

Karlsruhe Invisibility Cloak

 

"Seeing something invisible with your own eyes is an exciting experience."

 

[Orogun01]

Well, we've had the bionics.. how about the stealth cloaking?

 

Karlsruhe Invisibility Cloak

I actually had the chance to see one prototype being tested on TV; before the government went all paranoid and began closing down every TV show that dealt with next gen military tech.

[Humodour]

Scientists reach a record 26Tbps by laser.

 

Researchers have used a single laser to transmit data at a 26 terabits per second over an optical fiber cable, a data-transmission breakthrough that promises to come in useful for cloud computing and 3D TV transmissions.

 

The transmission is biggest volume of data ever carried by a laser beam, according to the group of scientists, led by Germany's Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. With the demonstration, which sent the equivalent of 200,000 high-resolution images across 50 kilometers in one second, the researchers said they had broken their own record of 10Tbps, set in 2010.

 

"To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest line rate ever encoded onto a single light source," the researchers said in an announcement yesterday.

 

The EU is building a super laser soon. Not for sending data but for doing everything else. Cutting stuff, looking at sub-sub-atomic particles, etc. "to build a laser of intensity sufficient to rip photons into electron-positron pairs."

 

Interestingly, the second upgrade of this planned super laser will be the last possible upgrade humans can ever do to improve laser power, as it will hit the thermodynamic limit. That's a weird thought. "But all projects will lead to the construction of the fourth super laser, which will have double the power of the three lasers. This fourth super laser will yield up to 200 petawatts per hour, which experts say is the theoretical limit for lasers."

 

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-05-super-lasers-europe.html

[Lexx]

So when will the military run around with laserrifles?

[Gorth]

So when will the military run around with laserrifles?

Once Duracell launches its 200 petawatts per hour battery?

[Walsingham]

So when will the military run around with laserrifles?

 

I was under the impression that the smart way to use lasers in the military was to pass a charge down the ionised air created by the laser. Using th ebeam itself to deliver energy is ...sub-optimal.

[Orogun01]

So when will the military run around with laserrifles?

Once Duracell launches its 200 petawatts per hour battery?

Aside from power source they also have to work around the fact that a laser is a continuous ray of light which brings new problems to the table.

 

The one place I know that they are being used is in missile defense http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/...ic-missile.html

[Zoraptor]

They've been used in missile defence for a long time, for burning out sensors on heat seeking missiles.

[Raithe]

Viagra can make you hard of hearing as well...

[Gorth]

Aussie Student finds the universes missing mass during summer break

Not too shabby i suppose, considering that I feel challenged just by having to find two matching socks in a drawer

[Humodour]

Yeah, it's quite an amazing breakthrough.

 

Although it should be qualified that she only discovered SOME of the universe's missing matter. Specifically hot matter located in the filaments between galaxies. So there's still a bunch of matter 'missing'. The majority of dark matter remains... dark.

 

Also, this discovery is distinct from the earlier Australian discovery of the physical existence of dark energy.

[Guest The Architect]

Stem cell first aid to kidney studies.

 

Once again, a breakthrough by Australian scientists.

 

Our country rules.

[Rosbjerg]

Yeah you guys are really going the extra mile these days.. Are your women withholding something, since you have this urge to achieve?

[Monte Carlo]

Amazing scientific / biology type discovery this weekend - drinking eight pints of Guinness, two bottles of claret and half a bottle of cognac over a fifteen-hour period gives you a headache and upset stomach.

 

Whoda thunkit, science fanz?

[Orogun01]

Amazing scientific / biology type discovery this weekend - drinking eight pints of Guinness, two bottles of claret and half a bottle of cognac over a fifteen-hour period gives you a headache and upset stomach.

 

Whoda thunkit, science fanz?

No, I was control for that experiment and didn't felt a thing. You must be a lightweight, at any rate hair of the dog for ya.

[Wrath of Dagon]

May be finally a solution to the oil crisis? Natural gas into gasoline : http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/06/04/...-gold-in-qatar/

[Rosbjerg]

May be finally a solution to the oil crisis? Natural gas into gasoline : http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/06/04/...-gold-in-qatar/

 

A shame, I would much rather we started moving towards hydrogen and electric cars. Even with this process I imagine the the exhaust still causes massive air pollution.

[Humodour]

May be finally a solution to the oil crisis? Natural gas into gasoline : http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/06/04/...-gold-in-qatar/

 

Always handy to have more efficient ways to make products derived from long-chain hydrocarbons (especially for plastics production).

 

A few problems, though:

1) Natural gases (mostly methane but also ethane and other) are much worse greenhouse gases than CO2, although they only stay in the atmosphere for a decade or two compared to CO2 which lingers for hundreds of years (upwards of 500). This is only really a problem with leaks, although those leaks are very common.

2) Natural gas converted to long-chain hydrocarbons will be, when burnt, as polluting as oil always is when burnt. Even when not converted to oils, natural gas is quite polluting (although somewhat less so than oils). On the upside, oils derived from natural gas would be free of pollutants like sulphur - that's definitely a plus.

3) Natural gas is a fossil fuel and peak gas is projected to occur this century. It is in no way a long-term solution. That said, biogas is somewhat economically viable (natural gas produced from plant matter) so I guess nat gas can be made renewable if required, although this might not be easily scalable.

4) This process requires an energy input. That's fine because at some point oils will become so expensive that this process is worth doing, but yeah, worth noting.

 

There are actually a few ways to use CO2 itself as a fuel. Here is one which involves basically reverse combustion (so it's kind of similar to what you've posted in that short-chain hydrocarbons are linked together to form longer ones): http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/01/S2P

 

I guess the above method of using CO2 to make gasoline technically falls under the category of solar energy since input from the sun is required. Haha.