Breaking up may actually not be hard to do, say scientists who’ve found a population of tropical butterflies that may be on its way to a split into two distinct species.
In the summer of 2008, steel giant Nucor decided to raise some cash. It issued new shares of stock and floated some corporate bonds. As financial markets crumbled, the company ignored pleas from some investors and analysts that it buy back shares, which are now selling for about half their peak.
The ReCell kit, hardly bigger than a designer sunglasses case, houses a miniature lab for harvesting skin basal cells.
Traditionally, treatment for severe second-degree burns consists of adding insult to injury: cutting a swath of skin from another site on the same patient in order to graft it over the burn. The process works, but causes more pain for the burn victim and doubles the area in need of healing. Now a relatively new technology has the potential to heal burns in a way that’s much less invasive than skin grafts. With just a small skin biopsy and a ready-made kit, surgeons can create a suspension of the skin’s basal cells–the stem cells of the epidermis–and spray the solution directly onto the burn with results comparable to those from skin grafts.
David Bashford, lead of the LaserMotive team, preparing their robotic climber entry in the $2 million Space Elevator Games
A robot powered by a ground-based laser beam climbed a long cable dangling from a helicopter on Wednesday to qualify for prize money in a $2 million competition to test the potential reality of the science fiction concept of space elevators. (Videos)
Japan’s ageing population and low birth rate are fuelling fears of a population slump over the coming years.
Air quality in homes, offices, and other indoor spaces is becoming a major health concern, particularly in developed countries where people often spend more than 90% of their time indoors. Surprisingly, indoor air has been reported to be as much as 12 times more polluted than outdoor air in some areas. Indoor air pollutants emanate from paints, varnishes, adhesives, furnishings, clothing, solvents, building materials, and even tap water.
By building a tiny microscope small enough to be carried around on a rats` head, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany, have found a way to study the complex activity of many brain cells simultaneously while animals are free to move around. With this new technology scientists can actually see how the brain cells operate while the animal is behaving naturally, giving rise to immense new insights into the understanding of perception and attention.
If worms are any indication, all the sugar in your diet could spell much more than obesity and type 2 diabetes. Researchers reporting in the November issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication, say it might also be taking years off your life.
There are areas in the brain devoted to our arms, legs, and various parts of our bodies. The way these areas are distributed throughout the brain are known as “body maps” and there are some significant differences in these maps between left- and right-handed people. For example, in left-handed people, there is an equal amount of brain area devoted to the left and right arms in both hemispheres. However, for right-handed people, there is more cortical area associated with right arm than the left.
According to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM), eating a meal quickly, as compared to slowly, curtails the release of hormones in the gut that induce feelings of being full. The decreased release of these hormones, can often lead to overeating.
It is the jruiter + studio’s latest bike design, a minimal City Bike, it was aimed at people who live and work in an inner city environment with minimal space.
We re-thought everything two-wheeled, with simplicity in mind,” says Joey Ruiter of jruiter + studio, a Michigan-based design firm. “This is as stripped as you can get.”
Ruiter’s referring to their as-yet-unnammed inner city bike prototype, conceived of as a Spartan two-wheeler designed specifically for short-range urban travel and manufactured with the absolute bare minimum amount of materials.
Sitting in Style while Travelling
Dutch designer Erik De Nijs created Suited Case — a collection of four functional suitcases that can be linked together in the form of a couch. His goal was to give travelers a taste of home while away:
This concept came from a research on nostalgia during travelling. When a familiar object from home is taken with you on a trip you feel much more at ease. And which object is more familiar then your own comfortable couch.
The fabrics which are used to cover the suit cases emphasize the homely feeling. I searched for a combination of fabrics which amplify each other and which create a prominent image. By using prints on the large luggage and the pad on the hand luggage I tried to put down a lively picture.
An exceptionally rare Royal R Rife polished steel compound microscope, American, dated 1932, engraved on the tube “ROYAL R. RIFE 1932″, with massive vertical column supporting the compound barrel (lacking ocular and objective) with three fine screw adjustments for vertical, transverse and circular motion, circular stage with rotating and mechanical movement in both axis with engraved scales and verniers, sub-stage Abbe condenser with rack and pinion focusing, a slanted quartz prism and electric illuminant with bulls eye lens engraved THE RIFE MICROSCOPE LAMP, the whole mounted on heavy platform base with three leveling feet and a quantity of accessories 19in (48cm) high; 15in (38cm) wide.
Rife discovered a cure for cancer utilizing his microscopes, but had all his work was confiscated and he was forced to go into hiding. In 1980, years after Rife died, the American Medical Association was found guilty by a US Court of Appeals of “conspiracy to restrain competition. . . New methods of health care have been discouraged, restricted and in some instances eliminated.”
Home farming
Philips Design recently completed a design probe looking at the future of food. The project investigated how we might eat and source our food 15-20 years from now. the probe looks at social trends occurring today and extrapolates them to project possible futures. The research led the designers to create three projects which solidified their ideas. (Pics and video)
Scientists from Purdue University have prepared a new solid propellant with explosive results. The fuel, a combination of nanoaluminum and ice, is a new kind of environmentally friendly solid rocket fuel that could someday be used in missions to outer space. With the motive to minimize fuel consumption onboard, the fuel has been successfully field-tested in a nine-foot rocket which scaled an amazing height of 1300 feet at 200mph using seven inches of nanoaluminum and ice.
Fluid
Designed by Melbourne-based Peddle Thorpe Architects, Fluid is a whale-inspired pavilion that is sure to be a showstopper at the much-anticipated 2012 World Expo in Yeosu, South Korea. (Pics)
Power that literally ROCKS!
Rochus Jacob designed and built the Murakami Chair. As the user rocks back and forth during the day, the chair charges a battery that powers the lamp. Jacob writes: I was looking for opportunities to generate energy through activities we naturally do. The final result is a rocking chair that enables the user to experience production and consumption of electricity in a gentle and rewarding way. An abstract process becomes tangible and eventually cultivates natural awareness. Complexity is covered by simplicity. Advanced nano-dynamo technology which is built in to the skids of the chair and more efficient light sources such as the newly developed OLED generation makes it possible to build a rocking chair with a reading lamp running on electricity generated from the rocking motion…
Several winners were announced as top inventors for 2009
The DaVinci Institute, a futurist think tank and host of the 5th annual Colorado Inventor Showcase announced the award winners at the event held November 3rd at the Denver University Cable Center. Winners in the six categories accepted their honors as the evening came to a close. The DaVinci Institute also extended its thanks to Colorado and surrounding states for participating in this year’s event. Seventy celebrity judges from venture capital, the media, high profile businesses and academia selected the award winners based on their innovation and value of their creations to society.
Tall and mighty do they stand!
Seven rock formations called Man-Pupu-Nyor (little mountain of the gods) stand in the Komi Republic, a part of the Ural Mountain area of Russia. They range from 30 to 42 meters tall! The pillars formed when erosion washed away the mountain that once surrounded them over a period of 200 million years. Legend says they are evil giants who had a spell cast upon them…
Want to have a method that your car can generate power as it drives along the road? Well, check out the Carbon Zero road block system. This concept uses blocks on the road, and as you drive over these blocks, the pressure from your car pushes the blocks down, creating kinetic energy. N-type silicon and P-type silicone work together like a battery, creating a DC-direct current. This energy is then turned into AC-alternating current, which can be used for powering electric devices in the homes and businesses near the road. Not too shabby eh? Hopefully we’re looking at a nice and pretty green future.
Nearly 100 years ago, scientists detected the first signs of cosmic rays — subatomic particles (mostly protons) that zip through space at nearly the speed of light. The most energetic cosmic rays hit with the punch of a 98-mph fastball, even though they are smaller than an atom. Astronomers questioned what natural force could accelerate particles to such a speed. New evidence from the VERITAS telescope array shows that cosmic rays likely are powered by exploding stars and stellar “winds.”
In 2005, a gigantic, 35-mile-long rift broke open the desert ground in Ethiopia. At the time, some geologists believed the rift was the beginning of a new ocean as two parts of the African continent pulled apart, but the claim was controversial.
An ancient South American civilisation which disappeared around 1,500 years ago helped to cause its own demise by damaging the fragile ecosystem that held it in place, a study has found.
Nearby galaxies undergoing a furious pace of star formation also emit lots of gamma rays, say astronomers using NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Two so-called “starburst” galaxies, plus a satellite of our own Milky Way galaxy, represent a new category of gamma-ray-emitting objects detected both by Fermi and ground-based observatories.
We all know adolescents get testy from time to time. Thank goodness we don’t have young tyrannosaurs running around the neighborhood.
Loading ...
