cutting edge – Page 5

Big Data, Breakthrough Thinking, cutting edge, new technology

Umbra Composit could scan the world in 3D to the detail of a single grain of sand

October 13, 2018

Umbra shows a scan of Helsinki.

Last year, Umbra unveiled a tool called The Composit that will let you upload a complex 3D model to the cloud and then view it on any device. Now, the Helsinki, Finland-based company is showing how it can create a huge web-based virtual model of a city that can put something like Google Maps to shame.

Umbra claims its tech could scan the whole world down to the detail of a single grain of sand. It could be done via a kind of crowdsourcing, using only people with smartphones who use their devices as scanners. That might sound outlandish, but the company is already well under way with that mission in its native Finland.

Continue reading… “Umbra Composit could scan the world in 3D to the detail of a single grain of sand”

cutting edge, Engineering, Inventions, new technology

This water gun can cut through concrete

October 12, 2018

How do firefighters put out a blaze when they can’t reach the flames?

That’s the challenge firefighters confronted in 2008, when a B-2 Stealth Bomber crashed on the runway at an American airbase in Guam.

The crew successfully ejected, but the hugely expensive aircraft was completely destroyed by a fire that burned deep within its wreckage.

“The firefighters had difficulty getting through the composite layers of the aircraft skin to fight the fire,” U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Scott Knupp told CNNMoney.

The loss of the aircraft prompted the Air Force to search for a solution.

“We were looking for some type of technology out there that would help us penetrate through [to] hard-to-reach spaces to get water onto the fire,” said Knupp.

Air Force firefighters now use a system called PyroLance — a firefighting “gun” that can blast through steel, brick or concrete walls, and even bullet-resistant glass.

Continue reading… “This water gun can cut through concrete”

Biotech, cutting edge, DNA, Medical Breakthrough

Scientists grow full-sized, beating humanity hearts from stem cells

September 25, 2018

It’s the closest we’ve come to growing transplantable hearts in the lab.

Of the 4,000 Americans waiting for heart transplants, only 2,500 will receive new hearts in the next year. Even for those lucky enough to get a transplant, the biggest risk is the their bodies will reject the new heart and launch a massive immune reaction against the foreign cells. To combat the problems of organ shortage and decrease the chance that a patient’s body will reject it, researchers have been working to create synthetic organs from patients’ own cells. Now a team of scientists from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School has gotten one step closer, using adult skin cells to regenerate functional human heart tissue, according to a study published recently in the journal Circulation Research.

Continue reading… “Scientists grow full-sized, beating humanity hearts from stem cells”

3D Printer, cutting edge, Inventions

HP’s new 3-D printers build items not of plastic but of steel

September 16, 2018

HP is hoping its new Metal Jet 3-D printers will provide inroads into manufacturing sectors such as automobiles and medical devices.HP

WHEN YOU THINK about 3-D printing, chances are you think of little plastic doodads created by desktop devices like those made by MakerBot. Computing and printer giant HP wants you to think about metal.

Today the company announced the Metal Jet printer, an industrial-scale 3-D printer that builds items not of plastic but of steel.

Continue reading… “HP’s new 3-D printers build items not of plastic but of steel”

cutting edge, Entertainment, Film, Inventions

Easy-to-make videos can show you dancing like the stars

September 10, 2018

Want to dance like a professional ballerina or strut like a rapper? A new machine-learning technique can transfer one person’s motion to another in a simple process.

Mapping one person’s motion onto the movement of another has changed the way filmmakers, animators, and game designers create action. With this technique, one person can appear to dance, run, or shoot like somebody else.

Continue reading… “Easy-to-make videos can show you dancing like the stars”

3D Printer, Automation, cutting edge, Home Technology

Research team develops the world’s first-ever 4-D printing for ceramics

September 2, 2018

A research team at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has achieved a groundbreaking advancement in materials research by successfully developing the world’s first 4-D printing for ceramics, which are mechanically robust and can have complex shapes. This could turn a new page in the structural application of ceramics.

Ceramic has a high melting point, so it is difficult to use conventional laser printing to make ceramics. The existing 3-D-printed ceramic precursors, which are usually difficult to deform, also hinder the production of ceramics with complex shapes. To overcome these challenges, the CityU team has developed a novel “ceramic ink,” which is a mixture of polymers and ceramic nanoparticles. The 3-D-printed ceramic precursors printed with this novel ink are soft and can be stretched three times beyond their initial length. These flexible and stretchable ceramic precursors allow complex shapes, such as origami folding. With proper heat treatment, ceramics with complex shapes can be made.

Continue reading… “Research team develops the world’s first-ever 4-D printing for ceramics”

3D Printer, Analysis, Biotech, cutting edge, Healthcare, Medicine

CDC uses HP bioprinters to speed up testing for new antibiotics

September 1, 2018

The pilot will help test effectiveness against superbugs.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention is turning to some bleeding edge tech in its bid to stamp out drug-resistant ‘superbug’ bacteria. It’s buying a slew of HP bioprinters (the D300e you see above) as part of a pilot program that could speed up the testing of more effective antibiotics. The machines will give regional labs in New York, Minnesota, Tennessee and Wisconsin their first shot at printing drug samples used for developing and running antimicrobial susceptibility tests. Hospitals won’t have to wait for testing or else risk mistakes like overusing drugs.

The testing will start at CDC’s regional labs in the first quarter of HP’s fiscal 2019 (between November and January). Its initial focus is on widely resistant bacteria. And HP won’t be done once th e bioprinters are in the Center’s hands. HP will help the CDC study the success of the pilot, tweak it if needed, and explore the possibility of wider-scale printer uses if the test proves successful. This may become an instrumental part of fighting superbugs if all goes smoothly.

Via Engadget

AI, Artificial Intelligence, cutting edge, Entertainment, Robots

Filmmaker Tony Kaye casts robot as lead actor in next feature

August 29, 2018

EXCLUSIVE: As the advancement of technology continues to replace the need for human labor, American History X director Tony Kaye is undertaking a new — and maybe controversial — step in filmmaking by employing an Artificial Intelligent (A.I.) actor as the lead in his next film, 2nd Born.

Continue reading… “Filmmaker Tony Kaye casts robot as lead actor in next feature”

Biotech, cutting edge, Engineering, Healthcare

Don’t bug out: Spider-like microbots will get under your skin … in a good way

August 20, 2018

It might sound like the beginning of a nightmare, but researchers are developing a line of small, insect-inspired robots that could one day crawl into your body and help fix broken bits. They’re suspicious in their squishiness. Soft, flexible, and shaped like spiders. But their creators think future versions could be designed to perform tasks that are out of reach of humans.

In a paper published recently in the journal Advanced Materials, a team of roboticists from Harvard University’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), and Boston University report that they’ve created these multifunctional microbots thanks to a new fabrication process that lets them build millimeter-scale machines with micrometer-scale features. Similarly sized robots have been created before, but not ones as dynamic as this. To demonstrate their breakthrough, they created a transparent spider bot modeled off of the brilliant Australian peacock spider.

Continue reading… “Don’t bug out: Spider-like microbots will get under your skin … in a good way”

cutting edge, Medical Breakthrough, Robotics, Stem cells

Robots grow mini-organs from human stem cells

July 29, 2018

An automated system that uses robots has been designed to rapidly produce human mini-organs derived from stem cells. Researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle developed the new system.

The advance promises to greatly expand the use of mini-organs in basic research and drug discovery, according to Benjamin Freedman, assistant professor of medicine, Division of Nephrology, at the UW School of Medicine, who led the research effort.

Continue reading… “Robots grow mini-organs from human stem cells”

Breakthrough Thinking, cutting edge, Engineering

Making opaque materials totally transparent

July 28, 2018

Most naturally occurring materials have a disordered atomic structure that interferes with the propagation of both sound and electromagnetic waves. When the waves come into contact with these materials, they bounce around and disperse – and their energy dissipates according to a highly complex interference pattern, diminishing in intensity. That means it’s virtually impossible to transmit data or energy intact across wave-scattering media and fully leverage the potential of wave technology.

For an example, you need look no further than your smartphone – the geolocation function works less well inside buildings where radiofrequency waves scatter in all directions. Other potential applications include biomedical imaging and geological surveying, where it’s important to be able to send waves across highly disordered media.

Continue reading… “Making opaque materials totally transparent”

Breakthrough Thinking, cutting edge, Energy, Solar Energy, Solar Power

These living solar cells make energy, even in bad weather

July 24, 2018

When it comes to generating energy from sunlight, unusual solutions have been shown to make the process more efficient.

Now, a team of researchers from the University of British Columbia (UBC) has demonstrated how solar cells made of living organisms can generate energy even with limited sunlight. Known as “biogenic” solar cells, these cells could offer an alternative to synthetic cells currently used in conventional solar panels, providing an energy source despite bad weather. A paper detailing the research was published this month in the journal Small.

Continue reading… “These living solar cells make energy, even in bad weather”