Category: new technology

Impact Lab > new technology
Biotech, Medical Breakthrough, Medicine, new technology

How to grow functioning human muscles from stem cells

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… and microscale robot exoskeleton muscles from graphene and glass.

A cross section of a muscle fiber grown from induced pluripotent stem cells, showing muscle cells (green), cell nuclei (blue), and the surrounding support matrix for the cells (credit: Duke University)

Biomedical engineers at Duke University have grown the first functioning human skeletal muscle from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). (Pluripotent stem cells are important in regenerative medicine because they can generate any type of cell in the body and can propagate indefinitely; the induced version can be generated from adult cells instead of embryos.)

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Biotech, Medical Breakthrough, new technology, Stem cells

Japan approves first trials of stem cell-based heart treatment

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iPS procedure raises hopes for alternative to donations and artificial organs

TOKYO — Japan is set to host the world’s first clinical trials involving the use of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells to treat heart failure.

A special health ministry panel on Wednesday gave Osaka University the green light to carry out the study, pending final authorization from the health minister. This would be the second instance of using iPS-derived cells for disease treatment in Japan, after groundbreaking trials involving retinal cells launched in 2014.

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3D Printer, Engineering, new technology

A breakthrough in 3D printing liquids could lead to squishy, flexible gadgets

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The most common types of 3D printing involve either extruding melted plastic or using a laser to solidify tiny particles, layer by layer, to slowly build up a solid object. But researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have found a way to radically change that process by 3D printing liquids inside other liquids—and it could mean major advancements in gadget construction.

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new technology, Self-driving Cars, Uber

Here’s how Uber’s self-driving cars are supposed to detect pedestrians

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A self-driving vehicle made by Uber has struck and killed a pedestrian. It’s the first such incident and will certainly be scrutinized like no other autonomous vehicle interaction in the past. But on the face of it it’s hard to understand how, short of a total system failure, this could happen, when the entire car has essentially been designed around preventing exactly this situation from occurring.

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3D Printer, Analysis, Artificial Intelligence, Inventions, New Inventions, new technology, Science & Technology News

The top 10 breakthrough technologies and the key players leading the charge, according to MIT Technology Review

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Every fall, MIT Technology Review’s editors get together to begin the months-long process of reviewing their coverage. The goal? To create a list of the top ten technological advances from the last year that will have the greatest longterm global impact on consumers.

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AI, Artificial Intelligence, Future, Human Behavior, new technology

Technology isn’t just changing society — it’s changing what it means to be human

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Is there something unusual about the pace and nature of technological change today? Should we be more worried about the world we’re creating?

Michael Bess is a historian of science at Vanderbilt University and the author of Our Grandchildren Redesigned: Life in a Bioengineered Society. His book offers a sweeping look at our genetically modified future, a future as terrifying as it is promising. But he’s also someone who thinks a lot about the broader relationship between technology and society.

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Biotech, Engineering, new technology, Robotics

This tiny, magnetic robot could roll, walk, and swim through the terrain of the human body

This millimeter-scale robot designed by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems could enable “applications in microfactories such as the construction of tissue scaffolds by robotic assembly, in bioengineering such as single-cell manipulation and biosensing, and in healthcare such as targeted drug delivery and minimally invasive surgery” with bots inside the body controlled by magnets. From their scientific paper in Nature:

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