Category: Science & Technology News

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Automobiles, Science & Technology News

The Netflix generation won’t want to own cars – here’s how the auto industry can adapt

Younger consumers are drawn to the convenience of subscription services and will want the same model for using cars, Dr Andy Palmer argues. 

By Nick David and Dr. Andy Palmer 

A quick look at your bank statements will most likely reveal a consistent theme in each month’s transactions: payments to 

A generation of consumers, and I’m one of them, have become addicted to subscription services.

Simple and no-strings-attached, subscription services seem to exist for every possible product out there. And now cars are joining the subscription surge.

 The auto industry has experienced significant upheaval over the past decade.

Auto executives have dedicated most of their time and attention to adapting the physical and technical make-up of the cars they produce, such as shepherding from internal combustion engines to hybrid or electric in response to a more climate conscious market.

However, changing consumer attitudes are fuelling another major shift for the industry to contend with – and automotive executives are slowly waking up to it.

Continue reading… “The Netflix generation won’t want to own cars – here’s how the auto industry can adapt”
AI, Science & Technology News

How PepsiCo uses AI to create products consumers don’t know they want

Sage Lazzaro

If you imagine how a food and beverage company creates new offerings, your mind likely fills with images of white-coated researchers pipetting flavors and taste-testing like mad scientists. This isn’t wrong, but it’s only part of the picture today. More and more, companies in the space are tapping AI for product development and every subsequent step of the product journey.

At PepsiCo, for example, multiple teams tap AI and data analytics in their own ways to bring each product to life. It starts with using AI to collect intel on potential flavors and product categories, allowing the R&D team to glean the types of insights consumers don’t report in focus groups. It ends with using AI to analyze how those data-driven decisions played out.

“It’s that whole journey, from innovation to marketing campaign development to deciding where to put it on shelf,” Stephan Gans, chief consumer insights and analytics officer at PepsiCo, told VentureBeat. “And not just like, ‘Yeah, let’s launch this at the A&P.’ But what A&P. Where on the shelf in that particular neighborhood A&P.”

Continue reading… “How PepsiCo uses AI to create products consumers don’t know they want”
3D Printer, Science & Technology News

U.S. 1st 3D commercial ship under construction

by Fatima Bahtić

American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), Robert Allan (RAL), Signet Maritime Corporation and the United States Coast Guard (USCG) have developed a commercial vessel using an end-to-end 3D design process.

The vessel, which the companies claim is the U.S.-first, will receive its certificate of inspection from the USCG and will be built and operated by Signet to ABS Class.

As disclosed, the companies have developed the project using only 3D models in design and construction for all structures.

“This landmark achievement sets the bar for future projects both in the U.S. and internationally. Together with our forward-looking partners, we have realized a long-held dream of the industry to leave behind 2D paper plans and move to the next generation of vessel production,” said Christopher J. Wiernicki, ABS Chairman, President and CEO. 

Continue reading… “U.S. 1st 3D commercial ship under construction”
Medical Breakthrough, Science & Technology News

He Inherited A Devastating Disease. A CRISPR Gene-Editing Breakthrough Stopped It

Patrick Doherty volunteered for a new medical intervention of gene-editor infusions for the treatment of genetically-based diseases.Patrick Doherty

Patrick Doherty had always been very active. He trekked the Himalayas and hiked trails in Spain.

But about a year and a half ago, he noticed pins and needles in his fingers and toes. His feet got cold. And then he started getting out of breath any time he walked his dog up the hills of County Donegal in Ireland where he lives.

“I noticed on some of the larger hill climbs I was getting a bit breathless,” says Doherty, 65. “So I realized something was wrong.”

Doherty found out he had a rare, but devastating inherited disease — known as transthyretin amyloidosis — that had killed his father. A misshapen protein was building up in his body, destroying important tissues, such as nerves in his hands and feet and his heart.

Continue reading… “He Inherited A Devastating Disease. A CRISPR Gene-Editing Breakthrough Stopped It”
Science & Technology News, Space

CHINA REVEALS PLANS TO COLONISE SPACE WITH A MARS BASE, CARGO FLEETS, ALIEN CITIES, AND A ‘SKY LADDER’

A potential space elevator could reduce the cost of space travel by 99 per cent – if the technology can be invented

By Adam Smith

China’s plans for the future of space exploration include a Mars base, planetary development, and a ‘sky ladder’ to transport cargo.

The first of a three-step plan involves androids launched to take samples of Mars and look for the location of a Mars base site, said Wang Xiaojun, head of the state-owned China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) at the Global Space Exploration Conference, as reported by Global Times.

Following that will be a manned Mars mission to develop the base, while the third stage will be transporting cargo fleets from Earth to Mars to construct a community on the planet; the current timetable schedules these launches approximately every two years from 2033 until 2043.

Continue reading… “CHINA REVEALS PLANS TO COLONISE SPACE WITH A MARS BASE, CARGO FLEETS, ALIEN CITIES, AND A ‘SKY LADDER’”
Science & Technology News, Space Flight

Virgin Galactic gets FAA’s OK to launch customers to space

This Saturday, May 22, 2021 image provided by Virgin Galactic shows the release of VSS Unity from VMS Eve and ignition of rocket motor over Spaceport America, N.M. Virgin Galactic finally has the federal government’s approval to start launching customers into space from New Mexico. Richard Branson’s rocketship company announced the Federal Aviation Administration’s updated license on Friday, June 25. It’s the final hurdle in Virgin Galactic’s years-long effort to send paying passengers on short space hops. Credit: Virgin Galactic via AP

by Marcia Dunn

Virgin Galactic finally has the federal government’s approval to start launching customers into space from New Mexico.

Richard Branson’s rocketship company announced the Federal Aviation Administration’s updated license on Friday.

It’s the final hurdle in Virgin Galactic’s yearslong effort to send paying passengers on short space hops.

The company is working toward three more space test flights this summer and early fall, before opening the rocketship’s doors to paying customers. The original plans called for company engineers to launch next to evaluate equipment, followed by a flight with Branson and then a science mission by Italian Air Force officers.

Continue reading… “Virgin Galactic gets FAA’s OK to launch customers to space”
DNA, Science & Technology News

DNAzymes could outperform protein enzymes for genetic engineering

Chemistry professor Yi Lu led a team that developed a technique that allows DNAzymes to cut double-stranded DNA, enabling a wide range of genetic engineering applications.

by Liz Ahlberg Touchstone , University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Move over, gene-editing proteins—there’s a smaller, cheaper, more specific genetic engineering tool on the block: DNAzymes—small DNA molecules that can function like protein enzymes.

Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have developed a technique that, for the first time, allows DNAzymes to target and cut double-stranded DNA, overcoming a significant limitation of the technology. DNAzymes have been used in biosensing, DNA computing and many other applications. However, when it comes to genetic engineering applications such as gene editing or gene therapy, they have faced a challenge: DNAzymes have only been able to target sites on single-stranded DNA, while the DNA coding for genes in cells is double-stranded. The researchers published their new technique in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Continue reading… “DNAzymes could outperform protein enzymes for genetic engineering”
Batteries, Science & Technology News

Why ‘nuclear batteries’ offer a new approach to carbon-free energy

By David L. Chandler , Massachusetts Institute of Technology

This cut-away rendering of the MIT nuclear battery concept shows important components such as the instrumentation and control module, the reactor, and the power module. Credit: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

We may be on the brink of a new paradigm for nuclear power, a group of nuclear specialists suggested recently in The Bridge, the journal of the National Academy of Engineering. Much as large, expensive, and centralized computers gave way to the widely distributed PCs of today, a new generation of relatively tiny and inexpensive factory-built reactors, designed for autonomous plug-and-play operation similar to plugging in an oversized battery, is on the horizon, they say.

Continue reading… “Why ‘nuclear batteries’ offer a new approach to carbon-free energy”
Medical Breakthrough, Science & Technology News

New Technique Allows Researchers to Custom 3D Print Bacteria-Resistant Medical Devices

By Vanesa Listek

A team of engineers and health experts led by mechanics professor Ricky Wildman from the University of Nottingham, UK, found a new way to design and manufacture custom medical devices to boost performance and bacterial resistance. Using a combination of multi-material inkjet 3D printing and genetic algorithms, the researchers designed tailored composite artificial body parts and other medical devices with built-in functionality that offer better shape and durability while cutting the risk of bacterial infection at the same time. The study opens the possibility of a new manufacturing concept to produce devices with spatially distributed, customizable material functionalities in a cost-effective manner.

Continue reading… “New Technique Allows Researchers to Custom 3D Print Bacteria-Resistant Medical Devices”
Science & Technology News, Space Flight

Dreams Come True: First-Ever Luxury Space Hotel Nears Launch

Illustration of the Voyager hotel

By  Chris Young

The first prototype for an orbital hotel with artificial gravity may launch as soon as 2023.

The Orbital Assembly Corporation, a space construction firm run by NASA veterans, announced in a press statement today, June 24, that it has successfully demonstrated its technology for developing the world’s first space hotel.

The company carried out the demonstration during the official opening of its Fontana, California Facility, which will serve as its main headquarters as it aims to make luxury space holidays a reality before 2030.

Continue reading… “Dreams Come True: First-Ever Luxury Space Hotel Nears Launch”
drones, Science & Technology News

You Must Pass the FAA’s TRUST Test to Legally Fly a Drone in the U.S.

By JARON SCHNEIDER

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has released its TRUST test, a free online training program to certify that pilots understand the rules of drone flight. It is required in order to fly a drone, even recreationally. 

The Recreational UAS Safety Test, otherwise known as TRUST, applies to all pilots. Even those who just operate a drone “for fun or personal enjoyment” must take this test in order to legally fly in the United States. If a drone weighs more than 0.55 pounds, pilots must additionally register it through the FAA’s Drone Zone.

The test is designed to provide education and testing for recreational flyers on important safety and regulatory information. The FAA says that even pilots who fly drones recreationally under the Exception for Recreational Flyers — which includes drone flights for educational purposes — must pass the test before they can legally fly.

Continue reading… “You Must Pass the FAA’s TRUST Test to Legally Fly a Drone in the U.S.”