Robots

These tiny robots are about to explore the Moon like never before

THE COLMENA PROJECT WILL PUT ROBOTS ON THE MOON THIS YEAR

By Joshua Hawkins

The Colmena Project has officially launched with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Mexican Space Agency. The state of Hidalgo has also backed the project which will put five robots on the surface of the Moon next June. UNAM, the National University of Mexico, leads the project, which has been made possible thanks to over 200 students involved with the Space Instrumentation Laboratory (LINX).

The Colmena Project is a monumental move for Mexico. Omar Fayad, Governor of Hidalgo, says that it is a representation of the country’s priority for the future. This is a unique moment for the world’s push for space, and Mexico playing a part will help spur even more science and progression throughout the country’s universities.

“COLMENA highlights all the values of the UNAM, and gives Mexican society a new way of seeing and understanding the modern world and the confidence that things are possible and that we can overcome our own limits,” Fayad said in a press release. Fayad says that the move may even inspire the next astronaut or leader of future missions.

Continue reading… “These tiny robots are about to explore the Moon like never before”
3D Printer

Buildings of the future could be fully 3D printed using recycled glass

CONCRETE HAS A HUGE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT. USING RECYCLED GLASS COULD HELP CURB THIS.

BY SEYED GHAFFAR MEHDI CHOUGAN AND PAWEL SIKORA 

3D printed concrete may lead to a shift in architecture and construction. Because it can be used to produce new shapes and forms that current technologies struggle with, it may change the centuries-old processes and procedures that are still used to construct buildings, resulting in lower costs and saved time.

However, concrete has a significant environmental impact. Vast quantities of natural sand are currently used to meet the world’s insatiable appetite for concrete, at great cost to the environment. In general, the construction industry struggles with sustainability. It creates around 35% of all landfill waste globally.

Our new research suggests a way to curb this impact. We have trialled using recycled glass as a component of concrete for 3D printing.

Concrete is made of a mix of cement, water, and aggregates such as sand. We trialled replacing up to 100% of the aggregate in the mix with glass. Simply put, glass is produced from sand, is easy to recycle, and can be used to make concrete without any complex processing.ADVERTISEMENT

Demand from the construction industry could also help ensure glass is recycled. In 2018 in the U.S. only a quarter of glass was recycled, with more than half going to landfill.

Continue reading… “Buildings of the future could be fully 3D printed using recycled glass”
New Inventions

New Solar Panel Design Uses Wasted Energy to Make Water From Air

The system directly addresses clean water shortages and crop devastation worldwide.

By Monisha Ravisetti

While generating green energy, solar panels usually create excess heat that goes unused. But with a new, innovative design, scientists have found a way to harness those precious leftovers to give the power producers a second purpose: pulling water out of thin air.

Basically, the self-contained system lays solar panels on a special gel that can collect airborne water vapor. As soon as surplus heat coming from the panels touches the gel, the substance releases a sort of mist into a metal box. Within that container, the gas gets condensed into droplets of water.

The team’s motivation is to provide energy and water that’s cheap, clean and off-grid to residents of remote and especially dry-climate areas.

“Our goal is to create an integrated system of clean energy, water, and food production, especially the water-creation part in our design, which sets us apart from current agrophotovoltaics,” Peng Wang, an environmental engineer at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, said in a statement.Wang is the senior author of a study on the invention published Tuesday in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science.

Continue reading… “New Solar Panel Design Uses Wasted Energy to Make Water From Air”
Metaverse

Landlords, property taxes, and zoning permits in a virtual world

By Louis B. Rosenberg, Ph.D., CEO of Unanimous AI.

The concept of land ownership is so ingrained in our culture, it’s easy to forget that the practice has only been pervasive in North America for a few hundred years. For 10,000 years before that, the millions of people who lived on this continent felt no reason to think of land as something a person could own.Play Video

Why mention this in a piece about the metaverse?

Because land ownership, like many of the social norms that govern our lives, is a cultural choice, not an inherent requirement of a well-functioning society. And yet it is quickly becoming a central element of many metaverse worlds. 

Is this the right approach? Maybe, but it’s worth noting that land ownership has driven inequality throughout history, concentrating wealth and power within small groups of elites to the detriment of everyone else. And yet metaverse developers, who have the power to invent totally new worlds from scratch, have seized upon this old-world norm by selling NFT real estate. In fact, numerous developers have made the sale of virtual real estate a key premise of their platforms. 

Continue reading… “Landlords, property taxes, and zoning permits in a virtual world”
3D Printer

House Zero brings high-end design to 3D-printed architecture

House Zero is a collaboration between Icon and prestigious US architecture firm Lake/FlatoCasey Dunn

By Adam Williams

A lot of 3D-printed architecture is focused on creating relatively simple and utilitarian structures that look functional but show little thought paid to aesthetics. However, leading 3D printing firm Icon has joined forces with prestigious studio Lake|Flato to create what they hope will become a new genre of homes that combine the benefits of 3D printing technology with the design chops of high-profile firms.

Originally unveiled back in 2021, House Zero is located in Austin, Texas, and features a modernist ranch style that’s not too dissimilar from Lake|Flato’s previous output. The interior decor is a mixture of 3D-printed curved walls, plus glass, and wood. 

It measures roughly 2,000 sq ft (185 sq m), spread over one floor and includes three bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, as well as a kitchen and central living room. Windows and doors have been carefully situated to frame choice views and maximize natural light inside. Additionally, adjacent to the main house is a smaller accessory dwelling unit that has another bedroom and bathroom.

“While the organic nature of the 3D-printed concrete and curved walls are new design languages for us, House Zero was still entirely in line with the natural connections we seek in our architecture,” said Ashley Heeren, associate at Lake|Flato. “The home expresses our shared passions for craft and performance in an inviting and comfortable family home constructed through a totally new way of building. It’s been a thrill for our team to work with Icon on such an innovative home design and be a part of the future of homebuilding.”

Continue reading… “House Zero brings high-end design to 3D-printed architecture”
Medical Breakthrough

Scientists created an artificial muscle from natural proteins that may transform reconstructive medicine

A microscopic photograph of muscle fibers. 


By Andrea Núñez-Torrón Stock and Nathan Rennolds

  • Researchers from the University of Freiburg created an artificial muscle from natural proteins.
  • According to the press release, it can contract autonomously by changing pH and temperature.
  • Natural proteins improve biocompatibility for use in implants and other prosthetics.

The creation of synthetic muscles is an important and growing field in robotics and reconstructive medicine. They could be key in the development of new implants and more sophisticated prosthetics. 

German researchers have now managed to create a synthetic muscle entirely from natural proteins, according to a press release from the University of Freiburg.

The team was led by Dr. Stefan Schiller and Dr. Matthias Huber from the livMatS Cluster of Excellence at the University of Freiburg. 

Natural proteins had been used to make artificial muscles before. But until now, there hasn’t been one that can contract autonomously using chemical energy.

Continue reading… “Scientists created an artificial muscle from natural proteins that may transform reconstructive medicine”
Stem cells

Israeli study: Stem cells may help multiple sclerosis brain ‘repair itself’

Eight of 15 patients who receive NG-01 therapy as spinal injection see better disability scores; inventors say therapy may ‘dramatically improve’ patients’ lives

By NATHAN JEFFAY

A new Israeli stem cell therapy, intended to make the brain of multiple sclerosis sufferers “repair itself,” has shown promise in a small clinical trial, with several patients experiencing hopeful biological changes and reduced disability.

NeuroGenesis, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, tested its personalized NG-01 therapy on patients, administering it in two different ways. An intravenous injection had some effect, but doctors observed particularly positive changes among patients who received an injection into the spinal cord fluid.

Of the 15 patients who received spinal injections, nine subsequently experienced a drop in levels of neurofilament light chain (NfL), a protein that is heightened among MS patients as disability progresses. In a control group that received placebo injections, only one of the 15 patients experienced such a drop.

Of the nine patients who received the therapy as a spinal injection and had reduced NfL levels, all but one went on to have improved disability scores, even 12 months later when the research finished. The study has been peer-reviewed and published in the journal Stem Cells Translational Medicine.

Continue reading… “Israeli study: Stem cells may help multiple sclerosis brain ‘repair itself’”
3D Printer

CHINESE START-UP ON A MISSION TO CUT ROCKET PRODUCTION COSTS BY 80% WITH 3D PRINTING

Launcher conducts a hot fire test for its 3D-printed Engine-2 rocket engine in the E Test Complex at NASA’s Stennis Space Center.

By HAYLEY EVERETT

Chinese start-up SpaceTai has claimed its 3D printing technology is capable of slashing rocket production costs by as much as 80 percent.

Although a relatively new arrival on the space scene, SpaceTai says it can manufacture almost all its rocket parts using its self-developed 3D printers in order to cut costs. 

With its first suborbital test flight slated for 2023, the firm could potentially challenge the likes of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Rocket Lab, Orbex, Relativity Space, and others leveraging 3D printing in the race to space in years to come. 

Continue reading… “CHINESE START-UP ON A MISSION TO CUT ROCKET PRODUCTION COSTS BY 80% WITH 3D PRINTING”
Metaverse

HOW TO FIND A PARTNER IN METAVERSE? DATING TAKES A VIRTUAL TURN

Can metaverse rescue the dating apps? Know how you can find a partner in this virtual world.

In this technology-driven world, you will always find something new taking place and providing new means to humanity. At present times, we have Metaverse, an online virtual reality that has caught everyone’s attention. The internet is evolving into the metaverse, and it will be driven by commerce, social interactions, and dating. Dating apps are drastically remodeling the dating landscape, including a multitude of new possibilities with which they captivate their customers. Virtual first dates that can take place anywhere in the world, avatars, or digital coins are a few of the latest features of such apps. Dating in the metaverse can take many forms, from people’s avatars moving around, participating in different activities, to joining others in diverse virtual locations to the possibility of private connections.

Continue reading… “HOW TO FIND A PARTNER IN METAVERSE? DATING TAKES A VIRTUAL TURN”
Robots, Science & Technology News

Tiny robots made in Mexico to explore moon in scientific first

The mission is poised to launch on a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket and would be the first American spacecraft to land on the moon in nearly 50 years.

The bots are scheduled to launch in June on Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander, originally developed for Google’s Lunar-X-Prize. (representative Image)

Five tiny robots designed and made in Mexico will blast off for the moon later this year, part of a first-of-its-kind scientific mission that envisions the two-wheeled bots scrambling across the lunar surface while taking sophisticated measurements.

The so-called nano robots developed by researchers at Mexico’s National Autonomous University (UNAM) will work together like a swarm of bees, the senior scientist told Reuters, once they make the nearly 240,000 mile (386,000 km) trip from earth aboard a rocket from closely held U.S. firm Astrobotic Technology.

The mission is poised to launch on a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket and would be the first American spacecraft to land on the moon in nearly 50 years.

Continue reading… “Tiny robots made in Mexico to explore moon in scientific first”
drones

“World’s first” hydraulic hybrid multicopter can fly up to 560 miles

By Chris Stonor

A classic case of “a drone with a difference”. Scottish-based company, Edinburgh Flowcopter, which specialises in Industrial Heavy-Lift Drones, has come-up with a unique concept – an unmanned craft that “runs aviation-certified combustion engines which will drive digital-displacement pumps designed for harsh environments, providing control bandwidth to fly,” reports inceptivemind.com.

The company’s initial aim is to assist helicopter operators, in particular, to optimise freight, surveying and search & rescue. The ability to fly in harsh weather over rough and inhospitable terrain is one of its primary selling points as well as long distances compared to its more vulnerable and less distance-flown electric counterparts. This robustness has Scotland written all over it, although such a craft could be helpful in the many remote and harsh environments around the world.

Continue reading… ““World’s first” hydraulic hybrid multicopter can fly up to 560 miles”
Tesla

Elon Musk pushes to build 6.2-mile underground tunnel for Tesla vehicles to ferry passengers under traffic-clogged North Miami Beach

By MATT MCNULTY

  • Elon Musk is pushing for a massive 6.2-mile underground tunnel to ferry Tesla vehicles and their passengers in the traffic-clogged area of North Miami Beach 
  • Musk’s Boring Company are currently considering the Hard Rock Stadium and Florida International University’s Biscayne campus as hosts for the transit tunnel 
  • The ‘rough’ estimated cost for the project sits at between $180 million and $220 million
  • It is expected to be completed in a 36-month construction time frame, according to Boring 
  • The concept is already in effect in Las Vegas, where 1.7-mile track allows for Teslas to cruise beneath the city’s convention center at top speeds of 40 mph
  • The next step in the process is to submit an interim agreement before city officials on March 15, according to city manager Chris Lagerbloom 

Elon Musk is pushing to build a massive 6.2-mile underground tunnel to ferry Tesla vehicles and their passengers in the traffic-clogged area of North Miami Beach.

Musk’s Boring Company are currently considering the Hard Rock Stadium and Florida International University’s Biscayne campus as hosts for the proposed transit tunnel, which will run underneath Miami-Dade, according to the Miami Herald.

Continue reading… “Elon Musk pushes to build 6.2-mile underground tunnel for Tesla vehicles to ferry passengers under traffic-clogged North Miami Beach”