Impact Lab – Page 363 – A Laboratory of the Future Human Experience

3D-printed solid-state batteries near production

September 5, 2021

Batteries that are lighter, cheaper and easier to produce could result from a convergence of modern approaches

By Freddie Holmes

A company that plans to produce 3D-printed solid-state batteries is readying to launch its first pilot line. California-based Sakuu is targeting not only electric vehicles (EVs) but also other sectors such as aerospace, consumer electronics and medical devices. The new battery line is expected to be operational by the end of 2021 and will have a capacity of up to 2.5 megawatt hours (MWh) per year.

Once up and running, the plan is to begin issuing batteries to strategic customers and ‘early access partners’ who can perform their own development and testing. One other solid-state battery start-up QuantumScape recently ran a similar initiative, where its pouch cells were issued to third parties. The results were presented in Decemberalongside its joint venture partner, Volkswagen Group.

Energy

Dust-sized supercapacitor packs the same voltage as a AAA battery

September 4, 2021

An array of 90 tubular biosupercapacitors

By Nick Lavars

By combining miniaturized electronics with some origami-inspired fabrication, scientists in Germany have developed what they say is the smallest microsupercapacitor in existence. Smaller than a speck of a dust but with a similar voltage to a AAA battery, the groundbreaking energy storage device is not only safe for use in the human body, but actually makes use of key ingredients in the blood to supercharge its performance.

The scientists behind the new device were working within the realm of nano-supercapacitors (nBSC), which are conventional capacitors but scaled down to the sub-millimeter scale. Developing these types of devices is tricky enough, but the researchers sought to make one that could work safely in the human body to power tiny sensors and implants, which requires swapping out problematic materials and corrosive electrolytes for ones that are biocompatible.

These devices are known as biosupercapacitors and the smallest ones developed to date is larger than 3 mm³, but the scientists have made a huge leap forward in terms of how tiny biosupercapacitors can be. The construction starts with a stack of polymeric layers that are sandwiched together with a light-sensitive photo-resist material that acts as the current collector, a separator membrane, and electrodes made from an electrically conductive biocompatible polymer called PEDOT:PSS.

brain hacking

New Brain Implant Restores Sense of Touch on Fingertips

September 4, 2021

A chiropractor performing a nerve conduction velocity (NCV) test on a patient.

By Fabienne Lang

The little electrode brain implant has the potential to help millions of people living with paralysis and neuropathy.

Imagine not being able to feel the warmth of a hand holding yours, or the buttons of your shirt as you try and do it up.

Millions of people live with paralysis and peripheral neuropathy — when nerves in the body’s extremities, such as hands and feet, are damaged — and aren’t able to feel sensations through their fingertips and toes.

But that might all be about to change.

Researchers at The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research managed to evoke the sense of touch in fingers using a minimally invasive electrode brain implant. The study, a first-in-human one, offers the potential to change the lives of millions of people around the world.

The details were published in the journal Brain Stimulation.

AI

Fetch.ai brings AI and machine learning to NFT creators

September 4, 2021

Fetch.ai, an artificial intelligence lab based in the British city of Cambridge, today announced the launch of its new non-fungible token(NFT) platform, Colearn Paint, that will allow creators to automatically generate NFTs using a machine learning algorithm.

Science & Technology News, Space Flight

Working in space: China’s space robotic arm in 60 seconds

September 4, 2021

Chinese astronauts, or taikonauts, completed their second extravehicular stint with the help of a giant robotic arm on August 20.

Biotech

Trailblazing Rice bioengineer is turning cells into disease fighters

September 3, 2021

Viruses come in many flavors, and Rice University bioengineer Isaac Hilton has long been fascinated by the kind that take control of cells without rewriting their genetic code.

“Some non-integrating episomal DNA viruses have evolved sophisticated ways to hide inside human immune cells without altering our DNA,” said Hilton, a geneticist, synthetic biologist and cellular engineer. “These types of viruses can exist as circular minichromosomes that we call episomes, and some of these viral episomes can silently persist in human immune cells for a person’s entire life.”

In addition to helping viruses hide from the immune system, those circles can produce molecules that viruses use to hijack host cells and alter their behavior. But as their name implies, non-integrating episomal DNA viruses accomplish their takeover without making permanent changes to their host’s genome. From an engineer’s perspective, Hilton said the ability to program immune cell behaviors and safely erase that programming when it is no longer useful or necessary “makes these viruses very attractive for use in gene– and cell-therapy platforms.”

DNA

CAN CRISPR GENE THERAPY BE A SINGLE INJECTION?

September 3, 2021

CRISPR gene editing technology is revolutionizing healthcare as we know it.

The technology, which earned two of its discoverers a Nobel Prize in 2020, can target and edit genes more easily and more precisely than its predecessors.

Yet as promising as CRISPR has been over the past several years, it’s mostly been developed in the lab.

Thankfully, that is now changing as a growing number of clinical trials are beginning to test gene therapies in humans.

Early CRISPR trials have focused on hereditary blindness and diseases of the blood, including cancer and sickle cell anemia.

The problem is that although cutting-edge, these therapies can be costly and intense. For example, in one trial for sickle cell anemia, doctors remove cells from the body, edit them in a dish, and then infuse them back into the patient.

Such a complicated approach won’t work as readily for other diseases.

What we need is a general delivery method for CRISPR, so that it can be used like any other medication.

And a recent clinical trial run by researchers at University College London (UCL) has made a key, promising step in that direction. Discussing the latest developments in biotech—using biology astechnology—is a key focus of my year-round coaching program Abundance360.

Space

Origin Space’s Robot can Capture Space Debris

September 3, 2021

Concept: China’s space exploration startup Origin Space has launched a robot prototype ‘NEO-01’ into low orbit Earth with a large net that can scoop up debris or waste left behind by other spacecraft. The 30kg robot was launched alongside other satellites on the Chinese government’s Long March 6 rocket. The aim is to forge new paths to the future of technology capable of mining elements on asteroids.

Space Flight

The startup’s purpose is to provide cargo services for China’s space station

September 2, 2021

By Jide Olugbodi

A Chinese business is working on a spacecraft that will be able to supply space station of China, with the small demo launch planned for 2022. InterSpace Explore, based in Beijing, struck a deal with Galactic Energy, a Chinese commercial launch company, on August 4 to launch the Zengzhang-1 demo returnable satellite on the Ceres-1 solid rocket in the year 2022.

Interspace Explore, formally known as Beijing Interstellar Development Technology Company Ltd., acquired millions of Chinese yuan (about ¥6.48 for every dollar) from Innoangel Fund, an investment firm the next day. According to Chinese media estimates, the Zenghang-1 (Growth-1) spacecraft will possess a launch mass of roughly 350 kgs and a payload of over 100 kilos.

At a media briefing, Fu Shiming, Interspace Explore founder and a former employee of state-owned spacecraft manufacturer China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) as well as a Tiangong-2 space lab project’s member, said that spacecraft are critical to human utilization of space resources and have significant commercial and military value.

Hyperloop

See how Virgin Hyperloop’s speedy pod-slinging tube will transport you

September 2, 2021

The futuristic Richard Branson-backed venture wants to sling you around at jet plane speeds inside magnetic pods.

By Eric Mack

Hyperloop, the futuristic bullet-train-in-a-tube concept originally conceived by Elon Musk, has had a makeover courtesy of Virgin Hyperloop. The company released the below concept video on Monday laying out its updated vision of electromagnetically propelled passenger pods whipping riders between cities at jet plane speeds.

Think of hyperloop as a maglev train that runs inside a tube with a near-vacuum environment, thus eliminating almost all friction and air resistance, allowing for comfortable travel at speeds up to 670 miles per hour (1,070 kilometers per hour). Other conceptions for the technology, which is based on ideas for low-pressure travel dating back several decades and updated for the 21st century in an open-source white paper by Musk, have looked like a maglev train in a tube.

Agriculture

Unstung Heroes: Startup’s AI-Powered Tomato Pollinator Gives Bees a Break

September 2, 2021

Arugga AI Farming Ltd. Company founders Eytan Heller (left) and Iddo Geltner (right) at top.

by TONY KONTZER

There are nearly a half million acres of greenhouse tomato crops in the world, an area about 35 times the size of Manhattan. In other words, lots of tomatoes.

Growing them requires more than soil, water and sunlight. The plants are self-pollinating, but they need a little help getting the pollen to drop onto the female organ of the flower and trigger the process.

Typically, this is the job of bumblebees, which knock the pollen loose with the vibrations created by their beating flight muscles.

That, however, could change thanks to Israel-based startup Arugga. The company builds AI-powered robots that use computer vision to determine which flowers are ready for pollination and then blast air pulses at them to mimic the action of bumblebees and initiate pollination.

Science & Technology News, Trending

Ranked: The World’s Fastest Growing Cities

September 1, 2021

By Avery Koop

By 2025, the world’s population will reach over 8.1 billion people.

Most of that population growth will be concentrated in cities across Africa and Asia. To help paint a detailed picture, this map uses data from the United Nations to rank the top 20 fastest growing cities in the world in terms of average annual growth rate from 2020 to 2025.