Impact Lab – Page 371 – A Laboratory of the Future Human Experience

Tiny, needle-like sensors inserted into plants are the latest addition to precision agriculture

July 7, 2021

Using microneedles, a technology borrowed from medicine, researchers mine real-time data to make farming hyper-efficient—and more sustainable

By Emma Bryce

What if we could closely track the health of plants, the way we use a monitor to track a human heartbeat? Researchers have moved us closer to this goal, with a new type of microsensor that can be inserted into the leaves and stems of crops to directly monitor information about their health and productivity.

This is one of the most recent innovations to come out of precision agriculture, a field of research and technological development that aims to gather as much data as possible on the optimal growing conditions for plants – typically using technologies like soil sensors and camera-fitted drones. Gathering this information could increase the efficiency of fertilizer and water to cut back on waste, pollution, and emissions. By finding out exactly what crops need, precision agriculture could also increase yields, which would have the added benefit of maximising land use and limiting agricultural expansion — one of the biggest threats to wild habitat, and a contributor to climate change.

The researchers on the new study think their newly-developed sensors — tiny, needle-like structures made of polymers, which are inserted into plants — could be a powerful addition to the precision agriculture toolbox.

AI, Science & Technology News

How AI Is Bringing Intelligence to TV Screens

July 6, 2021

By Daniel Elad

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been creating quite a stir across all industries, including the Connected TV (CTV) realm. In fact, it has already switched from being an attribute of siloed players to become something most actors dip their toes into.

While AI-driven data mining helps build predictions and foresee peoples’ attitudes to video content, machine learning algorithms segment viewers according to their habits. With such a slew of capabilities, no wonder AI has received a warm welcome in the CTV space.

Cancer, Science & Technology News

Japan launches new cancer treatment using special antibodies and beams of light

July 6, 2021

Hisataka Kobayashi (right), senior investigator at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, shakes hands with Rakuten Group Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Hiroshi Mikitani

A new cancer treatment that uses light to target and kill only cancer cells, and is believed to have few side effects, has entered into use in Japan, in a world first.

In the treatment, called photoimmunotherapy, antibodies that bind only to cancer cells are administered to patients.

Harmless by themselves, the antibodies, when illuminated for several minutes with near-infrared lasers, trigger a chemical reaction that “destroy only cancer cells with pinpoint accuracy,” according to Hisataka Kobayashi, senior investigator at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, who developed the method.

Green Friendly, Science & Technology News

Hyundai’s experimental hydrogen-powered trucks are America-bound

July 6, 2021

The fleet just reached a big milestone

By RONAN GLON
Hyundai’s fleet of hydrogen-powered truck prototypes reached a significant milestone in Europe in June 2021. With a successful testing phase comes a tremendous amount of data, and the information gathered during 11 months of real-world evaluation across the pond will ultimately help the firm design a truck sized for American roads.

Real-world users have collectively put 1 million kilometers (about 621,400 miles) on the 46 trucks that Hyundai built for testing purposes, meaning each rig has covered an average of around 13,500 miles. They’re in the hands of 25 different companies operating in Switzerland, including some in the logistics, distribution, and supermarket sectors. So far, users have been pleased: They praised the Xcient truck’s long driving range and short refueling times, attributes that a comparable electric model wouldn’t be able to offer. Specific figures weren’t released.

Hyundai will continue manufacturing the Xcient for early adopters in Switzerland. It plans to build 140 units of the truck for the Swiss market in 2021, and it hopes that number will grow to 1,600 by 2025. Starting the project in Switzerland was a decision that carried relatively few risks. It’s a country that’s roughly a tenth the size of California, and its road network is relatively well developed. Next, the South Korean company will branch out into other European countries. It hasn’t decided where yet, but it singled out Germany and Holland as likely candidates.

The trucks that Hyundai is letting loose on European roads are all rigid-body models, meaning the box is attached to the frame. Looking ahead, engineers hope to use the data gathered on the Old Continent to develop a semi truck (also called a tractor unit) that will be closer to the Freightliner and Peterbilt models that roam America’s highways. It’s no coincidence that these prototypes will be launched and tested in the United States.

Via Autoblog.com

Medical Breakthrough, Science & Technology News

Scientists devise a battery-free pacemaker that can be absorbed by the body

July 6, 2021

By Kevin Lin

Scientists have designed a temporary, battery-free pacemaker that can be broken down by the patient’s body when its work is done, the latest advance in the emerging field of bioelectronics.

In a paper published this week in Nature Biotechnology, researchers report that the device reliably kept the heart’s pace in check in tests on mice, rats, and other animals, as well as in human heart tissue in a dish. And while the research is still in the early stages, the scientists say the pacemaker was able to overcome key limitations of existing devices.

“There are about 1 million people a year who receive pacemaker implantations worldwide. It’s a huge, huge medical field, but mostly pacemakers are permanent,” said Igor Efimov, a biomedical engineer and professor at George Washington University and co-author of the new paper.

Unlike traditional pacemakers, which are left inside a patient for the rest of their life or until the battery dies, a traditional temporary pacemaker is implanted and later removed. The devices are typically for children with congenital heart defects or adults who have had a coronary artery bypass graft, who may need a temporary pacemaker to correct a slowed heart rhythm for only a few days or weeks.

Automobiles, Science & Technology News

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

July 6, 2021

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.

AI, Science & Technology News

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

July 3, 2021

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.”

3D Printer, Science & Technology News

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

July 3, 2021

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.

Medical Breakthrough, Science & Technology News

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

July 3, 2021

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.

Science & Technology News, Space

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

July 2, 2021

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.

Science & Technology News, Space Flight

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

July 2, 2021

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.

DNA, Science & Technology News

DNAzymes could outperform protein enzymes for genetic engineering

July 2, 2021

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.