Science & Technology News, Space Flight

You can bid for a seat on Blue Origin’s first human spaceflight on July 20


Aria Alamalhodaei

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is offering up one seat on the inaugural flight of its suborbital rocket New Shepard, set to take place July 20 — but instead of a fixed-price ticket sale, the seat will go to the highest bidder.

It’ll work like this: From May 5-19, bidders will be able to bid any amount on an auction website. From May 19, the bids will be made “unsealed,” or made visible, and bidders must continually exceed the highest bid to remain in the running for the seat. Bidding will conclude June 12 with a live online auction.

From Blue Origin’s website, it looks like the overall flight will be relatively quick, with the craft reaching apogee, or its highest point, four minutes after takeoff. The capsule containing the astronauts (and the lucky bidder) will land 10 minutes after takeoff near its launch site in West Texas.

Blue Origin said the winning bid will be donated to its charitable foundation, Club for the Future.

Continue reading… “You can bid for a seat on Blue Origin’s first human spaceflight on July 20”
Aviation, Science & Technology News

World’s Largest Airplane Successfully Conducts Second Flight; Edges Closer to Space Vehicle Usage

Stratolaunch, the world’s largest airplane.

By IANS

In 1941, the US government hired billionaire entrepreneur Howard Hughes to build a massive airplane to take some 700 American soldiers into combat. Hughes’ legendary “Spruce Goose” had a wingspan of 97.5 metres.

Last week, 80 years later, an even bigger aircraft, the “Stratolaunch,” took to the skies over southern California’s Mojave Desert, in a second successful test flight that awed onlookers marvelling at its wingspan of 117.3 metres and six Boeing engines that roared in synchronicity, Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday.

The second successful test flight lasted 2.5 hours and the vehicle reached an altitude of 14,000-feet.

This massive aircraft, resembling two giant Boeing jets flying side-by-side, will not be transporting troops. Its use will be to launch rockets and space vehicles from high atmospheric locations, into the stars.

“Stratolaunch is advancing our nation’s ability to be a worldwide leader in the hypersonic market,” Stratolaunch Systems Chief Technology Officer Daniel R. Millman said in a statement.

“Our flight today gets us another step closer to our promise of delivering the world’s premier hypersonic flight test service.”

Continue reading… “World’s Largest Airplane Successfully Conducts Second Flight; Edges Closer to Space Vehicle Usage”
Robots, Science & Technology News

U of T researchers develop microrobots to conduct minimally invasive brain surgery

Eric Diller of U of T’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering is collaborating with medical researchers to develop dexterous, magnetically controlled microrobots that could perform minimally invasive brain surgery on children

Researchers at the University of Toronto are developing microrobots, precisely controlled by magnetic fields, that could one day be used to perform minimally invasive brain surgery on children.

The research team – co-led by Eric Diller, an associate professor of mechanical engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, and James Drake, a professor in the department of surgery in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and a pediatric neurosurgeon at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) – says the technology represents a departure from the rigid, wired designs of most micro-surgical tools.

“Advancing surgery through an endoscope in the pediatric brain requires miniaturized versatile tools which can be precisely controlled,” says Drake. “This novel concept of using tiny, magnetized tools, controlled by robotic external magnets, shows great promise in addressing this need for both pediatric and adult patients.”

Each year 24,000 malignant brain tumours are detected in the United States. These tumours are the most common form of solid cancer in children, and surgery to remove the tumour is often the first recommended course of treatment. The surgeries can be highly invasive with a long recovery process. In some cases, when surgery via endoscope is possible, the tools may not be small or dexterous enough to perform the treatment.

Continue reading… “U of T researchers develop microrobots to conduct minimally invasive brain surgery”
3D Printer, Science & Technology News

What if you could condense all your pills into one? With 3D printing, you can

Researchers debut a new technique that proves pills can be designed for individual patients.

BY MARK WILSON

The objects are almost beautiful. The surfaces appear faceted and woven, catching the light like ornate jewelry. But they are not jewelry. They are pills, and possibly the most high-tech pills ever designed, in fact. These tablets are artisanal, tuned for just one person, to release a small medicine cabinet of different drugs at the right time.

Developed by researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA), these pills are produced by a breakthrough in 3D printing. Today, that printing is done in a lab. Tomorrow, scientists suggest, the work might be done by a pharmacist, hospital, or almost any entity other than separate pharmaceutical companies, each of which currently churns out millions of doses of the same drugs in one-size-fits-all pill formats.

Continue reading… “What if you could condense all your pills into one? With 3D printing, you can”
quantum computing, Science & Technology News

Will quantum computing deliver a big leap forward for battery cells?

By Michelle Lewis 

The Cologne-headquartered German Aerospace Center (DLR) and Cambridge Quantum Computing(CQC) in the UK is the latest pair to explore how quantum computing could help create better simulation models for battery development. The DLR is Germany’s research center for aeronautics and space.

As IBM defines it, “Quantum computing harnesses the phenomena of quantum mechanics to deliver a huge leap forward in computation to solve certain problems.”

DLR will use CQC’s quantum algorithms for solving partial differential equation systems to render a one-dimensional simulation of a lithium-ion battery cell.

This will lay the groundwork for exploring multi-scale simulations of complete battery cells with quantum computers, which are considered a viable alternative for rendering full 3D models. A multi-scale approach incorporates information from different system levels (e.g., atomistic, molecular, and macroscopic) to make a simulation more manageable and realistic. That, in turn, will potentially accelerate battery research and development for a variety of sustainable energy solutions.

DLR has previously used classical computer modeling to research a range of different battery types, including lithium-ion and other technologies.

Continue reading… “Will quantum computing deliver a big leap forward for battery cells?”
3D Printer, Science & Technology News

3D Printed ‘Artificial Leaves’ Could Provide Sustainable Energy on Mars

Microalgae 3D printed onto bacterial cellulose allows for a new oxygen-producing material.

By  Chris Young

A group of international researchers led by the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in Netherlands used 3D printing to create a living material made of algae that could lead to sustainable energy production on Mars as well as a number of other applications, a TU Delft press release explains.

The researchers used a novel bioprinting technique to print microalgae into a living, resilient material that is capable of photosynthesis. Their research is published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.

“We created a material that can produce energy simply by placing it into the light,” Kui Yu, a Ph.D. student involved in the work, explained in the release. “The biodegradable nature of the material itself and the recyclable nature of microalgal cells make it a sustainable living material.”

Continue reading… “3D Printed ‘Artificial Leaves’ Could Provide Sustainable Energy on Mars”
Robots, Science & Technology News

Surgeons Use Self-Navigating Robot to Find Leaky Valve in Pig Hearts

The robotic catheter used for heart surgery on pigs. 

By George Dvorsky

During a recent experiment at Boston Children’s Hospital, bioengineers used a robotic catheter to reach a leaky valve insidepig hearts. But get this—the device was completely autonomous, navigating through the heart all by itself and without the benefit of a surgeon’s guiding hand. Welcome to the future of heart surgery.

New research published today in Science Robotics describes a robotic catheter that’s capable of moving autonomously inside a living body. In tests, the device navigated through beating, blood-filled pig hearts in search of its target—a leaky prosthetic valve. Once at the scene, a surgeon took over to finish the repair. The senior investigator of this project, bioengineer Pierre Dupont from Boston Children’s Hospital, said this proof-of-concept experiment suggests autonomous surgical robots could be used for complex procedures, freeing up surgeons to focus on the most difficult tasks. 

Continue reading… “Surgeons Use Self-Navigating Robot to Find Leaky Valve in Pig Hearts”
drones, Science & Technology News

Staggering approval for Alphabet drone among early customers

By Greg Nichols 

Since October 2019, Alphabet’s Wing has operated a drone delivery service five days per week in the tiny hamlet of Christiansburg, Virginia; a community of just over 20,000. The early testbed has been one to watch for a delivery drone sector that’s just emerging from in a slowly evolving regulatory regime.  

Key to the future of drone delivery is positive consumer sentiment. So how do the people of Christiansburg feel about the delivery drone service that’s made their community one of a small number of canaries in the coal mine for the consumer drone sector?  

In short, they love it.

Continue reading… “Staggering approval for Alphabet drone among early customers”
Alternative Transportation, Science & Technology News

Ehang unveils tree-like vertiports for its autonomous passenger drones

Autonomous air vehicle company ehang unveils ‘baobab’, a large tree-like tower and landing platform for its EH216 passenger drones.

Designed by giancarlo zema design group (GZDG) with sustainability at the core, photovoltaic panels on the vertiports will generate energy and independent plug-and-play charging points will recharge the drones wirelessly. currently in the development stage, ehang and GZDG hope to enter the emerging global eco-tourism sector with hubs being planned for a lakeside site in china’s zhaoqing city as well as in the maldives, the united arab emirates, and italy.

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Science & Technology News, Stem cells

3D biomaterial used as ‘sponge’ for stem cell therapy to reverse arthritis

A new biomaterial scaffold, designed to slowly release stem cells, has worked to ensure implanted stem cells can stick around to relieve pain and reverse arthritis in mice knee joints.

This treatment reduces the quantity of stem cells needed by 90%, thus avoiding the problems of redness, swelling and scar tissue that can arise from large doses of such stem cells. In the near future, it could potentially lead to reversal of osteoarthritis in humans for the first time.

At present, no treatment is currently available that can reverse the course of osteoarthritis, and the sole options are to try to relieve pain. Stem cell therapy potentially offers hope and has been shown to alienate the disease. However, a ‘goldilocks’ dose of stem cells remains out of reach. Too much of a dose and the subject suffers redness, swelling and scar tissue. Too little and the therapy is only successful for a limited period due to gradual cell loss.

To overcome this challenge, researchers from the Department of Orthopedics at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China, seeded umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells on a ‘cryogel’ biomaterial.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are adult stem cells that can differentiate themselves into other types of cells. MSCs are sourced from bone marrow, fat, or umbilical cord tissue. Umbilical cord-derived MSCs (UCMSCs) have emerged in recent years as popular therapeutic transplant cells due to their abundant supply, high proliferative capacity, and non-invasive harvesting procedure, and because they pose relatively minor ethical issues.

Cryogels, meanwhile, are gel matrices formed at sub-zero temperatures. They have interconnected macropores (pores larger than 10 micrometres in diameter), much like a sponge. Because these holes can allow mass transport of small particles in them, cryogel biomaterials potentially have a range of biomedical uses. 

Continue reading… “3D biomaterial used as ‘sponge’ for stem cell therapy to reverse arthritis”
Medical Breakthrough, Science & Technology News

New blood filtering system claims to use magnetic nanoparticles to remove pathogens

by: Virgilio Marin 

(Natural News) Researchers designed a new blood filtration system that uses magnetic nanoparticles to remove pathogens and cancer cells from the blood. Called MediSieve, the system works by connecting a patient to the same machine used for hemodialysis. As blood passes through the machine, magnetic particles selectively bind to harmful molecules present in the blood.

The researchers are currently testing the technology on malaria, a life-threatening disease caused by a parasite. But the technology can also be used to treat other conditions, such as sepsis, leukemia, drug overdose and COVID-19.

“In theory, you can go after almost anything. Poisons, pathogens, viruses, bacteria, anything that we can specifically bind to we can remove. So, it’s a very powerful potential tool,” said George Frodsham, a British engineer and the CEO of MediSieve, the company he founded in London to develop and market the technology.

Continue reading… “New blood filtering system claims to use magnetic nanoparticles to remove pathogens”