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Jan 29, 2017

Scientists Prepare Universal Cure For Allergies

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, health

Allergic diseases are making one’s life more complicated and almost all treatment is only suppressing the symptoms. Fortunately, Stephen Miller of Northwestern University and Lonnie Shea of the University of Michigan can now mask allergen particles on their way into the body. This teaches the immune system not to attack the allergens in the future.

Their latest research published in the journal PNAS finally introduces a way to actually cure allergies altogether, instead of concealing symptoms with antihistamines such as Benadryl and Claritin…

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Jan 29, 2017

Scientists Have Unlocked the Code That Turns Genes On and Off

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, futurism

Knowing how or why genes are turned on and off during development, as well as understanding how they respond to environmental changes, will prove to be useful in our quest to find ways to prevent diseases. In addition, while the human initiator is responsible for regulating more than half of human genes, there are other sequences that control gene activity. This achievement could lead scientists to discover other sequence signals.

“The solution of the human Initiator code will enable us to explore new frontiers in gene regulation. In the future, it will be possible to use the code to identify other regulatory signals and, in this way, gain a more complete understanding of how human genes are turned on and off,” Kadonaga says.

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Jan 29, 2017

The Physics of Everything, with Michio Kaku

Posted by in categories: cosmology, information science, physics

What if we could find one single equation that explains every force in the universe? Professor Michio Kaku explores how physics could potentially shrink the science of the big bang into an equation as small as E=mc².

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Jan 29, 2017

Hyperloop: Teams in final prep for today’s competition! Coverage begins at ~1:55pm PT

Posted by in category: transportation

The official spacex hyperloop pod competition.

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Jan 29, 2017

The Data That Turned the World Upside Down

Posted by in category: information science

Influencing elections? Perturbed, Kosinski clicked through the pages. What kind of company was this? And what were these people planning?


Psychologist Michal Kosinski developed a method to analyze people in minute detail based on their Facebook activity. Did a similar tool help propel Donald Trump to victory? Two reporters from Zurich-based Das Magazin (where an earlier version of this story appeared in December in German) went data-gathering.

On November 9 at around 8.30 AM., Michal Kosinski woke up in the Hotel Sunnehus in Zurich. The 34-year-old researcher had come to give a lecture at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) about the dangers of Big Data and the digital revolution. Kosinski gives regular lectures on this topic all over the world. He is a leading expert in psychometrics, a data-driven sub-branch of psychology. When he turned on the TV that morning, he saw that the bombshell had exploded: contrary to forecasts by all leading statisticians, Donald J. Trump had been elected president of the United States.

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Jan 29, 2017

Spaceworks may have a real-world stasis chamber for space travel by 2018

Posted by in category: space travel

While stasis chambers in space travel has long been a theme in science fiction, Spaceworks is working to make this science a reality.

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Jan 29, 2017

Review: Putting Ledger’s New Bitcoin Hardware to the Test

Posted by in category: bitcoin

Ledger’s new hardware wallet is the most costly on the market. Does it have the features to justify the expense? BitGo’s Jameson Lopp investigates.

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Jan 29, 2017

Textile muscles could find use in a literal “power suit”

Posted by in categories: cyborgs, materials

There are many people who could use a bit of help moving their limbs, but they don’t necessarily need a full-on exoskeleton. Well, imagine if their clothes could provide that help. Such a thing may one day be possible, thanks to the recent creation of “textile muscles.”

In a study conducted at Sweden’s Linköping University and University of Borås, scientists coated mass-producible cellulose yarn with a flexible electroactive polymer known as polypyrrole.

When a low voltage is applied to the polymer, it increases in volume, causing the yarn fibers to increase in length accordingly – when the electrical current is switched off, the fibers retract back to their original length. By varying the manner in which those fibers are woven together, it’s possible to tune the force of the material toward different tasks.

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Jan 29, 2017

China is going to mine the Moon for helium-3 fusion fuel

Posted by in categories: energy, space

China’s Chang’e lunar probe dynasty is already having a great year. The Chang’e 3 lunar lander surpassed all expectations last week to emerge from its 14th hibernation while the Chang’e 5-T1 just completed its transfer from the Earth-Moon Lagrange Point 2 into a stable orbit around the Moon. Chang’e 3’s main mission was only to take spectrographic and ground penetrating radar measurements, but the Chang’e 5 missions will bring back the first samples containing the actual prize — fusion-ready helium-3.

One of the main reasons helium-3 is sought as a fusion fuel is because there are no neutrons generated as a reaction product. The protons that do get generated have charge, and can therefore be safely contained using electromagnetic fields. Early dreamers imagined that Saturn or Jupiter would be the ideal places to try and get their hands on some helium-3, but it now appears that the Chinese have set their sights on the Moon.

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Jan 29, 2017

What Bill Gates has up his sleeve for investing in energy technology

Posted by in categories: energy, innovation

Microsoft’s cofounder vows to change the “supply side” for breakthrough energy technologies by investing billions of his and his friends’ dollars.

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