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Are we on the brink of a stem cell revolution?

I t has now been decades since stem cell technology emerged as the next great breakthrough in modern medicine, with the bold potential for one day curing everything from heart disease to cancer. Today, that optimism doesn’t appear to have diminished.

It’s easy to recall the excitement. In the late 1990s, when stem cell research was still relatively unexplored but gathering pace, the hope surrounding future uses for such treatments appeared near limitless. Once greater advances had been made, it was often argued, doctors could one day inject patients with cells that have the ability to transform into any other type of cell, making it possible to grow whole new organs. In theory, any damaged area…

New innovations in cell-free biotechnology

A Northwestern University-led team has developed a new way to manufacture proteins outside of a cell that could have important implications in therapeutics and biomaterials.

The advance could make possible decentralized manufacturing and distribution processes for that might, in the future, promote better access to costly drugs all over the world.

The team set out to improve the quality of manufactured proteins in vitro, or outside a cell, and found success across a number of fronts.

The politics of innovation

Innovation is the latest social, political and economic battleground. Techno-optimists dismiss fears about innovation, typecasting non-believers as Luddites. The impact of recent technological changes, they believe, will be realised over time. Luddites, on the other hand, point to weaknesses in technology.


Policymakers are placing their faith on technological advancements to boost flagging growth. But it is founded more on hope than reality.

By Satyajit Das

Bill Gates Just Purchased an Enormous Amount of Land to Build His Own “Smart City”

24,800 acres of land will soon become a “smart city” in Arizona. One of Bill Gates’ investment firms is investing millions into this project, hoping that its proximity to local hubs and ability to be completely molded will allow for innovation.

Bill Gates has started laying out his plans for creating a “smart city” in Phoenix, Arizona, about 45 minutes west of downtown. Located in the far west valley, the piece of land is comprised of approximately 24,800 acres. Belmont, the proposed name for the city, will embrace and push forward innovation and technology. One of Gates’ investment firms has already solidified the plans by devoting $80 million to the project.

Engineers develop eco-friendly smart glass panels that switch from transparent to opaque

Someday we won’t need curtains or blinds on our windows, and we will be able to block out light—or let it in—with just the press of a button. At least that’s what Keith Goossen, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Delaware, hopes.

Goossen and Daniel Wolfe, who earned a doctoral degree from UD last year, developed panels that can switch between allowing light in and blocking it out. This “” technology could be utilized in eco-friendly windows, windshields, roof panes and building envelopes, absorbing light and heat in the winter and reflecting it away in the summer.

Although Goossen isn’t the first scientist to make smart , his team’s invention is about one-tenth the price of other versions. It is also more transparent in its transparent state and more reflective in its reflective state than competitors, he said.

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