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Jun 10, 2018

Playing piano with a mind-controlled robotic arm

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, cyborgs, robotics/AI

The arm/hand probably intended for the ATLAS robot. I’d be curious if they are already playing with attaching it on to the robot.


The first person to live with a mind-controlled robotic arm is teaching himself piano. Johnny Matheny has spent the last five months with an advanced prosthetic, designed to replace the human hand and arm.

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Jun 10, 2018

Nucleus of the cell mapped in 3D

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

For the first time, researchers have mapped the cell nucleus in 3D, revealing the packaging and organization of a cell’s DNA in unprecedented detail.


June 8 (UPI) — The nucleus of the cell is where the action happens, but it’s not easy to analyze the behavior of a massive genome inside an area 50 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

Now, for the first time, researchers have mapped the cell nucleus in 3D, revealing the packaging and organization of a cell’s DNA in unprecedented detail.

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Jun 10, 2018

Jurassic World: Can we really resurrect a dinosaur?

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, entertainment

This summer, the fifth instalment of the Jurassic Park franchise will be on the big screen, reinforcing a love of dinosaurs that has been with many of us since childhood. There is something awe inspiring about the biggest, fiercest, and “deadest” creatures that have ever walked the planet. But the films have had an additional benefit – they have sparked an interest in dinosaur DNA.

The “Mr DNA” sequence in the original movie is a great piece of science communication and the concept of extracting DNA from the bodies of “dino” blood-engorged mosquitoes is an outstanding piece of fiction. It is, however, just fiction.

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Jun 10, 2018

A Biotech Entrepreneur Aims To Help Us Stay Young While Growing Old

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension

Startup, Unity Biotechnology, prevents aging—and it’s not as crazy as it seems.


Now on his fifth startup, Ned David has the blueprint for creating a lucrative biotech. His latest project: a company that will take on the ravages of aging.

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Jun 10, 2018

America is unprepared for the “jobs apocalypse” automation will bring

Posted by in categories: economics, employment, robotics/AI

Millions of low-skilled workers who are already being pushed out will need to adapt to the new economy.

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Jun 10, 2018

India Increases Its Massive 2022 Renewable Energy Target

Posted by in categories: solar power, sustainability

For the last several years, CleanTechnica has covered renewable energy development in India quite closely. Several years ago, India set what seemed like a lofty target of 175 gigawatts of wind and solar energy by March 2022. Few believed that was a practical target, but then India plowed forward and happily impressed the world. This week that goal was increased to 227 gigawatts!

Currently, India has added a little more than 70 gigawatts of that goal. Assessing the progress to date on a linear scale, the trend would seem to indicate the country is behind. However, renewable energy growth is not linear.

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Jun 10, 2018

‘Til Deletion Do Us Part’: Discovering Love in a Virtual Future

Posted by in categories: biological, robotics/AI, virtual reality

What does it mean to fall in love in the 21st century? Originally, the number of people you could fall in love with were limited to the amount that lived within relative close proximity of you (a few miles, at best). In today’s world, however, it isn’t that uncommon for people to fall in love online.


As we move forward into a future of VR and AI, how might our abilities to fall in love change in a world where non-biological life is teeming just as much as biological life?

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Jun 10, 2018

Tesla’s version 9 software update is coming in August with first ‘full self-driving features’, says Elon Musk

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, robotics/AI, transportation

Tesla’s next major software update ‘version 9.0’ is now set for a release in August and it will include the first ‘full self-driving features’ for Autopilot 2.0 vehicles, says CEO Elon Musk.

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Jun 10, 2018

Scientists Discovered a New Part of Your Sperm — and It Could Explain Infertility

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Scientists have discovered that sperm contain two centrioles, as opposed to one — and that additional centriole could explain infertility.

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Jun 10, 2018

Berkeley’s desert water extractor is taking us one step closer to harvesting water out of thin air

Posted by in categories: energy, sustainability

Right now, there are roughly 16 sextillion liters of water suspended in the atmosphere. The air around you is a river, you just can’t see it.

Harvesting water from air would be a game-changing solution to tackling freshwater scarcity, which is increasing as the world warms. It would be especially vital in places with very little humidity in the air, like the desert. But while it’s technically possible—you just need to get the water content in the air to condense around something—doing so efficiently has been difficult, until now.

The challenge with this technology is cooling. Water vapor will only condense into a liquid if the material it condenses on is cooler than the surrounding air. That’s why droplets of condensation will appear on a soda can the moment you take it out of the fridge. But how do you leave a piece of machinery in the desert sun all day and keep it cooler than the surrounding air? One way would be to install a cooling system. But it takes a a lot of energy to perpetually cool an object in a hot place, and isn’t feasible in places where energy is expensive. We also don’t want to increase the amount of energy demand in a world already struggling to reduce emissions.

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