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Aug 26, 2016

Researchers succeed in developing a genome editing technique that does not cleave DNA

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical

Major advancement in Gene Editing.


A team involving Kobe University researchers has succeeded in developing ‘Target-AID’, a genome editing technique that does not cleave the DNA. The technique offers, through high-level editing operation, a method to address the existing issues of genome editing. It is expected that the technique will be applied to gene therapy in the future in addition to providing a powerful tool for breeding useful organisms and conducting disease and drug-discovery research. The findings were published online in Science on August 5.

The team consists of Project Associate Professor NISHIDA Keiji and Professor KONDO Akihiko (Graduate School of Science, Technology and Innovation, Kobe University) as well as Associate Professor YACHIE Nozomu (Synthetic Biology Division, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, the University of Tokyo) and Professor HARA Kiyotaka (Department of Environmental Sciences, Graduate School of Nutritional and Environmental Sciences, University of Shizuoka).

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Aug 26, 2016

Beyond silicon: We discover the processors of your future tech

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biological, computing, quantum physics

New updated article on the evolution of the processors of tomorrow.

Personally, I find this article runs short in only focusing on carbon, organics aka plastics, and QC as future replacement. With the ongoing emergence of synthetic biology and what this could mean for processors; I would suggest the author explore further the future of synthetic bio.


From stacked CPUs to organic and quantum processing.

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Aug 26, 2016

Overall energy conversion efficiency of a photosynthetic vesicle

Posted by in category: energy

Additional insights on methods in improving efficiencies during the conversion of light energy into chemical energy.


The chromatophore of purple bacteria is an intracellular spherical vesicle that exists in numerous copies in the cell and that efficiently converts sunlight into ATP synthesis, operating typically under low light conditions. Building on an atomic-level structural model of a low-light-adapted chromatophore vesicle from Rhodobacter sphaeroides, we investigate the cooperation between more than a hundred protein complexes in the vesicle. The steady-state ATP production rate as a function of incident light intensity is determined after identifying quinol turnover at the cytochrome bc1 complex (cytb⁢c1) as rate limiting and assuming that the quinone/quinol pool of about 900 molecules acts in a quasi-stationary state.

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Aug 26, 2016

Research pair create two-atom molecules that are more than a thousand times bigger than typical diatomic molecules

Posted by in categories: computing, particle physics, quantum physics

Perfecting the macro-molecule.


(Phys.org)—A pair of physicists with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Switzerland has found a way to create very large diatomic molecules, and in so doing, have proved some of the theories about such molecules to be correct. In their paper published in Physical Review Letters, Johannes Deiglmayr and Heiner Saßmannshausen describe their experiments and results and why they believe such molecules may have a future in quantum computing.

Physicists have been interested in the properties of macromolecules for many years because they believe studying them will illuminate the fundamental properties of in general. Prior research has shown that large, two-atom molecules should be possible if they were put into a Rydberg state—in which the outer electron exists in a high quantum state, allowing it to orbit farther than normal from the nucleus—and thus allowing for the creation of molecules thousands of times larger than conventional diatomic molecules such as H2.

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Aug 26, 2016

​The Language of Aliens Will Always Be Indecipherable

Posted by in categories: alien life, existential risks, geopolitics, mathematics, singularity, transhumanism

My new Vice Motherboard story on the Fermi Paradox, Jethro’s Window, and why we’ll never discover intelligent aliens:


Here’s the sad solution to Fermi’s Paradox: We’ve never discovered other life forms because language and communication methods in the Singularity evolve so rapidly that even in one minute, an entire civilization can become transformed and totally unintelligible. In an expanding universe that is at least 13.6 billion years old, this transformation might never end. What this means is we will never have more than a few seconds to understand or even notice our millions of neighbors. The nature of the universe—the nature of communication in a universe where intelligence exponentially grows—is to keep us forever unaware and alone.

The only time we may discover other intelligent life forms is that 100 or so years during Jethro’s Window, and then it requires the miracle of another species in a similar evolutionary time table, right then, looking for us too. Given the universe is so gargantuan and many billions of years old, even with millions of alien species out there, we’ll never find them. We’ll never know them. It’s an unfortunate mathematical certainty.

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Aug 26, 2016

Mind-controlled nanobots could be used to treat depression or epilepsy

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, nanotechnology, neuroscience, particle physics, robotics/AI

It echoes the nanite and nanobot technology seen in science fiction TV series like Star Trek and Red Dwarf, where swarms of microscopic robots can be used to repair damaged tissue.

Researchers at Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel, and the Interdisciplinary Centre in Herzliya, built their nanobots using a form to DNA origami to create hollow shell-like structures.

Drugs could then be placed inside these before they were chemically locked shut with particles of iron oxide.

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Aug 26, 2016

A cockroach and a DNA nanorobot just changed drug delivery

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Researchers released drugs into a cockroach using only the thoughts of a man hooked up to an EEG machine.

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Aug 26, 2016

First Direct Proof of Stable Carbyne, The World’s Strongest Material

Posted by in categories: materials, nanotechnology

Scientists have managed to develop a novel method to grow stable, ultra-long 1D carbon chains of a material that is twice as strong as carbon nanotubes and far stronger than diamonds.

Elemental carbon is extremely versatile, and scientists have long been able to create new carbon allotropes that make for super durable and multi-functioning materials—such as everyone’s favorite material, graphene.

The “carbon family” is one very resourceful family. But even with all these developments, carbyne remained elusive. In fact, it is the only form of carbon that has not been synthesized, even though researchers have been studying its properties for over 50 years.

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Aug 26, 2016

This ‘Ghost Galaxy’ Is 99.99% Dark Matter

Posted by in category: cosmology

Using the world’s most powerful telescopes, astronomers spotted Dragonfly 44 — and incredibly dark galaxy.

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Aug 25, 2016

Russia to Field Hypersonic Missiles by 2020

Posted by in category: military

Russia is working to deploy a revolutionary hypersonic maneuvering strike missile by 2020, according to a Russian defense industry leader.

Boris Obnosov, director of the state-run Tactical Missiles Corp., told a Russian news agency the new hypersonic missile will be capable of penetrating advanced missile defenses and represents a revolutionary advance in military technology.

“It’s obvious that with such speeds—when missiles will be capable of flying through the atmosphere at speeds of seven to 12 times the speed of sound, all [air] defense systems will be weakened considerably,” Obnosov told the Rambler News Service this week.

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