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Jul 13, 2016

Alfred G. Knudson Jr., geneticist who decoded a mystery of cancer, dies at 93

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, neuroscience

Alfred G. Knudson Jr., a medical researcher who helped decode a mystery of cancer — using genetics, mathematics and intuition to explain how and why certain forms of the disease attack — died July 10 at his home in Philadelphia. He was 93.

His death was announced by the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, where Dr. Knudson had served as president, scientific director and in other capacities since joining the institution in 1976. He had heart ailments and dementia, said his wife, Anna Meadows, a pediatric oncologist.

Dr. Knudson was among the most renowned researchers in his field, with honors including a 1998 Lasker Award, commonly known as the American Nobel, and a 2004 Kyoto Prize recognizing him for a discovery that “opened a new horizon in modern cancer genetics and played a pivotal role in the major developments” in cancer research.

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Jul 13, 2016

This Mobile Game Helps Children Prevent Asthma Attacks

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, entertainment

Imagine your chest tightening as you struggle for for breath. There’s no cure for it, and it will most likely be a hindrance to your day-to-day life.

This feeling is familiar to the 300 million people worldwide who suffer from asthma. In the US alone, one in 14 people has asthma, and ten of them die from asthma every day.

For children, relying on symptoms to determine whether an asthma attack is about to happen is particularly difficult. Not only is it harder for them to articulate their discomfort, it’s less likely that they will be able to attribute it to asthmatic symptoms.

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Jul 13, 2016

‘Liquid Biopsy’ May Show Whether Cancer Drugs Are Working

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Interesting.


But research is still in early stages, experts note.

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Jul 13, 2016

NASA spacecraft sends first pictures since arriving at Jupiter

Posted by in category: space travel

Great stuff — and far greater still to come!

These optimal low radiation paths in, around, and thru Jupiter’s seething radioactive local space will be absolutely priceless when actual human beings get out there, I’d imagine.


PASADENA, Calif. — A NASA spacecraft has sent back the first pictures since arriving at Jupiter.

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Jul 13, 2016

10 Predictions About the Future That Should Scare the Hell Out of You

Posted by in categories: computing, existential risks, futurism

As far as the whole mind-to-computer thing I totally agree.

The name of the game, for me at least, when it comes to this type of thing is continuity of consciousness. Without that you are nothing more than a copy of another person, not the person themselves. That said, if there were to be a very, very slow process where your natural neurons are replaced by artificial ones, with both types working together seamlessly, THEN I’d be first in line.


The future looks bright, except when it doesn’t. Here are 10 exceptionally regrettable developments we can expect in the coming decades.

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Jul 13, 2016

Researchers Develop A Universal Quantum Gate

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

The universal quantum gate to enable long distance communications with QC without degradation.


Scientists have now developed a universal quantum gate, which could become the key component in a quantum computer.

Light particles completely ignore each other. In order that these particles can nevertheless switch each other when processing quantum information, researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching have now developed a universal quantum gate. Quantum gates are essential elements of a quantum computer. Switching them with photons, i.e. light particles, would have practical advantages over operating them with other carriers of quantum information.

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Jul 13, 2016

Air Force wants to leap ahead in quantum computing

Posted by in categories: computing, military, quantum physics

US AF does need to get onboard quickly or be left in the dust.


Quantum computing could be a competitive advantage for the U.S. military, and the Air Force Research Lab wants to keep pace.

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Jul 13, 2016

Diamond coupled to carbon nanotube could be used for quantum information processing

Posted by in categories: nanotechnology, quantum physics

Why synthetic diamonds are critical to the QC story.


(Phys.org)—By carefully placing a tiny piece of diamond within a few nanometers of a carbon nanotube, and then sending an electric current through the nanotube, researchers have designed a device that could one day form the building blocks of quantum information processing systems. In their recent study, they have shown that the electrified nanotube’s mechanical vibrations couple to the magnetic (or spin) properties of defects in the diamond. This coupling allows for the quantum states of the nanotube and diamond to be transferred to each other as well as to a second diamond positioned several micrometers away.

The researchers, Peng-Bo Li et al., have published a paper on the new hybrid quantum device in a recent issue of Physical Review Letters.

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Jul 13, 2016

The quantum origin of time

Posted by in categories: futurism, quantum physics

In our experience the past is the past and the future is the future, but sometimes the two can cross over.

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Jul 13, 2016

Physicists collide ultracold atoms to observe key quantum principle

Posted by in categories: particle physics, quantum physics

Physicists from New Zealand’s University of Otago have used steerable ‘optical tweezers’ to split minute clouds of ultracold atoms and slowly smash them together to directly observe a key theoretical principle of quantum mechanics.

The principle, known as Pauli Exclusion, places fundamental constraints on the behavior of groups of identical particles and underpins the structure and stability of atoms as well as the mechanical, electrical, magnetic and chemical properties of almost all materials.

Otago Physics researcher Associate Professor Niels Kjærgaard led the research, which is newly published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications (“Multiple scattering dynamics of fermions at an isolated p-wave resonance”).

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