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Oct 4, 2015

$0.55 per watt from SolarCity’s record-breaking new solar panel

Posted by in categories: solar power, sustainability

A new solar panel technology from SolarCity is the most efficient rooftop solar ever released. Can it finally push solar to mass adoption?

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Oct 3, 2015

Daimler tests self-driving truck on German highway

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, sustainability, transportation

The truck has smart systems including radars, cameras and active speed regulators and works without a human driver — although one has to be in the driver’s seat and take the wheel if necessary.

The standard Mercedes-Benz Actros, fitted with the intelligent “Highway Pilot” system, travelled 14 kilometres (about nine miles) on the A8 motorway, with a driver in the cabin but his hands off the wheel.

“Today’s premiere is a further important step towards the market maturity of autonomously driving trucks -– and towards the safe, sustainable road freight transport of the future,” said Wolfgang Bernhard, board member responsible for Daimler Trucks and Buses.

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Oct 3, 2015

Introducing the world’s first robotic kitchen

Posted by in categories: food, robotics/AI

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Oct 3, 2015

Lost ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’ Verse Depicts Cacophonous Abode of Gods

Posted by in category: futurism

The new finding, a clay tablet, reveals a previously unknown “chapter” of the epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia. This new section brings both noise and color to a forest for the gods that was thought to be a quiet place in the work of literature. The newfound verse also reveals details about the inner conflict the poem’s heroes endured.

In 2011, the Sulaymaniyah Museum in Slemani, in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, purchased a set of 80 to 90 clay tablets from a known smuggler. The museum has been engaging in these backroom dealings as a way to regain valuable artifacts that disappeared from Iraqi historical sites and museums since the start of the American-led invasion of that country, according to the online nonprofit publication Ancient History Et Cetera.

Among the various tablets purchased, one stood out to Farouk Al-Rawi, a professor in the Department of Languages and Cultures of the Near and Middle East at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London. The large block of clay, etched with cuneiform writing, was still caked in mud when Al-Rawi advised the Sulaymaniyah Museum to purchase artifact for the agreed upon $800. [In Photos: See the Treasures of Mesopotamia].

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Oct 3, 2015

Russian Scientists Present Device That Sees 50 Meters Through Walls

Posted by in category: futurism

Crimean company EMIIA presented a device that can “see” through walls and depict moving objects in a real-time mode.

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Oct 3, 2015

Polyera is a flexible electronics company

Posted by in categories: electronics, engineering

Founded in 2005, Polyera has developed deep and unique expertise spanning science, engineering, and design focused on flexible electronics.

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Oct 3, 2015

Gene-Edited “Micropigs” to Be Sold as Pets

Posted by in category: genetics

The institute in Shenzhen, China, that creates the pigs quoted an initial price tag of $1,600.

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Oct 3, 2015

Method to replace silicon with carbon nanotubes developed

Posted by in categories: computing, engineering, singularity

Moore’s Law is, and shall be for a very long time, the law of the land.
Singularity: +1, Luddites: Who cares, they don’t use computers.
wink


Schematic of a set of molybdenum (M0) end-contacted nanotube transistors (credit: Qing Cao et al./Science)

IBM Research has announced a “major engineering breakthrough” that could lead to carbon nanotubes replacing silicon transistors in future computing technologies.

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Oct 3, 2015

How Do Brain Stem Cells Age? Their Damage Filter Breaks Down

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension, neuroscience

Could discovering how neural stem cells protect themselves from damage lead to treatment that helps combat aging?

We now know that stem cells in the brain do in fact divide, and that this regenerative capacity begins to falter with age. The majority of our cells don’t divide, and the bulk of division falls to stem cell niches dotted across our body. Stem cell populations do age, but they’re more resistant than ‘normal’ cells are, and they produce higher levels of telomerase — enabling them to divide for years.

How do brain stem cells remain free of damage?

Continue reading “How Do Brain Stem Cells Age? Their Damage Filter Breaks Down” »

Oct 3, 2015

Has Aging Been Programmed By Evolution?

Posted by in categories: evolution, life extension

Science usually approaches aging from a mechanical viewpoint, but could there be more to the story?


Why do so many scientists now believe that aging has been programmed by evolution?

Science usually approaches aging from a mechanical viewpoint, but the evolutionary theory of aging has gained more support as we observe the wide variation in aging between species.

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