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Mar 20, 2019

This High-Tech Toilet Seat Can Detect Heart Failure

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, health, information science

A team of researchers at the Rochester Institute of Technology invented a “toilet seat-based cardiovascular monitoring system” that could help hospitals monitor patients for risk of congestive heart failure — a toilet, in other words, that detects whether your heart is about to give out.

“This system will be uniquely positioned to capture trend data in the home that has been previously unattainable,” reads the paper, published in the journal JMIR Mhealth Uhealth.

Integrated into the seat is a device that measures heart rate, blood pressure, and blood oxygenation levels. Algorithms will take in all that data and notify health practitioners if the patient’s condition deteriorates.

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Mar 20, 2019

Study identifies molecule that allows bacteria to breach cellular barriers

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

A new study identifies a single molecule as a key entry point used by two types of dangerous bacteria to break through cellular barriers and cause disease. The findings, published March 19 in the journal mBio, suggest that blocking the interaction between the molecule, known as CD40, and bacteria may represent a universal strategy for preventing life-threatening illnesses, including toxic shock syndrome.

The two , Staphylococcus aureus (staph) and Streptococcus pyogenes, cause many serious illnesses. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, staph causes 70,000 cases of highly fatal pneumonia, 40,000 cases of severe heart infections, and over 500,000 post-surgical infections each year. Streptococcus pyogenes causes 10 million cases of sore throat and 30,000 cases of severe invasive diseases annually.

“Many of the infections caused by these two bacteria start on the skin or on the mucosal surfaces that line body cavities like the nose, mouth and throat, the gut, and the vagina. The ability of these bacteria to cause depends on production of a family of toxins known as superantigens, which cause exceptionally harmful inflammation,” explains Patrick Schlievert, Ph.D., professor and head of microbiology and immunology at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine and lead author of the new study.

Continue reading “Study identifies molecule that allows bacteria to breach cellular barriers” »

Mar 20, 2019

Analysts: Rocket Jumps Between Earth Cities Could Smash Airlines

Posted by in category: space travel

A new report by Swiss investment bank UBS predicts that soon high speed travel through the near reaches of space will come to compete with long-haul airline flights.

UBS analysts estimate that space tourism alone will become a $3 billion market by 2030, while the space industry as a whole will double in worth from $400 billion today to $805 billion over the same period. And once we can spend a week of vacation in space, they ask, why not use the technology for Earth-bound long-distance travel?

“Space tourism could be the stepping stone for the development of long-haul travel on earth serviced by space,” wrote UBS analysts Jarrod Castle and Myles Walton in the report, as quoted by CNBC.

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Mar 20, 2019

Supercomputer sheds light on how droplets merge

Posted by in categories: 3D printing, climatology, supercomputing

Scientists have revealed the precise molecular mechanisms that cause drops of liquid to combine, in a discovery that could have a range of applications.

Insights into how merge could help make 3D printing technologies more accurate and may help improve the forecasting of thunderstorms and other weather events, the study suggests.

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Mar 20, 2019

The U.S. Military is Buying a Brutal-Looking Powered Exoskeleton

Posted by in categories: cyborgs, military

The partnership could greatly enhance the productivity of a single officer in the field and decrease fatigue or strain — but the USSOCOM didn’t reveal the exact intended use case for the exoskeleton, which lets the wearer heft 200 pounds (90 kg).

Forklift Arms

It’s the latest sign that exoskeletons are finally hitting the mainstream. Automobile manufacturers are already considering the use of simpler exoskeletons on factory floors. And the Food and Drug Administration approved a lower-body exoskeleton last year for use by people with lower limb disabilities.

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Mar 20, 2019

Robotic ‘gray goo’

Posted by in categories: engineering, particle physics, robotics/AI

Up until now, the ability to make gray goo has been theoretical. However, the scientists at the Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science have made a significant breakthrough. The individual components are computationally simple but can exhibit complex behavior.


Current robots are usually self-contained entities made of interdependent subcomponents, each with a specific function. If one part fails, the robot stops working. In robotic swarms, each robot is an independently functioning machine.

In a new study published today in Nature, researchers at Columbia Engineering and MIT Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL), demonstrate for the first time a way to make a robot composed of many loosely coupled components, or “particles.” Unlike swarm or modular robots, each component is simple, and has no individual address or identity. In their system, which the researchers call a “particle robot,” each particle can perform only uniform volumetric oscillations (slightly expanding and contracting), but cannot move independently.

Continue reading “Robotic ‘gray goo’” »

Mar 20, 2019

Computer scientists create reprogrammable molecular computing system

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing

Simplified molecular computing with DNA. Just mix test tubes.


Researchers have designed self-assembling DNA molecules with unprecedented reprogrammability.

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Mar 20, 2019

China Is Building a 33,000 Ton Nuclear Icebreaker

Posted by in category: transportation

The ship would help China establish its position in the Arctic and serve as a test run for nuclear aircraft carriers.

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Mar 20, 2019

We did a breakthrough ‘speed test’ in quantum tunnelling, and here’s why that’s exciting

Posted by in categories: particle physics, quantum physics

Things get weird at the quantum level and now we know they can happen really fast when a particle pushes through an almost insurmountable barrier.

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Mar 20, 2019

The March Journal Club by Dr. Oliver Medvedik will focus on this recent study that showed transplanting the bone marrow of young laboratory mice into old mice prevented cognitive decline in the old mice, preserving their memory and learning abilities

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

These findings support the idea that cognitive decline is in part due to the aging of blood cells, which are produced in the bone marrow.

Abstract
Restoration of cognitive function in old mice by transfer of blood or plasma from young mice has been attributed to reduced C–C motif chemokine ligand 11 (CCL11) and β2-microglobulin, which are thought to suppress neurogenesis in the aging brain. However, the specific role of the hematopoietic system in this rejuvenation has not been defined and the importance of neurogenesis in old mice is unclear. Here we report that transplantation of young bone marrow to rejuvenate the hematopoietic system preserved cognitive function in old recipient mice, despite irradiation-induced suppression of neurogenesis, and without reducing β2-microglobulin. Instead, young bone marrow transplantation preserved synaptic connections and reduced microglial activation in the hippocampus. Circulating CCL11 levels were lower in young bone marrow recipients, and CCL11 administration in young mice had the opposite effect, reducing synapses and increasing microglial activation.