Lifeboat Foundation

They used to call it RoboBee—a flying machine half the size of a paperclip that could flap its pair of wings 120 times a second. It was always tethered to a power source, limiting its freedom. Now, though, RoboBee becomes RoboBee X-Wing, as Harvard researchers have added solar cells and an extra pair of wings, freeing the robot to blast off to a galaxy far, far away. Or at least partway across the room, as it can sustain flight for only half a second, and only indoors.

But hey, baby steps. The teeniest of quadrotors measure a few inches across and weigh a third of an ounce. RoboBee X-Wing is about the same size as those untethered fliers, but weighs a hundredth of an ounce, which earns it the distinction of being the lightest aerial vehicle to manage sustained untethered flight. One day that could make it ideal for navigating tight, sensitive spaces in a galaxy very, very near.

Continue reading “What Could Possibly Be Cooler Than RoboBee? RoboBee X-Wing” »

(CNN) — Exposure to a chemical commonly used to reduce bacterial contamination in cosmetics, toothpaste and products like toys and clothing may come with an unintended risk — osteoporosis. That’s according to a study in Tuesday’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

The study looked at data from 1,848 women between 2005 and 2010 and found that women who had higher levels of triclosan in their urine were more likely to develop osteoporosis later on in life. Osteoporosis is a metabolic bone disease in which a person loses bone mineral density. With the bones weakened, it puts a person at an increased risk for fractures, back pain and loss of height.

This the first such study to find this connection, researchers said.

Proteins dating back more than one million years have been extracted from some fossils, and could help to answer some difficult questions about archaic humans.

U.S. patent officials reexamining claims about who deserves rights to enormously valuable aspect of the invention.

When you think about black holes, you think about destruction! But new research suggests that black hole radiation could help cook life on some planets.

A woman has been cured of advanced breast cancer thanks to immunotherapy.

Today, we want to highlight a new publication that looks at cytomegalovirus (CMV) and its potential role in the development of metabolic syndrome, the precursor to type 2 diabetes.

What is cytomegalovirus?

CMV is part of the β-subfamily of herpes viruses, a family of viruses that are believed to have been co-evolving with their hosts for around 180 million years [1]. CMV is spread primarily by exposure to infected secretions and subsequent mucosal contact, which then leads to the acute infection of various cell types. After this acute infection, in which the virus spreads, it enters a dormant state in the body.

New 3D-printed materials are going to space thanks to a recently funded partnership between Israel’s NanoDimension and Florida’s Harris Corp.

The companies plan to create new materials to reduce the manufacturing of small satellites, an exceedingly popular market right now for applications ranging from weather observations to remote surveillance.

They aim to fly their materials on an external platform of the International Space Station for a year. The goal is to better understand how 3D-printed components (such as circuits and materials) withstand the space environment, which includes extreme temperature swings and high radiation. The launch date of the project was not disclosed.

A new study by researchers from the Dexeus Women’s Health research network in Barcelona found that frozen sperm samples survived when exposed to microgravity.

That could mean that sperm banks in space are possible, providing future space travelers with the ability to reproduce in space with sperm samples brought up from Earth.

“Some studies suggest a significant decrease in the motility of a human, fresh sperm sample,” Montserrat Boada who presented the research yesterday at an annual meeting in Vienna, Austria, said, as quoted by The Guardian. “But nothing has been reported on the possible effects of gravitational differences on frozen human gametes, in which state they could be transported from Earth to space.”