Menu

Blog

Page 8845

May 6, 2019

Up to 1 million species are facing extinction, according to a new UN report. Without them, we could run out of food

Posted by in categories: existential risks, food, habitats

A new United Nations report on the world’s biodiversity found that between 500,000 and 1 million species face extinction due to habitat destruction.

Read more

May 6, 2019

Girl’s $143,000 bill for snakebite treatment reveals antivenin price gouging

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

The average list price for the antivenin is $3,198. The hospital charged $16,989.

Read more

May 6, 2019

China Develops Groundbreaking Heat-Resistant Material For Hypersonic Weapon

Posted by in category: materials

The new material is far superior than Western hypersonic technologies.

Read more

May 6, 2019

Watch the Google I/O 2019 Keynote Right Here

Posted by in categories: alien life, robotics/AI

Do you hear that? It’s the sound of Google executives practicing their lines ahead of Google I/O. The company’s annual developer conference in Mountain View, California, kicks off this Tuesday. The three-day event gives Google a chance to show off its latest work and set the tone for the year to come.

Can’t make it to the Shoreline Amphitheater? You can watch the entire keynote on the event page or on the Google Developers YouTube channel. It begins at 10 am PT (1 pm ET) on May 7 and should last for about 90 minutes. We’ll liveblog the whole thing here on WIRED.com.

Google I/O is technically a developer’s conference, and there should be plenty of talk about all the fun things developers can build using Google’s latest tools. But it’s also an opportunity to get consumers excited about what’s cooking in Mountain View. Last year, the company used the conference to debut its “digital wellness” initiative and a suite of new visual search tools for Google Lens. It also introduced Duplex, the eerily realistic AI assistant that can make dinner reservations and schedule haircuts like a human would.

Continue reading “Watch the Google I/O 2019 Keynote Right Here” »

May 6, 2019

Microsoft Patented an Xbox Controller With a Braille Display

Posted by in category: futurism

The live haptic feedback reads off on-screen text for people who can’t make it out.

Read more

May 6, 2019

Scientists discover how to turn light into matter after 80-year quest

Posted by in category: particle physics

2014 Basically a real replicator could be possible with this discovery.


Imperial College London physicists have discovered how to create matter from light — a feat thought impossible when the idea was first theorised 80 years ago.

In just one day over several cups of coffee in a tiny office in Imperial’s Blackett Physics Laboratory, three physicists worked out a relatively simple way to physically prove a first devised by scientists Breit and Wheeler in 1934.

Continue reading “Scientists discover how to turn light into matter after 80-year quest” »

May 6, 2019

Ancient hallucinogens found in 1,000-year-old shamanic pouch

Posted by in category: futurism

The ritual container, made of three fox snouts, contains the earliest known evidence of ayahuasca preparation.

Read more

May 6, 2019

This high speed 1,000W e-bike has the look and feel of a vintage motorcycle

Posted by in category: transportation

Electric bicycles are becoming so popular that they are now available in a wide range of styles. While conventional categories like electric road bikes and cruisers are common, a new wave of vintage-inspired electric bicycles is gaining in popularity. The Titan R electric bicycle is the latest to offer an eye catching cafe racer design.

Read more

May 6, 2019

Pushing early beta-cell proliferation can halt autoimmune attack in type 1 diabetes model

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Many in-development cures for type 1 diabetes have understandably focused on tackling the autoimmune aspect of the disease before figuring out a way to replace the destroyed beta cells. But what if focusing on the beta cells first could prevent their destruction altogether?

Researchers at Joslin have found that increasing the proliferation and turnover of before signs of type 1 diabetes could halt the development of the disease. In animal models, researchers in the lab of Rohit N. Kulkarni MD Ph.D., HMS Professor of Medicine and Co-Section Head of Islet and Regenerative Biology in the Joslin Diabetes Center, pushed the growth of beta while the animals were still young—meaning organs of the immune system were still developing, and still susceptible to manipulation. The results were published today in Nature Metabolism.

“We are clearly the first to show that if you push the proliferation to continuously generate new insulin producing beta-cells before the immune cell invasion starts then, for some reason we are still trying to figure out, stop attacking the beta cell,” says Dr. Kulkarni.

Continue reading “Pushing early beta-cell proliferation can halt autoimmune attack in type 1 diabetes model” »

May 6, 2019

New “Metallic Wood” Could Lead to Super-Light Cars

Posted by in categories: mobile phones, transportation

It could also make your smartphone incredibly durable.

Read more