Lifeboat Foundation

These cells pack together tightly. To accommodate the curving that occurs during embryonic development, it has been assumed that epithelial cells adopt either columnar or bottle-like shapes.

However, a group of scientists dug deeper into this phenomenon and discovered a new geometric shape in the process.

They uncovered that, during tissue bending, epithelial cells adopt a previously undescribed shape that enables the cells to minimize energy use and maximize packing stability. The team’s results will be published in Nature Communications in a paper called “Scutoids are a geometrical solution to three-dimensional packing of epithelia.”

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This is the next generation of robotic prosthetics. Here’s how they work.

Watch the full TED Talk here: http://bit.ly/2LQErPg

This innovative new technique makes tattoos more than just decoration 💉.

An app for Glass aimed at factory workers can understand spoken language and respond with oral responses. Next up: image recognition.

New findings are fueling an old suspicion that fundamental particles and forces spring from strange eight-part numbers called “octonions.”

Adding graphene to a gel makes a 3D-printable substance that dries to be strong and conductive and heals when wet.

The ranks of the ebolavirus genus have grown for the first time in a decade, with the identification of a new strain in free-tailed bats in Sierra Leone. It is not yet known if it is harmful to humans, but its discovery will assist scientists trying to better understand how the virus hides between outbreaks, and by extension help our efforts to better contain them.

Love is a burning thing and it makes a fiery ring. Black holes, however, do not.

New research disproves the so-called “firewall” theory, which suggests the ring of fire around a supernova would incinerate anything sucked into its gravitational pull.

Continue reading “Scientists Poke Holes in Supernova ‘Firewall’ Theory” »

With more than 5.6 million articles, Wikipedia is an invaluable resource, whether you’re throwing a term paper together at the last minute, or doing legal research on whether it can really be considered assault if your victim habitually made the “cows outstanding in their field” joke. We explore some of Wikipedia’s oddities in our 5,690,195-week series, Wiki Wormhole.

This week’s entry: Vertical farming

What it’s about: Ah, the farmer’s life. The smell of the soil, the green of the leaves, the view from the 45th floor. Yes, like bathrooms before them, farms are moving into the future by moving indoors. Hydroponic farming has made vertical farms possible, in which floor after floor of a building is devoted to growing food. One such farm in Buffalo, New York contains 17 million plans, and a “windowless farm” in Kyoto produces 6 million heads of lettuce a year.

Continue reading “Tomato, ToMacco: Farmers are elevating their crops with vertical farming” »