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Category Archives: Impact
Citigroup: Solar energy profit-ready for large consumer companies
The research paths toward better solar conversion. Credit: NREL (Wikimedia commons) According to a proprietary investor’s report from the mega-bank, Citigroup (New York USA) large consumer electronic brands are about to enter the solar energy market. This was the news slipping by on the business crawl Thursday February 28, 2013. It wasn’t big news. Known [...]
Posted in Impact: Alternative Energy Tagged alternative energy, Citigroup, conversion efficiency, economic analysis, natural gas, new technology, solar energy, solar farms, solar panels Comments closed
Nanobeam: Monitoring cells from the inside
A nanobeam probe (handle showing) inserted into a cell……credit: Gary Shambat, Stanford School of Engineering Scientists, like journalists, like to get the inside story. In the case of biologists, it amounts to an unending push to get inside the workings of living things and see what ‘really’ goes on. For example, how great it would [...]
Posted in Impact: Photonics Tagged biological cell, cell biology, nanobeam, nanocavity, photonic crystal, photonics, protein detection, quantum dots, sensor Comments closed
Overcoming mitochondrial diseases by having three parents
Whenever I hear about mitochondria, I think of midichlorians, “the force” of John Lucas’ Star Wars, the life energy that binds the universe by being part of every living thing, but especially concentrated in Jedi…and Sith. I don’t know if knowledge of mitochondria inspired Lucas, but there are strong parallels to midichlorians. Mitochondria are part [...]
Posted in Impact: Genetic Modification Tagged DNA, DNA mutation, enucleation, genetic modification, IVF, mitochondria, mitochondrial disease, mitochondrial replacement, spindle transfer, surrogate, three parent IVF Leave a comment
What on Earth are global tipping points?
First a bit of framing: It’s a pity, but two of the things human beings do very poorly are calculate future risk and take seriously anything that isn’t happening right now. That means that bad things could happen to us a thousand years from now, or in even a few decades, but they don’t seem [...]
Posted in Impact: Climate Change Tagged biological impact, climate change, global tipping points, risk assessment, tipping points Leave a comment
Mining Near-Earth Asteroids: The trillion dollar enticement
Asteroid Ida…….credit: NASA/JPL The race to put a man on the Moon between the United States and the Soviet Union is long over. NASA got there first, national glory was achieved and then NASA and the American public lost interest in the Moon. The Russians’ all out space effort collapsed with the Soviet Union and [...]
Posted in Impact: Space Exploration Tagged Arkyd, asteroid, asteroid mining, Cameron, Diamandis, NASA, NEA, Near-Earth Asteroids, Planetary Resources, platinum, Schmidt Leave a comment
Rethink the brain: More evidence for the tripartite synapse
The star (fish) shaped astrocyte cell….Credit: Neurorocker If you’ve had any exposure to how the brain and nervous system works, you probably know about synapses – the juncture where the end of one neuron almost meets the beginning of another neuron. The synapse is two neurons and the gap between them, the point where either [...]
Posted in Impact: Neuroscience Tagged astrocytes, glia, Nedergaard, neurons, neuroscience, neurotransmission, signaling, synapses, tripartite synapse Leave a comment
Quantum biology: It may be a transition state
As far as science was concerned, quantum states and quantum effects were observable (if at all) only in the deepest cold, in temperatures hovering just above absolute zero. There were moments of research during and after the 1990’s when quantum effects were managed more than a few degrees (Kelvin) off zero, but for all practical [...]
Posted in Impact: Quantum Physics Tagged Kauffmann, Niiranen, photosynthesis, quantum, quantum biology, quantum chaos, quantum coherence, Vattay 1 Comment
The Global Warming controversy is ended…
Global surface temperatures………Credit: Berkeley Earth Project The Global Warming controversy is ended. Right. Take a look at the graph above. It shows the results of global temperature measurements over a span of some 100-200 years as compiled by four groups: NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), United Kingdom Meteorology [...]
Posted in Impact: Climate Change Tagged AGW, Berkeley, climate change, Earth Surface Temperature, global warming, Met Office, Muller, NASA, NOAA, Rohde, skeptic 2 Comments
Epigenetics in the brain: Evidence of methylation beyond cell division
Methylation is not a gasoline additive process or nor does it have anything to do with amphetamines. I mention this because methylation is proving to be significant. It is something that happens to your DNA and despite not being very well known by the public, research is showing it to be far more important than [...]
Posted in Impact: Epigenetics Tagged DNA, epigenetic regulation, epigenetics, methylation, neuron, neuroscience, Song Leave a comment
Have some neutrinos broken the law?
You know the old joke, “The speed of light: it’s not only the limit, it’s the law.” I used to think the joke was really lame, because if the speed of light were like a human law, then it could be changed. But the speed of light is a universal constant, invariant, and one of [...]
Posted in Impact: Nuclear Physics Tagged CERN, Einstein, Gran Sasso, neutrinos, OPERA, particle physics, Sagan, speed of light, Super Proton Synchrotron Leave a comment
A keystone discovery: Proteins and synaptic vesicles
It happens quite a lot in neuroscience that something can be described without really knowing why it’s doing something. Bear with me a bit, as what I’m about to describe is probably unfamiliar to most people and also very much concerns the nitty-gritty of how the cells (neurons) of the brain and nervous system work. [...]
Posted in Impact: Neuroscience Tagged Edwards, nerve pulses, neuron, neuroscience, neurotransmitter, proteins, synapse, UCSF, v-SNARE, VAMP7, vesicle 1 Comment
Supersymmetry: SUSY still has no data
Even physicists get that sinking feeling in the pit of their stomach that something you’ve relied on for most of your life may be wrong, or at least not as right as you thought. If you’re a good scientist, you question and examine – your own thinking and whatever it is that has shaken you [...]
Posted in Impact: Nuclear Physics Tagged cosmology, Lepton-Photon Conference, LHC, particle physics, Standard Model, superparticle, superpartners, supersymmetry, SUSY, Tevatron Leave a comment
Synthetic biology: Making new proteins with E. coli by adding DNA
Sometimes big advances in science happen without much public notice. That’s often because at the time they didn’t look like big advances in science, or just as likely, they were considered marginally workable, so nobody wanted to highlight them. Here’s one such case to consider: Researchers at Yale University (Connecticut, USA) and publishing in the [...]
Posted in Impact: Synthetic Biology Tagged biochemistry, DNA, E. coli, epigenetics, phosphorylation, phosphoserine, protein, synthetic biology, Söll 1 Comment
IBM doesn’t call it a brain chip
IBM calls it a neural core, not a ‘brain chip’ or a ‘thinking chip.’ The recently announced development involves two prototype chips that contain circuitry inspired by biological components of the brain – neurons, synapses and axons. The chips are the earliest building blocks of what IBM hopes to develop into a more complete system [...]
Posted in Impact: Artificial Intelligence Tagged AI, artificial intelligence, brain chip, cognitive computer, DARPA, IBM, Modha, neural core, synapse Leave a comment
Memflector: Neuron-like computer component
I try not to put too much weight on very early advances in technology. This is particularly true of computer technology because there are so many relatively new avenues of research, all clamoring for attention: Quantum computing, DNA computing, optical computing…etc. On the other hand, computing has become so vital, especially for science and business, [...]
Posted in Impact: Computer Power Tagged brain-like, chalcogenide, computer, computer power, memflector, memristor, neuron, PCM, phase-change material, synapse Leave a comment
Neuroscience: Memory tied to a specific protein complex
At times it must seem to neuroscientists that the enigma of memory reveals its secrets to them as if they were the proverbial blind men describing an elephant. “Ah yes, it has a hose, a very thick hose, so thick it’s almost like a tree trunk!” If only it were as easy to get the [...]
Posted in Impact: Neuroscience Tagged axon, CaMKII, memory, memory formation, neuron, neuroscience, NMDAR, protein, protein complex, synapse 1 Comment
Graphene ICs: IBM builds graphene transistors into a circuit
About one week before IBM celebrated its 100th year, IBM researchers published in the journal Science [10 June 2011, paywalled, Wafer-Scale Graphene Integrated Circuit] and publicly announced the design of a high speed graphene circuit. Since there are announcements about this or that new application of graphene just about every week, it would be easy [...]
Posted in Impact: Computer Power Tagged FET, graphene, IBM, IC, integrated circuit, Nobel, silicon replacement, transistor, Watson Research Center Leave a comment
IBM at 100
Today (June 16, 2011) is the 100th birthday of IBM. There will be parties, almost all of them provided by IBM for employees. I suppose a few competitors, past and present will raise a thought for IBM. I’ve seen a few articles about IBM’s 100th in prominent publications. A few bloggers will have their say. [...]
Posted in Impact: Computer Power Tagged birthday, computing, corporation, IBM, IBM Labs, one hundred years, Watson Leave a comment
DNA Computing: Advances in organic circuits
DNA logic gate components……Credit: Royal Publishing Society Let’s come at computers from a different angle for a moment. An alien species lands on earth. Their spaceship doesn’t look like a spaceship. It looks like a very large blob, of sorts. It’s a blob because the whole thing is organic, not a scrap of metal on [...]
Posted in Impact: Computer Power Tagged biochemistry, DNA computing, logic gates, nanotechnology, organic, Qian, synthetic biology, Winfree Leave a comment
Finally, a self-powered wireless nanoscale sensor
Nanogenerator system……….Credit: NanoLetters, American Chemical Society One day the world may well be blanketed with sensors (metaphorically). If so, it will be the result of advances in nanotechnology. Perhaps it will be derived from the work of Zhong Lin Wang and his group of ambitious researchers at The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech, Atlanta, [...]
Posted in Impact: Sensor Technology Tagged nanogenerator, nanopiezotronics, nanotechnology, piezoelectric, RFID, sensor technology, sensors, Zhong Wang Leave a comment
Protein complexity could be our demise
Did you know that badly folded proteins could be the cause of our species’ destruction? Neither did I. I know about nuclear bombs, climate change, asteroid strike and even pandemic as possible doomsday scenarios. I’m aware of predictions that in the not too distant future mankind might be overpowered by or merge with artificial intelligence [...]
Posted in Impact: Proteomics Tagged Alzheimer’s, DNA, folding, gene-pool, genetic drift, genetics, natural selection, pandemic, Parkinson’s, prions, proteins 1 Comment
Arctic Council: Getting serious about making money from global warming
Oh the irony. On the one hand there is the well propagandized denial of global warming, which is so effective in some countries (the United States chief among several) that politicians of all (yellow) stripes dare not mention its name. On the other hand there is this: Secret US embassy cables released by Wikileaks show [...]
Posted in Impact: Climate Change Tagged Arctic, Arctic Council, Arctic ice, global warming, Greenland, icecap, natural gas, Northwest Passage, oil, sea level rise Leave a comment
Harm from video game violence: Weighing the pedigree of the evidence
There are many issues in the modern world for which arguments can be made on both sides (assuming a two sided issue). Courts deal with some of these issues and judges too must find a way to wade through enormous stacks of studies and briefs for one side and the other. (Legal systems generally take [...]
Posted in Impact: Virtual/Augmented Reality Tagged Bushman, EMA, gaming, Gruel, impact on teens, Millett, psychology, Schwarzenegger, Supreme Court, video games, violence, VR Leave a comment
Breast cancer study: 50 women, 1700 genetic mutations
It isn’t always true for science, but it sure seems like the more we learn, the more complicated the knowledge becomes. Take breast cancer for an example. Every few months a new study is published that announces the discovery that this that or another gene is ‘linked to breast cancer.’ Likewise there is a stream [...]
Posted in Impact: Major Disease Cures Tagged breast cancer, cancer, cancer study, DNA, Ellis, genetic mutation, genome, MAP3K1, personalized therapy, sequencing 2 Comments
Glia brain cells: Not just infrastructure