The Scientific Discovery Thread: Blow Our Minds World!

[NickNitro]

I want this thread to celebrate all of the wonderful Scientific Advancements the world gives us. I'll start with a few from one of my favorite sites, Gizmodo.

Nuclear Fusion Just Got More Energy Out of Its Fuel Than It Put Into It

It's one of science's ultimate goals, and perhaps the only thing that could prevent humanity's ultimate depletion of the Earth's resources — the ability to create more energy than is used to make it. Now, a new nuclear breakthrough has brought that feat even closer to becoming a reality.

Continuing on from an earlier breakthrough last year, US researchers at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California have managed to generate more energy from a string of fusion reactions than was put into the nuclear fuel used within them. While it still hasn't reached a stage where scientists have been able to create more energy than the entire experiment consumes, it's a significant step forward.

http://gizmodo.com/nuclear-fusion-just-got-more-energy-out-of-its-fuel-tha-1522006589

 

[NickNitro]

Cancer-Spotting Glasses Light Up the Bad Cells for Surgeons

Cancer surgery is tough. Even with high-powered microscopes, surgeons have a very difficult time distinguishing cancer cells from healthy cells. But these new glasses developed by Washington University, St. Louis could change all that.

Put simply, the glasses make cancer cells glow blue, after the patient is injected with a special dye that targets the cancer cells. Because cancer is so notoriously difficult to spot, it's not uncommon for patients to require a second surgery to cut out the cancer that the surgeon missed the first time around. Doctors hope these glasses will fix all that. "Imagine what it would mean if these glasses eliminated the need for follow-up surgery and the associated pain, inconvenience and anxiety," said Dr. Julie Margenthaler, a breast surgeon at WashU.



http://gizmodo.com/cancer-spotting-glasses-light-up-the-bad-cells-for-surg-1520648255

 

[NickNitro]

Scientists Put Tiny Sound-Powered Motors Inside Living Cells

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Brain-bender alert! For the first time ever, scientists have managed to insert nanomotors into living cells. Once inside, the gold, rocket-shaped motors were propelled with ultrasonic waves and steered with magnets. Because we now live in a scene from Fantastic Voyage.

It's as crazy as it sounds. The team of chemists and engineers from Penn State University developed the nanomotors after experimenting with similar devices in nonliving cells. The key to making them work in living cells was to power them with ultrasonic waves instead of toxic fuels. Once inserted into the cell, the nanomotors can move around freely, stirring up the cell's contents without killing it. They can also penetrate a cell's membrane, to invade or escape.

http://gizmodo.com/scientists-put-tiny-sound-powered-motors-inside-living-1520079572

 

[Bim]

Wow, that cancer spotting glasses story is quite something! Very cool to see what humans can do when they use knowledge for good

 

[NickNitro]

IBM's Graphene Circuit: A Genius Reminder of How Far Graphene Has to Go

IBM's mad scientists have created a graphene-based circuit that's 10,000 times more powerful than existing alternatives. This radio receiver is so sophisticated and futuristic, in fact, that it can... send a text message to your friends.

Yes, unfortunately the best we can do with this incredible, ultra-conductive, one atom-thick material is create a little chip that sends text messages. But humble as it may sound, this is actually a big breakthrough. According to IBM Research director of physical sciences Supratik Guha, "This is the first time that someone has shown graphene devices and circuits to perform modern wireless communication functions comparable to silicon technology." The researchers managed to send a text that said, simply, "IBM."

http://gizmodo.com/ibms-graphene-circuit-a-genius-reminder-of-how-far-gr-1512452994

 

[NickNitro]

Wow, that cancer spotting glasses story is quite something! Very cool to see what humans can do when they use knowledge for good

I hope this is a wonderful side effect of this thread as well. To restore everyone's faith in humanity

One can only take soo much of DJ's Florida threads

 

[NickNitro]

Brain process takes paper shape: Paper-based device mimics electrochemical signalling in human brain

The thin-film transistor (TFT) has been designed to replicate the junction between two neurons, known as a biological synapse, and could become a key component in the development of artificial neural networks, which could be utilised in a range of fields from robotics to computer processing.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140212212355.htm

 

[Teelie]

Fusion is one of the biggest potential breakthroughs. If they can scale that up, it means energy limitations could be all but eliminated. Though that will not be for a very long time unfortunately.

 

[NickNitro]

Scientists Are Going to Create the Coldest Spot in the Known Universe

And its going to be in the International Space Station.

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The universe is freezing. In spots like the Boomerang Nebula the temperature drops all the way down to one degree Kelvin. But if NASA scientists have their way, the known universe will have a new coldest place, and it's going to be inside the International Space Station.

The Cold Atom Lab will be an atomic refrigerator that aims to push temperatures down to unstudied depths of 100 pico-Kelvin. That is to say, one ten-billionth of a degree above absolute zero, at which point matter's movement stops entirely. In theory, anyway. At these ridiculously frigid temperatures, matter should stop being a gas, liquid, or solid and instead opt to assume totally quantum state of being. How could you not want to study that?

 

[Mike_D202]

*subscribed*

 

[Mike_D202]

Breeders create cat werewolves:

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/humans-cr...source=gizmodo_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

 

[Nathan]

Those cats are creepy.

 

[Maximus One]

That one about the Cold Atom Lab is pretty ****ing awesome. And the motors in cells, that's insane

 

[NickNitro]

These Autonomous Bots Build Structures With a Hive Mind of Their Own

These tiny construction robots look like they're doing a well-choreographed dance, working together to build a structure. Who's driving? Nobody—these micro machines cooperate autonomously, using the same concept that guides termites and bees to build huge structures without a supervisor or blueprint. Look at them go!

These bots are part of a research project from the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences studying autonomous machinery. In a brand new research paper published in Science, the Harvard team shows how a group of machines can build structures many times their own size simply by following a basic set of rules.

http://gizmodo.com/these-autonomous-bots-build-structures-with-a-hive-mind-1522426013

Watch This Little Termite Robot Build Itself Some Stairs

http://gizmodo.com/5814037/watch-this-little-termite-robot-build-itself-some-stairs

 

[NickNitro]

Scientists Say They Can Provide Infinite Power by Harnessing Vibrations

Well, this sounds promising. A team from Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research say they can efficiently harvest enough electricity from low frequency vibrations to power small electronic devices.

The process works thanks to aluminum nitrate, one of several materials that naturally accumulates an electric charge in response to mechanical stress. That property is known as piezoelectricity. The idea of using low frequency vibrations to make electricity like this is not a new one, but this is a big step forward. In the past, scientists believed that the bigger the device, the more electricity could be harvested and could also only use one frequency, limiting the amount of electricity that could be produced significantly. The new approach can use a wide range of frequencies and works in tiny devices, like wireless sensors.

http://gizmodo.com/scientists-say-they-can-provide-infinite-power-by-harne-1518312438

 

[KevanG]

These Autonomous Bots Build Structures With a Hive Mind of Their Own

These tiny construction robots look like they're doing a well-choreographed dance, working together to build a structure. Who's driving? Nobody—these micro machines cooperate autonomously, using the same concept that guides termites and bees to build huge structures without a supervisor or blueprint. Look at them go!

These bots are part of a research project from the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences studying autonomous machinery. In a brand new research paper published in Science, the Harvard team shows how a group of machines can build structures many times their own size simply by following a basic set of rules.

http://gizmodo.com/these-autonomous-bots-build-structures-with-a-hive-mind-1522426013

Watch This Little Termite Robot Build Itself Some Stairs

http://gizmodo.com/5814037/watch-this-little-termite-robot-build-itself-some-stairs

Uh-oh. I've read enough grey goo theory stories to know where that leads.

 

[Teelie]

Scientists Say They Can Provide Infinite Power by Harnessing Vibrations

Spoiler

Well, this sounds promising. A team from Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research say they can efficiently harvest enough electricity from low frequency vibrations to power small electronic devices.

The process works thanks to aluminum nitrate, one of several materials that naturally accumulates an electric charge in response to mechanical stress. That property is known as piezoelectricity. The idea of using low frequency vibrations to make electricity like this is not a new one, but this is a big step forward. In the past, scientists believed that the bigger the device, the more electricity could be harvested and could also only use one frequency, limiting the amount of electricity that could be produced significantly. The new approach can use a wide range of frequencies and works in tiny devices, like wireless sensors.

http://gizmodo.com/scientists-say-they-can-provide-infinite-power-by-harne-1518312438

"Set vibrators to full power!"

 

[NickNitro]

Imagine womens toys......no need to use batteries the more you use it.....now thats a sales pitch....and men will be 99% obsolete

 

[KevanG]

"Set vibrators to full power!"

"And stop giggling!"

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

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It wasn't too long ago that NASA's experimental robotic lunar lander was busy crashing and burning after liftoffs. Fast forward a few months and Morpheus has started to come into its own. Just watch what it can do now.
The February 10, 2014, 74-second trial run saw Morpheus soar 467 feet (142 meters) above the ground. That's more than 160 feet (48 meters) higher than its previous test. The lander then flew forward 637 feet (194 meters) in a half minute before descending and landing right on target. NASA writes:

Initial data indicated a nominal flight meeting all test objectives. The vehicle flew its pre-planned trajectory flawlessly, reaching a max ascent velocity of 13 m/s, and landing with no appreciable deviation from its intended target 74 seconds after launch. The Morpheus Team again demonstrated engineering and operational excellence, relying upon training, discipline and experience to ensure today's success.
​

Cool rover we shall use in future missions

 

[NickNitro]

These Brand New Shapes Are a Class of Their Own

Until today, scientists only knew of three classes of 3 dimensional solids. Now they've got a fourth. This new flavor of shapes are called Goldberg polyhedrons, and they are the first new class of shapes discovered in over four hundred years.

http://gizmodo.com/these-brand-new-shapes-are-a-class-of-their-own-1523136222

 

[NickNitro]

Watch Bill Nye Debate Climate Change With a Denier

Because, obviously, this is gold. Pure gold. As he points out, you don't need a PhD in climate science to understand what's going on here. We love you, Bill.

But also, maybe stop giving these loons such a big soap box?

http://gizmodo.com/watch-bill-nye-debate-climate-change-with-a-republican-1524267728

 

[DeadPresident]

Fusion is one of the biggest potential breakthroughs. If they can scale that up, it means energy limitations could be all but eliminated. Though that will not be for a very long time unfortunately.

My pessimistic side wonders if fuel companies will "allow" it.

 

[Teelie]

They have plenty of time to get on board. I don't see fusion power being the next big thing any time soon. They had it running for like a pico-second which is ridiculously short.

 

[NickNitro]

I will be forever convinced the Oil industry has not let scientific advancement's in fuel consumption get passed what they deem necessary in the past 30-50 years.