January Ideas and Innovation

Read the articles selected in January 2017

Hybrid zoo: introducing pig-human embryos and a rat mouse

by Sara Reardon

Source: Nature, 26 January

The creation of pig-human and other hybrid fetuses, injecting pluripotent stem cells from one species to another and using CRISPR gene-editing technology, has been reported for the first time in a peer-reviewed paper. That gives researchers the hope to create in the future a human organ in an animal donor.

First human-pig chimera is a step toward custom organs

by Megan Molteni

Source: Wired, 26 January

The combination of human cells in animal embryos to create organs for transplant generates hybrid beings that raise ethical questions and could unlock functions suppressed during evolution and develop unexpected organs.

Printed human body parts could soon be available for transplant

Source: The Economist, 28 January

Three-dimensional printing is transforming the medicine. While bioprint tissue is already being sold for drug testing, biotechnology firms are working to print blood vessels, skin, cartilages, and are expected to print organs in few years.

New weather satellites can spot floods before they happen

by Emma Grey Ellis

Source: Wired, 26 January

On January 15th the NASA’s next-generation weather satellite started to send its images, with a resolution able to distinguish clouds from ice and fog and to spot sulfur dioxide emissions and volcanic eruptions. With GOES -16 weather prediction, turbulence forecasts, storm warnings will improve.

DARPA’s biotech chief says 2017 will “blow our mind”

by Dina Fine Maron

Source: Scientific American, 9 January

The Pentagon’s research and development division is working on some biological engineering projects to develop new compound and drugs from microbes like yeast and bacteria and is pioneering research on nucleic acid approaches to immunization against infectious diseases.

Fighting cancer’s crisis of confidence, one study at a time

by Megan Molteni

Source: Wired, 19 January

Cancer’s research real problem is that much of its data was never validated, so a group of scientists called the Open Science Collaboration is reexamining the results from the 29 most important cancer papers of the last few years.

The touchy task of making robots seem human – but not too human

by Margaret Rhodes

Source: Wired, 19 January

We are made to anthropomorphize the world, and especially the objects that are our prosthesis, like robots. But if the right amount of anthropomorphism promotes their utility, a too humane machine distracts and triggers unrealistic expectations.

How can you control your dreams?

by Jordan Lite

Source: Scientific American, 29 July 2010

Researchers and therapists are developing techniques to control dreams, helping to solve problems or to end recurring nightmares, while, like in science-fiction, new technologies could understand in real time what a person is dreaming about.

La révolution des neurones artificiels

by David Larousserie

Source: Le Monde, 11 January 2017

The deep learning is not just the technologic revolution that mimics the neuron synapsis on the base of millions of data empirically repeated: even if far from realizing all cognitive functions, especially the reasoning, it has become a model of cerebral activity, reinventing the philosophy of science.

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The mechanics and design of a lightweight three-dimensional graphene assembly

by Zhao Qin, Gang Seob Jung, Min Jeong Kang & Markus J. Buehler

Source: Science, 6 January

Graphene, one of the strongest available materials, applied to porous materials combines strengths with lightness and in three-dimensional form is suited to engineering applications. 3D graphene assembly offers mechanic properties different from conventional polymeric foams.

A cardboard centrifuge separates blood cells from plasma

Source: The Economist, 10 January

A cardboard disc made to spin like a centrifuge through a string punching it in the center is not always a stuff for boys: an ingenious researcher at the Stanford University invented a device that is a cheap and light alternative to the laboratory machines that analyze medical samples.

Quantum computing is real, and D-Wave just open-sourced it

by Klint Finley

Source: Wired, 11 January

A Canadian company has developed a technology that makes quantum computing a field for developers not necessarily trained in quantum physics through open-source software, freely shareable and modifiable, that provide solutions of problems not perfect, but probably good.

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Pubblicato il : 19/12/2017
Modificato il : 04/04/2019

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January Ideas and Innovation

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