Researchers build synthetic membrane channels out of DNA
As reported in the journal Science, physicists at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) and the University of Michigan have shown that synthetic membrane channels can be constructed through “DNA nanotechnology.” This technique employs DNA molecules as programmable building materials for custom-designed, self-assembling, nanometer-scale structures. The researchers present evidence that their nature-inspired nanostructures may also behave like biological ion channels. Their results could mark a step toward applications of synthetic membrane channels as molecular sensors, antimicrobial agents, and drivers of novel nanodevices.
The future isn’t like being sucked into a turbine and shredded into bits. It’s like eating: people ingest around 2000 lbs of food each year, and 98% of our atoms are exchanged. But we continue to look like and act like our old selves, even though we are almost completely new, at the atomic level.
We ingest the future, and it invests us.
A Reality-Based Look at the City of the (Near) Future
By 2050, seven out of every ten people on Earth will live in cities. Compared to the beginning of the 20th century, when just 20 percent lived in urban settings, the increase is staggering.
This rapid urbanization coupled with the population explosion that will see 8.9 billion people living on the planet in 2050 presents the challenge of more total humans and a higher percentage of them flocking to cities to find a better life. So, what is the city of the future and what is the future of cities?
Txchnologist asked a few leading thinkers to give their impression of what future cities in 50-100 years will be like.
(via Bye Bye, Jetsons: Engineers and Consultants Offer A Reality-Based Future | Txchnologist)
(ht futurist.com, ht The Futures Agency)
![futurescope:
Lovotics
“The journal Lovotics, Academic Studies of Love and Friendship with Robots, publishes original, rigorously peer reviewed research papers on innovative ideas and concepts, new discoveries and improvements, as well as novel applications, by leading researchers and developers regarding the latest fundamental advances in the core technologies that form the backbone of Lovotics, distinguished developmental projects in the area, as well as seminal works in aesthetic design, ethics and philosophy and studies on social impact and influence pertaining to Lovotics.”
[more]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m55sy4c95t1qgczcwo1_500.jpg)
Lovotics
“The journal Lovotics, Academic Studies of Love and Friendship with Robots, publishes original, rigorously peer reviewed research papers on innovative ideas and concepts, new discoveries and improvements, as well as novel applications, by leading researchers and developers regarding the latest fundamental advances in the core technologies that form the backbone of Lovotics, distinguished developmental projects in the area, as well as seminal works in aesthetic design, ethics and philosophy and studies on social impact and influence pertaining to Lovotics.”
[more]
Mind-controlled videogames become reality
NeuroSky Inc. and Emotiv Systems Inc. are among the companies vying to emerge in the brain-wave market using electroencephalograph, or EEG, technology.
Uses include concentrating and relaxing, improving mental health, and games:
London-based MyndPlay Ltd. is using NeuroSky chips inside its own headset to enable viewers to control the outcome of movie scenes by concentrating and relaxing. Two prisons in England show inmates a gangster-themed film from MyndPlay that teaches them to stay calm during threatening situations.
Some doctors believe mind-controlled games can provide more than fun and relaxation, by improving mental health. SuperBetterLabs Inc. is attempting to introduce cognitive therapy into games optimized for NeuroSky and Emotive headsets.
Another Use Case from Japan:
NecoMiMi headset, a fashion accessory that has taken fans of Japanese animé by storm, is a set of catlike ears that perk up when the wearer’s concentration intensifies, and flatten out when relaxed.
[read more @Wall Street Journal] [NeuroSky Inc.] [Emotiv Systems Inc.] [Necomimi | Video]
(via kurzweilai, ht futurescope)
An Android-Powered Mirror for Your Smart Bathroom
Japanese company Japanese company Seraku aims to make your network a little more ubiquitous with a prototype design for an Android-powered mirror. It uses RF proximity sensors to detect where your hands are placed so that you don’t have to smudge it all up in order to check those sports scores, and the display unit here at Smartphone and Mobile Expo included a networked scale built into the floor. There’s also a meter that displays water flow and temperature information on the mirror. Overall, it reminds us a lot of the Smart Window prototype design we saw from Samsung at CES, although not as responsive or as fully fleshed out.
An Android tablet is powering everything behind the scenes, but the display is a separate LCD monitor overlaid with a semitransparent piece of reflective glass.
[via the verge, ht futurescope]
![Cheap, Disposable Paper-Based Touchpads: Platform for Smart Labels of the Future
Today, electronic touch pads are widely found on laptops, tablets, and other computing devices. Less common uses, but gaining in popularity, are book covers and food labels. These and other low-tech applications become possible as touch pads become extremely inexpensive, with applications ranging from beer bottle labels to disposable medical device labels. Now a team of researchers from the US and France have developed paper-based electronic touch pads that cost just 25 cents per square meter, a price at which touch pads can simply be thrown away when no longer needed.
[read more] [Image credit: Mazzeo, et al.]
(HT futurescope)](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3vdnj7Ds41r08k60o1_400.jpg)
Cheap, Disposable Paper-Based Touchpads: Platform for Smart Labels of the Future
Today, electronic touch pads are widely found on laptops, tablets, and other computing devices. Less common uses, but gaining in popularity, are book covers and food labels. These and other low-tech applications become possible as touch pads become extremely inexpensive, with applications ranging from beer bottle labels to disposable medical device labels. Now a team of researchers from the US and France have developed paper-based electronic touch pads that cost just 25 cents per square meter, a price at which touch pads can simply be thrown away when no longer needed.
[read more] [Image credit: Mazzeo, et al.]
(HT futurescope)
Shooting Down Mortar Rounds With a Tactical Laser
MTHEL THEL Mobile / Tactical High Energy Laser
Developer: Northrop Grumman Corp.
During a recent test conducted on Aug. 24, 2004 the system shot down multiple mortar rounds, demonstrating potential its battlefield application for to protection against common threats. The test represented actual mortar threat scenarios. Targets were intercepted by the THEL testbed and destroyed; both single mortar rounds and salvo were tested.
(via singularitarian)
![Researchers ‘Print’ Polymers That Bend Into 3-D Shapes
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst employed photographic techniques and polymer science to develop a new technique for printing two-dimensional sheets of polymers that can fold into three-dimensional shapes when water is added. The technique may lead to wide ranging practical applications from medicine to robotics.
The technique could be used to direct growth of blood vessels or tissues in the laboratory.Researchers used a photomask and ultraviolet (UV) light to “print” a pattern onto a sheet of polymers, a technique called photolithography. In the absence of UV exposure, the polymer will swell and expand uniformly when exposed to water, however when polymer molecules within the sheet were exposed to UV light they became crosslinked—more rigidly linked together at a number of points—which prevented them from expanding when water was added. Patterning the amount of crosslinking across an entire sheet allowed researchers to control how much each area swelled. A second exposure to a carefully selected pattern of UV light allowed them to create specific 3-D shapes.
[via] [more] [paper] [credit: Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation]
(via futurescope)](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0m7bhxnfi1r08k60o1_400.jpg)
Researchers ‘Print’ Polymers That Bend Into 3-D Shapes
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst employed photographic techniques and polymer science to develop a new technique for printing two-dimensional sheets of polymers that can fold into three-dimensional shapes when water is added. The technique may lead to wide ranging practical applications from medicine to robotics.
The technique could be used to direct growth of blood vessels or tissues in the laboratory.
Researchers used a photomask and ultraviolet (UV) light to “print” a pattern onto a sheet of polymers, a technique called photolithography. In the absence of UV exposure, the polymer will swell and expand uniformly when exposed to water, however when polymer molecules within the sheet were exposed to UV light they became crosslinked—more rigidly linked together at a number of points—which prevented them from expanding when water was added. Patterning the amount of crosslinking across an entire sheet allowed researchers to control how much each area swelled. A second exposure to a carefully selected pattern of UV light allowed them to create specific 3-D shapes.[via] [more] [paper] [credit: Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation]
(via futurescope)
DARPA Develops “Geckskin” a New Material That Sticks to Glass While Supporting 700 Lbs of Weight:
The Z-Man programs aims to develop biologically inspired climbing aids to enable warfighters to scale vertical walls constructed from typical building materials, while carrying a full combat load, and without the use of ropes or ladders.
Geckos, spiders and small animals are the inspiration behind the Z-Man program. These creatures scale vertical surfaces using unique systems that exhibit strong reversible adhesion via van der Waals forces or hook-into-surface asperities. Z-Man seeks to build synthetic versions of these biological systems, optimize them for efficient human climbing and use them as novel climbing aids.
“Geckskin” is one output of the Z-Man program. It is a synthetically-fabricated reversible adhesive inspired by the gecko’s ability to climb surfaces of various materials and roughness, including smooth surfaces like glass. Performers on Z-Man designed adhesive pads to mimic the gecko foot over multiple length scales, from the macroscopic foot tendons to the microscopic setae and spatulae, to maximize reversible van der Waals interactions with the surface.
Recent activities include:
* Fabrication of Geckskin (stiff fabric impregnated with an elastomer) that “drapes” over a surface to maximize compliance with the surface while reducing compliance in the load direction, thus enabling increased adhesion.
* A proof-of-concept demonstration of a 16-square-inch sheet of Geckskin adhering to a vertical glass wall while supporting a static load of up to 660 pounds.
(via futurescope)
