SciTech #ScienceSunday Digest - 27/2016.
SciTech #ScienceSunday Digest - 27/2016.
Permalink here: http://www.scitechdigest.net/2016/07/pear-shaped-nuclei-laser-atom-lattices.html
Pear shaped nuclei, Geoscience for Helium, Laser atom lattices, CRISPR antivirals, Injectable micro camera, Carbon nanotube computing, Engineered probiotics, Immunotherapies vs autoimmunity, Controlled supercavitation, Engineered neurotransmitter receptors.
1. Pear Shaped Nuclei
Building on work in 2013 that found the first pear-shaped atomic nuclei in the form of Radium-224, the second pear-shaped atomic nucleus has been confirmed in the form of Barium-144 http://futurism.com/new-form-of-atomic-nuclei-just-confirmed-and-it-suggests-time-travel-is-impossible/. The interest here is the possibility of insights into new physics as pear-shaped nuclei break conventionally accepted symmetries with more charge and mass being present on some side of the nucleus than the other and exhibiting octupole properties. Personally I wouldn’t read too much into the speculative anti-time travel commentary associated with this.
2. Better Geoscience for Helium Discoveries
For the first time a huge geological deposit of Helium has been found deliberately rather than by accident http://www.livescience.com/55204-huge-cache-of-ancient-helium-discovered.html. This resulted from better models concerning the role of volcanic heat in producing pockets of Helium gas in the Earth’s crust. Helium is in limited supply and due to its nature is lost to the atmosphere and into space once used. As such the Helium deposit represents a significant find amounting to, by some estimates, an additional 30% of previously known global reserves.
3. Isolating Atoms with Lasers
An array of lasers can be used to produce a 3d lattice of precisely positioned individual atoms on five planes of 25 atoms each http://science.psu.edu/news-and-events/2016-news/Weiss6-2016. Two other crossed-laser beams can then target individual atoms and alter their energy levels and in this was used to produce an array of quantum superpositions using the atoms in the array as qubits, with the nature of the control demonstrated by writing precise patterns as desired. In related news third generation laser Uranium enrichment technology is five times more energy efficient and compact than the best centrifuges http://nextbigfuture.com/2016/06/third-generation-laser-uranium.html.
4. CRISPR for Gene Silencing & Antivirals
First, CRISPR has been modified yet again, this time with a methylation-cleaving subunit that allows the system to target and cut out methylated (silenced) promoters of genes, and replace them with un-methylated promoters to activate the genes https://www.oia.hokudai.ac.jp/blog/unsilencing-silenced-genes-by-crisprcas9/. Second, I’ve been thinking about CRISPR to target viruses for years because I get cold sores and it seems that this is now underway with successful CRISPR tests for targeting, cutting, and inactivating the latent code for viruses that have incorporated into cellular DNA https://www.newscientist.com/article/2095716-gene-editing-could-destroy-herpes-viruses-living-inside-you/. Finally, we’ll probably see the first CRISPR-based human clinical trial begin later this year http://www.nature.com/news/first-crispr-clinical-trial-gets-green-light-from-us-panel-1.20137.
5. Injectable Micro-Camera
A new micro-lens has been developed by 3D printing tiny compound lenses measuring just 120 microns wide including the casing http://phys.org/news/2016-06-micro-camera-syringe.html. Such a lens can focus on objects 3mm away, can be fabricated on conventional CMOS image sensors or optical fibers, and which might then be delivered into the body via a simple injection for example, or otherwise power discrete imaging sensors in the environment.
6. Carbon Nanotube Computing
Spectrum has another good technology overview article, this time on the present state of the art in using carbon nanotubes in computing applications http://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/devices/how-well-put-a-carbon-nanotube-computer-in-your-hand. There already exist fabrication and design techniques, compatible with conventional semiconductor fabs, for building and scaling carbon nanotube circuits on silicon. Key discoveries have solved the two biggest hurdles of such circuits, (i) creating ordered parallel arrays of tubes that don’t overlap, and (ii) clever techniques to selectively remove metallic tubes to leave only semiconducting tubes. Obtaining a 100x to 1,000x improvement in energy efficiency with such chips should be possible in future.
7. Towards Engineered Probiotics
The case and benefits for engineering and delivering novel probiotic bacteria to directly treat various diseases keeps getting stronger. First, strong correlations have been discovered between abnormal bacterial microbiome in the gut and chronic fatigue syndrome, with the possibility of fixing or engineering these patients’ microbiomes resulting in a cure for the disease http://www.deepstuff.org/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-gut-not-head/. Meanwhile a growing number of companies are developing probiotic treatments-in-a-pill designed to target and treat a range of disease, with many products currently in extended human clinical trials under FDA oversight http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-30/coming-soon-gut-bacteria-that-actually-cure-your-disease.
8. Killing Specific Immune Cells for Autoimmunity
Building on promising experimental immunotherapies for targeting immune cell cancers, a new approach instead manages to create an immunotherapy to target the specific subset of B-cells responsible for certain autoimmunity disorders https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2016/07/chimeric-antigen-receptor-strategies-can-be-used-to-target-and-destroy-specific-classes-of-unwanted-immune-cell/. This involves obtaining T-cells from the patient and engineered with a gene that makes them specifically only attach to and destroy those B-cells that produce the antibody responsible for the autoimmune disease. This is great news for a plethora of debilitating diseases such as arthritis, but also for culling and rejuvenating the entire immune system itself back to more youthful levels of effectiveness.
9. Controlled Supercavitation for Underwater Transport
New work on supercavitation shows promise for controlling the instabilities that occur when producing confined air bubbles around underwater vehicles to reduce the drag and friction of water in order to significantly increase the speed of travel underwater http://news.psu.edu/story/414720/2016/06/16/research/innovative-approach-makes-smoother-ride. Such systems might allow much faster underwater travel by submarines, torpedos, and other submersibles.
10. Engineering Controllable Neurotransmitter Receptors
Neurotransmitter receptor proteins found on neurons are now being engineered to be controllably activated and deactivated at will http://www.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/research/research_results/2016/160628_1.html. Such a tool allows neurons to be genetically altered so that the neurotransmitter receptors they produce can be switched on and off with the addition of specific ligands, and so allowing them to respond, or not, to the conventional neurotransmitters that neurons use for signalling. I do wonder how useful this might be in a living system, as the brain and neurons adapt to normal firing and connection strengths being interfered with.
SciTech Tip Jar: http://www.scitechdigest.net/p/donate.html
Permalink here: http://www.scitechdigest.net/2016/07/pear-shaped-nuclei-laser-atom-lattices.html
Pear shaped nuclei, Geoscience for Helium, Laser atom lattices, CRISPR antivirals, Injectable micro camera, Carbon nanotube computing, Engineered probiotics, Immunotherapies vs autoimmunity, Controlled supercavitation, Engineered neurotransmitter receptors.
1. Pear Shaped Nuclei
Building on work in 2013 that found the first pear-shaped atomic nuclei in the form of Radium-224, the second pear-shaped atomic nucleus has been confirmed in the form of Barium-144 http://futurism.com/new-form-of-atomic-nuclei-just-confirmed-and-it-suggests-time-travel-is-impossible/. The interest here is the possibility of insights into new physics as pear-shaped nuclei break conventionally accepted symmetries with more charge and mass being present on some side of the nucleus than the other and exhibiting octupole properties. Personally I wouldn’t read too much into the speculative anti-time travel commentary associated with this.
2. Better Geoscience for Helium Discoveries
For the first time a huge geological deposit of Helium has been found deliberately rather than by accident http://www.livescience.com/55204-huge-cache-of-ancient-helium-discovered.html. This resulted from better models concerning the role of volcanic heat in producing pockets of Helium gas in the Earth’s crust. Helium is in limited supply and due to its nature is lost to the atmosphere and into space once used. As such the Helium deposit represents a significant find amounting to, by some estimates, an additional 30% of previously known global reserves.
3. Isolating Atoms with Lasers
An array of lasers can be used to produce a 3d lattice of precisely positioned individual atoms on five planes of 25 atoms each http://science.psu.edu/news-and-events/2016-news/Weiss6-2016. Two other crossed-laser beams can then target individual atoms and alter their energy levels and in this was used to produce an array of quantum superpositions using the atoms in the array as qubits, with the nature of the control demonstrated by writing precise patterns as desired. In related news third generation laser Uranium enrichment technology is five times more energy efficient and compact than the best centrifuges http://nextbigfuture.com/2016/06/third-generation-laser-uranium.html.
4. CRISPR for Gene Silencing & Antivirals
First, CRISPR has been modified yet again, this time with a methylation-cleaving subunit that allows the system to target and cut out methylated (silenced) promoters of genes, and replace them with un-methylated promoters to activate the genes https://www.oia.hokudai.ac.jp/blog/unsilencing-silenced-genes-by-crisprcas9/. Second, I’ve been thinking about CRISPR to target viruses for years because I get cold sores and it seems that this is now underway with successful CRISPR tests for targeting, cutting, and inactivating the latent code for viruses that have incorporated into cellular DNA https://www.newscientist.com/article/2095716-gene-editing-could-destroy-herpes-viruses-living-inside-you/. Finally, we’ll probably see the first CRISPR-based human clinical trial begin later this year http://www.nature.com/news/first-crispr-clinical-trial-gets-green-light-from-us-panel-1.20137.
5. Injectable Micro-Camera
A new micro-lens has been developed by 3D printing tiny compound lenses measuring just 120 microns wide including the casing http://phys.org/news/2016-06-micro-camera-syringe.html. Such a lens can focus on objects 3mm away, can be fabricated on conventional CMOS image sensors or optical fibers, and which might then be delivered into the body via a simple injection for example, or otherwise power discrete imaging sensors in the environment.
6. Carbon Nanotube Computing
Spectrum has another good technology overview article, this time on the present state of the art in using carbon nanotubes in computing applications http://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/devices/how-well-put-a-carbon-nanotube-computer-in-your-hand. There already exist fabrication and design techniques, compatible with conventional semiconductor fabs, for building and scaling carbon nanotube circuits on silicon. Key discoveries have solved the two biggest hurdles of such circuits, (i) creating ordered parallel arrays of tubes that don’t overlap, and (ii) clever techniques to selectively remove metallic tubes to leave only semiconducting tubes. Obtaining a 100x to 1,000x improvement in energy efficiency with such chips should be possible in future.
7. Towards Engineered Probiotics
The case and benefits for engineering and delivering novel probiotic bacteria to directly treat various diseases keeps getting stronger. First, strong correlations have been discovered between abnormal bacterial microbiome in the gut and chronic fatigue syndrome, with the possibility of fixing or engineering these patients’ microbiomes resulting in a cure for the disease http://www.deepstuff.org/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-gut-not-head/. Meanwhile a growing number of companies are developing probiotic treatments-in-a-pill designed to target and treat a range of disease, with many products currently in extended human clinical trials under FDA oversight http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-30/coming-soon-gut-bacteria-that-actually-cure-your-disease.
8. Killing Specific Immune Cells for Autoimmunity
Building on promising experimental immunotherapies for targeting immune cell cancers, a new approach instead manages to create an immunotherapy to target the specific subset of B-cells responsible for certain autoimmunity disorders https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2016/07/chimeric-antigen-receptor-strategies-can-be-used-to-target-and-destroy-specific-classes-of-unwanted-immune-cell/. This involves obtaining T-cells from the patient and engineered with a gene that makes them specifically only attach to and destroy those B-cells that produce the antibody responsible for the autoimmune disease. This is great news for a plethora of debilitating diseases such as arthritis, but also for culling and rejuvenating the entire immune system itself back to more youthful levels of effectiveness.
9. Controlled Supercavitation for Underwater Transport
New work on supercavitation shows promise for controlling the instabilities that occur when producing confined air bubbles around underwater vehicles to reduce the drag and friction of water in order to significantly increase the speed of travel underwater http://news.psu.edu/story/414720/2016/06/16/research/innovative-approach-makes-smoother-ride. Such systems might allow much faster underwater travel by submarines, torpedos, and other submersibles.
10. Engineering Controllable Neurotransmitter Receptors
Neurotransmitter receptor proteins found on neurons are now being engineered to be controllably activated and deactivated at will http://www.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/research/research_results/2016/160628_1.html. Such a tool allows neurons to be genetically altered so that the neurotransmitter receptors they produce can be switched on and off with the addition of specific ligands, and so allowing them to respond, or not, to the conventional neurotransmitters that neurons use for signalling. I do wonder how useful this might be in a living system, as the brain and neurons adapt to normal firing and connection strengths being interfered with.
SciTech Tip Jar: http://www.scitechdigest.net/p/donate.html
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