Mamma mia, I'm the ultimate science project!
Nintendo's Mario has long been beloved by geeks and scientists everywhere, as evidenced by a fluorescent bacterial version (seizure warning!) and a Mario "multiverse" that acts as a better guide to parallel universes than "Lost." Now a Carnegie Mellon University student has concocted a playable pixel tribute on an 8x8 LED matrix. Read more »
A 10-year effort has finally created pumped-up fish for commercial aquaculture
Rainbow trout with six-pack abs and burly shoulders have emerged from a University of Rhode Island laboratory, and could someday find their way to humans' dinner tables. That's assuming diners don't panic at the sight of the muscular ichthyoid awaiting their knives and forks.
The bodybuilder stature of the trout comes from turning off myostatin, a protein that normally slows muscle growth. Researchers had known of a natural myostatin mutation that allowed for 20 to 25 percent more muscle growth in Belgian blue cattle, but did not know if the same would apply to the different mechanism of muscle growth in fish. Read more »
My rocket is almost as big as your rocket
China's new moon rocket design is in the class of the old Saturn V that once launched U.S. Apollo astronauts to the moon. The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology says that the proposed rocket would have a thrust of 3,000 metric tons, just shy of the 3,470 metric tons of thrust generated by the Saturn V's first stage, Aviation Week reports. Read more »
Readers feeling jittery on their second or third cuppa might giggle at the concept of the Carpuccino, but few car owners will. The wacky UK invention comes in the form of a converted 1988 Volkswagen Scirocco that downs about 56 espressos per mile, the Daily Mail reports. That should only cost about 25 to 50 times the cost of running a car on gas.
The concept came out of the BBC1 science program called "Bang Goes the Theory," and will go on a 210-mile drive between Manchester and London that consumes about 11,760 espressos. But coffee aficionados shouldn't scream just yet -- the fuel comes from waste coffee grounds provided by a branch of Costa Coffee. Read more »
Artificial limbs have advanced quite a bit since the days of the pirate peg leg, but not nearly enough for DARPA. The Pentagon agency has kicked off a new phase of its "Revolutionizing Prosthetics" program that sets the hefty goal of creating a fully-functional human limb directly controlled by the brain within five years, according to Wired's Danger Room.
DARPA has already backed the "Luke" prosthetic arm controlled by foot-operated joysticks, the brainchild of Segway inventor Dean Kamen. But the neurally-controlled prosthetic project requires scientists to make neural-recording interfaces that last longer than their current measly two-year lifespan. Read more »
Just don't try to fly this 1934 contraption before reading all the fine print
Flying cars may seem to keep receding into that deliciously-imagined future, but this, one of the earliest prototypes, hails from 1934. It is now slated to go up on the auction block in Atlanta this coming weekend, according to Wired's Autopia.
Inventor Frank Skroback designed the 21-foot-long plane that includes six wings with seven-foot spans. As Autopia points out, that sounds a bit lacking when it comes to producing the necessary lift to get the beast off the ground. Maneuvering the plane … car … in the air might also present a problem with the relatively tiny vertical control surfaces. Read more »
DARPA envisions a future in which U.S. Special Forces or spooks have to assault underground bases. And the Pentagon agency wants to give those warriors an underground navigation system that works on lightning bolts, The Register reports.
The Global Positioning System (GPS) has transformed how both the military and civilians get around, courtesy of a satellite network that can triangulate a person's position on an interactive navigation map. But such a system only works on the Earth's surface, and so it's useless for military or intelligence operatives who need to infiltrate underground lairs.
That dilemma prompted DARPA to launch its "Sferics-Based Underground Geolocation" project, known more colloquially as S-BUG. The idea involves harnessing low-frequency radio signals or pulses created naturally by lightning strikes, because such signals can penetrate deep underground. Read more »
The brain washing technique replaces a dangerous buildup of cola-colored brain fluid with clear fluid
Fluid buildup or bleeding in the heads of preemies can damage the developing brain or even prove fatal, but draining the cerebrospinal fluids through needles has not noticeably improved the health of such babies. Now a clinical study offers hope through a new technique that "washes" the baby brain with fresh fluid. Read more »
Can space farms provide biofuels for a greener Earth?
Future biofuels from space could be go for launch, if a space station experiment shows that microgravity can favorably affect the growth of Jatropha curcas plant cells. Jatropha can produce high-quality oil that represents one of the more promising possibilities for a source of alternative energy.
The National Lab Pathfinder-Cells 3 experiment launched aboard the space shuttle Endeavour's mission in February. The plant cells will endure the microgravity environment inside their flasks containing nutrients and vitamins, until they return to Earth aboard the space shuttle Discovery mission slated for April. Read more »
"Thermopower waves" could be a brand-new way to produce electricity
Johnny Cash can't have known about carbon nanotubes when he sang about that burning ring of fire, but MIT scientists have shown how the tiny tubes can channel a ring of heat that creates electrical current -- about 100 times as much energy per unit of weight when compared with a lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery.
The new experiments involved nanotubes, or submicroscopic structures just a few billionths of a meter in diameter, that can conduct both electricity and heat. Engineers coated the nanotubes with reactive fuel that produces heat by decomposing, and then ignited it with laser beams or high-voltage sparks. Read more »
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