Thoughts on space tourism, “shooting down” errant satellites, and gray goo, in a podcast with Instapundit.
Category Archives: Technology and Society
Technology On The March
Sonia Arrison writes about progress in genetic engineering and other life-enhancing/extending techniques.
The Radiation Problem
A solution?
They started with two common food preservatives–the same stuff, BHA and BHT, that keeps Wonder Bread fresh for weeks–as a means to carry away free radicals before they can cause harm.
But for the food preservatives to become effective, the scientists needed a way to get them inside cells.
That’s where carbon nanotubes, single layers of carbon atoms curved into tiny cylinders, came in handy. The research team attached the food preservatives to the nanotubes, which, because of their size, provided a perfect vehicle for traversing the body’s arteries and entering cells.
Tour said he began his research with the goal of finding a drug to protect astronauts on long-duration space missions from the radiation to which they are exposed outside Earth’s atmosphere.
But the test results in mice, which were given the drug 30 minutes before a blast of radiation, were so impressive that Tour thought the drug might have much broader potential.
I hope that the real promise is for deep space travel, not for a nuclear war. We need to do everything we can to avoid the latter, but if not, this will help as well.
Commercial Space Roundup
Dale Amon has some thoughts, though as I note in comments, Mercury is an unlikely prospect for prospecting.
Electronic Contact Lenses
A long and fascinating article on a revolutionary technology.
Please, Microsoft
A campaign to save XP. Though I’m still using Windows 2000, myself.
So, What’s The Catch?
This seems like a pretty big breakthrough.
Using patented microorganisms and transformative bioreactor designs, Coskata ethanol is produced via a unique three-step conversion process that turns virtually any carbon-based feedstock
So, What’s The Catch?
This seems like a pretty big breakthrough.
Using patented microorganisms and transformative bioreactor designs, Coskata ethanol is produced via a unique three-step conversion process that turns virtually any carbon-based feedstock
So, What’s The Catch?
This seems like a pretty big breakthrough.
Using patented microorganisms and transformative bioreactor designs, Coskata ethanol is produced via a unique three-step conversion process that turns virtually any carbon-based feedstock
DIY Triodes
As the comments indicate, this video really is amazing. I don’t have the patience for this sort of thing, but I’m always in awe at craftsmen like this. And making vacuum tubes is becoming a lost art. I know that starting in the nineties, some of the more obscure types were available only from Russia. Fortunately, Sylvania and GE continued to make the most common ones.