Search
Total number of posts: 23750
The art of receiving
During a visit to Paris, my mother bought me a gift and dropped it in the mail. I didn’t receive it very well. I tore away the brown paper packaging and, at the first sign of pink, let the package fall to the floor. She had sent me a gray cotton scarf with pink flowers. Pink. When I told my Read More...
Gecko inspired grippers to clean space
There’s human debris floating around the earth, and cleaning it up is posing to be a challenging task. Researchers from NASA’s laboratory in Pasadena, California have come up with a gripping device that could be affixed to robots to clean space. The gripping pads work the same way a gecko Read More...
Nigeria, and the world, one step closer to eradicating polio
Nigeria is one of the last remaining strong holds of polio. Whenever the African continent is close to becoming polio free, more cases pop up in Nigeria. Now it’s been reported that there hasn’t been a new polio diagnosis in Nigeria since July, and only six total in 2014—a 90 percent decrease Read More...
Cure for Ebola could lie in survivor’s blood
A few months ago we reported on a drug company called ZMapp that was testing, and having some luck, treating Ebola patients with a drug sourced from a tobacco plant. Now ZMapp, working alongside Vanderbilt University, have received a donation of blood from an Ebola survivor, hoping to extract and Read More...
Progress made on Elon Musk’s Hyperloop
Last year Elon Musk, Founder and CEO of Tesla Motors, released a 50 plus page white paper about a ‘Hyperloop’—essentially a high-speed train that travels around 800 miles per hour. Along with the release was a note saying he didn’t have the time to take on such a project, but anyone who Read More...
UK’s largest solar array now online
Regardless of its gloomy weather, the UK has now connected their largest solar farm to the kingdom’s power grid. The massive array is located in Oxfordshire and will produce 46 megawatts (MW) of electricity—enough energy to power 14,000 homes per year. Though the massive solar plant is the Read More...
Copper bedrails would reduce hospital infections
When it comes to the risk of nasty infections—paradoxically—hospitals are the worst places to go. It’s estimated that one in 25 patients will receive an infection from the hospital they are going to for treatment. Now a new startup, Copper Biohealth, has found that copper bedrails reduce the Read More...
Research shows that we’re not victims of our genes
According to the dominant view in medicine whatever happens to our health is a consequence of the genes we received at birth. This so-called “genetic determinism” means we don’t create our own lives. We are victims of our genes. That’s a rather depressing perspective that aligns with the Read More...
Why we need disruptive digital currencies
Uber, Lyft and Airbnb have opened the rapidly expanding sharing economy empowering citizens and at the same time shaking fundamental services providers like the hotel and taxi industries to their bones. How far does the sharing economy reach? Could money become a citizens’ tool too—like it was Read More...
Yoga prevents heart disease
Yesterday we reported that yoga along with meditation might play a role in keeping you healthy during cancer treatment. Now a study has been released that says yoga might help protect against heart disease—especially if you can’t do more rigorous exercises. Dutch researchers reviewed some 37 Read More...