The SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY News Thread

[mangamuscle]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

Heck, even on cloning, there are still plenty of problems even if you're willing to wait for them to grow normally, let alone if you want to accelerate the process.

Scientists Turn Skin Cells Into Beating Heart Muscle. Add the 3D printing technologies AnimeFan188 mentions and we might have cloned organs in a few years (there is a HUGE market so there is quite enough incentive). I do not think acelerating the process human growth process is too problematic, our pre-human ancestors maturated at the age of eight, the only reason we don't maturate faster is because your brains needs of learning to learn to move, talk, read, etc.

PS

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

You know what's easier to clone than people? Viruses and bacteria. There aren't enough vaccines to save your One Man...

In the modern world you could easily cultivate ebola and completely wipe in less than a week 99% of any middle sized country. But I can assure you that all of the countries not involved in said conflict will vote a UN resolution to WIPE OUT said country, be it will conventional weapons (remember the bombing of civilian targets in japan during WWII?) or nuclear weapon (remember Sodom and Gomorrah?) but such tactics cannot be allowed while we live in the same planet.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by mangamuscle

Scientists Turn Skin Cells Into Beating Heart Muscle. Add the 3D printing technologies AnimeFan188 mentions and we might have cloned organs in a few years (there is a HUGE market so there is quite enough incentive).

Organs, yes. I'm more skeptical of having a whole human body from nothing, with working immune and nervous system. Not to mention, again, the brain.

I do not think acelerating the process human growth process is too problematic, our pre-human ancestors maturated at the age of eight, the only reason we don't maturate faster is because your brains needs of learning to learn to move, talk, read, etc.

PS

OK, so let's say hormone treatments can give us 8 years old kids in adult bodies (not implausible). That's what you want to use for soldiers?

In the modern world you could easily cultivate ebola and completely wipe in less than a week 99% of any middle sized country. But I can assure you that all of the countries not involved in said conflict will vote a UN resolution to WIPE OUT said country, be it will conventional weapons (remember the bombing of civilian targets in japan during WWII?) or nuclear weapon (remember Sodom and Gomorrah?) but such tactics cannot be allowed while we live in the same planet.

We're talking clone soldiers, which in our present culture wouldn't be allowed either. (Heck, in Ithreko's scenario, we were talking about interstellar war.) Who knows what else will be permissible if that ever happens? Especially since, my point is, it'll be possible to tailor the biological weapon specifically for the clones, which you seem to think won't be treated as human.

[LoweGear]

NewScientist: Impossible' material would stretch when compressed

Imagine cushions that lift up instead of sinking when you sit on them. Impossible? Not according to a blueprint for new materials with "negative compressibility": the materials compress when they are pulled and expand when they are pushed.

[AnimeFan188]

"Excalibur Almaz has detailed its plans to launch spacecraft to space stations in
orbit around the moon, the first time the secretive company has done so publically.

The British company will use legacy Russian hardware, capsules from the Soviet
Soyuz space programme and space stations from Salyut, to launch people into orbit
around the moon. Both capsules and stations will undergo upgrades, but the basic
hardware has flown in space up to nine times, and is described by Excalibur CEO Art
Dula as have a technical readiness level of nine, the highest possible.

The capsules will initially be launched by Russian Soyuz FG launch vehicles from
Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Once in low Earth orbit (LEO), the capsules will dock with a
Salyut station, which will use electric Hall thrusters to propel itself into orbit around
the moon."

See:

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/art...tation-372347/

[Ithekro]

30 year old unused Military Soyuz craft (4) and refit Salyut space stations (2)? To head to the moon? With tests suggesting they could reuse the Soyuz craft maybe 15 times each without a refit of their thermal protection?

Would someone with a little more rocket science experiance like to throw in on this one, because I don't know what to make of it.

[mangamuscle]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

30 year old unused Military Soyuz craft

I think they mean to say 30 year old TECHNOLOGY, which is the same technology used by the chinese, which isn't a bad thing if people remember the space shuttle was also a 30 year old technology (they used the Intel 8086 procesor).

[Ithekro]

No I mean 30 year old capsules.

Four capsules, left over from the Soviet Union's secret military Soyuz programme, which ran in parallel to the better-known civilian programme, have been purchased and shipped to Excalibur's facilities on the Isle of Man in the United Kingdom, as have two Salyut stations in various phases of construction.

"Our company is positioned now to seek partners, customers and investors for our first flight," says Dula. "That's why we're making it public now."

Extensive testing on the 30-year-old capsules indicates that "we could fly these reusable vehicles to orbit at least up to 15 times, on 15 missions, without refurbishment of the thermal protection system. This is an extremely robust system," says Dula.

[Vexx]

I'd actually trust the 30 year old Soviet stuff more...

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by Vexx

I'd actually trust the 30 year old Soviet stuff more...

Maybe, as long as it isn't some mass-produced stuff.

[AnimeFan188]

"A massive, highly sophisticated piece of malware has been newly found infecting
systems in Iran and elsewhere and is believed to be part of a well-coordinated,
ongoing, state-run cyberespionage operation.

The malware, discovered by Russia-based anti-virus firm Kaspersky Lab, is an
espionage toolkit that has been infecting targeted systems in Iran, Lebanon, Syria,
Sudan, the Israeli Occupied Territories and other countries in the Middle East and
North Africa for at least two years."

See:

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/05/flame/

[JMvS]

If we can trust the picture in the annoucement, I assume these capsule were from a shelfed development program?

[Ithekro]

The image might be the Descent module for the Soyuz 7K-ST. (the military version that eventually became the Soyuz T for use with their Salyut stations.) It certainly isn't the Orbital Module, since Soviet versions of that were usually spheres instead of cones.

Otherwise it looks a whole lot like the new Dragon spacecraft from SpaceX.

[AnimeFan188]

"The world's first commercial space cargo ship dove through Earth's atmosphere
and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean early Thursday (May 31), ending an
historic test flight to the International Space Station.

The SpaceX Dragon capsule made a water landing off the coast of Baja California,
Mexico at 11:42 a.m. EDT (1542 GMT). Recovery ships have spotted the capsule
and are en route to collect the vehicle to tow to Los Angeles."

See:

http://www.space.com/15939-spacex-dr...g-pacific.html

[Ithekro]

Well now that that worked, let's hipe they will repeat their success and soon be able to take people as well are cargo to the ISS and maybe beyond.

[MrTerrorist]

Oh thank God!

A universal plug socket... at last?

[Ithekro]

Humans to colonize Mars by 2023, claims Dutch company

Dutch space company Mars One has unveiled their secret plan to have humans living (and dying) on the red planet by 2023. According to their video which hit YouTube today, the first four-person team will take seven years to reach their destination, with additional crews heading off every two years after that to live out their remaining days establishing a permanent settlement. While this sounds like the plot of a science fiction film, the project and the company behind it seem legitimate, having apparently been endorsed by Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist Prof. Dr. Gerard 't Hooft. Oddly, "Big Brother" co-creator Paul Römer is also an ambassador of the project, so it could be just a teaser for a new reality show about gullibility and the Internet. If so, we called it first. If not, see you on Mars.

"Not sure if serious"?

[LoweGear]

Originally Posted by MrTerrorist

Oh thank God!

A universal plug socket... at last?

While I am all up for universal socket design, that particular socket design isn't really new. Several of the sockets I use here have that design.

[Bri]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

Humans to colonize Mars by 2023, claims Dutch company

Reality TV-stars as expendable astronauts on a one way trip? Now that is genius, I volunteer the cast of Jersey Shore.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by MrTerrorist

Oh thank God!

A universal plug socket... at last?

Only if by "universal" you mean "for the UK and China".

[AnimeFan188]

"Boffins develop iron core for anti-cancer drug, drag it to tumours with magnets"

See:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/06...etic_medicine/