Dariusprime Posted August 20, 2011 Posted August 20, 2011 Skynet is nigh! Or Maximum Overdrive. Your pick.
Dr Archeville Posted August 24, 2011 Author Posted August 24, 2011 Making science-fiction a reality: Bulletproof human skin made from spider silk and goat milk developed by researchers Researchers genetically engineered goats to produce milk which is packed with the same protein as silk spiders. Once this is milked out it can be spun out and weaved into a material that is ten times stronger than steel. The fabric can then be blended with human skin to make what the scientists hope will be tough enough to stop even a bullet. Dutch researcher Jalila Essaidi said the 'spidersilk' project was called '2.6g 329m/s' after the weight and the velocity of a .22 calibre long rifle bullet. Working with the Forensic Genomics Consortium in the Netherlands, she said the goal was to replace the keratin in our skin with the spider’s silk. The first stage involves growing a layer of real skin around a sample of the bulletproof skin, which takes about five weeks. A video posted by the researchers on YouTube shows a bullet then being fired into the mixture of the two. Essaidi said that the project was making science fiction a reality, even if the tests results were not yet perfect. She said that silk has a long history of using battle in combat and that Genghis Khan once issued all his horsemen with silk vests as an arrow hitting silk does not break, meaning you can tease it out. ‘Imagine a spidersilk vest, capable of catching bullets, the modern day equivalent of Genghis Khan’s arrows,’ she said. ‘Now, let’s take this one step further, why bother with a vest: imagine replacing keratin, the protein responsible for the toughness of the human skin, with this spidersilk protein. ‘This is possible by adding the silk producing genes of a spider to the gnome of a human: creating a bulletproof human. ‘Science-fiction? Maybe, but we can get a feeling of what this transhumanistic idea would be like by letting a bulletproof matrix of spidersilk merge with an in vitro human skin.’ Bullet proof vests have been around for decades but skin that can stop them has only been the preserve of science fiction. The most famous example is Superman, or the Man of Steel - bullets simply ricochet off of him. ILgwy5c6W04 (Note: video is in Dutch) I, for one, welcome our bulletproof Dutch Man-Spider Overlords.
Dariusprime Posted August 24, 2011 Posted August 24, 2011 More about the designer than the invention, but still... Recharging wireless devices via an ultrasonic emitter!
Darksider42 Posted September 5, 2011 Posted September 5, 2011 Astronomers Find a Massive Diamond Planet that Orbits a Neutron Star
Dr Archeville Posted September 13, 2011 Author Posted September 13, 2011 Death Star Enraged star is destroying planet with super-powerful X-ray blast The huge gas planet CoRoT-2b is losing five million tons of matter every second, thanks to massive X-ray bursts coming from its parent star. The worst part? CoRoT-2b might actually be the architect of its own destruction. The planet orbits its star CoRoT-2a at a very close distance - only about ten times the distance between Earth and the Moon. Located about 880 light-years away, CoRoT-2b is a gas giant roughly three times the size of Jupiter. At least, it's that big for now - the star is pummeling it with a hundred thousand times the amount of X-ray radiation the Sun sends Earth's way. The CoRoT-2 system is very young compared to Earth, only about 100 to 300 million years old. But even at that young age, the star should be fully formed, and it should have left behind such youthful volatility. Instead, it remains what's known as a very active star, sending off these powerful X-ray emissions created by unusually strong magnetic fields. And where are those coming from? University of Hamburg researcher Stefan Czesla has the rather grim answer: Yes, the planet CoRoT-2b is sowing the seeds of its own eventual destruction. That said, it might actually stand to lose a few trillion pounds or so - the researchers believe that CoRoT-2b is actually bigger than it should be, and this might be the result of its incredibly close proximity to its parent star. So then, perhaps we're not watching a destructive force here, but rather a particularly brutal form of self-correction. The planet that originally formed was just too impossibly big, which wreaked havoc on its all too nearby star and brought down the X-ray barrage. After a few hundred million years - or perhaps even a couple billion, these things take time - of X-ray blasts, CoRoT-2b might finally be small enough to stop affecting its parent star, and that will end the X-ray emissions. It's potentially a shockingly peaceful resolution to one of the most violent relationships in all the cosmos. Via Astronomy & Astrophysics.
Dr Archeville Posted October 20, 2011 Author Posted October 20, 2011 Ten Things That Can Induce Fear, Anxiety, and Dread (i.e., what's Fear Master gassing you with?) Infrasound Sweat Noxious Smells Dopamine Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone (CRH) Channelrhodopsin (ChR), combined with lasers Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) Carbogen L-3,4-Dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA) Yohimbine
Ecalsneerg Posted November 2, 2011 Posted November 2, 2011 Ten Things That Can Induce Fear, Anxiety, and Dread (i.e., what's Fear Master gassing you with?) Nothing, he uses sonic weapons :D
Dr Archeville Posted November 2, 2011 Author Posted November 2, 2011 Nothing, he uses sonic weapons Fear Master II uses sonics. The first one used chemicals. :P
N/A Posted November 3, 2011 Posted November 3, 2011 Nothing, he uses sonic weapons Does he actually use sonic weapons, or does he just shout "SONIC!!!" and hope the heroes will run away in fear?
Raveled Posted November 7, 2011 Posted November 7, 2011 I think Geckoman has a copyright infringement case on his hands.
Dr Archeville Posted November 7, 2011 Author Posted November 7, 2011 Nature Wants to Eat You: a collection of images celebrating the "terrifying mouths, jaws, teeth and tongues" of the animal kingdom (complete with bite-sized descriptions of the featured organisms).
Raveled Posted November 14, 2011 Posted November 14, 2011 Hydrophobic proofing for everything from clothes to glass to plastic.
Dr Archeville Posted November 17, 2011 Author Posted November 17, 2011 German biochemist & fashion designer Anke Domaske creates "Qmilch," a natural, non-irritating fabric made from milk proteins.
Raveled Posted November 18, 2011 Posted November 18, 2011 Vogue wants to know, how does Dragonfly stay so light and slim in her armor?
Raveled Posted November 23, 2011 Posted November 23, 2011 I for one welcome our new cephalapod overlord.
Dr Archeville Posted November 23, 2011 Author Posted November 23, 2011 They're Pinky and the Brain, they're Pinky and the Brain...
Geez3r Posted December 7, 2011 Posted December 7, 2011 In case you missed it: Extra Credits Discusses The Singularity Extra Credits Discusses Technobabble
Dr Archeville Posted January 17, 2012 Author Posted January 17, 2012 Microscopic 2 for Auditory Senses?
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