“…engineers have produced a material that absorbs on average more than 99 percent of the ultraviolet, visible, infrared, and far-infrared light that hits it — a development that promises to open new frontiers in space technology….”The reflectance tests showed that our team had extended by 50 times the range of the material’s absorption capabilities. Though other researchers are reporting near-perfect absorption levels mainly in the ultraviolet and visible, our material is darn near perfect across multiple wavelength bands, from the ultraviolet to the far infrared,”…”No one else has achieved this milestone yet.”…” Full Slice

“…”The result is thrilling,”…”It might be an indicator that the universe is different from what we thought it to be.” [scientist] says he’s open to the idea that fundamental constants might actually change over time and position, as scientists don’t have a decent explanation for why the fundamental constants have their particular values anyway. Still, the huge claim that a constant changes demands weighty evidence—which the new data are not…They say the chances that random statistical fluctuations in the data could produce a fake signal as big are less than 1 in 15,000…” Full Slice

“…In this technique, antibodies anchored to gold electrodes on a piece of quartz crystal act like the “hooks” on the sticky side of a Velcro strap, grabbing molecules of interest as they pass by. The more molecule-sensing antibodies on the surface of the sensor, the more sensitive the QCM device’s detection capabilities….” Full Slice

“…The researchers analyzed 18 canned tomato products from various markets with NMR and found that the instrument could estimate most of the tastes assessed by the human taste testers. But the NMR instrument went even farther. By determining the chemical composition, it showed which compound is related to which sensory descriptor….” Full Slice

“…”We were initially surprised to learn how much the pancreatic beta cell contributes to the onset and severity of diabetes,”…”The observation that beta cell malfunction significantly contributes to multiple disease signs, including insulin resistance, was unexpected. We noted, however, that studies from other laboratories published over the past few decades had alluded to this possibility.”

In healthy people, pancreatic beta cells monitor the bloodstream for glucose
using glucose transporters anchored in their cellular membranes. When blood
glucose is high, such as after a meal, beta cells take in this additional glucose and respond by secreting insulin in a timed and measured response. In turn, insulin stimulates other cells in the body to take up glucose, a nutrient they need to produce energy. In this newly discovered pathway, high levels of fat were found to interfere with two key transcription factors—proteins that switch genes on and off.

These transcription factors, FOXA2 and HNF1A, are normally required for the production of an enzyme called GnT-4a glycosyltransferase that modifies proteins with a particular glycan (polysaccharide or sugar) structure….” Full Slice

As with any invention that sounds too good to be true, one keeps hoping for some public demonstrations. Still, it will be nifty if this clever looking engine design works out as claimed.

“…researchers…describe how a single cell genetically engineered to express green fluorescent protein (GFP) can be used to amplify the light particles called photons into nanosecond-long pulses of laser light…the first report of a successful biological laser based on a single, living cell…we wondered whether there was a fundamental reason why laser light, as far as we know, does not occur in nature or if we could find a way to achieve lasing in biological substances or living organisms…Not only did the cell-based device produce pulses of laser light as in the GFP solution experiment, the researchers also found that the spherical shape of the cell itself acted as a lens, refocusing the light and inducing emission of laser light at lower energy levels than required for the solution-based device. The cells used in the device survived the lasing process and were able to continue producing hundreds of pulses of laser light…”One of our long-term goals will be finding ways to bring optical communications and computing, currently done with inanimate electronic devices, into the realm of biotechnology. That could be particularly useful in projects requiring the interfacing of electronics with biological organisms….” Full Slice

The inventor of the vanadium redox flow battery is interviewed.

“Data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft have revealed that Enceladus, one of Saturn’s diminutive moons, is linked to Saturn by powerful electrical currents - beams of electrons that flow back and forth between the planet and moon…The work also reports the presence of an ultraviolet auroral spot in Saturn’s upper atmosphere, and of energetic ions flowing towards Enceladus….” Full Slice

“…This clearly shows a bump at around 80GeV that is the product of W/W and W/Z pairs. But it also shows a similar bump centered at 144 GeV—and we don’t know anything that should live there. Some models of the Higgs suggest that it might weigh in that range, but none of them produce the sort of decay pattern that the authors were examining.

How significant is this?…” Full Slice

As discussed in Research Sessions, the vanadium flow battery possesses some utility in electrical power storage, along with various disadvantages. This report, from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, purports to increase the advantages.

“…“Einstein’s theory of general relativity supports closed timelike curves…For decades researchers have argued over how to treat such objects quantum mechanically. We believe that our theory is the correct theory of such objects. Moreover, our theory shows how time travel might be accomplished even in the absence of general relativistic closed timelike curves.”…In the P-CTC formulation, time travelers must travel to the past they remember.

Although postselecting CTCs may seem complicated, it can actually be investigated experimentally in laboratory simulations…only photons that don’t kill themselves can make the journey….” Full Slice

“…A combination of new software and human transcription called Blitzscribe allowed them to parse 200 terabytes of data to capture the emergence and refinement of specific words in Roy’s son’s vocabulary. (Luckily, the boy was an early talker.) In one 40-second clip, you can hear how “gaga” turned into “water” over the course of six months. In a video clip, below, you can hear and watch the evolution of “ball.”…” Full Slice.

Should the intelligentsia move to the Midwest?

Wad’s pictures T*** C******.

• Wad showed pictures and talked about advanced data transfer techniques for automotive based traffic services.

Can the Japanese navigate in space?

• I dunno, can NASA open a cube sat?

Risks and consequences of localized dieoffs.

• Is it possible, given that economy appears to be floundering at best, that localized supply chain failures could occur in second and first world countries, leading to local starvation in large cities (See “Should the intelligentsia move to the midwest”);
• What would be the consequences of said localized die-offs?  Would humans become more individually valuable?
• Common consensus was preference this didn’t occur?
• Wad thought:  If there were a die off, what does that mean for reincarnation?

Lightsail probes.

Growing numbers of billionaires are pledging to donate their money to charity when they die.  Bill & Melinda Gates and Warren Buffet have already donated 10’s of billions to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

• What would happen if the BMGF endowment were to grown to 1 trillion dollars (10% of the way there already)?
• How would business driven charity change world behavior
  • “How would people react to We will give you free health care if you eat the food we tell you and don’t do behaviors we list as harmful and we’ll piss test you to be sure”?
• Could the BMGF take over small countries need significant charity?

Naval Rail Gun test fire

Flow Battery as a radical energy storage mechanism;  (3) implementations summary with graphic

“…[scientists] studied approximately 15,000 different versions of the virus—something that has never been done before. This information has allowed them to locate the specific genes of the virus that were resistant to the drugs—knowledge that could ultimately help researchers develop more effective treatments…the methods…used can be applied to other difficult-to-treat viruses such as swine flu, Ebola, influenza or even staph infections…” Full Slice