Courtesy of Discovery News
Skin grafts are effective at treating serious wounds such as ulcers, but are inconvenient, time consuming and costly. Similarly, compression bandages can take an extraordinarily long time to heal and are only effective 70% of the time.
U.S. and Canadian researchers have found that by coating wounds with a layer of skin cells, they can treat severe gashes such as ulcers more quickly and effectively than anything we have today.
Courtesy of NASA
Want to watch live video feeds of distant planets? It’s not too far away.
Radio communication throughout space has served us well, but with increasing demands on the quantity and promptness of data sent, something new is overdue. That’s where Laser Communication Relay Demonstration (LCRD or LaserCom) comes into play.
LCRD is a new technology that will revolutionize the way we connect throughout the Milky Way. With LaserCom, pretty much any type of data you can think of can be encoded into an invisible, short wavelength laser beam, and transmitted at speeds up to 100 times faster than traditional radio waves.
Though controversial, marijuana or cannabis has been scientifically shown to possess curative properties. In many parts of the world, cannabis is being utilized to treat Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, post-traumatic stress disorder and many forms of cancer.
Cannabis is a complex organism consisting of a number of cannabinoids. The most popular cannabinoid, THC, is responsible for producing the high feeling after ingestion. THC is the primary reason that the plant is often abused. By extension, it is also the reason why marijuana abusers would need marijuana dependence treatment.
Truly ill patients who suffer from extreme pain without medical marijuana have often complained that the high feeling generated by THC generates unwanted side effects such as drowsiness and decreased productivity.
Though the studies are still in their preliminary stages, scientists in Israel are honing in on other individual cannabinoids to pinpoint those most effective at easing pain and reducing inflammation for patients. One such cannabinoid, the aptly named Cannabidiol (CBD), has displayed some incredibly useful properties.
Many great pranks have been pulled over time using adhesives; duck taping a friend to a bed, gluing coins to a floor, and sticking a ‘kick me’ sign on someone’s back. Unfortunately, pranksters worldwide have been limited by scotch and duct tapes’ elementary adhesive abilities or superglues’ longer than comfortable effects. Fortunately, scientists have been hard at work developing a sticky alternative that will change the way we prank and the way we live our lives. They’re calling it GeckSkin.
An amateur chemist may have invented one of the most important materials in human history. A man with no formal scientific training claims to have created the concoction using a food processor in his kitchen! The problem? He may have been too greedy for us to get to ever experience it. The invention, a non-toxic and extreme heat resistant plastic that could actually be smeared onto an object as a liquid, was dubbed starlite. Not only does starlite hold more promise than most inventions known to man, it also holds more mysteries.
As we work towards a greener and more sustainable future, we’re going to need natural materials that want to work with us. One of the most overlooked smart materials in the world is bamboo. Many people are familiar with it’s versatility, but few know the true extent of the life enhancing benefits that it provides.
Bamboo is the fastest growing plant in the world, with reports of some species growing 1-4 feet per day (though most grow 1-4 inches, but still)! A common misconception of bamboo is that it’s a wood; it’s actually a grass. It’s nearly pest resistant and able to grow in a wide variety of climates, both hot and cold. Bamboo is easy to maintain as it requires little water. Bamboo can shelter us, feed us, and purify our air: it’s designed to help us in more ways than we know.
We’re sharing and collaborating at a rate unsurpassed in human history. Pictures, videos, research and news is being transported at blistering speeds from one corner of the globe to another. What if we could transmit data 85,000 times faster than we are today?
That idea won’t seem so farfetched if you examine research by scientists in the field of twisted light.
Doctor Michael Ioffe and Professor Fernando Patolsky at Tel-Aviv University are fine-tuning a straw that will signal to victims when and if they are the targets of a date rape drug attack.
The smart straw is casually dipped in a drink, and if it detects GHB or ketamine, the drink will almost instantaneously emit a clear alert. Initial tests of the smart straw have proven to be 100% accurate with zero false positives.
These days, we have a tremendous amount on our plates. We’re constantly looking for an energy boost, something that can give us an edge and extra motivation to get through the day. While coffee, cigarettes, energy drinks and other remedies have received mixed reviews, the most natural of solutions could be the secret to workplace productivity and a sense of well-being.
For all of you weekend warriors some exciting new open source 3D printing technology may well save your life one day. Researchers collaborating between Pennsylvania University and MIT have made significant strides in solving a huge problem in creating lab grown organs such as livers.