There are plenty of designs for tiny robots that could one day be swimming and crawling through our bodies to deliver drugs, patch up wounds or clean out clogged arteries. But most of these are limited to one method of movement and might not handle complex terrain. Now, a team from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems […]
Continue Reading3D metal printing: 100x faster, 10x cheaper
Desktop Metal – remember the name. This Massachussetts company is preparing to turn manufacturing on its head, with a 3D metal printing system that’s so much faster, safer and cheaper than existing systems that it’s going to compete with traditional mass manufacturing processes. We’ve been hearing for years now about 3D printing and how it’s […]
Continue ReadingNanoparticles home in on cancer stem cells in promising new therapy
Nanoparticle drug delivery systems are a hot area in medical research at the moment. The ability to engineer particles that can enter a human body and transport a drug directly to a targeted cell is revolutionizing how medicine is delivered. A team of researchers from the University of Illinois has now created a new nanoparticle […]
Continue ReadingHuman stem cells get paraplegic rats moving again
There are some paraplegic rats that are now able to walk again, or that are at least coming close to doing so, and it’s thanks to human stem cells. The cells essentially helped bridge a gap that scientists had introduced in the animals’ spinal cords. Led by Dr. Shulamit Levenberg, a team from the Technion-Israel […]
Continue ReadingOne small backflip for a robot is one giant leaping backflip for humankind
Something that often bothers me about sci-fi is the loner inventor trope. A guy in a garage builds a robot, or AI, or frequently both that are somehow decades beyond the technology of his day, and all the wild implications of his vast technological leap are the fuel for the next two and a half hours of […]
Continue ReadingRichard Browning sets new speed record in Iron Man-style jet suit
Remember Richard Browning, the UK-based fitness freak who built himself an Iron Man-style flight suit, complete with jet thrusters on his arms and back? A suit that required absolutely incredible upper body strength to manage, since you’re constantly pushing down against the thrust with your arms? Well, he’s just muscled his way into the Guinness Book […]
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