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Futurology #140: laser stars
Monday, 03 May 2010
To build a star on Earth with lasers: Scientists at a government lab in the US are trying to use the world's largest laser (it's the size of three football fields) to set off a nuclear reaction so intense it will make a star bloom on the surface of the Earth.The ambitious experiment will be tried for real, and for the first time, late this Northern summer.
If they're successful, the scientists hope to solve the global energy crisis by harnessing the energy generated by the mini-star.
Comment — if they don't bow the whole world up, of course.
Lasers to clean up space: Earth's orbit is cluttered with dead satellites, discarded rocket boosters and other space junk, so ways to prevent the accumulation of such debris are desperately needed. A tractor beam could be used to steer future junk aside, says engineer John Sinko.
His idea is based on an experimental type of spacecraft engine called a laser thruster. Inside these motors, laser pulses fired into a mass of solid propellant cause a jet of material to be released, pushing the craft in the opposite direction.
Comment — and if we miss, we get to blind random aliens. Which may not be the best thing for interplanetary relationships.
New approaches to finding alien life: Paul Davies' new book, The Eerie Silence (sub-titled ‘Renewing Our Search for Alien Intelligence') is making accessible to the general public the kind of discussion experts about the Search For Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence have been having lately. He looks at the question of whether our SETI strategies of searching radio and optical wavelengths aren't too limited for any chance of success.
The interest in alternatives, including hunting Dyson spheres, means we've only begun to look for signs of the technologies of vastly more powerful cultures.
Comment — and will we also be able to find aliens using Dyson vacuum cleaners? Oh, we can just check sale receipts ...
Historic human interspecies sex: Scientists conducting a new genetic study have discovered that early humans bred with other species – like Neanderthals – at least twice.
There has been quite a bit of debate over whether our human ancestors interbred with neanderthals, but a new genetic study revealed at a meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists in Albuquerque, New Mexico suggest that such interbreeding did occur. At least twice. As explained by Nature.com, it means Neanderthals didn't completely disappear.
The data might help explain what happened to the neanderthal, who disappeared from the fossil record approximately 30,000 years ago. Interbreeding happened about 60,000 years ago in the eastern Mediterranean and, more recently, about 45,000 years ago in eastern Asia. Those two events happened after the first Homo sapiens had migrated out of Africa.
His group didn't find evidence of interbreeding in the genomes of the modern African people included in the study.
Comment — so, genetically, africans are 'more' modern.
Elastic plastic water: Elastic water (pic), a new substance invented by researchers at Tokyo University, is a jelly-like substance. It's made up of 95% water along with two grams of clay and a small amount of organic materials. The all-natural substance is perfect for medical procedures – because it’s made of water, it poses no harm to people and is perfect for mending tissue. If the research team can increase the density of this exciting new substance, it could be used in place of our current oil based plastics for a host of other things.
Comment — if everything now made out of plastic from oil was instead made out of plastic from water, we could surely reduce a lot of toxins in our environment.
Want a new head? Grow it: British scientists have identified the key "smed-prop" gene which allows Planarian flatworms to regenerate any part of their body following an injury – even their brains. The discovery is seen as a step towards regeneration therapy for humans in future.
The information contained in smed-prep also makes the new cells appear in the right place and organise themselves into working structures.
Comment — as a first step, we may be able to grow replacement Planarian flatworms, anyway.
Repulsive fungus could make you younger, healthier: It looks like an alien parasite, or maybe an evil brain, but it's actually a fungus that attacks corn. US farmers call it "corn smut" and have spent millions to eradicate it – but it's actually better for you than corn.
A new study released in the journal Food Chemistry reveal that corn smut, also called 'the devil's corn,' contains valuable nutrients that aren't found in the corn it feeds off. In Mexico, the fungus is called huitlacoche and considered a delicacy – it turns out to be chock full of essential nutrients, including lysine, an amino acid that can strengthen bones and make your skin look younger.
Comment — 'make you younger and healthier' – isn't that what they said about tobacco?
