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POPS"DARPA Wants to Override Evolution to Make Immortal Synthetic Organisms" more (at source): Unsurprisingly, molecular biologists have weighed in with huge caveats and raised fingers of objection. First, they say that DARPA has the wrong idea about hoping to overcome evolution's supposed randomness, and that evolution really represents a super-efficient design algorithm. Then there's the problem of guaranteeing immortal life for any biological creature in the first place -- just look here and here at some really smart people who have yet to find that fountain of youth.
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POPSSpray-on miracle could revolutionise manufacturing more (at source): The secret of liquid glass is that it forms an ultra-thin film between 15 and 30 molecules thick – about 500 times thinner than human hair. On this nanoscale – a few millionths of a millimetre thick – liquid glass turns into a highly flexible invisible barrier that repels water, dirt and bacteria, yet is resistant to heat, acids and UV radiation but remains "breathable". A family-owned German company called Nanopool holds patent rights on the technology behind the liquid glass, which emerged from research at the Institute for New Materials in Saarbrücken. Nanopool is already talking to British firms and the NHS about using the product for a diverse range of applications, from coating designer handbags to spraying the nose cones of high-speed trains. Got to source to read more proposed uses of the substance
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POPSJapanese Scientists Create Elastic Water more: Bernama also reports that--by increasing its density--the new material could be used to produce "ecologically plastic materials," or could replace plastic altogether. This aspect is still under investigation until September 2010. However, if successful, the scientists may have found a way to make the world a little greener.
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POPSStone Age amputee proves Neolithic medics more advanced than previously thought "I don’t think you could say that those who carried out the operation were doctors in the modern sense that they did only that, but they obviously had medical knowledge,” Mrs Buquet-Marcon said. Researchers have also recently reported signs of two other Neolithic amputations in Germany and the Czech Republic. Stone Age doctors were previously known to have performed trephinations, making incisions in the skull, but not amputations.
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POPSTomb of the Saxon Queen: Discovered, Alfred's granddaughter more: Prof Horton added: 'We know that Saxon royalty moved around quite a lot, and we hope to match the isotope results with known locations around Wessex and Mercia, where she could have spent her childhood.' Her brother, King Athelstan is generally considered to have been the first King of England after he unified the Saxon and Celtic kingdoms following the battle of Brunanburgh in 937. His tomb survives in Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire, but is thought to be empty. Otto I - also known as Otto the Great - became Holy Roman Emperor in 929. He oversaw a renaissance in German art and architecture, and his empire eventually sprawled across Europe. The direct descendants of Eadgyth and Otto ruled Germany until 1254, and formed many of the royal families of Europe.
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POPS"Nazi-doodlebug sonic deathwave cannon" coming to a riot near you more (at source): According to Defense News, this is "a patented process involving Pulse Detonation Technology (PDT)". There might be some new special sauce involved, but the basic idea is an old one - pulse-detonated fuel/air mixtures were used in the Argus "pulse jet" which propelled the Nazis' V-1 (aka "Doodlebug") cruise missiles during WWII, for instance. Fuel-air explosions can also be generated without a confining container, as in the various kinds of "bunker buster" munitions employed by the world's militaries - so called as their prolonged overpressure is particularly hard on structures. Russia's "Father of All Bombs" and the British shoulder-fired Anti Structures Munition are of this type.
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POPSGiant cattle to be bred back from extinction more: "You would need to interbreed animals that are very close to the auroch in their genetic make-up. The closest you could find in Britain are two semi-feral breeds: the Chillingham and the Vaynol. If there are breeds which maintain many of the attributes of an auroch, then it could well be feasible. It's certainly a very exciting project." If the Italian-led project is successful, it will raise questions of what to do with an animal which boasts a size and temper akin to a tetchy rhinoceros. "Even the wild cattle we have today are very hard to handle and an auroch would be even more difficult," said Dr Barber. "Aurochs were significantly larger than any cattle in existence and they would be potentially dangerous.
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