Category: reader

E. coli engineered into an analog computer

Synthetic biology researchers at MIT are creating simple analog computers in living cells, complete with fluorescent “displays.” Rahul Sarpeshkar and Timothy K. Lu engineered genetic circuits in E. coli so that the bacteria glows with a brightness determined by the amount of certain chemicals surrounding it. From Science News: By making bacteria glow more or less brightly depending on the number of different chemicals around, the new circuit can compute answers to math problems, Lu’s team reports May 15 in Nature. To add 1 plus 1, for example, the circuit would detect two chemicals and crank up the bacteria’s glow to “2.” ” Analog circuits boost power in living computers ” (Science News) ” Cell-Based Computing Goes Analog ” (The Scientist) ” Synthetic analog computation in living cells ” (Nature)        

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E. coli engineered into an analog computer

The Wheelharp delivers string-orchestra sounds via a mechanical keyboard

Currently up for $50,000 in funding on Kickstarter, the Wheelharp delivers the sounds of a chamber string orchestra via a keyboard and a full chromatic set of real strings. Oh, and it’s pretty much the most striking instrument we’ve ever seen. Developed by Los Angeles-based Antiquity Music, the device reacts to a user’s press of the keys by moving a corresponding string to a rotating wheel with an edge that bows the string. The instrument gives the player plenty of controls; the right pedal controls wheel speed, while the left mans the strings’ damper system. Though an early version was demoed at NAMM this year, the Wheelharp is currently in R&D mode, and Antiquity plans to put much of the Kickstarter money toward researching the optimal string selection. Hit up the source link to hear the instrument in action. Just don’t get too excited; the instrument will retail for a cool $12,500 — or a slightly more palatable $10,000 through the crowdfunding site. Filed under: Misc , Peripherals , Alt Comments Via: Laughing Squid Source: The Wheelharp (Kickstarter)

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The Wheelharp delivers string-orchestra sounds via a mechanical keyboard

Kim Dotcom Wins Case Against NZ Police To Get Seized Material Back

New submitter Mistakill writes “It seems the case against Kim Dotcom for the NZ Police isn’t going well, with Kim Dotcom scoring another victory in his legal battles. Police have been told they must search everything they seized from Dotcom and hand back what is not relevant to the U.S. extradition claims. Justice Helen Winkelmann told police their complaints about the cost and time of the exercise were effectively their own fault for indiscriminately seizing material in the first place. She wrote, ‘The warrants could not authorize the permanent seizure of hard drives and digital materials against the possibility that they might contain relevant material, with no obligation to check them for relevance. They could not authorize the shipping offshore of those hard drives with no check to see if they contained relevant material. Nor could they authorize keeping the plaintiffs out of their own information, including information irrelevant to the offenses.'” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Kim Dotcom Wins Case Against NZ Police To Get Seized Material Back

New Graphene Camera Sensors Are 1,000 Times More Sensitive to Light

Not content to just turn paint into a power source , revolutionize headphones , suck pollution out of oceans , bestow us with hyper-fast upload times , and pretty much anything else you can dream up, graphene is at it once again. And this time, the supermaterial that keeps on giving is opening the door to better low-light photos in the form of an image sensor that can catch light 1,000 times better than traditional sensors. Oh, and it uses 10 times less energy, too. Read more…        

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New Graphene Camera Sensors Are 1,000 Times More Sensitive to Light

Scientists capture images of molecules forming atomic bonds

For most of us, molecular bonding only really exists as a classroom concept. Some scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory can now claim more tangible knowledge, however: they’re the first to have taken truly clear snapshots of bonding in progress. While trying to create graphene nanostructures and observe them with an atomic force microscope , a lab team spotted molecules forming their individual, atom-level links during a chemical reaction. The resulting shots were nearly textbook material, too — as the molecules were neatly placed on a flat surface, the researchers identified the order and nature of each bond. While the images will only be immediately useful for the nanostructure research at hand, they may add a welcome dash of reality to future chemistry lessons. Filed under: Science , Alt Comments Via: Phys.org Source: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

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Scientists capture images of molecules forming atomic bonds

Ergonomic advice from the 17th century

The 1611 treatise ” A Nevv Booke, containing all sorts of hands vsvally written at this day in Christendome, as the English and French Secretary, the Roman, Italian, French, Spanish, high and low Dutch, Court and Chancerie hands: with Examples of each of them in their proper tongue and Letter. Also an Example of the true and iust proportion of the Romane Capitals. Collected by the best approued writers in these languages” is archived at the Folger Shakespeare Library and features extensive, cutting-edge 17th century advice on penmanship and ergonomics: Place your body right forward, as it shall be most seemly and easie for you: and tourne not you head too much aside, nor bed it downe too lowe, for auoyding of wearines and paine: and for such as haue occasion to sit long, I would wish them to sit soft, for their better enduring to write … Let not your pen be too full of inke, for feare of blotting: and when it writeth not cleane, or is ouer worne, either wipe it, or mend it: If you should write smaller, tourne your pen a little more a side, and write with the lower neb thereof. ‘Hovv Yov Ovght to Hold Your Penne’        

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Ergonomic advice from the 17th century

Small batch artisanal high-fructose corn syrup

Matt sez, “Maya Weinstein is an artist who just finished her MFA at Parsons, with the awesomest thesis ever: a DIY kit for making your own High-Fructose Corn Syrup , the industrial sweetener that is, well, let’s say problematic these days. “Amazingly, HFCS is not available for consumers to buy, and as Weinstein discovered, making it yourself requires some pretty unusual (and expensive) components, like Glucose Isomerase. But it’s a totally fascinating process, and only the first in what Weinstein hopes will be a series of ‘citizen food science’ kits.” DIY High-Fructose Corn Syrup by Artist Maya Weinstein        

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Small batch artisanal high-fructose corn syrup