Technology – Page 3

‘Regenerate’ Lost Or Damaged Body Parts, Organs and Bones

July 21, 2014 by Raj Agrawal 1 Comment

UPCOMING TECHNOLOGY – In biology, regeneration is expressed as the ability to heal back from a physical damage. Think of it as the body’s self-repairing mechanism. A perfect form of regeneration will grow back lost body parts, bones and other organs to it’s original form and function. Sounds fictional, right?

All living beings can regenerate to varying limits. And we have no control or command over achieving this perfect regeneration process. To further establish the context, let us understand the types of animals by generalising them into two main categories. On one hand we have animals (for instance, a tape worm or a Mexican salamander) that possess perfect regeneration capabilities, and on the other hand we have animals that can regenerate to a limited extent. Humans and most other animals fall in the latter type.

Our body has some ability to heal it’s parts, organs and bones. Our hair and nails regrow. Our skin can recover from minor damages. Without any conscious effort, children under the age of 12 may regrow their sliced finger tips. A foetus inside of a human womb can “regrow” most of the damaged parts of it’s own body. So there should be a way to extend this regenerative capability of ours, while we age.

So let’s take a brief look at the ongoing researches and upcoming technologies that promise enhanced regeneration in humans.

Reversing physical injuries and damages

regenerate upcoming technology — One of the many successful trials by Dr. Rongxiang Xu (Image Credit: mebo-international.com)

Severed fingers, bodies with burns, signs of ageing on skin, gastro-duodenal ulcers, coronary heart disease, facial scars, shortened life span due to cancer – All of these damages have been undone in numerous trials on humans by a technology invented by Dr. Rongxiang Xu. He has been honored with Golden Biatec 2013 International award for this remarkable research. I encourage you to learn more on this through the link below.

Via [Mebo-International]

Regrowing lost limbs

Michael Levin has dedicated his life to the study of tissue regeneration in animals, and eventually enable humans to regenerate lost limbs. Among many other successful experiments back in the year 2005, he has successfully triggered regeneration in an elderly Tadpole to perfectly regrow it’s tail (an animal that loses it’s regenerative ability after the first seven days of it’s life). Michael believes animal bodies store information about it’s shape like a language, and such information may be found in the electrics singles that transmitted among the cells. So one of the major challenges that remain now is to decipher this language.

Via [Medium]

A painless and cost effective way to heal decayed teeth. No drills and fills required

teeth dentist — A visual illustration of oral health examination.

The technique focuses on remineralising the defective areas in teeth. This is done by triggering the natural healing process. This technique may be out in the market as late as 2017.

Via [King’s College London]

Using low powered lasers to regenerate body parts

A visual illustration of a laser point. (May not represent the actual procedure)

The idea is to persuade tissues to regenerate themselves, using a low powered laser. The tests have shown positive results for growing back an important component of teeth. Researchers have expressed the possibility of using this technique for regenerating body parts too.

Via [TechnologyReview]

Accelerated healing of physical injuries

A group of researchers have identified an important gene that triggers stem cell renewal. Learn more about stem cells at stemcells.nih.gov.

Via [EurekaAlert]

Data Transfers At Gigabits To Terabits Per Second

June 8, 2014 by Raj Agrawal Leave a Comment

UPCOMING TECHNOLOGY – Let’s talk about ongoing research developments that are working out solutions to provide digital data transfers at extraordinary speeds. These researches have shown possibilities with transferring data at gigabits per second (Gbit/s); even terabits per second (Tbit/s) in certain cases. This article will peek into the ‘future of super-fast’ complex interactions within your personal computer, searching through extremely large amounts of data and internet connections with super-speeds.

Li-Fi – Achieving low-cost, high speed internet at 10 Gbit/s through LED lights.

A white light is made up of red, green and blue colours. The researchers in UK were able to transmit 3.5Gbit/s of data through each red, green and blue lights of a micro-LED bulb. The video briefly explains how and why this technology is better than the current Wi-fi technology.

Via [BBC] [See.ed.ac.uk]

New Optical fibre cable transfers data at almost the speed of light – 73 Tbit/s.

Even the best quality optical fibres we find today are limited to handle data transfers of 40 Gbit/s. Now, researchers in England were able to transfer data at 99.7% of the speed of light (73 Tbit/s) using newly developed optical fibres.

Via [Nature]

5th Generation of Cellular networks.

The next major upgrade to cellular networks and mobile internet connectivity may take few more years. So far, confirmed reports have shown successful tests of 10 Gbit/s of mobile data transfer speed. Watch the presentation by Takehiro Nakamura at NTT Docomo explaining their views on 5G Networks.

Via [NTTDocomo]

Searching Big Data at 40 Gbit/s.

Big Data technology is meant to be a solution when data becomes voluminous and complex enough where it cannot be handled and processed by traditional solutions. So while Big Data does it’s job of handling and processing, there is also a need for fast searching and finding data within such enormous volume. A recent development by Fujitsu allows searching through such enormous and complex data at 40 Gbit/s.

Big Data Comic — Image credits to D.Fletcher at CloudTweaks.com

via [Fujitsu]

Intel’s Silicon Photonic Link to transfer data at Tbit/s within, and with other computers.

Intel has built a prototype Silicon Photonic link that has successfully been tested to transfer data at 50 Gbit/s, and they’re currently working on pushing the limits to a speed in terabits per second. The following video explains the working of Silicon Photonics.

Via [Intel]

Lithium-ion Batteries With Extreme Folding Capabilities

May 31, 2014 by Raj Agrawal Leave a Comment

UPCOMING TECHNOLOGY – The idea of bending and twisting any electronic device can seem bizarre and discomforting. But, there are instances when such deformability can be very useful. One of the most desired capabilities while building any compact system is to allow deforming of larger devices and forcibly fitting them into smaller areas, possibly with no loss of intended behaviour and output. Let’s take a look at researches that aim to bring out lithium-ion batteries with extreme folding capabilities.

Origami Lithium-ion battery

The researchers at Arizona State University have built a origami lithium-ion battery with the main purpose to provide foldable solar panels for spacecrafts, particularly to save space (no pun intended!).

The following video shows how high deformability of lithium-batteries is very much achievable, while persisting high quality of output.

Via – [Nature]

Paper lithium-ion battery with 14 times more energy density when folded

Foldable battery — This illustration is demonstrating the possible folding pattern and ability of the battery

How about a battery made out of nanotube-coated paper that can be folded and unfolded like a map? The battery has been demonstrated to produce more energy when folded. Researchers are working on further improving the energy density.

This battery could find it’s use with the popular idea of “flexible” consumer electronics.

Via [PUBS.ACS.ORG]

Elastic/ Stretchable Lithium-Ion Batteries That Charge Wirelessly

These stretchable lithium-ion batteries can power tiny medical devices to be implantated inside the human body. The stretchable batteries within implanted devices could be wirelessly charged.

Via – [NorthWestern.EDU]