Photos from open sources
Today for you is a dozen scientific experiments that, perhaps they will change for the better our lives in the coming decades. Very soon we will be able to enjoy the fruits of these scientific research.
The implantation of smart microcapsules into the human body
Photos from open Sources Implantation of nanocapsules is in full swing
This device was invented at NASA’s Research Center California It is a carbon nanotube that can be implanted under the skin. Imagine a smart microcapsule sewn into the human body, which injects into the blood vitally the medicine necessary for the individual at the right time and at the necessary doses. Such a device can save hundreds of thousands of sick people, who need to constantly take medications. For example, if cells of islets of Langerhans are placed in nanotubes from the pancreas, which normally produce insulin, then they can be used to treat diabetes. One of the modifications of this the instrument is planned to be implanted by astronauts. The idea is that nanotubes contain biological material (living cells), which responds, for example, to an increase in radiation during flashes on The sun also releases a drug that protects the cosmonaut’s body. Cells located in nanotubes can be modified by genetic engineering so that they produce the required substances in response to environmental changes. Protect a person from radiation can for example, the G-CSF protein is a substance that is already used in radiotherapy for cancer patients. Carbon nanotubes must have pores that allow cells to grow and divide, and a medicine – stand out in the host. Now capsules are being tested on animals. But in the near future, scientists will move on to experiments on volunteers.
CO2 absorbing machines atmosphere
Photo from open source carbon dioxide processing factory (Canada)
The upcoming climate change on the planet has long been discussed at all. levels of society. The main cause of global warming is carbon dioxide produced in large quantities by industrial enterprises and transport systems around the world. Canadian firm Carbon Engineering hopes to make a difference with chemical extraction of this gas from the atmosphere. Invented by company specialists the device can suck in air and pass it through the solution hydroxides. As a result, carbon dioxide turns into solid carbon residue – carbon dioxide. And it is already possible use for industrial purposes or just bury it in the ground. IN Last year we tested this device, which worked 500 hours, successfully removing carbon dioxide from the air. Following the experiment will last several thousand hours. Engineers interested in how the device will respond to various weather conditions. The company hopes to develop a commercial pilot project in 2013. Each of the modules of the device will resemble a giant cooling tower of a nuclear power plant and will be able to extract 1 million tons carbon dioxide from the atmosphere per year. Our civilization produces annually 30 billion tons of this gas, that is, work will be required 30 thousand modules to completely neutralize the impact humanity on the climate of the planet.
Solving the problem of superconductors
Photos from open Sources The future of electricity is superconductors
The future of transmission and storage lies in superconductors electricity. These materials are very low, almost zero resistance. They can be used in the manufacture of cables and batteries for energy systems. But the problem is that all currently known superconductors are such only for very low temperatures: less than –163 ° C. Therefore, they must be cooled and it’s good to isolate, which in itself is very expensive. Is required find materials that are superconducting at higher temperatures. And this is already in the competence of quantum physics and its complex laws regarding the behavior of subatomic particles. Solution beyond the power of modern computers. But scientists of the National US Institute of Standards and Technology developed ‘quantum stimulator “- a computer system that will help researchers plan and stimulate interactions between quantum particles and just read the result information these interactions. Thus, it will be possible to compare known superconductors with other materials and look among them suitable.
Creation of a single model of all laws and phenomena in physics
A photo from open sources The Large Hadron Collider will link together all physical laws and phenomena
Standard model of particle physics now is the best system for understanding the behavior of subatomic particles substances. However, she cannot explain the phenomena of gravity and expansion of the universe, occurring with increasing speed. Creating a single model that will cover all known physical phenomena in nature, will become a bright breakthrough in science, comparable to the development of quantum theory. Based on quantum theory lasers, microelectronic devices, ultra-precise work now hours, unbreakable codes are created, that is, a lot of things that are not even thought until a theory was formulated. How can deviate reality surrounding us from the predictions of standard models? The answer will appear after the experiments put on the Big Hadron Collider – a giant particle accelerator. He works with high energies. In it there is a collision of particles – protons. More promising will be the collision of electrons and positrons, since in this experiment it is possible to establish change the energy of each collision and study simpler final states. But these particles cannot be dispersed in a circle, so as in this case, they will give their energy in all directions. This phenomenon is known as synchrotron radiation. The solution lies with surfaces: you need to accelerate them in a straight line, using linear accelerator. It is such a structure that is planned to be built in near future. Its length will be 50 kilometers. Build it can in Japan, America, Switzerland or Russia.
Alzheimer’s disease on Petri dishes
A photo from open sources Alzheimer’s disease will learn to treat in the next 3-5 years
There are currently 26 million people in the world, suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. This is more than the population of the whole Australia In the UK, there are 800,000 such patients. Expected that these figures will double by 2050. The cause of the disease is still unknown, and no effective cure. Patients can only slightly improve the quality of life. Samples are needed to study the disease. brain tissue of a living person, but get them for obvious reasons impossible. And it’s useless to experiment on animals, because only people are subject to this ailment. Therefore difficult overestimate the importance of the work of two independent research groups from Cambridge and California universities. They could grow brain cells in the laboratory and observe the development of Alzheimer’s disease directly on Petri dishes. Managed find out that the disease begins with a gradual accumulation small cell abnormalities. Scientists took the skin cells of patients in whose kind was sick, stem cells were obtained from them, which can turn into any other, such as brain. On the they study the effect of various substances to find means for stopping the development of the disease. Researchers hope for success completion of the project in the next three to five years.
Search for extraterrestrial civilizations
A photo from open sources Darkening stars will help to detect extraterrestrial civilizations …
Since 1995, when the first star similar to the Sun was discovered with the planets surrounding it – 51 Pegasus and its planet Bellerophon – astrophysicists have begun the study of about 760 planets for the existence of civilization on them. It turns out these planets located at about the same distance from their suns as Earth from its luminary, receive much less light from them and heat. Astrophysicist, University of Colorado professor Webster Cash proposed a device for “dimming stars” – a special space an apparatus that can obscure light from a star, allowing sensitive instruments of the telescope to study any planet. it will allow spectroscopic investigation of light from these planets to determine their chemical composition and presence or lack of atmosphere. You can also find out if there is an environment planets water vapor. A key biomarker, that is, a substance, talking about the presence of life is oxygen. They are trying to find researchers.
Development of new engines for space apparatuses
A photo from open sources … and new engines will allow them to reach for spaceships
Launching a spaceship into Earth orbit is enough difficult task. The speed of the spacecraft should be 25 times the speed of sound. This requires a multi-stage whopper having on board a large amount of fuel, which when accidental explosion will resemble the explosion of a small nuclear bomb. In addition to this danger, there is also a financial problem. Like a flight costs tens of thousands of dollars per kilogram of cargo in the rocket. But this state of affairs can soon be changed. IN the British company Reaction Engines designed a reusable Skylon unmanned spacecraft devoid of the above disadvantages. The key to the success of this project is development of the SABER space engine of a completely new system, which will be able to work in two modes: reactive (gas turbine) engine and rocket engine. Main view the fuel for it is hydrogen, and the oxidizing agent is oxygen. In take-off and landing times, oxygen will enter the engine directly from the atmosphere. And after going into space, internal tanks with an oxidizing agent. Now the main components of the new engines have already been created and are preparing for a comprehensive tests. In case of success and implementation of the project, the cost of withdrawal spacecraft into orbit of the Earth will decrease by 15-50 times. The maximum payload mass that can be delivered to Skylon space will be 12-15 tons for a height of 300 kilometers and 9.5-10.5 tons – for an altitude of 460 kilometers.
Growing “Super Wheat”
Photos from open Sources “Super Wheat” will feed the entire population of the Earth
In order to feed the world’s population, it takes agricultural land area from South America. Scientists trying to find more effective ways to get food. Experts from Wheat Yield Consortium that one way to solve this problem is to derive “super wheat” modified plants to get more the amount of edible biomass. Development Goal – Increase 50% yield for 25 years. But how? Via enhancing the effectiveness of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is a process going to plants to form organic matter from carbon dioxide and water in the light with the participation of photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll in plants, bacteriochlorophyll and bacteriorhodopsin in bacteria). Planned to increase efficiency of this process, affecting one of the enzymes that is responsible for The first step in photosynthesis is carbon fixation. Here you can use both biochemical and genetic methods. The the project is still poorly funded, but the first experiments are already started in mexico.
Creating Safe Nuclear Power Plants
Photo from open sources Installation of a safe fusion reactor ITER
In 1954, the world’s first nuclear power plant was built in Obninsk power station. Atomic energy has since proclaimed an inexhaustible source of energy for the future. However, after the famous events in Chernobyl and Fukushima, it became clear that such power plants are a huge danger. In connection with this problem is developing a project called ITER (ITER) – the world’s largest fusion reactor being built in France by the joint efforts of the European Union, India, China, South Korea, Russia, USA and Japan. A fusion reactor is much safer nuclear reactor in radiation terms. Number of used in it, the radioactive substances are relatively small. Energy that can stand out as a result of an accident, is also small and cannot lead to the destruction of the reactor. The design of the reactor is such that there are natural barriers to the spread of radioactive substances. However, when designing ITER much attention was paid to radiation safety – as with normal operation, and during possible accidents. Energy in it will be produced during the fusion of deuterium and tritium nuclei (hydrogen isotopes with extra neutrons). This fuel is safe since when using it there is no chain reaction. IN the result is no prolonged radioactive contamination. Moreover, there is a lot of deuterium in seawater, and tritium is easy get out of lithium.
Machines that can edit DNA
The possibility of changing human DNA has long occupied the minds of scientists and doctors around the world. Since it became known about dependence various diseases from the sequence of the living genome organism, many genetic, genetic engineering and biochemical studies to develop treatments using changes made to DNA. The beginning of many discoveries in biology associated with bacteria. These are relatively simple creatures, which presents many fundamental processes going on in the human body. Already, with their help, industrial synthesis of drugs. For microbes to serve to the person as he needs, scientists have learned to introduce into their DNA according changes.
However, such experiments require a lot of time, effort and cost and not always successful. In the near future, the American corporation LS9 is going to provide the population with inexpensive fuel, medicines and, maybe even food. All this will be done in bioreactors. based on cheap raw materials – various organic waste, wood shavings and so on. One of the project managers George Church and colleagues developed a new approach to obtaining microorganisms with the required properties. New technology named MAGE (Multiplexautomated genomic engineering), i.e. Multiply-Automated Genomic Engineering. At its core – a new device that can be called a “machine evolution. ”
It allows you to make 50 changes in bacterial DNA at the same time, that is, in one experiment to check 50 options. A when the choice is so wide, it’s easier and faster to find what you need. Scientists are now searching for “fuel” germs that will synthesize various hydrocarbon mixtures similar in composition to automobile fuel. The first such experimental setup launched last year in San Francisco, and it is already working chemical bacteria of the first generation. From sugarcane they produce hundreds of gallons of biofuels per week. This is fuel Crystal clear and meets international standards.
The authors of the development believe that the principle of accelerated evolution in the machine will allow you to get such modified bacteria that will synthesize in large quantities cheap nutrients substances and various medications. Executive LS9 Project Director Bill Haywood optimistic: “We will heal peace. “I really want to believe that it will be so.
Irina BAKHLANOVA
Hadron Collider Water Time DNA Climate Plants Russia Sun USA Power Station Evolution
