Spatial Robots: Interactive Architecture and Robotics Ask Nature - the Biomimicry Design Portal: biomimetics, architecture, biology, innovation inspired by nature, industrial design - Ask Nature - the Biomimicry Design Portal: biomimetics, architecture, biology, innovation inspired by nature, industrial desi Proof Shattered chromosome cures woman of immune disease Call it a scientific oddity—or a medical miracle. A girl who grew up with a serious genetic immune disease was apparently cured in her 30s by one of her chromosomes shattering into pieces and reassembling. Scientists traced the woman’s improvement to the removal of a harmful gene through this scrambling of DNA in one of her blood stem cells—a recently identified phenomenon that until now had only been linked to cancer. The woman, who lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, suffered from recurring bacterial infections as a child. In 2003, researchers linked WHIM to a gene called CXCR4, which codes for a cell surface protein that immune cells use to recognize chemical messengers called chemokines. Murphy and colleagues have studied WHIM patients at the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH’s) Clinical Center to better understand the disease and develop a possible treatment with a drug that inhibits CXCR4. The woman was that first WHIM patient, now 59 years old. The NIH team began sleuthing.
Radioactive Decay Rates Another example is the element Uranium-238 which has 54 more neutrons than its protons (Atomic umber =92). This element gains stability by passing through various types of decays (19 steps-- also known as the Uranium series) and is converted into Pb-206 (atomic number 82).For further information about different types of decay that Uranium goes through, refer to Decay Pathways). Decay Rates Due to the smaller size of the nucleus compared to the atom and the enormity of electromagnetic forces, it is impossible to predict radioactive decay. or mathematically speaking A=λN where A is the Total activity and is the number of decays per unit time of a radioactive sample. Decay Rate & Chemical Kinetics Since the decay rate is dependent upon the number of radioactive atoms, in terms of chemical kinetics, one can say that radioactive decay is a first order reaction process. dNdt=−λN or more specifically dN(t)dt=−λN or via rearranging the separable differential equation dN(t)N(t)=−λdt lnN(t)=−λt+C with c=λNo
PROJECTS | NSTRMNT / BRIAN HARMS | Description from Kruysman-Proto: Conventional 20th century assembly logic was questioned in favor of polymer-based meta-assemblies produced through squishing, sedimenting, embedding, and inlaying. The focus was to create mysterious and alien assemblies which do not resemble known tectonic systems. Projects avoid all types of hardware, expression of technology (although they may in fact contain it), the dogmas of frames and panels, and other 20th century forms of reductive subdivision. Instead, the freeform and figural potentials of polymer and composite construction was exploited in search of new aesthetic and performative territories. Underwriting this desire is the idea of multi-materiality, where the homogeneity of digital surfaces is replaced with complex depth, sectional, and compositional effects. Critical for the ongoing research project of SQUISHED! Project Credits: Alberto Alfonso, Brian Harms, Haejun Jung, Al Ataide, Cheng Gong
Eco | Interface | Mind the Gap Cluster | City - Design - Innovation Research team edits the DNA of fertilized human embryos For several weeks, rumors have been circulating that a research group in China had performed the first targeted editing of DNA in human embryos. Today, the rumors were confirmed by the appearance of a paper in the journal Protein & Cell, describing genome editing performed at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China. The paper shows that while the technique can work, it doesn't work very efficiently, suggesting there are a lot of hurdles between existing techniques and widespread genetic engineering of humanity. To avoid potential ethical issues, the researchers performed their experiments with embryos that had been fertilized by more than one sperm. While these are regular occurrences in in vitro fertilization procedures, the embryos are inviable and normally discarded. The work relied on the CRISPR-Cas9 system. This has worked in a variety of systems, and the authors confirmed that it works with their gene of choice: the hemoglobin component β-globin.
SBU Team Discovers New Compounds that Challenge the Foundation of Chemistry - Stony Brook University Newsroom current students | faculty & staff | alumni & friends | parents | neighbors | business Home Media Relations Search Press Releases News & Media Archives Related News Student Media Social Media Stony Brook on Facebook Stony Brook on Flickr Stony Brook on YouTube Stony Brook on Twitter SBM on Facebook General University News Print ShareThis SBU Team Discovers New Compounds that Challenge the Foundation of Chemistry Breakthrough may lead to novel materials and applications STONY BROOK, NY, December 19, 2013 – All good research breaks new ground, but rarely does the research unearth truths that challenge the foundation of a science. The paper titled "Unexpected stable stoichiometries of sodium chlorides,” documents his predictions about, and experiments in, compressing sodium chloride—rock salt—to form new compounds. “I think this work is the beginning of a revolution in chemistry,” Oganov says. This opens all kinds of possibilities. To Oganov, impossible didn’t mean something absolute.
srpLAB | RETHINKING DESIGN, ARCHITECTURE & MAKING