- U.S. Army researchers have developed "nanoscaffolding" that can facilitate the regrowth of external limbs and internal organs. (Hat tip to Transterrestrial Musings.)
The technology works by placing a very fine apparatus called a scaffold, which is made of polymer fibres hundreds of times finer than a human hair, in place of a missing limb or damaged organ. The scaffold acts as a guide for cells to grab onto so they can begin to rebuild missing bones and tissue.
This is the kind of breakthrough medical research that can improve peoples' lives, and all without even one embryonic stem cell.
- Mini nuclear power plants that can power industrial plants and residential areas. (Hat tip to Drudge.)
The miniature reactors will be factory-sealed, contain no weapons-grade material, have no moving parts and will be nearly impossible to steal because they will be encased in concrete and buried underground.
- Use of artificially generated "magnetic bubbles" to protect space travellers on deep space journeys. This technology would protect those traveling to and from the Moon and staying on its surface and would remove the greatest known hazard for journeys to Near Earth Objects, Mars and more distant places, enabling eventual settlement of the Solar System.
Computer simulations done by a team in Lisbon with scientists at Rutherford Appleton last year showed that theoretically a very much smaller "magnetic bubble" of only several hundred meters across would be enough to protect a spacecraft.
Now this has been confirmed in the laboratory in the UK using apparatus originally built to work on fusion. By recreating in miniature a tiny piece of the Solar Wind, scientists working in the laboratory were able to confirm that a small "hole" in the Solar Wind is all that would be needed to keep the astronauts safe on their journey to our nearest neighbours.
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