SD times - Science and Technology

Does DNA Have Telepathic Properties?

DNA has been found to have a bizarre ability to put itself together, even at a distance, when according to known science it shouldn't be able to. Scientists are reporting evidence that contrary to our current beliefs about what is possible, intact double-stranded DNA has the “amazing” ability to recognize similarities in other DNA strands from a distance. Somehow they are able to identify one another, and the tiny bits of genetic material tend to congregate with similar DNA.

Human Cells Have Electrical Fields as Powerful as Lightning Bolts
Using newly developed voltage-sensitive nanoparticles, researchers have found that the previously unknown electric fields inside of cells are as strong, or stronger, as those produced in lightning bolts. Previously, it has only been possible to measure electric fields across cell membranes, not within the main bulk of cells, so scientists didn't even know cells had an internal electric field

Mind-Reading Infrared Device Knows If You Want a Milkshake

In a new experiment, researchers didn’t have to ask their test subjects whether they’d prefer coffee or tea; instead, they just read their minds. With a nifty bit of technical wizardry, researchers beamed near-infrared light at the volunteers’ foreheads while asking them to mentally decide which of two beverages they liked better. By examining how the light was absorbed by the volunteers’ brain tissue, researchers were able to predict a person’s preference with 80 percent accuracy.

Slot Machine Near Misses Are Perfectly Tuned to Stoke the Addiction
To a gambler’s brain, a near miss provides almost the same high as a win, according to a new study that helps explain the allure of slot machines and the difficulty that some gamblers have in walking away. “The near-miss is quite a paradoxical event”. Gamblers who almost win put “their head down in their hands — they can’t believe it. And then the next thing they do is place another bet” Slot machine makers capitalize on the near-miss effect.

60 Year led Lightbulbs
Cambridge University researchers have developed cheap, light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs that produce brilliant light but use very little electricity. They will cost £2 and last up to 60 years. Despite being smaller than a penny, they are 12 times more efficient than conventional tungsten bulbs and three times more efficient than the unpopular fluorescent low-energy versions.

Is Dark Matter & Dark Energy the Same Thing?
Only four percent of the universe is made of materials we sort of understand. So what about that remaining 96%? For the most part we’ve labeled it under two names, dark matter and dark energy. We have no clear idea what these materials are. But now astronomers at the University of St Andrews are attempting to “simplify the dark side of the universe”. They say the two most mysterious constituents in the universe are actually the same thing.

Auto-Tune: Why Pop Music Sounds Perfect
If you haven't been listening to pop radio in the past few months, you've missed the rise of two seemingly opposing trends. In a medium in which mediocre singing has never been a bar to entry, a lot of pop vocals suddenly sound great. Better than great: note- and pitch-perfect, as if there's been an unspoken tightening of standards at record labels or an evolutionary leap in the development of vocal cords.

Quantum Teleportation Is a Go!

Researchers have accomplished teleportation, though not of the “Beam me up, Scotty” variety. Instead, they sent information between two individual atoms of the element ytterbium, which were suspended in separate containers three feet apart. Because the quantum information instantly hops from one atom to the other without ever crossing the space between the two, scientists call the transfer “teleportation”

“Laser Avenger” Shoots Down Unmanned Plane in a Test of Future Weaponry
In a preview of possible high-tech battles to come, Boeing has announced the successful test of a laser weapon designed to shoot down unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Are We Close to Creating Super-Humans?

Scientists now pinpoint many specific genes including being lean, living a long life, improved self-healing, thrill seeking behavior, and having an improved memory among many other incredible traits. Many believe that these genes can be manipulated in ordinary humans, in effect creating Super-Mutants.

Big Pharma's Drugs to be Weaponized to Fight "Mind Wars" on Future Battlefields

Pharmaceutical products could be employed to boost the performance of one army's soldiers while undermining the minds of those on the other, according to a National Research Council report drafted for the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency.
"It's way too early to know which - if any - of these technologies is going to be practical," study co-author Jonathan Moreno said. "But it's important for us to get ahead of the curve."

Mental Intrusion at the Hands of Science and Law – Are Our Minds Still Our Own?
A recent announcement has been made that the technology has been developed that "succeeded in processing and displaying images directly from the human brain” and that “the technology could eventually be used to figure out dreams and other secrets inside people's minds." The debate about privacy issues versus security usually ends with the tired old statement, "If you have nothing to hide, it doesn’t affect you and it shouldn’t bother you." Unfortunately, it most definitely does affect us who have nothing to hide.

Toy trains 'Star Wars' fans to use The Force
The Force Trainer (expected to be priced at $90 to $100) comes with a headset that uses brain waves to allow players to manipulate a sphere within a clear 10-inch-tall training tower, analogous to Yoda and Luke Skywalker's abilities in the Star Wars films.

Rainforest Fungus Makes Diesel Compounds From Cellulose

A unique fungus that makes diesel compounds directly from cellulose has been discovered living in trees in the Patagonian rainforest.The discovery may offer an alternative to fossil fuels, said Strobel, MSU professor of plant sciences and plant pathology, who travels the world looking for exotic plants that may contain beneficial microbes. The find is even bigger, he said, than his 1993 discovery of fungus that contained the anticancer drug taxol.

Project Attempts to Reveal Dreams on a Computer Screen

Loophole in embryology bill could pave the way for human-ape hybrids
Scientists would be able to create a ‘humanzee’ - a cross between a human and a chimpanzee or other animal - thanks to a loophole in controversial fertilisation laws, MPs warned last night.