Carnival of Space 308 - Multiverse evidence and exoplanets

The Carnival of Space 308 is up at Pam Hoffma's Spacer blog



Andrew Fracknoi - Exploring the Universe - On the discovery of 6 or 7 planets around the nearby faint star Gliese 667c, at least three of which are in the star's habitable zone. Discusses the implications of the discovery for the search for planets and life.

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Reposted via Next Big Future

A better look at the DARPA Warrior Web lightweight, soft clothing like exosuit

Targeting a specific set of applications where a wearer needs some partial assistance from a robot, Wyss Institute researchers are pursuing a new paradigm: the use of soft clothing-like "exosuits." An exosuit does not contain any rigid elements, so the wearer's bone structure must sustain all the compressive forces normally encountered by the body -- plus the forces generated by the exosuit. The suit, which is composed primarily of specially designed fabrics, can be significantly lighter than an exoskeleton since it does not contain a rigid structure. It also provides minimal restrictions to the wearer's motions, avoiding problems relating to joint misalignment. Ongoing work to optimize the suit design and make it portable is funded by DARPA's Warrior Web Program.



A soft robotic exoskeleton, pulled on like a pair of pants, could one day give athletes an extra kick or soldiers the strength to lift heavier loads than their muscles alone could bear.



The soft suit is much lighter than the hard prosthetic exoskeletons, weighing just 7.5 kilograms (not including the air supply that drives the artificial "muscles"). Also, the suit relies on the existing movement of the legs as a person walks — its talent is adding a crucial nudge at the just right moment.



The suit's performance was tested by five healthy members of the Wyss lab — all male — after they trained to use it for about three days. It's confusing to react to the suit at first, but once a person adjusts to the push-and-pull of the suit, you feel the difference, Walsh said. "When you wear it, you feel like you're getting a bit of a boost. After you stop wearing it, you notice that you don't have that extra assist any more."



Getting that timing right is important for the suit to work efficiently, sort of like how finding just the right moment to push a person on a swing set can keep them going fairly efficiently for a long time, Walsh explained. This means the suit needs to be an active sensor of a person's gait as well. "If that timing is off it can actually make it harder for people to walk."

Harvard Biodesign Lab - The suit includes sensors that are fitted on the knee, hip and ankle, to sense a person's gait and gives them an extra push at just the right time.



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Technical hurdles have been overcome for the first human head transplant

The project for the first head transplant in man is code-named HEAVEN/GEMINI (Head Anastomosis Venture with Cord Fusion.



The technical hurdles have now been cleared thanks to cell engineering. As described in his paper, the keystone to successful spinal cord linkage is the possibility to fuse the severed axons in the cord by exploiting the power of membrane fusogens/sealants. Agents exist that can reconstitute the membranes of a cut axon and animal data have accrued since 1999 that restoration of axonal function is possible. One such molecule is poly-ethylene glycol (PEG), a widely used molecule with many applications from industrial manufacturing to medicine, including as an excipient in many pharmaceutical products. Another is chitosan, a polysaccharide used in medicine and other fields.



HEAVEN capitalizes on a minimally traumatic cut of the spinal cord using an ultra-sharp blade (very different from what occurs in the setting of clinical spinal cord injury, where gross, extensive damage and scarring is observed) followed within minutes by chemofusion (GEMINI). The surgery is performed under conditions of deep hypothermia for maximal protection of the neural tissue. Moreover, and equally important, the motoneuronal pools contained in the cord grey matter remain largely untouched and can be engaged by spinal cord stimulation, a technique that has recently shown itself capable of restoring at least some motor control in spinal injured subjects.

Surgical Neurological International - HEAVEN: The head anastomosis venture Project outline for the first human head transplantation with spinal linkage (GEMINI)



* a head of a monkey was transplanted in the 1970s but the spinal cord could not be repaired at the time

* Spinal cords have been regrown in rats.



Over the last 30 years, scientists have worked to chemically encourage regrowth. Two chemicals, chondroitinase and FGF, show strong signs of doing exactly that--in rats, at least. Independently, over the past three decades, each chemical has shown some promise in restoring simple but crucial rat motor processes, like breathing, even with entirely severed spinal cords.



Two surgeons in the field figured that a combination of the chemicals might enhance the regrowth even more. The surgeons, from Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic, began by entirely severing the spinal cords of 15 rats to ensure no independent, natural regrowth. That shut off the rats' bladder control (a nervous system process that is especially important in rats, since they urinate often and to mark their territory). The researchers then injected the two growth-stimulating chemicals into both sides of the severance, and reinforced the gap in the cord with steel wiring and surgical thread.



The Cleveland clinic has the full description of the rat spinal cord repair.

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Canada Is the World’s Most Reputable Country for the third year in a row

Canada is the country with the world’s best reputation according to Reputation Institute’s 2013 Country RepTrak™ Study.



The win marks the third year in a row that the North American nation has been ranked first in the 2013 Country

RepTrak™ Study, which surveys more than 27,000 people from the G8 countries.



Reputation Institute released its fourth annual list of 50 countries, ranked based on people’s trust, admiration, respect and affinity for those countries. Each of the 50 countries were chosen due to their large population and economies or those that have been in the public eye as a result of political, economic or natural events.



The Country RepTrak™ Study measures the reputation of 50 countries based on levels of trust, esteem, admiration

and respect, as well as perceptions regarding 16 attributes that include it being viewed as: a safe place to visit, a beautiful country, having friendly and welcoming residents, having progressive social and economic policies, being run by an effective government, and more.



Fieldwork took place between January and March 2013. Along with Canada, which received a score of 76.6 on a 100-point scale, the top five countries include: Sweden (76.5, up from third place in 2012), Switzerland (76.3, also up one notch from last year’s fourth place ranking), Australia (76.1, down from second place), and Norway (74.1 points). At the opposite pole are Russia (36.7), Nigeria (34.0), Pakistan (28.8), Iran (22.6), and Iraq (21.2).



The U.S. ranked 22 nd, China placed 44th , while Japan fared the best at 14th.





Daily Show video explains how since 1790 Canada has had zero banking crisis versus 16 for the United States





No bank crashes in Depression, 1987 or 2007



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Karmeliterhof / LOVE architecture and urbanism

Architects: LOVE architecture and urbanism

Location: Karmeliterplatz, Graz, Austria

Design Team: Martin Brischnik, Peter Goetz, Andreas Perchinig, Sigrid Derler

Area: 9,855 sqm

Year: 2011

Photographs: Jasmin Schuller / Visual Entertainment Client: LIG Landesimmobiliengesellschaft Steiermark… The project, an office building of

Reposted via ArchDaily

Three strikes and you’re out! Blow me Instagram. Honestly. New...

Three strikes and you’re out! Blow me Instagram. Honestly. New account - follow it. @cam_damage

Reposted via ASTRONAUT CLASS IS A LIE

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India’s Forgotten Stepwells

It’s hard to imagine an entire category of architecture slipping off history’s grid, and yet that seems to be the case with India’s incomparable stepwells. Never heard of ‘em? Don’t fret, you’re not alone: millions of tourists – and any…

Reposted via ArchDaily

Kontum Indochine Café / Vo Trong Nghia Architects

Architects: Vo Trong Nghia Architects

Location: Kontum, Vietnam

Architect In Charge: Vo Trong Nghia

Contractor: Wind and Water House JSC, Truong Long JSC

Area: 551 sqm

Year: 2013

Photographs: Hiroyuki Oki… Kontum Indochine Café is designed as a part of

Reposted via ArchDaily

Giant Ammonite

Giant Ammonite

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One Evening in San Francisco

One Evening in San Francisco

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Kate Moss by Tim Walker for LOVE Magazine

Kate Moss

by Tim Walker for LOVE Magazine

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