Scientific research that could be game changing

4 posts / 0 new

Thu, 2012-11-01 00:41

Brachina

Algea into Oil: Or Alberta is screwed http://m.phys.org/news/2012-10-biofuel-breakthrough-quick-cook-method.html Its only a matter of time before Algae based biocrude becomes economically viable and Alberta comes crashing back down to reality only to realize how badly they've been taken for a ride by the 1 percent. Well at least it will still produce great quality, safe beef...er oh wait damn its not looking good. Of course this tech won't be prefected over night, but it will happen not to far from now, with in the next decade. Next scientific discovery I'm excited about is. The future isn't just about cool stuff, but also making it affordable and accessible and if they can boost the effiancy of fully carbon solar cells enough then solar energy will become more tempting as well as more enviromentally friend in terms of rare metal extraction. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121031125037.htm Draco, a drug that could wipe out almost any virus from AIDS, the Flu, the cold, Ebola and so on is the heavy hitter of the three and the one I find most exciting. If it works out it'll save lives and billions of dollars and change and effect so much of our ecomony and culture. http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/antiviral-0810.html Does anyone else have research thier excited about.

Thu, 2014-09-25 10:27

Slumberjack

Getting Past Ourselves - Do Humans Have a Monopoly on Consciousness?

Quote:
Fifteen electrodes were implanted in the patient’s brain, each one was stimulated in turn, and the responses of the others were measured.

The researchers noticed that every time they applied a strong electrical signal [0.2 millisecond pulse of 14 milliamperes (mA) at 0.25-second intervals for 3 to 10 seconds] to an electrode in a tiny area of the left brain, the patient lost consciousness. Specifically, there was a complete stop of “volitional behavior, unresponsiveness, and amnesia.” If the patient had been reading, she stopped reading, stared blankly, did not respond to any visual or auditory commands, and her breathing slowed. Sometimes, the loss of consciousness was “associated with scanty, perseverative, and incomprehensible verbal output consisting of one or two syllables, with a confused look on the face.” Furthermore, the patient had no memory of anything that was said or shown to her during the stimulation.

Given that stimulation to an area as close as 3 millimeters away had no such effect, a reduction of the applied current to 6 mA or less also did not show the effect, and the patient fully regained consciousness as soon as the stimulation stopped, the researchers concluded that the disruption of consciousness was related to electrical signals to that specific area of the brain. This was an extraordinary discovery. After more than 100 years of study of electrical stimulation to the human brain, no one had, until now, ever found a region that could switch off consciousness.

Has anyone else ever been able to produce these effects without the implants?

Thu, 2014-09-25 10:53

6079_Smith_W

I think Sineed would know best how this, and other drugs, compare:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_thiopental

But I'd say people have known for some time how to do that with starvation, sensory and sleep deprivation. It just takes a little longer. And you don't have to go to the trouble of drilling a hole in anyone's skull.

And this:

http://scienceblogs.com/neurophilosophy/2007/09/13/the-ethnobiology-of-v...

Thu, 2014-09-25 17:07

ikosmos

Cosmological Black Holes ... may be a fraud.

Or not. There is a rebuttal in the same article from a prof at UBC.