Category Archives: Technology

Top New Science Podcasts: 3D Printer Advances, Gut Microbes Linked To Liver Disease (Nature Magazine)

Audio November 13, 2019 Intellicurious Leave a comment

Hear this week’s science news, with Nick Howe and Shamini Bundell. This week, a new 3D printer allows quick shifting between many materials, and understanding the link between gut microbes and liver disease.

In this episode:

00:46 A new dimension for 3D printers

A new nozzle lets a 3D printer switch between materials at a rapid rate, opening the door to a range of applications. Research Article: Skylar-Scott et al.; News and Views: How to print multi-material devices in one go

08:07 Research Highlights

The slippery secrets of ice, and cells wrapping up their nuclei. Research Highlight: Viscous water holds the secret to an ice skater’s smooth glide; Research Highlight: Super-thin layer of ‘bubble wrap’ cushions a cell’s nucleus

10:17 Linking bacteria to liver disease

Researchers have isolated a bacterial strain that appears to play an important role in alcoholic liver disease. Research paper: Duan et al.; News and Views: Microbial clues to a liver disease

17:10 News Chat

‘Megaconstellations’ of satellites concern astronomers, and a report on the gender gap in chemistry. News: SpaceX launch highlights threat to astronomy from ‘megaconstellations’; News: Huge study documents gender gap in chemistry publishing

Arts & Literature, Technology

Consumer Surveys: Only 30% Of Baby Boomers Use Online Grocery Services

November 11, 2019 Intellicurious Leave a comment

From a Chain Store Age online release:

According to a recent survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers from advertising platform Criteo, 48% of millennial and Gen Z respondents use online grocery delivery services, compared to 37% of Gen X respondents and only 30% of baby boomer respondents.

Baby boomers are much less likely than younger consumers to participate in a particular omnichannel grocery activity.

Results for browsing multiple sites to read product reviews are essentially the same across generations. But Gen X consumers are much more likely to browse multiple sites if a product they want is unavailable (37%) than Gen Z/millennial (28%) or baby boomer/silent generation consumers (22%). And more than half (51%) of baby boomer/silent generation consumers will browse multiple sites for none of these reasons, compared to 27% of Gen X and 15% of Gen Z/millennial consumers.

Design, Reviews, Technology, Transportation

Trends In Transportation: The BST-Hypertek Electric, Carbon Fiber Motorcycle Is “The New Standard”

November 11, 2019 Intellicurious Leave a comment

From a New Atlas online review:

Well, with this extraordinary electric bike, I think I finally understand what Terblanche has been trying to get at all these years, and I absolutely love it. Designed and built in partnership with South African carbon wheel specialists BST, meet the all-electric Hypertek.

There could be no better name for this thing and its unabashed, triumphant futuristicism. Every component and detail seems stripped back, technical, modular, functional. It’s like a Confederate jumped in a teleportation machine without realizing there was already a Dyson vacuum in there.

The Hypertek is built around the reasonably unglamorous DHX Hawk water-cooled PMS electric motor, presumably chosen for its compact size and high torque output of 120 Nm (88.5 lb-ft). BST claims a peak power of 80 kW (107 hp), but we can’t find any motor on the DHX website capable of such peaks – the company’s largest advertised Hawk motor makes 120 Nm but peaks at 55.3 kW (74 hp) and offers a continuous power of 34.5 kW (46.3 hp). So perhaps it’s a custom build.

Culinary Arts, Reviews, Technology

Innovations In Cocktails: “Barsys Coaster” Weighs Ingredients, Guides Mixing With AI Smart App

November 9, 2019 Intellicurious Leave a comment

From a Yanko Design online review:

This is the Barsys Coaster, a smart coaster with a mini weighing-machine and an AI inside it that coaches you through the fine cocktail-mixing process. The coaster works with the Barsys app, which lets you select a recipe, while the coaster itself sits on a table with an empty glass above it. The app tells you how to build your cocktail, by telling you what to pour into your glass, while the coaster and its weight-sensor lets you know when to stop pouring.

The incredibly precise weight-sensor within the coaster can know exactly when you’ve poured the right amount of gin, or vodka, or orange juice, while the app itself then tells you to stop pouring and proceed to the next step. The result? Precisely crafted cocktails courtesy an AI bartender and your passion for drinking fine cocktails from the comfort of your own house as Netflix cues the next episode of whatever it is you’re watching!

Reviews, Technology

Online Ads Explained: How Google Operates Its Advertising Machine (Wall Street Journal)

November 7, 2019 Intellicurious Leave a comment

From a Wall Street Journal online article:

In interviews, dozens of publishing and advertising executives said Google is doing just that with an array of interwoven products. Google operates the leading selling and buying tools, and the biggest marketplace where online ad deals happen.

Overall, Google made $116 billion in advertising revenue last year, a 22% rise from the previous year and 85% of the company’s total revenue. Most of that ad revenue came from Google’s own properties, but the company’s vast role in brokering online ad sales off its own platforms gives it an added level of dominance.

Alphabet Inc. ’s Google is under fire for its dominance in digital advertising, in part because of issues like this. The U.S. Justice Department and state attorneys general are investigating whether Google is abusing its power, including as the dominant broker of digital ad sales across the web. Most of the nearly 130 questions the states asked in a September subpoena were about the inner workings of Google’s ad products and how they interact.

Reviews, Technology, Transportation

Automobile Trends: Ford Unveils “Mustang Lithium” High-Performance EV

November 6, 2019 Intellicurious Leave a comment

From a Ford online release:

Built in collaboration between Ford and Webasto, Mustang Lithium project vehicle generates more than 1000 ft.-lbs. of instant torque and more than 900 horsepower for new levels of performance and technology with its 800-volt Webasto battery system with EVDrive technology.

Best of both worlds, Mustang Lithium accelerates the next generation of performance: unique 6-speed manual shifting, track handling and stunning quarter-mile acceleration with instant electric torque, and zero emissions.

Ford and Webasto today reveal Mustang Lithium, an ultra-high-performance battery electric Mustang fastback prototype. With more than 1,000 ft.-lbs. of torque and more than 900 horsepower instantaneously available, this Mustang amps muscle car performance to a new level and helps gauge the level of interest the next wave of performance customers have in lightning-quick performance that only fully electric powertrains can deliver.

Health, News, Science, Technology

Medical Research: Single Gene Therapy Treatment For Multiple Age-Related Diseases Seen (Harvard)

November 5, 2019 Intellicurious Leave a comment

From a Harvard news online release:

“The results we saw were stunning and suggest that holistically addressing aging via gene therapy could be more effective than the piecemeal approach that currently exists,” said first author Noah Davidsohn, a former research scientist at the Wyss Institute and HMS who is now chief technology officer of Rejuvenate Bio. “Everyone wants to stay as healthy as possible for as long as possible, and this study is a first step toward reducing the suffering caused by debilitating diseases.”

New research from the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and Harvard Medical School (HMS) suggests that it may be possible someday to tend to multiple ailments with one treatment.

The study was conducted in the lab of Wyss core faculty member George Church as part of Davidsohn’s postdoctoral research into the genetics of aging. Davidsohn, Church, and their co-authors homed in on three genes that had been shown to confer increased health and lifespan benefits in mice that were genetically engineered to overexpress them: FGF21, sTGFβR2, and αKlotho. They hypothesized that providing extra copies of those genes to nonengineered mice via gene therapy would similarly combat age-related diseases and bring health benefits.

Reviews, Technology

New Consumer Websites: “PureMarket” Rates Items For Purity, Efficacy, Accuracy And Nutrition

November 4, 2019 Intellicurious Leave a comment

From a FoodDive online review:

Pure Market is offering consumers a chance to purchase products that have already been pre-graded in an effort to provide transparency and save time. Although the service just launched, it has reviewed the chemical compositions of several thousand products, with 805 in the food category and another 125 in beverages.

The service rates products in terms of purity, efficacy, accuracy and nutrition. Purity tests the level of contaminants in a product. Efficacy rates how well a product delivers on the promises on its label. Accuracy refers to the contents of the product being consistent with those on the label. Nutrition evaluates the ratio of “good stuff” to “bad stuff,” according to the website.

Home Design, Homes, Technology

Future Of Housing: “GO Homes” Are Prefabricated, “Highly Insulated, Air-Sealed” & 90% Efficient

November 2, 2019 Intellicurious Leave a comment

Froom a Dwell.com online article:

To meet Passive House standards, the Cousins River Residence features an airtight building envelope, triple-glazed windows with a u-value of 0.16, a heat recovery ventilation system with 90% efficiency, and a 4.6 kW south-facing photovoltaic array on the garage roof that makes the house nearly net-zero energy.

With their three children grown up and out of the house, Nico and Ellen Walsh were ready to downsize from their old Victorian home to a smaller abode better aligned with their environmentally friendly principles.

The heart of every GO Home is a highly insulated, air-sealed building shell designed to use 90 percent less energy than a conventional new house, even in chilly northern New England. On sites with a favorable southern exposure, adding a modest array of photovoltaic panels yields a zero-energy home.

When the couple spotted Belfast-based design-build firm GO Logic’s LEED Platinum GO Home on the cover of Maine Home and Design Magazine, they instantly fell in love with the modern high-performance design and the possibilities of a nearly net-zero energy house.

Intellicurious