News of the week selected by Impactscool – September 21st
21 September 2020 | Written by La redazione
Strong mice: One treatment allowed to maintain muscle and bone mass in space in rodents
One of the problems to be solved with regard to human permanence in space are the effects of microgravity: in this condition bones and muscles lose density and mass. A treatment, developed by the Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine in Farmington, Connecticut, performed on mice, not only prevented the loss of muscle and bone mass but allowed the animals to slightly improve their physical fitness. Once properly tested, such a treatment will not only have great impacts on human space exploration but could find many applications on Earth for diseases such as osteoporosis or diseases that force the patient to bed for long periods with relative loss of mass. muscular.
Data centers, server files that allow access to remote databases, have a considerable environmental impact. In addition to electricity to make them work, a large chunk of the energy is used in the cooling systems of these systems. In an attempt to find sustainable alternative solutions, Microsoft, in 2018, launched a project that involved the use of servers inside submerged watertight chambers. Today, after 2 years, those servers have been recovered showing that not only have they performed very well (one eighth of the malfunctions compared to servers on land) but that they have consumed less electricity. Will we have underwater data centers around the coast in the future?
The first bionic eye from Australia
A team of researchers from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia has developed a bionic device that promises to restore sight to the blind through a brain implant. It is a system that integrates a video camera capable of sending signals to an implant grafted into the brain, bypassing the damaged optic nerves and allowing the signal to be transmitted directly to the area of the brain that manages vision. After several successful animal tests, the team is now working to begin the first trials on human patients.
The city of the future is emerging 100 km from Beijing
Within the city of Xiong’an, in the province of Hubei, China is building a district that will be a city in its own right where innovation, new technologies and sustainability will provide an example for the cities of the future. It will host 2.5 million inhabitants and will be “sustainable and intelligent”, with a transport network capable of making it an important center on the national scene. Special attention will be given to the environment, which will be considered an element not to be neglected, but rather to be valued. There will be cars and buses but they will be exclusively without drivers. Obviously, 5G will guarantee super-connectivity, even for remote work and the buildings will be built with the possibility of guaranteeing every comfort in case of future lockdowns. The city should be ready by 2050.
