Technology Tuesday: October 4
Welcome to Technology Tuesday! Every week The Job Shop Blog will bring you our 5 top science and technology news stories from around the web.
This week: A universal flu vaccine, Elon Musk says he will put a human being on Mars by 2025, a $3 billion plan to cure all diseases, solar and win energy hit all time low costs, and artificial blood vessels that can grow naturally.
New Study Brings Us Closer to a Universal Flu Vaccine
Researchers at McMaster University and two American universities have taken another step closer to developing a much more effective, “one-punch” universal flu vaccine.
Their latest findings, published online today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA (PNAS), build upon their earlier discovery of a class of antibodies capable of neutralizing the most dangerous types of Influenza viruses.
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Elon Musk’s Plan to Take Us to Mars
Each century has an individual that redefines the world—a person who transforms the way that we think and act, a person who fundamentally reshapes our understanding of ourselves and our place in the cosmos. This century, that man seems to be Elon Musk.
He’s the man behind Tesla Motors, SolarCity, and the Chief Executive of SpaceX—a company that has ushered us into the era of reusable rockets and which has made no secret of its intent to send people to Mars. Yes, SpaceX plans to create a permanent Martian settlement. Musk has made it clear that he thinks such a colonization project will ultimately save the human race.
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$3 Billion Plan to Cure ALL Diseases
In an event aired as a Facebook Live video, Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan gave an important announcement.
“Mark and I believe that this is possible within our children’s lifetime. We are partnering with scientists, doctors, and engineers to help us achieve this goal … We’ll be investing more than $3 billion to achieve our collective vision,” Chan announced.
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a company created by the Silicon Valley power couple, launched a $3-billion program that aims to cure, prevent, or manage “all diseases in our children’s lifetime,” Chan Zuckerberg Science.
Why Solar and Wind Are Thriving
The prolonged plunge in fossil fuel prices is rippling across the globe. Yet it’s barely put a dent in the booming market for clean energy, heralding perhaps a new era for wind and solar.
In Texas, home to shale-rich oil deposits, once-crowded trailer parks that housed workers are now largely empty.
But solar, wind, and other clean energy? They’re expanding. Last year, they attracted a record $329 billion in investment—nearly six times the total in 2004, according to a report this month by Bloomberg New Energy Finance or BNEF. Wind and solar also installed a record amount of power capacity.
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Lab Develops Artificial Blood Vessels That Grow with the Patient
In a groundbreaking new study led by University of Minnesota biomedical engineers, artificial blood vessels bioengineered in the lab and implanted in young lambs are capable of growth within the recipient. If confirmed in humans, these new vessel grafts would prevent the need for repeated surgeries in some children with congenital heart defects.
Know any interesting stories we missed? Let us know in the comments!