Origami space flight
Filed Under Mad Science
A successful flight from space by an origami plane could have far-reaching implications for the design of re-entry vehicles or space probes for upper atmospheric exploration, said project leader Shinji Suzuki, a professor at Tokyo University’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
In a test outside Tokyo in early February, a prototype about 2.8 inches long and 2 inches wide survived Mach 7 speeds and broiling temperatures up to 446 degrees Fahrenheit in a hypersonic wind tunnel—conditions meant to approximate what the plane would face entering Earth’s atmosphere.
Having survived the 12-second test with no major damage or burns, the tiny plane theoretically could get back to Earth because re-entry from outer space involves passing through several layers that last only a few seconds each, said Osamu Imamura, a scientist who works with Suzuki.
If I ever need reconstructive surgery…
Filed Under Mad Science
Scientists in Finland said they had replaced a 65-year-old patient’s upper jaw with a bone transplant cultivated from stem cells isolated from his own fatty tissue and grown inside his abdomen.
Greg Egan’s stories about cloned organ banks are so last millennium. The brain-in-utero one is closer to this scenario (though a jawbone is rather less nauseating than a brain, IMHO).
Fun with jellyfish
Filed Under Mad Science
First, they put jellyfish into corn.
Next, they put jellyfish into butterflies.
After that, they put jellyfish into pigs.
Now, they’re putting extra heads on jellyfish.
Who knows what tomorrow holds for jellyfish?
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the next Michael Crichton novel
Filed Under Mad Science
(Or maybe he’s already written it. I haven’t exactly been following his career.)
An 8-million-year-old bacterium was defrosted and is now growing in a lab.
8. Million. Years.