You may have heard of radio telescopes, which use signals generated by stars and astrological phenomena to “tune in” to new findings. X-rays are especially useful in identifying stars and black holes, and a surfeit of x-ray data has been accumulated over time. That data is now being turned into music by a clever combination of computers and humans working together. Star Songs is a project of Harvard University, where the X-ray data is turned into raw sound by a computer, and the raw sound into music by German music students.

NASA has announced their new class of astronauts, the first in nearly 4 years. This class includes four men and four women, selected from more than 6000 applications, and represents the highest percentage of women selected ever! These astronauts are expected to lead human missions to near-earth asteroids, and eventually, to Mars landings. The astronauts are Josh Cassada, Victor Glover, Tyler Hague, Christina Hammock, Nicole Mann, Anne McClain, Jessica Meir, and Andrew Morgan.

DNA has been a mystery since its discovery, but many thought that mystery had been cracked by the Human Genome Project in the late 1990s. Now, it appears that there’s another wrinkle to unlock – so-called “epigenetic markers“, which bind to the DNA molecule at certain points and turn on or off the expression of certain genes. In many ways, these epigenetic markers act like switches, and recent studies show them binding to DNA based on life experiences. These markers can be – but are not necessarily – passed on to the next generation. It therefore seems that experiences of your ancestors can affect your genetic destiny in several specific ways! Early tests have shown that the epigenetic markers can also be removed from their bindings with certain chemicals.

3D Printers are still new to most people, but they’ve been particularly difficult to use, given that they build up layers, relying on gravity to hold the structure in place. A new 3D printer, called Mataerial, uses strands that harden quickly in exposure to the air to build up frameworks in any orientation, ignoring the usual gravity-limited requirements. Additionally, the strands can be colored on the fly, using a CYMK (ink) based system, and the width of the strands is also dynamically adjustable. The process is deliberate – it can’t print faster than the hardening speed of the material – but offers the ability to make 3D curves and splines in ways that other 3D printers can’t.

It’s long been a problem with wind turbines – they only generate electricity when the wind blows. For one Maryland-based company, this was not a problem, but a challenge. Solar Wind Energy’s new downdraft tower is designed to use dynamically controlled moisture levels in a large tower in the desert to generate their own wind. The tower, proposed at 2,250 feet tall, will be placed in the Arizona desert, and has the capacity to generate 1.25 gigawatt hours – more than many nuclear power plants – for less than a 14th of the cost. The drier the day, the more energy can be produced from the tower.

Virtual Reality (VR) has been a hope for many through the ages, and is a definite Sci-Fi trope. Now, that trope is closer to reality, with the combination of the Oculus Rift VR goggles, and the Omni Gaming Treadmill. We’ve spoken about the Oculus Rift before, but the Omni Gaming Treadmill offers VR explorers of the future the ability to walk in any direction around a concave treadmill, being tracked by a Kinect (or Kinect-like) device. That translates into the game as a walking or running speed – combined with a wireless controller for actions within the game, this is the most realistic VR combination yet available. The Kickstarter campaign for the Omni was fully funded within 2 days, and is now funded several times over. The Omni does require special shoes to grip the treadmill surface, but is a giant step forward for VR tech.

Type-I Diabetes is a disease associated with a lack of sufficient insulin production in the body, and most people with diabetes must monitor their blood sugar levels, and inject themselves with extra insulin. A new development may mitigate that need significantly; scientists at the University of North Carolina have designed an injectable nanoparticle that automatically releases insulin when blood sugar rises too high. In studies with mice, a single injection sufficed for 10 days of monitor-free blood sugar regulation. In humans, this could significantly reduce the number of injections needed. The nanoparticles rely on creation of a mild acid in glucose-rich environments to release insulin, a similar method to how the pancreas regulates blood sugar levels.

You’ve heard the expression, “You are what you eat”. Due to a recent study, it appears that phrase may have to change to “You think like your gut bacteria eat”. Scientists at UCLA have expressed surprise at the recent results of a human-trial study, where women who ate yoghurt filled with “pro-biotic” bacteria twice a day. The results of that study revealed a strange correlation: the women who ate the yoghurt showed an increase in bloodflow to the pre-frontal cortex of the brain, an area that affects cognition, with an offset in bloodflow to the part of the brain that regulates body sensation. This particular study only showed a possibility of gut bacteria affecting cognition, but it may indicate that what we eat affects how we think more directly than we ever thought!

Speaking of eating food, while the “big five” food companies have patents and proprietary secrets over major world crops, there are many crops whose genetic code has remained unresearched and unremarked. Many of these “orphan crops” are primary food crops for African countries, and lack of study has meant a lack of genetic information available to farmers. But the Agriculture director of the Mars corporation hopes to change that. Following in a 2010 decision to make the genetic code of chocolate available to everyone, Howard-Yana Shapiro is planning to work with American and Chinese scientists to sequence and make public the genetic makeup of crops like yams, millet, tef, cassava, and sweet potatoes. Making these genetic sequences available would help farmers identify the best plants to cross for stronger and healthier plants, not to modify the genes directly.

One of the problems with the consumption of beef in the world is that cattle are very expensive to raise. If researchers at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands have their way, beef will be grown in a lab much more efficiently, though without some of the distinct characteristics of cattle. To make a lab-grown burger, the scientists used stem cells from the neck of cows to produce 20,000 strips of muscle tissue, which are then assembled into a burger. Of course, that one burger, as a prototype, costs around $325,000 – but that price will fall now that the techniques have been developed.

When asteroids crash into anything, the predominant theory has been that they throw up lots of material from the object they hit, though the rock itself vaporizes. Now, recent simulations have shown that at many angles and “slow” speeds, the crashing object may shatter and become part of the crater. This means that accessing rare minerals, found in asteroids  but not on earth or the moon, may be much easier. As well, it suggests that many of the rare elements observed on the moon may be imports, not native to it – and explains some of the difference of lunar and earthly minerals.

A Russian spacecraft containing mice, gerbils, and newts has returned to earth after a month in space. It suffered an equipment failure, but revealed that newts are particularly well suited to space environments, as most of the mice and gerbils perished during the experiment. It does mark the longest animals have been left in space on their own – an important first step towards understanding the effects of microgravity, as it is not ethical to experiment on humans in space. The mice, however, are classic test subjects – and despite the failure, half of the mice survived the experiment. The animals were observed with remote cameras as they took a higher orbit than the International Space Station – where they weren’t allowed to dock because of the possibility of contamination.

Giant towers that emit lightning are a sci-fi staple – and they’ve existed since the early 1920s, even factoring into video games. But a practical use for these “Tesla Coils” has been harder to find, despite their wow factor. Maker-Musicians ArcAttack have found a use for these towers – they have hooked them into a MIDI synthesizer, which controls the pulsing – creating musical notes that sound like the ragged soundwaves that they are. ArcAttack is based in Texas, but they take their Tesla Coil show on the road, each year improving the sound and size of the show. Currently (ha!), the ArcAttack tesla coils emit 600,000 volts and 10-foot long bolts of lightning. In between the tesla coils, the musicians either dance within a faraday cage – or wear a special faraday chainmail suit that directs the high voltage around their bodies. Recent shows have had audience members dancing in faraday cages too!

If you’ve ever looked at a webcam and wondered what it was capable of knowing about you, you’re not alone. Tech Startup IMRSV has developed a software suite it calls “Cara” that allows computers connected to webcams to analyze video footage, determining gender, age, and how much attention the people pay to the camera. The software is available for PCs at the moment, but the company hopes to expand into the mobile market too – which opens up all sorts of privacy concerns and business opportunities for the world we live in now. Imagine something like Minority Report, or Mass Effect where shops advertise just to you – this is now a possible reality.

Boston Dynamics has been designing high-tech robots for some time, but MIT’s redesign of their Cheetah robot is efficient enough to carry its own power supply. The new design uses kevlar “tendons” to conserve energy – allowing it to be powered by 7 pounds of Lithium-Ion batteries, though the robot has not yet been tested on its own power. The robot can run at 13.7 miles per hour – about 22 kph – and may be a prototype of a delivery system in the near future. Are you ready for self-powered robots? We truly are living in the future.

The world’s most advanced sun-powered plane, named the Solar Impulse, has completed its first USA test flight in preparation for a cross-country trip. The Solar Impulse is covered in solar panels, allowing it to store enough power to fly day and night without jet fuel. As it is as light as a standard car, it is more vulnerable to high winds than traditional aircraft, and has a lower flying speed – around 40 mph. This new aircraft won’t be replacing traditional planes, but does show the utility of solar-power – and brings back landmark achievements from the heyday of aviation, like crossing continents – and perhaps in the next two years, a flight around the world. For their cross-US tour, the Solar Impulse pilots plan to leave San Francisco, stopping in Phoenix, Dallas, Washington DC, and New York. One other stop will be determined by weather, either Atlanta, Nashville, or St. Louis.

Orbital Science’s first launch test of their NASA-backed Antares rocket was a success, launching a dummy satellite into orbit. Orbital’s Antares rocket is 13 stories tall, and launched from a new commercial spaceport on Wallops Islands, VA. One more test flight is scheduled in June, this time with a real capsule. After that test, it will be ready for the 8 planned cargo runs paid for by NASA. The Antares can carry a heavier payload than commercial spaceflight rival SpaceX’s Dragon, but the Dragon has been in flight for several deliveries already. The dummy payload on this test flight is expected to be pulled back to earth within two weeks, incinerating cleanly in the atmosphere.

Rockets and solar planes rely on relatively recent discoveries of flight – but what about ancient creatures that took to the skies? German manufacturing firm Festo, known for their robotic recreations of biological creatures, has created a robotic paleolithic dragonfly. Dragonflies are marvels of aviation, using relatively little power to hover, accelerate rapidly, stop on a dime, glide, and even fly backwards. This robotic recreation can do all of that, with an onboard power source and microcomputer to control its stability. Even more amazing is that it can be controlled from a standard smartphone interface, and even streams its “vision” through an on-board camera. The stability is due in part to an amazing tail structure that is controlled through simulated muscles. If larger versions of the dragonfly are possible, the science fiction classic of an ornithopter transport craft!

You hear a lot about invasive species on land and sea, and how, lacking competition and predators, they expand their numbers exponentially. For some, this presents an opportunity, rather than a drawback – a chance to acquire new foods for restaurants. One particular of this is the lionfish, a beautiful fish that is a pest in the caribbean sea. Instead of throwing up their hands, restaurants have for the past few years put this fish on the menu, calling the taste “a cross between lobster and Chilean Sea Bass”. This unique response to invasive species is working – lionfish have reduced in size and number due to fishing increases, especially in well-scuba’d areas, like coral reefs and shallow waters.

Forests are generally well studied, given our exposure to trees for many thousands of years. But one thing that has not been done is to study a forest’s growth over depleted cropland from initial planting to full growth – though that’s exactly what the Smithsonian has started doing in Edgewater, Maryland. Scientists and volunteers planted over 24,000 saplings into 120 different grid squares, beginning what is planned to be a 100 year study. Yes – 100 years, meaning those that are planting the trees do not plan to be around for the final results. That said, preliminary results are expected in just a few years, as part of the study is how the plants change the land around themselves as they grow!

Science fiction fans have seen their share of robotic transport – whether the giant mechs of Anime or smaller devices, like DocOc’s robotic arms in the Spiderman comics. Dreams of giant robots with human pilots are now realized, with the Mantis – a two-ton, six legged walker designed and built by Matt Denton. Denton is a hexapod enthusiast, and has scaled up his smaller models to make this human transporter a reality. Though the Mantis is slow, it can traverse uneven ground, and may be the starting point for rescue, supply, or bomb disposal missions in the future.

Science fairs since the 1960s have had their share of “ionic wind craft” – balsa wood creations that use electrohydrodynamics, or electrically produced thrust – to lift and move to the delight of teachers and kids. But scientists at MIT have discovered that the efficiency of this technique at producing low-level thrust is greater than 110 times than Jet engines, and are working on scaling up the design for use in ultralight craft. The ionic wind devices work by creating ionically charged air that pushes against other air molecules, creating thrust without “chopping” the air, as in propeller and jet designs. The biggest problem is the high voltages required – perhaps in the range of gigavolts for aircraft.

Cowboys in space may not be the first image that comes to mind for NASA, but a new proposal may be much closer to that reality. NASA plans to send a robotic spaceship to “lasso” an asteroid and bring it close enough for an Orion spacecraft – the new replacement for the Shuttle – to rendezvous with it and allow astronauts to practice spacewalk exploration. If this plan is implemented, it would be the first time humans had manipulated a space object on such a grand scale, and may prove the combination of human and robotic space travel is viable. For those worried about disaster-movie like collisions… the asteroid candidates are all in the 25-foot range, smaller than the space rocks that struck Russia last year.

In the 1970s, early microcomputers were sold as kits to build – and both Steve Jobs and Bill Gates got their start by constructing kits for others to use. Through the rise of the desktop PC and notebook, computers have gotten more and more complicated, with fewer people working to understand the basics of computer design and programming. To encourage more kids and adults to get involved with computer design, scientists at the University of Cambridge designed the Raspberry Pi, a new microcomputer with the processing power of desktop units from 15 years ago – and sold for less than forty dollars. The Raspberry Pi is a stripped down computer platform – it arrives without mice, keyboards, monitors, or even a case – but it does provide opportunities for tinkering with computers in a way that has long been lost. Projects have sprouted up across the internet for uses or builds of the Raspberry Pi, and its open-source nature encourages new projects all the time.

3D printers have made manufacturing prototypes easier, but a new way of using 3D printers has been developed – using edible stocks. The hope to develop new food shapes and textures appears to have value to gastronomists and astronauts alike – a way to make the same food different enough for varied menus and personalized foods. While artisinal and artistic usage is expected, the technology is already being used in the Netherlands on a mass production scale of microwaveable pancakes, to ensure that each pancake is… exactly the same.

Neurons. We have long thought that neurons are the source of intelligence in the brain, but new research suggests that human neurons may not be the advantage that humans have over animals – but instead, the astrocytes that were long thought to be mere helpers may instead hold the key to human intellect. Astrocytes, named because of their star-shaped projecting branches, were originally believed to be the “glue” that held the neurons together – and were called “glial cells”. But scientists injected newborn mice with human astrocytes, and compared their ability to learn to non-chimeric mice – “chimeric” meaning crossed species. To their surprise, the mice with human astrocytes learned new skills with many fewer repetitions – in many cases, after merely one trial run. Interesting side note: Einstein’s brain was examined after his death, and it was smaller than average, with fewer neurons. But the proportion of astrocytes was much, much higher.

Imagine, if instead of pulling oil from the ground and refining it into fuel, we could just grow our own fuel directly. That’s no longer a dream – a company called Joule Fuels has opened a plant in sunny New Mexico that turns sunlight and carbon dioxide into fuel, using heavily biomodified cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria, which used to be called “blue-green algae” before it was realized that it was bacteria and not algae, only needs brackish water and some trace minerals to grow and multiply. The New Mexico plant, called Sunsprings, expects to produce both ethanol, which can be added to gasoline in most modern engines to reduce the price of the fuel, and sulfur-clean diesel, which could be used directly or mixed with oil-derived diesel. After the capital investment, Joule Fuels claims to be able to produce 15,000 gallons of diesel fuel per acre per year, at less than $50 a barrel. This technology, then, could upset the entire oil market, and provide a way forward after peak oil, while not competing with agricultural land or resources.

Scientists in Japan set a new world record for number of clones from a single cell, having cloned 581 full mice. If their techniques can be used in other places, science may have the tools to make perfect genetic tests – a single genome for testing that reveals only natural variables. The biggest setback to extended cloning in the past appears to have been some genetic abnormalities in the starter cell, which are magnified when cloned. With a few genetic tweaks, the mice were cloned in 25 rounds, and each mouse was healthy, and also able to reproduce normally.

Today’s touch screens treat each touch as the same, but detect differences in current flow based on individual differences. That capability may be exploited in future touchscreen devices so that the screen itself can differentiate between users, potentially reducing the need for password protection. Considered a biometric, this “capacitive fingerprinting” could be applied beyond tablets to other things that could use identification, such as doorknobs and furniture, though these uses are still theoretical.

Electricity flows along wires like cars along roadways – but unlike roadways, we can paint conductive material onto other surfaces. This hasn’t led to much efficiency, until recently – when scientists at the University of Michigan developed a technique that aligns semiconducting polymers using a liquid that is brushed onto a surface. The brushing allows the polymers to follow the brush stroke, creating a small network of material across the surface. Using this technique, they were able to make a simple transistor, showing that such polymers may be a replacement for silicon, which is expensive and requires high temps and energy expenditure to work. Because the polymer is a liquid at room temps, it may also be possible to print using ink-jet techniques, improving the speed and accuracy of electronics prototyping.