JamReadyTeacups - Slashdot User

Comment Putting things into Perspective. (Score 1) 503

by JamReadyTeacups on Tuesday November 02, 2010 @08:04PM (#34107328) Attached to: Is the ISS Really Worth $100 Billion?

This $100 Billion wasn't necessarily all spent by the U.S. alone, the ISS was split 7 ways (albeit a lion share of it probably fell on NASA/US funding). The ISS was meant to be completed on a much faster timetable than it panned out. Columbia's crash completely threw their construction scheduling for a loop, and pushed the dates back on lots of research projects. The ISS is now finally at a point to become "Fully Operational", just without the planet-cracking laser Darth Vader got to play with. We will see a lot of great information come out of this.

Comment Re:How long can I keep being an alcoholic with thi (Score 1) 154

by JamReadyTeacups on Tuesday November 02, 2010 @07:56PM (#34107268) Attached to: Miniature Human Livers Grown In Lab

How often am I going to have to swap this out? Is there a MDBF (mean drinks before failure)?

Haha, I really like that term, I've been an engineering student too long I suppose because that literally made me laugh out loud.

Miniature Human Livers Grown In Lab 154

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday November 02, 2010 @01:09PM from the less-filling-tastes-great dept.

Zothecula writes "In the quest to grow replacement human organs in the lab, livers are no doubt at the top of many a barfly's wish list. With its wide range of functions that support almost every organ in the body and no way to compensate for the absence of liver function, the ability to grow a replacement is also the focus of many research efforts. Now, for the first time, researchers have been able to successfully engineer miniature livers in the lab using human liver cells."

Breakthrough Portends Cure For the Common Cold 180

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday November 02, 2010 @08:11AM from the also-portends-breathless-headlines dept.

breadboy21 writes with this excerpt from the Independent: "Scientists have been able to show for the first time that the body's immune defenses can destroy the common cold virus after it has actually invaded the inner sanctum of a human cell, a feat that was believed until now to be impossible. The discovery opens the door to the development of a new class of antiviral drugs that work by enhancing this natural virus-killing machinery of the cell. Scientists believe the first clinical trials of new drugs based on the findings could begin within two to five years."

The Right Robotic Stuff 53

Posted by Soulskill on Monday November 01, 2010 @07:09PM from the does-this-thing-remind-anyone-else-of-boba-fett dept.

An anonymous reader writes "When Tom Wolfe wrote about NASA's first Mercury astronauts in The Right Stuff, he wanted to know what combination of guts, skill, and derring-do inspired these men to 'sit up on top of an enormous Roman candle and wait for someone to light the fuse.' About 50 years after the Mercury astronauts' heyday, a new kind of space pioneer is preparing for the trip to the International Space Station. Robonaut 2, NASA's first robot astronaut, will catch a ride with the space shuttle this week, and will soon take up residence at the space station. So, what does it take to become the first robotic astronaut? Discover Magazine talked to one of the project engineers, and found out about R2's qualifications and training regimen. It's pretty entertaining, and comes with photos and video."

Is the ISS Really Worth $100 Billion? 503

Posted by Soulskill on Monday November 01, 2010 @05:43PM from the sure,-take-a-check? dept.

Ponca City writes "JR Minkel writes on Space.com that as NASA celebrates the 10th anniversary of astronauts living on the space station — and with construction essentially complete — the question remains: will the International Space Station ever really pay off scientifically? The space agency contends that the weightless environment provided by the station offers a unique way of unmasking processes of cell growth and chemistry that are hidden on Earth, but some critics don't see a zero gravity laboratory as filling a crucial scientific need. Gregory Petsko, a biochemist at Brandeis University, says the only basic science justification he has ever heard for the station is that protein molecules form superior crystals in the microgravity of space than they do on Earth and a best-case scenario, in terms of return on investment, would be if a space-grown crystal were used to design a blockbuster pharmaceutical drug that worked by precisely targeting one of those proteins. Naturally NASA sees things differently. 'I think those who are naysayers haven't given us a chance — haven't given us enough time to show what we can do. We're just now turning the path to be able to go full force on our science. In the past we had to fit it in around assembly, we didn't have the facilities available, and the crew was always busy.'"

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