thebaldgeek

This one is for my Dad. (Who used to work in this area).

http://modernfarmer.com/2014/12/coming-soon-3-vegan-scientists-lab-grown-milk/

Brace yourself for udderless dairy.

What can science do better than a cow? That’s the question a trio of vegan bioengineers are trying to answer with Muufri, synthetic milk made from yeast cultures and dreams.

They say that milk is actually a relatively simple chemical structure to fake. Muufri is a compound of six proteins and eight fatty acids. To make it, they add chemically synthesized cow DNA to yeast cells, then harvest the cultures the yeast grows. (It’s kind of like a sourdough starter.) From there, they added things like calcium and potassium and emulsify the mixture into milk. They tinkered with the ratios to create something that tastes and feels like cow’s milk, but left out lactose, using a different sugar instead to make it drinkable for the lactose intolerant. They liken it to making beer or penicillin.

The rest of it just talks about bioengineering and stuff that is way over my head, but I just found the notion of making fake milk interesting in the sense of nothing is out of limits, nothing is out of bounds, nothing in nature is good enough for some people…..

I think it’s more about the human state than tech, but eh….

Most readers of this blog would know that I am a huge Leatherman fan.
I have been daily* (even to church) carrying one for the past oh, 20ish years.
(*The only time I don’t carry it, is flying).

This should take care of that last little TSA gotcha.

http://www.leatherman.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-leatherman-Site/en_US/Blog-ShowPost/?p=705

This summer, Leatherman Tool Group, Inc. will debut an industry first: a multi-tool that can be worn on the wrist. The Leatherman Tread is crafted of high strength, corrosion resistant 17-4 stainless steel links that include two to three functional tools each, making a total of 25 usable features like box wrenches and screwdrivers available at a moment’s notice.

It looks like a watch band. But its studded with tools!
Looking pretty sweet I have to add.

Such a shame that all my wrist space is taken and wearing it as an anklet is just not for me.

EDIT: I sent this link to Terry and he made a really good point, see if there is a way to replace one of my existing smart wearable bands with this one.
Duh.
No idea why I did not think of that…..

Watch this space (heh, see what I did there?).

Ok this one is a little outside of my usual gadgets with batteries stuff, but its so interesting and messed up that I could not help but pass it on.

http://modernfarmer.com/2014/11/inside-life-ge-silkworm/

Spider silk is one of the strongest substances on the planet, tougher than Kevlar, incredibly lightweight and sought after by many branches of the armed forces. The only problem — good luck domesticating spiders to produce it.

But what if we could get silkworms to produce spider silk?

Enter the silkworm. We (the humans) are messing with their genes and ‘forcing’ them to make spider silk during their lives.
At the moment they are about 5%, we need 12-15% to make it really worth while.

Point is, we are messing with stuff thats just a little bit unsettling.

The SR-71 is just an amazing plane.
The story of it being built and flown are the stuff of legends.

If you are into planes in anyway at all, this is worth your time;

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/rare-photos-of-the-sr-71-blackbird-show-its-amazing-his-1670184930

The SR-71 Blackbird is, without a doubt, the most advanced airplane ever built in relation to the technology available at the time. It broke all aviation records, it flew incredible missions, and it became the stuff of legend. Lockheed Martin published its history in this collection of high resolution scans of old photos.