What I Learnt The Previous Week #1: Desktop 3D Laser Printers, Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer, Disney's "Magic Bench", Claustrophobia and Smoking Elephant

Hi, dear steemians! Welcome again to my blog. I must confess that I missed blogging about science and might have kept you waiting too. Well, some personal life issue got me engaged. But as always, I am back with a banger!

Earlier, I said that I will be talking the other part of my post on Machine Maintenance but I will instead treat us to some wonderful discoveries I learnt about in the past week and I believe you will like it.

Firstly, I'll like to acknowledge @mobbs for letting me be a partaker in this wonderful series he started. I will also like to thank my very own @samminator whose participation I saw and got me interested. Thanks for referring me to @mobbs.

So, I officially welcome you to my first episode of "What I Learnt The Previous Week" series. Throughout last week (16th-20th of April), here on steemit and around the world of scientific discoveries, I discovered a lot of awesome technology and other interesting developments. In this series, I'd be sharing with you five discoveries which caught my attention the most and I believe you will love it too.

MONDAY: Glowforge's Desktop 3D Laser Printer

It was early in the morning that I received The Daily Crunch from TechCrunch's mailing list I subscribed to. I went through the post and this very one caught my attention - A desktop size 3D Laser printer!

^{Flickr CC by 2.0 : 3D Printers}

I know we might have heard about the growing technology of 3D printing, in fact, I had been amazed reading different 3D printing technology recently coming up - especially in architecture and the food industry. Maybe you should see this amazing house printed completely out of concrete by a Swedish company using 3D printing technology.

But the Glowforge's Desktop size 3D Laser printer amazed me more seeing the unthinkable possibilities that come with it.

The Glowforge's 3D printer is built on the Laser cutter/engraver Technology and uses a beam of light that is as small as the width of human hair to cut, engrave and shape designs from various types of materials. More than the compactness and flexibility of the machine, it offers some awesome features that make it so interesting and profitable for human use. The 3D printer features:

• A Precision Preview
  
  This precision preview is made available by the presence of a camera that allows you see a preview of the material and the design you are about to make. This allows you to zoom out and in so as to perfect position as you desire

• Transformation of Pen Design to a 3D form
  
  One complexity that we will expect to come with such a machine is the ability to operate the design software that comes with it. But that problem is well solved here as you can as well just pick your pencil up, you could even take a drawing from your kid, the onboard cameras will help scan it, and transform it to your desired 3D form making usability easier!

• Ability to print on a variety of physical materials
  
  This is the most interesting part. I was wowed seeing a lady print on her Macbook! I was awe-struck! Almost shouting that the lady is about to ruin her MacBook for a mere cover design but to my surprise, it came out perfectly well with the design well printed on the Macbook cover. The Glowforge's 3D printer is also capable of printing out chocolate, print (cut or engrave) on leather, cardboard, wood and other common materials.

You should see the video yourself to see the awesome functions of this machine

_{Source: Youtube - "Glowforge - The 3D Laser Printer". Published by Glowforge on Sep 24, 2015. Under Standard Youtube License}

The introduction of 3D printers helps to reduce processing time for producing products and has been a great aid to the production engineers.

You can read more about the Glowforge's Desktop 3D Laser Printers here

TUESDAY: Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) - Therapeutic Cloning

Another amazing discovery I made is about the concept of Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer(SCNT) that is being adopted in the Health industries for Stem Cell Transplant.

This concept allows for the use of patient's cells for tissue replacement through a process known as Therapeutic cloning thus helping overcome the problem of immune rejection which is currently a major problem in tissue transplantation.

Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer(SCNT) widely known as Therapeutic Cloning is different from the cloning we are accustomed to, i.e. Reproductive cloning that involves the creation of a copied human being. Here, the nucleus of any cell from the body (Somatic Cell) containing a genetic material (other than the sperm or egg) is collected from the patient, it is then injected into an unfertilized egg whose nucleus would have been extracted earlier.

We can call it a substitution process where the unfertilized egg now contain's the genetic material or instructions of the patient. This egg is stimulated to divide and in few days, it forms clusters of cells known as Blastocyst. This cell is rich in stem cells and is utilised to create embryonic cells that are later infused into the patient, integrates into tissue and the corresponding structure thus completing the Stem Cell Transplant.

^{Wikimedia Creative Commons (CC-BY-SA-3.0-migrated): iPS Cell.}

Benefits of Somatic Cell Nuclear Transplant

The SCNT is a big development in the health industry as it helps alleviate a lot of problems facing Transplantation. One of the major benefits of SCNT is that it generates Pluripotent Cells which are cells that are capable of giving rise to any body cell (except the embryo). The implication of this being the possibility of treating any body organ disease through replacing of dysfunctional cells.

Another advantage of SCNT is the alleviation of immunological rejection where the patient's body system recognizes the presence of foreign cells from transplant and leads to a failed transplant. But with Therapeutic cloning whereby the patient's cell is the one used, this problem is eliminated and helps to reduce wait time in organ transplant due to immunological rejection.

Another bright side of SCNT is the ability to allow scientist to create patient-specific stem cell therapies and thus makes transplant quite easy and effective.

I know you would be interested in knowing more about this life-enhancing concept. You can read more here

WEDNESDAY: Claustrophobia - "The Fear of Small Space"

Yes, you read it right! The Fear of Small Space.Naughty Right? I felt so too, but, pitifully, it exists and many people suffer it. In fact, I used to feel I do too.

Claustrophobia is the type of situational phobia where an individual experiences some kind of anxiety when they enter an enclosed or small space like an elevator, a well, tunnel or even aeroplanes!

They are reported to see images that purport that they are entrapped and wouldn't be able to escape from the space. Such people are so scared by this situation and places and would go to any extent to avoid them.

Thinking what I am thinking? Like, how the hell would one fear an aeroplane or even a mere elevator? Well, I guess that's why we are different.

Causes of Claustrophobia

As reported by Scientist;

Claustrophobia is a known social phobia which was found to be affecting nearly 4% of people in the whole world.

Its causes have been traced to the following reasons:

• Having Partial distortion. People with this disorder are likely to fear small spaces as they tend to have an excited sense of their personal space.
• People who are prone to panic attacks or has a history of panic disorder are more likely to be Claustrophobic.
• Also, people who are inclined to anxiety disorder are more likely to be susceptible to this disorder
• Study however also show that it could be an evolutionary disorder.

Symptoms of Claustrophobia

The symptoms could be physical or psychological. Physical symptoms of Claustrophobia can be easily identified with:

• Hyperventilation
• Sweating
• Shaking
• Increased Heartbeat and many more
  Psychologically, it could be:
• Thoughts of death
• Feeling like running away
• Thoughts of being trapped and so on

To get rid of this fear, maybe like I did, you need to try to break the jinx. I remember that I would always think that entering a well to recover "fetcher" would lead to my death until a day I courageously enter one and successfully retrieved the "fetcher" from the well. Since then, I have tried an elevator and confidently ascend and descended without a glitch...

Who else has this phobia?

You can read more here

THURSDAY: Disney's "Magic Bench"

This would especially be as well interesting to my co- Reality Technology lovers. As many people would always say, "Magic and pure Magic" is what the Reality Technologies are - especially the developing field of Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality where digital objects can be related to in real time even without where glasses or any gadget!

You might want to check out this fabulous article I wrote earlier on about Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality. You would get to learn more about the differences and applications of each technology.

But, stay here first and see this magical bench made by the Disney Research Group. It is called the "Magic Bench" and I can only admit that it is really magical for the awesomeness and experience it brings!

With the "Magic Bench", you can relate with animated characters without needing to wear a glass or any related devices but instead, the whole environment consisting of the magic seat, the seater and the animated character are mirrored on a screen opposite the bench making onlookers to see the scene.

The Augmented experience is triggered on sitting on the bench which introduces the animated character into the scene making it look like it occupies a real-world space next to the user.

The bench makes use of camera and sensors that collect information about the physical objects, capture image of the animated character and with some algorithm, integrates the 3D animation into the scene. The table is fitted with actuators and haptic sensors create a vibration that is synchronized to the animated character thereby creating an illusion to the user that the character occupies a space near them.

Moshe Mahler - the principal digital artist was reported to say:

"Our Mantra for this project was: hear a character coming, see them enter the space, and feel them sit next to you"

This creates an awesome experience for reality lovers like myself. Hoping I'd be able to gather enough stach to afford the experience. You learn more about the project and as well watch the video of a user having the experience here. Isn't it lovely?

FRIDAY: The Smoking Elephant! - Health benefits of Activated Charcoal

Look, I'm not here to make fun of this innocent animal. But it is just what I saw and scientists also got stunned by it.

Many would expect me to expose an Elephant smoking hemp or cigarette but sorry guys here is a discovery about an Elephant caught on camera puffing out smoke from ash which it picks with its trunk. This scene was stumbled upon by Elephant scientists at the Nagarhole National Park in India.

_{Source: Youtube - "'Smoke-breathing' elephant". Published by IBTimes UK on Mar 23, 2018. Under Standard Youtube License}

As I was stunned, so are scientists who are still trying to study why this big guy would be sniffing "smoke from ash". As shared by ScienceMAg;

Elephants can consume all kind of vegetation to support its hulking mass. So far they can get it to their trunk, it could be grass, leaves, roots, bark, or the more recent one—wood charcoal.

According to scientists, it was suggested that Elephant might be using the ingested wood charcoal for health benefits. From studies, it was reported that activated charcoal is known to be good as toxin-binding substance. They are sometimes used to help treat a drug overdose or poisoning.

Other reported benefits of Activated Charcoal includes:

• Prevention of Hangover (is someone happy?)
• Reduction of High Cholesterol
• Treatment of Cholestasis - a condition of Pregnancy where there's abnormal flow of bile

So, the big guy might be wise anyway!

You can read more on Activated charcoal here

Thanks for Reading

So, guys! This is the summary of what I learnt in the previous week. I hope you learnt something.

References for further reading

Ref. 1, Ref. 2, Ref. 3, Ref. 3, Ref. 4, Ref. 5