Technology & Society
A press release today says that “IBM Research Aims to Build Nanoscale DNA Sequencer to Help Drive Down Cost of Personalized Genetic Analysis”. The release goes on to say that “This advanced research effort to demonstrate a silicon-based “DNA Transistor”
That was the headline from a recent AP story. Depending on how the research goes, that could be a very conservative estimate. Here’s more from the article: “James Vaupel of the Max Planck Institute in Germany and colleagues in Denmark
The proponents of Net neutrality say that government regulation is necessary for a free and open Internet, but history doesn’t support that argument. The Telecommunications Act of 1996, for example, was supposed to bolster competition. Instead, by compelling companies to
From Rockefeller University via Kurzweil AI.Net: “The human brain is made up of 100 billion neurons — live wires that must be kept in delicate balance to stabilize the world’s most magnificent computing organ. Too much excitement and the network
That was the headline in a NYT article today. The reality is that scientific respect for life-extending research has been there for quite a while, it’s just that the NYT recently noticed. In any case, here’s an interesting prediction that
This is one way. Dr. Samuel Preston (after whom the Preston curve is named) says that the US health care system isn’t the reason for the longevity divide between the US (78 years) and countries like Japan (83 years). Instead,
The father of the “Green Revolution,” Norman Borlaug, died yesterday. If you didn’t know about him, you should. By creating new types of high-yield, disease-resistant wheat, he saved millions from starvation. This is a good story about him, and you
This is great news from the Economist: “More children are surviving beyond their fifth birthday, according to a new report from the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef). The child mortality rate—the number of under-fives dying per thousand live births—declined from
14 genomes were sequenced for about $4000. That’s down from the $250,000 that it used to cost. Pretty cool. From the Mercury news: “Complete Genomics, a Mountain View startup, announced Tuesday that it had deciphered 14 full human genomes for
From Science Daily: “When bees sting, they pump poison into their victims. Now the toxin in bee venom has been harnessed to kill tumor cells by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The researchers attached the
From MIT Technology Review: “Lung cancer is a brutal disease, often not caught until it’s too late for treatment to do much good. Now researchers are building an electronic nose that could help physicians detect the disease during its initial
Here’s the latest from the CDC (Aug 19, 2009): Life Expectancy at All Time High; Death Rates Reach New Low, New Report Shows U.S. life expectancy reached nearly 78 years (77.9), and the age-adjusted death rate dropped to 760.3 deaths
From Scientific American. “Telomeres consist of up to 3,300 repeats of the DNA sequence TTAGGG. They protect chromosome ends from being mistaken for broken pieces of DNA that would otherwise be fixed by cellular repair machinery. But every time our
This is an interesting story from the NYT.
“We’re at the beginning of an unmanned revolution.” That’s what Gary Kessler, who oversees unmanned aviation programs for the US Navy and Marines, told the AFP. According to the article, “Robots or “unmanned systems” are now deployed by the thousands
From the NYT: “A team at the Broad Institute, a Harvard-M.I.T. collaborative for genomics research, has devised a way of screening for drugs that attack cancer stem cells but leave ordinary cells unharmed. The Broad team, lead by Piyush B.
Here’s an interesting article about the Blue Brain project. The author asks what would happen if scientists actually managed to simulate a human brain. Would turning off the computer be considered murder? Hmmm… In related news, the NIH announced last
When this hits the market, it is going to be big. “Applying nanosheets with poly-L-lactide (PLLA) to the incisions of mouse stomachs, the team found that these centimeter-long biodegradable nanosheets healed the incisions without scarring or tissue adhesion.”
That’s what a new Danish study says. Here’s the news report. “NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Healthier sperm may mean longer life, according to a study that followed more than 40,000 Danish men for up to 40 years. In an
Congratulations to Alex! As a board member, I am certain that he is going to make an excellent exec director and really take H+ to the next level.