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 per 100,000 population, both records, according to the latest mortality statistics from the Centers for [...]

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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 cells divide, the telomeres shrink. When they get short enough, our cells no longer divide [...]

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This is an interesting story from the NYT.

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“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 in Iraq and Afghanistan, spying from the sky for hours on end, searching for booby-traps [...]

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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. Gupta, screened some 16,000 chemicals, including all known chemotherapeutic agents approved by the F.D.A. The [...]

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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 month that it was launching “the Human Connectome Project to Unravel the Brain’s Connections.” According [...]

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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.”

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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 interview with Reuters Health, Dr. Tina Kold Jensen, who was involved in the study, said: [...]

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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.

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From the Scientist (ht to James Clement): “Scientists have met one of the long-standing challenges of regenerative medicine: For the first time, they have succeeded in coaxing an injured spinal cord to regenerate sensory axons in rats that reinnervate the specific place they would need to reach in order to regain function. However, the paper, [...]

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