By Anne Underwood | NEWSWEEK, Published Dec 6, 2008, From the magazine issue dated Dec 15, 2008
By the time it reaches the age of 18 days, the average roundworm is old, flabby, sluggish and wrinkled. By 20 days, the creature will likely be dead—unless, that is, it’s one of Cynthia Kenyon’s worms. Kenyon, director of the Hillblom Center for the Biology of Aging at the University of California, San Francisco, has tinkered with two genes that turn simple worms into mini-Methuselahs, with life spans of up to 144 days. “You can beat them up in ways that would kill a normal worm—exposing them to high heat, radiation and infectious microbes—and still they don’t die,” she says. “Instead, they’re moving and looking like young worms. It’s like a miracle—except it’s science.” [...]
In this blog, I’ll discuss current progress in science and technology, often with a specific perspective in mind: how current progress can contribute to the development of advanced nanosystems. This system-building perspective often highlights research opportunities and rewards that might otherwise be missed. As the topics come up, I’ll be suggesting research objectives that seem practical, valuable, and ready for serious pursuit.
However, like Engines of Creation, this blog isn’t intended to be “about nanotechnology”, but about broader issues involving technologies that will bring global change. Social software and the computational infrastructure of society are high on the list.
I hope that you will find enough of value here to repay your ongoing attention. [...]
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF, Published: December 4, 2008, RAWALPINDI, Pakistan
Travelers to Africa and Asia all have their favorite forms of foreign aid to “make a difference.” One of mine is a miracle substance that is cheap and actually makes people smarter.
Unfortunately, it has one appalling side effect. No, it doesn’t make you sterile, but it is just about the least sexy substance in the world. Indeed, because it’s so numbingly boring, few people pay attention to it or invest in it. (Or dare write about it!)
Spanische Wissenschaftler konnten an krebsresistenten transgenen Mäusen zeigen, dass diese eine bis zu 50 Prozent längere Lebenszeit haben, wenn das mit Telomerase verbundene Krebsrisiko unterdrückt werden kann
Wissenschaftler haben nicht nur Supermäuse geschaffen, die wesentlich leistungsfähiger sind ([local] Genveränderte Supermäuse) sie haben nun auch gentechnisch veränderte Mäuse entwickelt, die krebsresistent sind und weitaus langsamer als gewöhnliche Mäuse altern. Würden Menschen ebenso verändert werden, dann könnten sie mit einer [extern] durchschnittlichen Lebenszeit von 120 Jahren rechnen. [...]
Flux will give you a taste of the torrent of new technological developments advancing on us: from the energy issue to human enhancement, from information technology to nanotechnology. This magazine is compiled on the occasion of the conference ‘Inspiring Future Politics’ to be held by the EPTA (European Parliamentary Technology Assessment) on Monday 27 October and Tuesday 28 October in The Hague, the Netherlands. The keynote speakers at this conference – chemist Michael Braungart, toxicologist Ellen Silbergeld, sociologist Nikolas Rose and climate expert Pier Vellinga – are interviewed in Flux. No one is more aware of the shifts taking place in our society. They have, furthermore, succeeded in formulating these issues aptly and getting them on to the (political) agenda. More information about the conference is available at www.eptaconference.eu. Because we want you to share in the speakers’ stories and the conference themes, you’ll find inspiring interviews, background stories and columns in ‘Flux’. […]
Mother-of-two becomes first transplant patient to receive an organ grown to order in a laboratory
By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor (The Independent)
Wednesday, 19 November 2008
A 30-year-old Spanish woman has made medical history by becoming the first patient to receive a whole organ transplant grown using her own cells.
Experts said the development opened a new era in surgery in which the repair of worn-out body parts would be carried out with personally customised replacements.
Claudia Castillo, who lives in Barcelona, underwent the operation to replace her windpipe after tuberculosis had left her with a collapsed lung and unable to breathe. [...]
Ein internationales Ärzteteam hat mit einer neuartigen Technik einer jungen Mutter das Leben gerettet. Die Mediziner züchteten ein Luftröhren-Implantat aus Stammzellen, die sie aus dem Rückenmark der Patientin gewonnen hatten, und setzten es der Frau ein. [...]
Futurist, prankster, and one-time presidential candidate R.U. Sirius just launched his latest magazine, H+, which is devoted to a transhumanist vision of the future. Though a lot of futurism these days could easily be called dystopianism, the future that Sirius shows us in H+ is hopeful, full of cool futuristic gadgets and genetic cures for death. What exactly is transhumanism, anyway, and why do you keep hearing about it? Sirius dropped into the io9 lifepod from his space capsule to explain why you might already be a transhumanist — and what the ultimate transhumanist technology would be. [...]
The Dutch parliament is considering whether protecting unborn children should supersede the rights of parents to procreate
Women in the Netherlands who are deemed by the state to be unfit mothers should be sentenced to take contraception for a prescribed period of two years, according to a draft bill before the Dutch parliament.
The proposed legislation would further punish parents who defied it by taking away their newborn infant. “It targets people who have been the subject of judicial intervention because of their bad parenting,” explained the author of the bill Marjo Van Dijken of the socialist PvDA. “If someone refuses the contraception and becomes pregnant, the child must be taken away directly after birth.” [...]
Humanity Plus (formerly the World Transhumanist Association) has launched h+, a stylish, web-based quarterly magazine that focuses on transhumanism, covering the scientific, technological, and cultural developments that are challenging and overcoming human limitations.
Edited by the legendary RU Sirius, co-founder and editor of the seminal Mondo 2000 magazine, and beautifully designed by virtual worlds artist D.C. Spensley, the magazine’s first issue features cutting-edge ideas and interviews with leaders in longevity, neuroengineering, nanofabrication, open-source robotics, science fiction, and other breakthrough areas. [...]
“BEWARE of geeks bearing formulas.” So saith Warren Buffett, the Wizard of Omaha. Words to bear in mind as we bail out banks and buy up mortgages and tweak interest rates and nothing, nothing seems to make any difference on Wall Street or Main Street. Years ago, Mr. Buffett called derivatives “weapons of financial mass destruction” — an apt metaphor considering that the Manhattan Project’s math and physics geeks bearing formulas brought us the original weapon of mass destruction, at Trinity in New Mexico on July 16, 1945. [...]
Europäer lehnen in der Mehrzahl der Klonen von Tieren für Lebensmittelprodukte ab und sehen für die Verbraucher keine Vorteile
Die Europäer wissen in aller Regel in etwa, was Klonen ist, nämlich die Herstellung “einer identischen Kopie eines bereits vorhandenen Lebewesens”. Das aber macht ihnen Fleisch und Milch von geklonten Tieren zum Verzehr nicht schmackhaft. Daher lehnen nach einer aktuellen [http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/1478&format=HTML&aged=0&language=DE&guiLanguage=en Eurobarometer-Umfrage] 58 Prozent der EU-Bürger das Klonen von Tieren zur Herstellung von Lebensmitteln grundsätzlich ab, 28 Prozent würden es unter bestimmten Einschränkungen zulassen, gerade einmal 9 Prozent sprechen sich dafür aus. [...]
Nachdem geklonten Tieren Unbedenklichkeit bescheinigt wurde, hat nun die zuständige US-Behörde FDA Richtlinien für die Zulassung von Produkten genveränderter Tiere ausgearbeitet
In den USA wurden bereits Produkte von geklonten Tieren von der zuständigen [extern] Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Anfang des Jahres für den menschlichen Verzehr als unbedenklich [extern] zugelassen. Milch oder Fleisch und daraus hergestellte Produkte müssen auch nicht gekennzeichnet werden. Geklonte Tieren seien praktisch in jeder Hinsicht mit herkömmlich gezüchteten Tieren identisch, weil ihre Gene nicht verändert wurden. Jetzt muss die FDA entscheiden, wie sie Lebensmittel beurteilt, die von genveränderten Tieren stammen. [...]
Obviously I’m an optimist to some degree,” says Larry Wood, a hard-bodied 50-year-old who lives with his wife, Candy, and their two dogs in the mountains above Los Angeles, ”but I really believe we could be the first generation that lives forever. Either that, or we’ll be the last generation to die.’ [...]
Before we get to Ray Kurzweil’s plan for upgrading the “suboptimal software” in your brain, let me pass on some of the cheery news he brought to the World Science Festival last week in New York.
Do you have trouble sticking to a diet? Have patience. Within 10 years, Dr. Kurzweil explained, there will be a drug that lets you eat whatever you want without gaining weight. [...]
Geistig auf der Höhe zu sein wünscht sich jeder. Um den eigenen und sozialen Ansprüchen gerecht zu werden, greifen verschiedene Personengruppen zu Arzneimitteln, die in dem Ruf stehen Konzentration und Merkfähigkeit zu fördern. Die wissenschaftliche Basis für einen solchen Einsatz ist aber dürftig. Auch die neuen Chemo-Kandidaten aus den Biotech-Schmieden der USA versprechen mehr als sie halten. [...]
In the future there will be no more human beings. This is not something we should worry about.
Much of today’s scientific research may enable us eventually to repair the terrible vulnerability to which our present state of evolution has exposed us. It is widely thought inevitable that we will have to face the end of humanity as we know it. We will either have died out altogether, killed off by self-created global warming or disease, or, we may hope, we will have been replaced by our successors.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill would allow for inter-species embryos that will not only enable medical science to overcome the acute shortage of human eggs for research, but would provide models for the understanding of many disease processes, an essential precursor to the development of effective therapies. [...]
“So here’s your brain,” the doctor says, as the center of my mental life pirouettes before me, rendered in electric blues and reds. Daniel Amen, MD, manipulates the screen image with a few taps on his keyboard.
“It looks good, pretty symmetrical. Red means more activity, blue means less.”
We’re peering at a Spect scan taken a half hour ago. He takes a closer look. Spect scans are a type of brain-imaging technology that measures neural activity by looking at blood flow. “The only question I’d ask you is whether you’ve ever had a brain injury, because there is low activity in your occipital cortex and your parietal lobe, all on the left side. [...]“
Last weekend I attended Penguicon, a joint Sci-Fi fandom / Open Source Software convention, for the second time. Previously I blogged about the culture-shock I experienced at Penguicon 5.0. I observed the same phenomena this year: informal panel-audience interaction, weird con-etiquette, sexualized dress. So this time I want to engage the ideas rather than the outward accoutrements of conculture. I followed two “tracks” (or thematic groups of panels) at the convention: technology-philosophy and the arts. (The convention didn’t use either of these terms for any of the “tracks” they offered, but it makes sense to group the panels I attended under these rubrics. All of the technologically oriented panels I attended centered on hypothetical technologies of the future, and were more philosophical than technical in nature. The other panels I attended all focused either on technology put to artistic use, or the implications of the form, as opposed to the function, of technology, or science fiction / fantasy literature.) The technology panels alerted me to the fact that there exists a geek religion. Because I heard no voice of disagreement or questioning of this geek Weltanschauung at the con, I offer my own response here as a critique from an outsider who wants better to understand it. The art-related panels gave me some ideas for my own critical and creative work. I thus offer my reflections on those panels as an example of the fruitful exchanges that can take place between geeks and non-geeks. [...]
The science of nanotechnology is already revolutionising the worlds of medicine and construction. Soon it could be doing the same for our food – but after the backlash against GM foods, says Steve Boggan, will the consumers swallow it? [...]
IT’S 8 a.m., Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008, and you are headed for a business appointment 300 mi. away. You slide into your sleek, two-passenger air-cushion car, press a sequence of buttons and the national traffic computer notes your destination, figures out the current traffic situation and signals your car to slide out of the garage. Hands free, you sit back and begin to read the morning paper—which is flashed on a flat TV screen over the car’s dashboard. Tapping a button changes the page.
The car accelerates to 150 mph in the city’s suburbs, then hits 250 mph in less built-up areas, gliding over the smooth plastic road. You whizz past a string of cities, many of them covered by the new domes that keep them evenly climatized year round. Traffic is heavy, typically, but there’s no need to worry. The traffic computer, which feeds and receives signals to and from all cars in transit between cities, keeps vehicles at least 50 yds. apart. There hasn’t been an accident since the system was inaugurated. Suddenly your TV phone buzzes. A business associate wants a sketch of a new kind of impeller your firm is putting out for sports boats. You reach for your attache case and draw the diagram with a pencil-thin infrared flashlight on what looks like a TV screen lining the back of the case. The diagram is relayed to a similar screen in your associate’s office, 200 mi. away. He jabs a button and a fixed copy of the sketch rolls out of the device. He wishes you good luck at the coming meeting and signs off. [...]
March 07 2008 / by Venessa Posavec (Future Blogger)
Artificial intelligence, super-extended lifespans, colonies in outer space – the future seems like a weird (and sometimes, scary) place. Then again, it’s all about perspective. From a transhumanist point of view, the advances in technology and intelligence will give us the opportunity to be more fully human than ever before in history. To explore these views, we tracked down the authority: Natasha Vita-More, the “first female philosopher of transhumanism”, according to the New York Times. [...]
Nach einer Auswertung klinischer Daten kommt eine Studie zu dem Schluss, dass SSRIs, die neuen Antidepressiva der dritten Generation, so gut wie wirkungslos sind
Millionen von Menschen werden mit Antidepressiva behandelt. Neue Medikamente sollen besser wirken, weil sie neu sind und dem fortgeschrittenen Stand der Forschung enstpringen. Eine Studie hat sich die Wirkung der neuen Selektiven Serotonin-Wiederaufnahme-Hemmer (SSRI), die auch meisten verschrieben werden, einmal näher mittels einer statistischen Auswertung vieler Studien angeschaut und kam zu dem Ergebnis, dass sie kaum besser als Placebos sind. Die Untersuchung und deren Veröffentlichung ist mutig, denn sie offenbart nicht nur eine Hilflosigkeit der modernen Medizin gegenüber der häufigsten psychischen Erkrankung, sondern könnte auch einen Markt untergraben, der den Herstellern viele Milliarden Euro eingebracht hat. [...]
Victoria Grove wanted to find out if she was destined to develop the form of emphysema that ran in her family, but she did not want to ask her doctor for the DNA test that would tell her.
She worried that she might not be able to get health insurance, or even a job, if a genetic predisposition showed up in her medical records, especially since treatment for the condition, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, could cost over $100,000 a year. Instead, Ms. Grove sought out a service that sent a test kit to her home and returned the results directly to her. [...]