Lifeboat Foundation

Ready to leave your body behind? Scientists have developed robots that people can remotely control and embody using their minds, a breakthrough set to revolutionize the lives of paralyzed patients. The Virtual Embodiment and Robotic Re-Embodiment (VERE) project “aims at dissolving the boundary between the human body and surrogate representations in immersive virtual reality and physical reality,” meaning that people genuinely feel like the surrogate body is an extension of themselves. Three volunteers have tried out a prototype, and the results are promising.

“The feeling of actually embodying the robot was good, although needless to say, the sensation varied over time,” said Alessandro, a volunteer on the project, in an interview published Wednesday. “When the robot was stationary, the feeling of embodiment was low, but the moment I gave the first command or changed direction, there was this feeling of control and increased embodiment.”

The three volunteers, based in Italy, placed an electroencephalogram (EEG) cap on their heads that scanned for brain activity through the scalp. Patients were given a video feed of what a robot in Japan could see, superimposed with arrows. When the wearer focused on one arrow, the machine was able to detect the signal and send it remotely to the robot.

Continue reading “VERE’s Mind Control Robots Give Patients Out-of-Body Experience” »

15 years ago, Ray Kurzweil published one of the most significant essays in the history of futurism: “The Law of Accelerating Returns.” This piece showcased the immense power of exponential technology versus linear technology and became a pivotal concept for anyone trying to anticipate what the future held.

The essay predicted advances in business and technology with eerie precision, including how exponential growth would ripple through any technology that became an information technology, such as computing, biotechnology, or energy.

Continue reading “No Technology Thrives Alone: Progress Is All About Convergence” »

In Brief:

• New artificial blood vessels were able to grow with the recipient in recent animal testing
• Researchers saw a 56% increase in diameter made of patients’ own cells.

We have sufficiently advanced medicine to the point that artificial body parts are no longer science fiction. In fact, we may even start 3D printing organs, or have them grown in a lab. However, their artificial nature often means they won’t grow with a patient. For example, children need to undergo repeated surgeries until adulthood to replace implants they have outgrown.

https://www.singularityweblog.com/mic…

Dr. Michael Fossel is one of those few theoreticians who can see much of the big picture of aging. While some use mostly guesswork, and others hope to improve on that with logic, Fossel never shies away from the clear verdict that only data can give. Add his overwhelming compassion as a human being and you will understand why he is a clinician who really cares. You will also get a pretty good idea of what kind of a person Michael is – both personally and professionally. And those are just some of the reasons why enjoy having him back on my Singularity 1on1 podcast for an in-depth discussion of his latest book on the topic titled the Telomerase Revolution.

Continue reading “Michael Fossel on Aging and the Telomerase Revolution” »

Bioprinting is becoming more sophisticated daily. Students from Munich, Germany, hacked an Ultimaker 2+ to 3D print biomaterials even more efficient. Without a doubt, the yearly iGEM challenge is one of the yearly highlights for students in the field of biology, biochemistry, and biotechnology.

Embryonic neural stem cells transplanted into damaged areas of the visual cortex of adult mice were able to differentiate into pyramidal cells — forming normal synaptic connections, responding to visual stimuli, and integrating into neural networks — researchers at LMU Munich, the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology in Martinsried and the Helmholtz Zentrum München have demonstrated.

The adult human brain has very little ability to compensate for nerve-cell loss, so biomedical researchers and clinicians are exploring the possibility of using transplanted nerve cells to replace neurons that have been irreparably damaged as a result of trauma or disease, leading to a lifelong neurological deficit.

Continue reading “Neurons from stem cells replace damaged neurons, precisely rewiring into the brain” »

What’s the Latest?

When Francis Crick, the English scientist who helped discover the structure of DNA, died in 2004, he and a colleague were in the midst of researching the potential existence of an on-off switch for consciousness located somewhere deep within the brain. Crick’s hypothesis likened the proposed switch to an orchestra conductor “to bind all of our different external and internal perceptions together.” Researchers at George Washington University in Washington DC believe they may have found Crick’s conductor. As it happens, it’s located in the exact part of the brain Crick had initially guessed: the claustrum.

What’s the Big Idea?

Continue reading “Neuroscientists Discover an Ignition Switch for Consciousness” »

In Brief:

• Watson recommended treatment plans that matched suggestions from oncologists in 99 percent of the cases it analyzed and offered options doctors missed in 30 percent of them.
• AI could be revolutionary for healthcare as it can process many more research papers and case files than any human doctor could manage.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is about more than just the promise of a robot butler — it can actually save lives. AI’s contribution to the healthcare industry and in medical research could be hugely significant. IBM sees that and wants Watson, its AI technology, at the forefront of this development.

Why governments have been concerned around SynBio including CRISPR.

# Scientists # Dinosaurs – Scientists Bringing Dinosaurs Back to Life : The Jurassic Park film franchise is one of the most popular ever made but no one actually wants to bring dinosaurs back. Right? We’ve all seen the movies. The outcome is never a positive one. However, scientists continue to defy the realm of possibilities.

SCIENTISTS FIND FOSSILIZED BRAIN; DINOSAURS MAKE A COMEBACK

Continue reading “Scientists Bringing Dinosaurs Back to Life” »