Lifeboat Foundation

The research group behind an effort to synthesize a human genome this week released more information about its plans, including a draft white paper with a timeline of how the research might go.

It’s the latest step in the ambitious project, originally named “Human Genome Project-Write,” which came to light after a May meeting to discuss the building of large genomes from off-the-shelf parts.

Within a year, the international group will select one small-scale research project to kick off the effort, and start a “major effort to engage with representative members of the public,” according to the draft road map. By year five, it will “shift into high gear” and start tackling the creation of entire genomes — maybe human or maybe not, depending on feedback.

SciWorks Radio is a production of 88.5 WFDD and SciWorks, the Science Center and Environmental Park of Forsyth County, located in Winston-Salem.

We’ve come a long way from stone tools. With great complexity, we manufacture things like jet airplanes, interplanetary probes, medical tools, and microprocessors. We build with a top-down approach, starting with a big picture concept which we then design and assemble in pieces.

Duke University professor of computer sciences, Dr. John Reif, notes that nature works from the bottom up to assemble complex structures in three dimensions.

My new story for Vice Motherboard on lessons learned running for President as a transhumanist. It’s also my endorsement of a ranked voting system:

Campaigning in Times Square.

With such overwhelming odds against my candidacy and tiny political party from the start, I chose to bypass the battle to get on state ballots and instead focus using media to move the transhumanism movement ahead. After all, only very rarely have third parties in America affected the outcome of the elections anyway. Like it or not, you are stuck with an elephant or a donkey-headed leader.

Continue reading “​What I Learned” »

Scientists in the US claim to have discovered a natural compound found in avocado, broccoli and cucumber that has “remarkable anti-ageing effects in mice” — and could also work on humans.

The researchers, who have started clinical trials involving a small group of people, said older mice given the compound, called NMN, in their water saw an array of beneficial effects.

Their level of physical activity increased, bone density and muscles improved, the immune system and liver performed better, their eyesight improved and they even lost weight.

Continue reading “Scientists discover elixir of youth — for mice — and begin tests on humans” »

There have been significant advances in developing new prostheses with a simple sense of touch, but researchers are looking to go further. Scientists and engineers are working on a way to provide prosthetic users and those suffering from spinal cord injuries with the ability to both feel and control their limbs or robotic replacements by means of directly stimulating the cortex of the brain.

For decades, a major goal of neuroscientists has been to develop new technologies to create more advanced prostheses or ways to help people who have suffered spinal cord injuries to regain the use of their limbs. Part of this has involved creating a means of sending brain signals to disconnected nerves in damaged limbs or to robotic prostheses, so they can be moved by thought, so control is simple and natural.

However, all this had only limited application because as well as being able to tell a robotic or natural limb to move, a sense of touch was also required, so the patient would know if something has been grasped properly or if the hand or arm is in the right position. Without this feedback, it’s very difficult to control an artificial limb properly even with constant concentration or computer assistance.

It might be a blue pill that makes you hallucinate in an entertaining way – and then another white pill that brings you back to normality, Reed Hastings said…

The future of TV might everyone taking hallucinogenic drugs, according to the head of Netflix.

The threats to the streaming TV company might not be Amazon or other streaming services, but instead “pharmacological” ways of entertaining people, Reed Hastings has said.

Continue reading “Future of TV could be pills that make people hallucinate television shows, Netflix boss says” »

According to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, more children are allergic to peanuts than to any other food. Unfortunately, the reactions can be lethal. In western cultures, peanut allergies are the leading cause of food-related anaphylaxis death. Needless to say, therefore, people with such allergies need to be protected against exposure to the nuts – and a skin patch may help provide that protection.

Made by biopharmaceutical company DBV Technologies, the Viaskin Peanut patch is applied to the arm or between the shoulder blades. It gradually delivers small amounts of peanut protein through the skin, allowing the wearer’s body to build up a tolerance for it.

The patch is currently the subject of an ongoing American study conducted by the Consortium of Food Allergy Research, and funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

NEWS ANALYSIS: The confluence of big data, massively powerful computing resources and advanced algorithms is bringing new artificial intelligence capabilities to scientific research.

WASHINGTON, DC—Massively parallel supercomputing hardware along with advanced artificial intelligence algorithms are being harnessed to deliver powerful new research tools in science and medicine, according to Dr. France A. Córdova, Director of the National Science Foundation.

Córdova spoke Oct. 26 at GPU Technology Conference organized by Nvidia, a company that got its start making video cards for PCs and gaming systems, that now manufactures advanced graphics processor for high-performance servers and supercomputers.

Drug discovery is a long and difficult process that requires a comprehensive understanding of the molecular structures of compounds under investigation. It’s difficult to have an idea of the precise shape of complex molecules such as proteins, but researchers at University of Melbourne in Australia have come up with a way of seeing the location of individual atoms within biomolecules.

Using quantum bits, most notably utilized in quantum computer research, the investigators offer a way of producing a magnetic resonance sensor and a magnetic field gradient that can work as a tiny MRI machine. The machine would have the resolution capable of seeing single atoms components of larger molecules. This MRI machine has yet to be actually built, but the steps have been laid out based on comprehensive theoretical work. If it proves successful in practice, the technology may overcome current imaging techniques that rely on statistical averages and don’t work well on molecules that don’t crystallize well.

“In a conventional MRI machine large magnets set up a field gradient in all three directions to create 3D images; in our system we use the natural magnetic properties of a single atomic qubit,” said lead author of the research Viktor Perunicic. “The system would be fabricated on-chip, and by carefully controlling the quantum state of the qubit probe as it interacts with the atoms in the target molecule, we can extract information about the positions of atoms by periodically measuring the qubit probe and thus create an image of the molecule’s structure.”

Continue reading “Quantum Bit MRI Machine to See Shapes of Individual Biomolecules for Drug Research” »