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Category: biotech/medical – Page 1,266

Researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) have used microscopic strands of DNA to guide the assembly of gel blocks that are visible to the naked eye.

The blocks, which measure up to 2mm in length and contain DNA on their surface, self-assembled in around 10–15 minutes when mixed in a solution, the scientists reported today in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

“These hydrogel blocks are, we believe, the largest objects so far that have been programmed by DNA to form organized structures,” said Dr. Vyankat Sontakke, first author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher in the OIST Nucleic Acid Chemistry and Engineering Unit.

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Kamil MuzykaYes you are!

Nicholas MacDonald “Newton. Pfft.”

Omuterema Akhahenda shared a link.

In the early days of the COVID pandemic, Cuba decided it was going to make its own vaccine – even though vaccine development historically takes years, even decades, to bear fruit.

Why did the Communist island nation decide to go it alone?

Continue reading “A small island nation has cooked up not 1, not 2 but 5 COVID vaccines. It’s Cuba!” | >

Info from Japan.

TOKYO, Jan 31 (Reuters) — Japanese trading and pharmaceuticals company Kowa Co Ltd (7807.T) on Monday said that anti-parasite drug ivermectin showed an “antiviral effect” against Omicron and other coronavirus variants in joint non-clinical research.

The company, which has been working with Tokyo’s Kitasato University on testing the drug as a potential treatment for COVID-19, did not provide further details. The original Reuters story misstated that ivermectin was “effective” against Omicron in Phase III clinical trials, which are conducted in humans.

Clinical trials are ongoing, but promotion of ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment has generated controversy.

Continue reading “Ivermectin shows ‘antiviral effect’ against COVID, Japanese company says” | >

For the first time, SpaceX has converted a flight-proven Falcon Heavy side core into a Falcon 9 booster and successfully launched the reborn rocket, carrying an Italian Earth observation satellite to orbit with one of the most visually spectacular Falcon launches in recent memory.

After a tortured campaign of four scrubbed or aborted launch attempts between January 27th and 30th, Falcon 9 finally lifted off from SpaceX’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) LC-40 pad at 6:11 pm EST (23:11 UTC) on Monday, January 31st. The converted Falcon Heavy booster performed perfectly on its first solo mission, successfully carrying a Falcon upper stage and Italy’s CSG-2 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) Earth observation satellite to an altitude of 70 km (~45 mi) and a velocity of ~1.7 km/s (Mach 5) – effectively the edge of space.

Thanks to near-perfect weather and the timing of the launch about 15 minutes after sunset, Falcon Heavy side core B1052’s first mission as a Falcon 9 booster wound up producing some of the best views of a SpaceX launch in the company’s history. As the rocket ascended, the sky continued to darken for local ground observers. It wasn’t long before Falcon 9’s shiny, white airframe ascended into direct sunlight, which created some extraordinary contrast against the darkening sky for tracking cameras near the launch site.

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Bear-like human hibernation could enable ambitious proposals for Mars.

On Monday, the European Space Agency published a report explaining how hibernation could help humanity get to Mars. The agency explained that when bears hibernate, they use fewer resources without letting their muscles and bones go to waste.

For a multi-month trip to Mars, it could help a crew complete their trip with reduced stress levels and fewer medical complications. Crew members would enter pods, administer a drug, and let the ship handle operations for most of the flight.

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Elon Musk has always said that Neuralink, the company he created in 2016 to build brain-computer interfaces, would do amazing things: Eventually, he says, it aims to allow humans to interact seamlessly with advanced artificial intelligence through thought alone. Along the way, it would help to cure people with spinal cord injuries and brain disorders ranging from Parkinson’s to schizophrenia.

Now the company is approaching a key test: a human clinical trial of its brain-computer interface (BCI). In December, Musk told a conference audience that “we hope to have this in our first humans” in 2022. In January, the company posted a job listing for a clinical trial director, an indication that it may be on track to meet Musk’s suggested timeline.

Musk has put the startup under unrelenting pressure to meet unrealistic timelines, these former employees say. “There was this top-down dissatisfaction with the pace of progress even though we were moving at unprecedented speeds,” says one former member of Neuralink’s technical staff, who worked at the company in 2019. “Still Elon was not satisfied.” Multiple staffers say company policy, dictated by Musk, forbade employees from faulting outside suppliers or vendors for a delay; the person who managed that relationship had to take responsibility for missed deadlines, even those outside their control.

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