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Archive for the ‘biotech/medical’ category: Page 2025

Nov 13, 2017

New Study: US state hit with up to 200 times more Fukushima fallout than expected

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, sustainability

Dr. Holger #Strohm – #Negative #HealthEffect Of #Radioactive #Heavy #Metal #Plutonium #Poison From #Fukushima; #BioConcentration Into #Humans, Then #Recycling Through #Cremation And Medical #Waste #Incineration Through DNA Of Future #Generations http://www.agreenroadjournal.com/2013/08/dr-holger-strohm-fu…12000.html

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Nov 13, 2017

An Astonishing Video Shows CRISPR Editing DNA in Real Time

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

In June, several dozen scientists flew to Big Sky, Montana, to discuss the latest in CRISPR research. They had a lot to talk about, given that CRISPR—a tool that allows scientists to cut DNA to disable genes or insert new ones—is currently the hottest topic in biology, mentioned in the same breath as pronouncements like “changing the world” and “curing humanity of disease.”

On the second day in Big Sky, a Japanese researcher named Osamu Nureki got up to play a short movie clip. “I was sitting in the front, and I just heard this gasp from everyone behind me,” says Sam Sternberg, who worked in the CRISPR pioneer Jennifer Doudna’s lab at the University of California, Berkeley. It was, he says, the biggest reaction to data he’s ever seen at a conference.

Nureki’s paper was published in Nature Communications Friday, and by early morning, the video that astonished the room in Big Sky was making the rounds on science Twitter, too. I watched it, still bleary-eyed from sleep, and I jolted awake immediately.

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Nov 13, 2017

Overwhelming Support for Life Extension

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension

Well, it has been a super busy month due to the popularity of the new Kurzgesagt videos about aging, and we have seen a massive positive response from the audience to the ideas presented there.

At the time of writing, 116,000 people have liked the video so far, and a mere 963 people have disliked it, with almost 2 million total views to date. Once again, as in the previous video, the ratio of support versus opposition is massively in favor of doing something about aging.

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Nov 12, 2017

On the quest for the holy grail for as long as we live

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension, nuclear energy, robotics/AI, virtual reality

This sort of thing is rapidly going mainstream, and de Grey, if still a fringe thinker, seems increasingly less so. At the very least, medical science has progressed to the point where “negligible senescence” — eternal youth, more or less — is something it might be a good idea to start talking about before it is suddenly upon us without our having thought through the implications. As with most of the other miracle technologies that have turned our lives inside out over the past 100 years — rampant automation, nuclear power, virtual reality, artificial intelligence and so on — this one, as Shukan Gendai points out, has its dark side.


Is death inevitable? True, everyone born before Aug. 4, 1900, has proved mortal (the world’s oldest-known living person, a Japanese woman named Nabi Tajima, was born on that date). But the past is only an imperfect guide to the future, as the effervescent present is ceaselessly teaching us.

Must we die? We ourselves probably must. But our children, our grandchildren — or if not them, theirs — may, conceivably, be the beneficiaries of the greatest revolution ever: the conquest of death.

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Nov 10, 2017

A flexible material that generates electricity when stressed

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, robotics/AI

Researchers from Empa have developed a flexible material that generates electricity when stressed. In future, it might be used as a sensor, integrated into clothing or even implanted in the human body, for instance, to power a pacemaker.

Flexible, organic, thin – properties that aren’t usually associated with power plants or sensors. But a new material developed by Empa researchers is exactly that: a thin, organic, flexible film that generates if stretched and compressed. This film could be incorporated into control buttons, clothing, robots or even people, and monitor activities, record touches or generate electricity when stressed to power implanted devices such as pacemakers, for example.

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Nov 10, 2017

Natural Killer Cells Swarm to Attack Cancer Thanks to New Immunotherapy

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Natural killer (NK) cells are lymphocytes, immune cells which have a powerful arsenal of cytotoxic weaponry that they can use against tumors.

Unfortunately, tumors protect themselves using a protective microenvironment that shields them from attack from NK cells. This microenvironment promotes tumor growth and survival and has an immunosuppressive effect that blunts the attempts of NK cells to infiltrate the tumor and destroy it. That was until now and this new discovery.

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Nov 8, 2017

Liz Parrish in keynote interview at The Business of Longevity Conference in Hong Kong

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, business, life extension

Our CEO, Liz Parrish was invited at this event for a keynote interview with Charles Goddard, the editorial director for The Economist Asia Pacific Intelligence Unit. They discussed the complexity of regulations, the extraordinarily long time it takes for drug development from bench to bedside, the current funding environment surrounding biotech, and the pace of medical innovations. During the keynote, Liz emphasized that BioViva’s main aim is to make advanced gene and cell therapies available to all patients in need. To further this cause BioViva supports innovative and adaptive clinical trials, new models for preclinical testing, and accelerating the time to develop advanced gene and cell therapy. Finally, Liz highlighted the importance of testing gene and cell therapy in humans as quickly as possible, because animal models are not accurate.

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Nov 8, 2017

Increased Risk of Breast Cancer Due to Contraceptive Pills

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, health

Progesterone and Oestrogen are produced by the ovaries and the amount of their production varies naturally, after the menstrual cycle. The birth-control replaces these naturally produced hormones with the synthetic versions.

Strassmann states that there is a direct connection between the contraceptive pills and the risk of breast cancer. She extracted data from 12 various studies which measure the amount of oestrogen and progesterone over the menstrual cycle in women who do not take these pills. The study is a continuation of her previous research on menstruation and reproductive biology among the Dogon people of Mali in Western Africa.

According to the Cancer research in the UK, around 1% of breast cancers in women are caused due to the oral contraceptives. Though it protects you against various other cancers such as ovarian or any health issue related to the womb, there is still a presence of increased breast cancer risk.

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Nov 8, 2017

A Demonstration of Rejuvenation in Old Human Cells

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension

Today, we are going to have a look at a new study that shows that senescent, non-dividing aged cells can be somewhat restored to working order using a new technique.

Before we do that, let’s take a look at what senescent cells are and how cellular senescence protects us from cancer and other harmful diseases.

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Nov 7, 2017

Transistor breakthrough brings liquid computers closer to reality

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, robotics/AI

In a step towards creating a new class of electronics that look and feel like soft, natural organisms, mechanical engineers at Carnegie Mellon University are developing a fluidic transistor out of a metal alloy of indium and gallium that is liquid at room temperature. From biocompatible disease monitors to shape-shifting robots, the potential applications for such squishy computers are intriguing.

Until recently, the only example of liquid electronics were microswitches made up of tiny glass tubes with a bead of mercury inside that closes the switch when it rolls between two wires. Essentially, the fluidic transistor is a much more sophisticated switch that’s made of a liquid metal alloy that is non-toxic, so it can be infused into rubber to create soft, stretchable circuits.

Unlike the mercury switch, where tilting the vial closes the circuit, the fluidic transistor works by opening and closing the connection between metal droplets using the direction of the voltage. When it flows in one direction, the droplets combine and the circuit closes. If it flows the other way, the droplet splits and the circuit opens.

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