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Eventually all petroleum-based material in food packaging will have to be replaced with bio-based material. Research done at Karlstad University shows that a mixture of starch and other polymers forms an equally effective protective barrier.
“Food packaging has to protect and extend the shelf life of food, and should also work during transport,” says Asif Javed, doctor in Chemical Engineering at Karlstad University. “To meet these demands, a protective barrier is needed in paper-based packing such as those used for juice or dairy.”
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Today we are going to take a look at the emerging theory that inflammaging, a chronic, age-related background of inflammation, is caused by alterations to the populations of intestinal microbes.
What is inflammaging?
Inflammaging is a term coined to describe the chronic, smoldering background of inflammation that accompanies the aging process. It is constant, low-grade inflammation that interferes with stem cell mobility, cellular communication, and the immune system’s ability to operate correctly.
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While we’re not off the hook for paying taxes, Dr. Aubrey de Grey believes that we may be able to avoid (or at least prolong) our until-now inevitable mortality.
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In a profound talk about technology and power, author and historian Yuval Noah Harari explains the important difference between fascism and nationalism — and what the consolidation of our data means for the future of democracy. Appearing as a hologram live from Tel Aviv, Harari warns that the greatest danger that now faces liberal democracy is that the revolution in information technology will make dictatorships more efficient and capable of control. “The enemies of liberal democracy hack our feelings of fear and hate and vanity, and then use these feelings to polarize and destroy,” Harari says. “It is the responsibility of all of us to get to know our weaknesses and make sure they don’t become weapons.” (Followed by a brief conversation with TED curator Chris Anderson)
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The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design — plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more.
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What If The Universe Stopped Expanding?
Posted in space
What if all the galaxies, stars, planets — everything — stopped moving away from everything else? #WhatIf
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My new 45 minute interview out on #transhumanism via Fringe FM:
Zoltan Istvan Gyurko (@zoltan_istvan) is an American transhumanist, journalist, entrepreneur and Libertarian futurist who ran for President of the United States in 2016 to raise awareness for transhumanism. In 2017, Istvan announced his intent to run for Governor of California in the 2018 election as a member of the Libertarian Party – see his website: zoltanistvan.com for more.
Formerly a reporter for the National Geographic Channel, Istvan now writes futurist, transhumanist, libertarian and secular themed articles for major publications including Vice’s Motherboard, Wired, The Huffington Post., TechCrunch and Newsweek. Istvan also regularly appears on television and video channels discussing futurist topics and is one of the world’s most influential transhumanists – believing transhumanism will grow into a mainstream social movement in the next decade.
Istvan is also the author of The Transhumanist Wager, a philosophical science fiction novel.
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Because diabetics often have both nerve damage and poor circulation, they will often not notice when they receive skin wounds, which proceed to heal very slowly. Those wounds can thus become chronic, sometimes even leading to amputations. A new regenerative bandage, however, could help keep this from happening.
Led by Prof. Guillermo Ameer, a team from Illinois’ Northwestern University started with a protein known as laminin. Found in the skin and most of the body’s other tissues, it communicates with cells, prompting them to differentiate, migrate and adhere to one another.
The scientists were able to identify a specific segment of the protein, which plays a key role in the wound-healing process. That segment is made up of just 12 amino acids (the building blocks of proteins), and it’s called A5G81. Because A5G81 is so much smaller and simpler than the entire laminin protein, it’s much cheaper and easier to synthesize in the lab.
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