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Dec 18, 2016

14-Year-Old Girl Who Died of Cancer Wins Right to be Cryogenically Frozen

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

A 14-year-old girl who said before dying of cancer that she wanted a chance to live longer has been allowed by the high court to have her body cryogenically frozen in the hope that she can be brought back to life at a later time.

The court ruled that the teenager’s mother, who supported the girl’s wish to be cryogenically preserved, should be the only person allowed to make decisions about the disposal of her body. Her estranged father had initially opposed her wishes.

During the last months of her life, the teenager, who had a rare form of cancer, used the internet to investigate cryonics. Known only as JS, she sent a letter to the court: “I have been asked to explain why I want this unusual thing done. I’m only 14 years old and I don’t want to die, but I know I am going to. I think being cryo‐preserved gives me a chance to be cured and woken up, even in hundreds of years’ time.

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Dec 18, 2016

The Simulation Hypothesis: Is Reality All Just A Computer Simulation?

Posted by in categories: computing, Elon Musk

In Brief As technology improves, the possibility that our world may be a simulated one is becoming more and more probable, argues Universe Today founder Fraser Cain. But can we ever prove that we live in a simulation of a reality?

All the world’s a stage. Or is it a simulation?

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Dec 18, 2016

CRISPR study reveals unexpected roles of non-coding RNAs

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

So much for “Junk” DNA being a load of old rubbish!


UC San Francisco researchers have taken a major step toward understanding the function of the tens of thousands of human genes that do not code for proteins, a phenomenon considered one of the key remaining mysteries of the human genome. New findings, which focused on the roles of these genes in human cancer cells, suggest a possible new strategy for targeting the disease.

In recent years, researchers have recognized that non-coding regions of the genome—long dismissed as “junk DNA”—are actually key players in cell biology, development, and disease. However, the vast majority of these regions have not yet been extensively studied.

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Dec 18, 2016

Stem cell ‘living bandage’ for knee injuries trialled in humans

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Stem cell bandages are in development in the UK.


A ‘living bandage’ made from stem cells, which could revolutionise the treatment and prognosis of a common sporting knee injury, has been trialled in humans for the first time by scientists at the Universities of Liverpool and Bristol.

Meniscal tears are suffered by over one million people a year in the US and Europe alone and are particularly common in contact sports like football and rugby. 90 per cent or more of tears occur in the white zone of meniscus which lacks a blood supply, making them difficult to repair. Many professional sports players opt to have the torn tissue removed altogether, risking osteoarthritis in later life.

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Dec 18, 2016

New bioinformatics tool tests methods for finding mutant genes that ‘drive’ cancer

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

Further progress with cancer this time using genome sequencing.


In their search for new ways to treat cancer, many scientists are using a high-tech process called genome sequencing to hunt for genetic mutations that encourage tumor cells to thrive. To aid in this search, some researchers have developed new bioinformatics methods that each claim to help pinpoint the cancer-friendly mutants.

But a stubborn question remains: Among the numerous new tactics that aim to spotlight the so-called cancer driver genes, which produce the most accurate results?

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Dec 18, 2016

Scientists Expand Mice Lifespans

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

Hype aside demonstration that epigentic reprogramming can reverse some of the aging process is an important step forward for progress. We can expect to see this moving to human trials in the next decade or so making the future an exciting possibility.


Science is increasingly coming to the conclussion that aging is amenable to intervention and that it is a plastic process that we can manipulate. More research in this week shows that aging is indeed elastic and is not a one way process at all. The sooner society accepts what the data from the labs is showing the sooner we can cure age-related diseases for healthier longer lives!

“We did not correct the mutation that causes premature aging in these mice,” lead researcher Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte said in a recent statement. “We altered aging by changing the epigenome, suggesting that aging is a plastic process.”

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Dec 18, 2016

Turning therapeutic antibodies inside-out to fight cancer

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

More progress on the cancer front! Controlling cancer effectively is a critical part of rejuvenation biotechnology and therefore all cancer progress is of great interest to our community. If there was a poster child of aging diseases, cancer would be at the front of the queue.

“The results could lead to new treatments—not only for a variety of cancers, but also other diseases that arise from faulty proteinases, such as Alzheimer’s, asthma, multiple sclerosis and arthritis.”

Read more

Dec 18, 2016

Shervin Pishevar explains his plan to create the world’s first supersonic Hyperloop

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, transportation

If it works? LOL it’s 1960’s technology.


Shervin Pishevar is a startup investor and one of the central social figures in Silicon Valley. He recently founded Hyperloop One, a project to move people long distances through tubes at supersonic speeds.

His reputation and fortune come largely from a single investment he made in 2011 while at the VC firm Menlo Ventures: a $26 million stake in a small ride-hailing app called Uber. Those shares are now worth more than $5 billion.

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Dec 18, 2016

Iraqi businessman erects tallest Christmas tree in Baghdad

Posted by in category: business

Sorry this story moves me.


A Muslim businessman has erected the tallest Christmas tree in Baghdad as a show of solidarity with Christians during the holiday season.

Yassir Saad told The Associated Press on Thursday that the initiative aims at “joining our Christian brothers in their holiday celebrations and helping Iraqis forget their anguish, especially the war in Mosul,” where Iraqi forces are battling the Islamic State group.

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Dec 18, 2016

A New Kind of Computer Chip: Silicon May Be Replaced by New Material

Posted by in categories: computing, materials

At the forefront of computing technology for decades, silicon-based chips’ reign may soon end, as today’s chip designers are looking for other materials that offer more options and more amazing abilities than the silicon we all know and love.

This new trend has spurred the guys at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to develop what could be the foundation for multi-role computer chips.

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