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Jan 13, 2016

Could this common painkiller become a future cancer-killer?

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, futurism

Cancer cells (credit: iStock)

Diclofenac, a common painkiller, has significant anti-cancer properties, researchers from the Repurposing Drugs in Oncology (ReDO) project have found.

ReDO, an international collaboration between the Belgium-based Anticancer Fund and the U.S.- based GlobalCures, has published their investigation into diclofenac in the open-access journal ecancermedicalscience.

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Jan 13, 2016

I visited a community where people upload their personalities to ‘mindfiles’ so they can live on after death

Posted by in categories: futurism, transhumanism

My new story for Tech Insider on transhumanism (check out the embedded video too):


The future of the human race.

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Jan 13, 2016

There’s Something Enormous Buried Beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet

Posted by in category: space

Every week, we’re bombarded with images of dazzling terrains on Mars and Pluto, but there are still geologic wonders to be discovered right here on Earth. Case in point: a new study suggests there could be a canyon system more than twice as long as the Grand Canyon buried beneath an ice sheet in Antarctica. If confirmed, the frozen chasm would be the world’s longest by a wide margin.

Faint traces of a ravine system stretching across the remote Princess Elizabeth Land in East Antarctica were first spotted by satellite images. A team of geologists then used radio-echo sounding, wherein radio waves are sent through the ice to map the shape of the rock beneath it. The results of this analysis, published recently in the journal Geology, reveal a chain of winding features over 600 miles long and half a mile deep buried beneath miles of ice.

According to the researchers, the scarred landscape was probably carved out by liquid water long before the ice sheet grew. Satellite images also suggest that the canyon might be connected to a previously undiscovered subglacial lake, one that could cover up to 480 square miles.

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Jan 13, 2016

Lessons from CES: How VR Can Avoid the Fate of 3D TV — By Stephen Cass | IEEE Spectrum

Posted by in categories: business, hardware, media & arts, software, virtual reality, wearables

vr-image2-1452265077428

““Your quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little and it will fail, to the ruin of all.” So says Galadrial to the fellowship sent to destroy the One Ring in The Lord of the Rings. But that advice might as well be directed to the burgeoning virtual reality industry. Early optimism that the second coming of VR, after a false start in the 1990s, will blossom into a new mainstream medium could collapse into despair, with the technology joining 3D television as another misfire.”

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Jan 13, 2016

Brain monitoring takes a leap out of the lab

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, neuroscience, wearables

Bioengineers and cognitive scientists have developed the first portable, 64-channel wearable brain activity monitoring system that’s comparable to state-of-the-art equipment found in research laboratories.

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Jan 13, 2016

Medgadget @ CES 2016: Samsung Shows Off S-Patch Wearable Featuring Its Bio-Processor Chip (VIDEO)

Posted by in categories: computing, wearables

https://youtube.com/watch?v=yCXOlBTRumM

S-PatchA couple weeks ago Samsung affirmed its ongoing commitment to the digital health space with the release of the Bio-Processor. The Bio-Processor is a single, compact chip that is capable of measuring PPG, ECG, skin temperature, GSR, and body fat. While it’s already in mass production and anticipated to be found in devices soon, Samsung took some time during its CES press event to demonstrate the Bio-Processor’s power in a prototype device called the S-Patch.

Not a lot was said about the S-Patch, but it’s a reference platform and won’t enter production. Because the Bio-Processor is built into the S-Patch, both data collection, storage, and processing takes place on the device itself. The brief demo also showed the S-Patch wirelessly transmitting real-time data (we assume via Bluetooth) to a mobile device.

Continue reading “Medgadget @ CES 2016: Samsung Shows Off S-Patch Wearable Featuring Its Bio-Processor Chip (VIDEO)” »

Jan 13, 2016

Architecture’s Biggest Prize Was Just Awarded to Someone You’ve Probably Never Heard Of — By Paul Goldberger | Vanity Fair

Posted by in categories: architecture, human trajectories, transportation

pritzker-prize-alejandro-aravena-01

“While Aravena, who is from Chile, is relatively unknown in the United States (although he taught for five years at Harvard and served for a period on the Pritzker jury), for at least the last decade he has been establishing himself on the international architecture scene as a serious and unusual practitioner who straddles, subtly but brilliantly, the worlds of formal high design and social responsibility. He has plenty of credibility as a serious designer—he was recently named curator of the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale—but his own mode of architectural practice is what sets him apart. Aravena runs Elemental, which bills itself as a “do tank”—not a think tank—and which creates “projects of public interest and social impact, including housing, public space, infrastructure and transportation.””

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Jan 13, 2016

Swallowing this smart nano pill could stop us from making diet mistakes

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, electronics, food

It’s not always talked about in polite company, but your body produces a lot of gases scientists know little about.

A new smart pill, designed at Melbourne’s RMIT University, could help us learn more and may eventually assist in customising what we eat to suit our bodies.

Researchers from the Centre for Advanced Electronics and Sensors have developed the pill, which can measure intestinal gases, and they have now undertaken the first animal tests using the technology to examine the impact of fibre on the gut.

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Jan 12, 2016

How to create a bill of rights for Mars colonies

Posted by in category: space

Our descendants may one day live in colonies on the Moon or Mars. How will they be governed? Some are already trying to come up with a space-age constitution.

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Jan 12, 2016

Intel RealSense Devkit and Lenovo Smartphone to Feature Project Tango 3D Mapping Technology

Posted by in category: mobile phones

Intel has unveiled a smartphone devkit and Lenovo is planning to launch a smartphone (for consumer) both supporting Google ATAP Project Tango 3D motion tracking and depth sensing technology using three cameras.

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