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Jun 30, 2021

Big oil and gas kept a dirty secret for decades. Now they may pay the price

Posted by in category: climatology

Almost all the lawsuits draw on the oil industry’s own records as the foundation for claims that it covered up the growing threat to life caused by its products.

Shell, like other oil companies, had decades to prepare for those consequences after it was forewarned by its own research. In 1958, one of its executives, Charles Jones, presented a paper to the industry’s trade group, the American Petroleum Institute (API), warning about increased carbon emissions from car exhaust. Other research followed through the 1960s, leading a White House advisory committee to express concern at measurable and perhaps marked changes in climate by 2000.


With an unprecedented wave of lawsuits, America’s petroleum giants face a reckoning for the environmental devastation caused by fossil fuels – and covering up what they knew along the way.

Continue reading “Big oil and gas kept a dirty secret for decades. Now they may pay the price” »

Jun 30, 2021

Experimental device could treat ear infections using jets of plasma

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Bacterial infections of the middle ear are quite common, particularly in children, yet they can be difficult to treat. An experimental new device has been designed to help, by zapping the bacteria with plasma.

Usually, such infections are treated with topically applied antibiotics. According to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, however, such an approach is ineffective in over 30 percent of acute infections. This is because the antibiotics have trouble penetrating the bacterial biofilm that has formed on the surface of the inner ear tissue.

Additionally, the greater the amount of antibiotics that are used, the greater the chances that the bacteria will develop a tolerance to them over time. With these limitations in mind, U Illinois scientists set out to develop an alternative treatment, or at least one that would allow smaller amounts of antibiotics to be more effective.

Jun 30, 2021

CI Annual General Meeting 2021

Posted by in categories: cryonics, life extension

Sun, Sep 12 at 12 PM PDT.


This is an invitation to the Annual General Meeting of the Cryonics Institute & the Immortalist Society.

The Cryonics Institute, Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held at 3:00pm to 6:30pm on Sunday, September 12th, 2021 at the Infinity Hall 16650 E. 14 Mile Rd, Fraser, MI 48026 (USA) for more information visit www.infinityhallsidebar.com or call 586−879−6157. Tours at the CI facility will be from 1:00pm to 2:30pm 24355 Sorrentino Court, Clinton Township, (Michigan) 48035 (USA).

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Jun 30, 2021

Virgin Orbit launches 7 satellites on third-ever space mission

Posted by in category: satellites

Virgin Orbit launched seven satellites today (June 30), taking a big step toward regular and reliable commercial launch service.

Jun 30, 2021

Mouse and human germline cells appear to reset their biological age

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

Not sure how interesting this will be to people who know a lot on aging/longevity research.


A team of researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School have found evidence of mouse and human germline cells resetting their biological age. In their paper published in the journal Science Advances, the group describes their study of the aging process in germline cells and what they found by doing so.

As animals grow older, all of the cells in their body replicate themselves repeatedly. As the process continues, errors in replicating and other external factors (such as exposure to pollutants) lead to gradual decay in cell quality, which is all part of the natural aging process. In this new effort, the researchers have found evidence showing that have a mechanism for resetting this process, allowing offspring to reset their aging clocks.

Continue reading “Mouse and human germline cells appear to reset their biological age” »

Jun 30, 2021

Biohackers could drive insulin price down 98 percent

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

A team of biohackers is on a David-versus-Goliath mission to make insulin affordable to an increasing number of diabetics.

Jun 30, 2021

Newly Discovered ‘Sleeper Phase’ in Stem Cells Could Advance Brain Tumor Treatment

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

The human body contains hundreds of different types of cells, with stem cells working like blank canvases that can be adapted and reproduced to help our tissues grow and repair themselves. However, once hijacked, the same kind of cell proliferation can be damaging, as happens in cancer tumors.

Scientists have now discovered a new resting phase for neuroepithelial cells — the stem cells of the central nervous system — which appears to put them in a kind of dormancy. If we can work out how to apply this to cancer cells too, we could get to the stage of being able to put brain tumors to ‘sleep’.

“The primary feature of any cancer is that the cells are proliferating,” says biomedical engineer Christopher Plaisier, from Arizona State University. “If we could get in there and figure out what the mechanisms are, that might be a place to slow them down.”

Jun 30, 2021

Startup Wants to Build Tiny Nuclear Reactors That Run Off Nuclear Waste

Posted by in categories: economics, nuclear energy

Experts are excited by the concept of microreactors because nuclear facilities have historically relied on economies of scale — a paradigm this tech could reverse.

“Microreactors promise to turn this paradigm on its head by approaching cost competitiveness through technological learning,” Alex Gilbert from the nuclear power think tank Nuclear Innovation Alliance, told CNBC.

Oklo’s “fast reactor” plant uses energy from already-spent nuclear reactor fuel, technology that has been around since the 1950s, according to CNBC.

Jun 30, 2021

It’s official: China has eliminated malaria

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

WHO certifies country free of the deadly disease after 3 years without local transmission.

Jun 30, 2021

Walmart launches private label insulin brand to lower prices

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Walmart will offer a less expensive private label version of analog insulin for diabetes patients who struggle to afford their medication, the retail and pharmacy giant said June 29.

Novo Nordisk will manufacture the insulin, called ReliOn NovoLog. Walmart said it will become available at Walmart pharmacies the week of June 27 and at Sam’s Club pharmacies in mid-July.

A vial of ReliOn NovoLog will cost $72.88, and a package of prefilled pens will cost $85.88. Walmart said these products will save patients between 58 and 75 percent of the price of other insulin products on the market.