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Dec 27, 2019
Injection of virus-delivered gene silencer blocks ALS degeneration, saves motor function
Posted by Brent Ellman in categories: biotech/medical, life extension, neuroscience
Writing in Nature Medicine, an international team headed by researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine describe a new way to effectively deliver a gene-silencing vector to adult amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) mice, resulting in long-term suppression of the degenerative motor neuron disorder if treatment vector is delivered prior to disease onset, and blockage of disease progression in adult animals if treatment is initiated when symptoms have already appeared.
The findings are published in the December 23, 2019 online issue of the journal Nature Medicine. Martin Marsala, MD, professor in the Department of Anesthesiology at UC San Diego School of Medicine and a member of the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, is senior author of the study.
ALS is a neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. Motor neurons responsible for communicating movement are specifically harmed, with subsequent, progressive loss of muscle control affecting the ability to speak, eat, move and breathe. More than 5,000 Americans are diagnosed with ALS each year, with an estimated 30,000 persons currently living with the disease. While there are symptomatic treatments for ALS, there is currently no cure. The majority of patients succumb to the disease two to five years after diagnosis.
Dec 27, 2019
Brain Knows How to Integrate Natural, Artificial Vision
Posted by Paul Battista in categories: biotech/medical, life extension
Raising hope of effective treatment for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), researchers have found that the brain knows how to integrate natural and artificial vision, while maintaining information processing that is important for vision.
AMD is a common cause of severe vision loss in among those aged 50 and over.
Though there is no cure for AMD, significant recent advancements in artificial retina implants may lead to effective treatment.
Dec 27, 2019
5 Reasons You Need to Start Drinking Kefir
Posted by Paul Battista in categories: biotech/medical, health
When it comes to kefir benefits, there are more than you can shake a well populated gut microbiome at. Because the drink – typically made from cow, goat or sheep milk, that gets the funky, fermented treatment – is resplendent in potential wins for your health.
But it can be a bit of a, erm, challenging concept. Why? Well, the texture can wind up somewhat lumpy, and the taste is distinctly sour. It’s fermented by adding kefir grains, which are colonies of yeast and lactic acid bacteria that look like tiny gel-like beads, similar to those used for sourdough, to milk and leaving for 24 hours, allowing the microorganisms to multiply and ferment the lactose to lactic acid. Bang: you’ve got DIY kefir.
Though — shocker — is isn’t vegan, it is possible to make from non-dairy milks or drinks, like coconut water, but the benefits proven in the same way. It is however low in lactose (the natural sugar in the milk), as the process of making kefir turns the lactose into lactic acid, so often lactose intolerant people can drink it.
Dec 27, 2019
How To Build A Tougher Mind: Dr Jon Finn
Posted by Saúl Morales Rodriguéz in categories: bioengineering, business, education, neuroscience
Dr Shima Beigi BSc, MSc, MSc, Ph.D. founder of Mindfulness Engineering™️ and ideaXme Rich Connectedness™️ ambassador interviews Dr Jon Finn founder Tougher Minds.
Dr Jon Finn:
Continue reading “How To Build A Tougher Mind: Dr Jon Finn” »
Dec 27, 2019
Elon Musk shares video of Starship tank dome progress after pulling all nighter with SpaceX team
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: Elon Musk, space travel
SpaceX founder Elon Musk tweeted a video showing construction progress on the dome tank for Starship, a spacecraft designed to eventually take Earth colonists to the moon and Mars.
Dec 27, 2019
The third launch of China’s heavy-lift Long March 5 rocket successfully delivered its satellite payload to orbit Friday
Posted by Alberto Lao in category: space
The third launch of China’s heavy-lift Long March 5 rocket successfully delivered its satellite payload to orbit Friday, validating engine design changes after a failure on the Long March 5’s second flight, and clearing the way for the launch of a Chinese Mars rover and lunar sample return mission in 2020.
Dec 27, 2019
Information teleported between two computer chips for the first time
Posted by Tracy R. Atkins in categories: computing, internet, particle physics, quantum physics
Scientists at the University of Bristol and the Technical University of Denmark have achieved quantum teleportation between two computer chips for the first time. The team managed to send information from one chip to another instantly without them being physically or electronically connected, in a feat that opens the door for quantum computers and quantum internet.
This kind of teleportation is made possible by a phenomenon called quantum entanglement, where two particles become so entwined with each other that they can “communicate” over long distances. Changing the properties of one particle will cause the other to instantly change too, no matter how much space separates the two of them. In essence, information is being teleported between them.
Hypothetically, there’s no limit to the distance over which quantum teleportation can operate – and that raises some strange implications that puzzled even Einstein himself. Our current understanding of physics says that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, and yet, with quantum teleportation, information appears to break that speed limit. Einstein dubbed it “spooky action at a distance.”
Dec 27, 2019
Alzheimer’s Gene APOE4 Tied to Tau Protein in the Brain
Posted by Paul Battista in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, neuroscience
Talk with an Alzheimer’s researcher and you’ll likely hear the same lament: Finding a treatment or cure is incredibly challenging because scientists are not even certain what exactly causes the neurological disease in the first place.
In fact, researchers speak of a “web of causation” that can lead to Alzheimer’s. In addition to genetics, scientists look to so-called lifestyle elements such as blood pressure and blood sugar levels. Even the bacteria that live in our mouths are being scrutinized for their potential role in Alzheimer’s.
One element that researchers are completely certain about is that people who carry the apolipoprotein E4 gene — known as APOE4 — are at a greater risk of developing Alzheimer’s.
Dec 27, 2019
$13.6 billion Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park rises from Dubai desert
Posted by Montie Adkins in category: energy
And a means coming for 24 hour power supply.
First announced in 2012 and with a scheduled completion date of 2030, the 5,000-megawatt solar park will take three times as long to finish as the Burj Khalifa. Phases one and two, which are already complete, comprised 2.3 million photovoltaic panels with a capacity of 213 megawatts. Phase three, deep in construction, adds over 3 million photovoltaics and another 800 megawatts, and will be completed in 2020, say DEWA.