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Aug 15, 2019

Newly discovered organ may be lurking under your skin

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Most people who’ve been jabbed by a needle know the drill: First the pierce, then the sharp, searing pain and an urge to pull away, or at least wince. While the exact circuitry behind this nearly universal reaction is not fully understood, scientists may have just found an important piece of the puzzle: a previously unknown sensory organ inside the skin.

Dubbed the nociceptive glio-neural complex, this structure is not quite like the typical picture of a complex organ like the heart or the spleen. Instead, it’s a simple organ made up of a network of cells called glial cells, which are already known to surround and support the body’s nerve cells. In this case, the glial cells form a mesh-like structure between the skin’s outer and inner layers, with filament-like protrusions that extend into the skin’s outer layer. (Also find out about a type of simple organ recently found in humans, called the interstitium.)

As the study team reports today in the journal Science, this humble organ seems to play a key role in the perception of mechanical pain—discomfort caused by pressure, pricking, and other impacts to the skin. Until now, individual cells called nociceptive fibers were thought to be the main starting points for this kind of pain.

Aug 15, 2019

Dr. Denise Montell — UC Santa Barbara — Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology — Anastasis — ideaXme — Ira Pastor

Posted by in categories: aging, bioengineering, biotech/medical, complex systems, cryonics, DNA, genetics, health, life extension, transhumanism

Aug 15, 2019

The Dawn of AI (Machine Learning Tribes | Deep Learning | What Is Machine Learning)

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJrf8K_myAw

This video was made possible by Brilliant. Be one of the first 200 people to sign up with this link and get 20% off your premium subscription with Brilliant.org! https://brilliant.org/singularity

In the past few videos in this series, we have delved quite deep into the field of machine learning, discussing both supervised and unsupervised learning.

Continue reading “The Dawn of AI (Machine Learning Tribes | Deep Learning | What Is Machine Learning)” »

Aug 15, 2019

Dr. Michael West at Ending Age-Related Diseases 2018 — The Reversibility of Human Aging | LEAF

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

Dr. Michael West, CEO of AgeX Therapeutics and Founder of Geron Corporation, discusses breakthroughs in the understanding of biological regeneration and in induced tissue regeneration, through his talk “Hayflick Rewound: Somatic Restriction, Epigenetics, and the Reversibility of Human Aging”. This talk was given at the Ending Age-Related Diseases conference in NYC. Join us at http://lifespan.io/hero

►Conference Page: https://www.leafscience.org/ending-age-related-diseases-adva…prospects/
►Subscribe for more: https://www.youtube.com/user/LifespanIO?sub_confirmation=1
►This video is presented by LEAF. Please support our work by becoming a “Lifespan Hero”: http://lifespan.io/hero

► #LifeExtension #MichaelWest #AgeX

Aug 15, 2019

Tweaking Gut Bacteria in Mice Reduces Colorectal Cancer Risk

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Today, we want to highlight a recent study in which a team of researchers from UT Southwestern demonstrates how adjusting the gut microbiome in mice lowers the occurrence of cancer.

What is the gut microbiome?

The microbiome describes a varied community of bacteria, archaea, eukarya, and viruses that inhabit our gut. The four bacterial phyla of Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria make up around 98% of the intestinal microbiome.

Aug 15, 2019

3D-printed edible pill can scan the gut microbiome

Posted by in categories: 3D printing, biotech/medical, food

A biocompatible and battery-less pill can noninvasively and accurately sample gut microbiome as it passes through the gastrointestinal tract.

Aug 15, 2019

Security Researchers Show Hackers Can Take Over Some Cameras With Ransomware

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, internet

A group of security researchers has found that some cameras are vulnerable to ransomware attacks via Wi-Fi or hijacked computers (using the USB connection) that can render a camera and its photos entirely usage until a sum of money is paid to the hackers.

Check Point Software Technologies has shown (as seen in the video above) that Canon DSLRs (it’s not clear if other cameras are also affected) are susceptible to ransomware attacks, an increasingly common exploitation in which a hacker disables a device until the owner pays a ransom to regain control. As more and more electronics gain internet connectivity, these attacks are becoming more common, particularly since manufacturers typically don’t put the same sort of effort into fortifying the network security of small electronics as they do into computers. Canon released a statement in which they offered some barebones tips to avoid being susceptible to these attacks and noted that there have been no known instances of such an attack occurring. They did not indicate whether they plan to fix the vulnerabilities through firmware updates, so it probably doesn’t hurt to be a bit more careful to protect your photos.

Aug 15, 2019

Summer Series Podcast – Mining the Moon for Fun and Profit

Posted by in categories: futurism, space

This week we have the first episode in this years Summer Series podcast where we feature three compelling talks from other creators.

In this weeks Summer Series podcast episode we hear from George Sowers who talked about “Mining the Moon for Fun and Profit.” Dr. Sowers is a Professor of Practice at the Colorado School of Mines who works on the world’s first and only graduate program in Space Resources.

This talk was featured in the mid-June Future In-Space Operations weekly teleconference. The slides are available below.

Aug 15, 2019

The ‘1,000-MPG’ BMW i3: 56,000 miles on 50 gallons of gas

Posted by in categories: sustainability, transportation

The few available range-extended electric car models give drivers added flexibility by using gasoline engines as onboard backup generators.

But using the range extender too often may consume a significant quantity of gasoline, somewhat offsetting the purpose of owning an electric car for some buyers.

Electric-car advocate Tom Moloughney faced that dilemma about two years ago, when he decided to buy one of the first BMW i3 electric cars in the U.S.

Aug 15, 2019

This car built by college students gets 2,713 miles per gallon

Posted by in categories: energy, transportation

Imagine making the 2,710-mile trip from Philadelphia to Los Angeles using just one gallon of gas.

You might look silly doing it, but students from Université Laval, in Quebec, have theoretically made that outlandish trip possible with their prototype gasoline-powered car that gets 2,713.1 miles per gallon.

The Laval team took home the big prize at this year’s Shell Eco-marathon Americas, a competition in which university students design a prototype car using various fuels, from gasoline to hydrogen fuel cells, in an attempt to maximize efficiency on a Detroit, Michigan test track.