But a company spokesperson called the cancelled program “important and necessary.”
Just seven years after scientists announced the first use of Crispr-Cas9 gene editing technology on human cells, researchers shared new evidence this week that Crispr can be used to cure two serious genetic disorders.
On Tuesday, NPR reported that a patient in Nashville had seen a dramatic decline in her symptoms of sickle cell disease after receiving a single gene therapy treatment in July. Sickle cell, which can lead to inflammation, debilitating pain, and life-threatening circulatory problems, affects millions of people around the world.
That same day, the biotech companies behind the sickle-cell treatment, Crispr Therapeutics and Vertex, also shared promising results from their first attempt to cure a case of beta thalassemia, another genetic disorder that affects blood proteins. Nine months after receiving the experimental treatment, a patient in Germany with beta thalassemia has almost no signs of the disorder.
Increases in life span are one of the greatest success stories of modern society. Yet, while most of us can expect to live longer, we are spending more years in ill health. Reducing this period of ill health at the end of life is the main aim of a group of scientists known as biogerontologists.
By studying aging in animals, including fruit flies, worms, and rodents, biogerontologists have identified biological phenomena involved with aging that all these organisms share. And some of these biological processes may also regulate aging in humans.
Scientists attempting to understand and improve the aging process have identified many molecules that appear to improve aging in these animals (although evidence in humans remains scant). These molecules include compounds found in grapes, apples, and even bacteria.
Who wants to ride “Space Ship”? smile
This new space plane just got one step closer to liftoff, and it could change spaceflight to the ISS in years to come.
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The Space Shuttle Orbiter is an iconic symbol of human space exploration, and we haven’t seen anything like its unique design since its retirement in 2011.
The Russian military will be going all out sci-fi, with Vladimir Putin saying the plan for boosting the Armed Forces until 2033 should focus on AI and weapons based on ‘new physical principles.’
With the introduction of a whole range of state-of-the-art arms in recent years, Russia has been “able to make a step forward compared to the world’s other military powers,” Putin said during a meeting of the Russian Security Council on Friday.
The tally of the newest weapons and hardware in the possession of the country’s Armed Forces and Navy is currently over 68 percent, he said, adding that they must be increased to at least 70 percent and maintained at that level.
The Future of Intelligence, Artificial and Natural
Ray Kurzweil is one of the world’s leading inventors, thinkers, and futurists, with a thirty-year track record of accurate predictions. Called “the restless genius” by The Wall Street Journal and “the ultimate thinking machine” by Forbes magazine, he was selected as one of the top entrepreneurs by Inc. magazine, which described him as the “rightful heir to Thomas Edison.” PBS selected him as one of the “sixteen revolutionaries who made America.”
Ray was the principal inventor of the first CCD flat-bed scanner, the first omni-font optical character recognition, the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind, the first text-to-speech synthesizer, the first music synthesizer capable of recreating the grand piano and other orchestral instruments, and the first commercially marketed large-vocabulary speech recognition.
Among Ray’s many honors, he received a Grammy Award for outstanding achievements in music technology; he is the recipient of the National Medal of Technology, was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, holds twenty-one honorary Doctorates, and honors from three U.S. presidents.
Cancer is a growing worldwide epidemic, with staggering statistics: 20,000 people dying of cancer every day; 1 person out of 3 will be faced with cancer at one point in their life; and 1 million Americans are diagnosed with cancer every year.
Born shortly after the Big Bang, these cosmic monsters have perplexed astronomers for years. A new study may shed light on their origins.