Technology & Society
Here’s my most recent column on DIY bio: Personal computing altered the world forever, and now the digitization of biology is poised to bring about sweeping change. Craig Venter’s recent announcement of the first synthetic genome was a huge milestone,
Here’s a worthwhile read on the topic of Singularity University. NYT journalist Ashlee Vance covers a large swath of relevant material about the Singularity and also mentions my upcoming book on longevity issues.
If you are looking for an interesting technology event to shake up your summer, I recommend the H+ Summit. It’s a two day event that explores how humanity will be radically changed by technology. Visionary speakers will explore the potential
I’m just catching up on the DIY bio mailing list and saw this video. A great little tune that the scientifically-minded should like.
The J C Venter Institute announced today that they have finally managed to create self-replicating artificial life. Here is the full report. “This is the first time any synthetic DNA has been in complete control of a cell,” Dr Venter
I’m always a bit skeptical of such feel good articles when this is just an announcement about a test, but according to the UK’s Daily Mail, “The treatment, which will be tested on British patients over the next few months,
According to the UK Times: “Scientists have discovered the “Methuselah” genes whose lucky carriers have a much improved chance of living to 100 even if they indulge in an unhealthy lifestyle. The genes appear to protect people against the effects
Professor Nir Barzilai from New York’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine recently said that he thinks a longevity pill will be ready for testing in two years. He told London’s Sun newspaper that “Pharmaceutical companies are developing these drugs now.
This is a great summary article on the newly announced “robots” made out of DNA. Until now, such experiments had yielded molecular novelties, from smiley faces so small that a billion can fit in a teaspoon to molecule-size boxes with
During his homily this Easter, Pope Benedict argued that medical science, in trying to defeat death, is leading humanity toward likely condemnation. It’s a position at odds with the value of life, one that the Church will likely revise years
What a great story in today’s SF Chronicle. Hazel Soares now 94, has been married twice, raised six kids, seen two economic depressions, 15 U.S. presidents and two world wars. She’s been a working single mother, a nurse, a concert
From the Telegraph: The research into how Planarian worms can regrow body parts – including a whole head and brain – could one day make it possible to regenerate old or damaged human organs and tissues, the University of Nottingham
This is a great article on organ printing by Cnet. Organovo is working on blood vessels before attempting to print larger organs since oxygen is an issue.
A gene that controls racism appears to exist. However, if you disable it, you get something called Williams syndrome, a disorder where people have problems identifying others with malevolent intentions. Here’s the story, which cites research from Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg of
In his Easter homily, Pope Benedict argues that attempting to prolong life is not a goal worthy of our efforts. Here’s how he put it: Modern medical science strives, if not exactly to exclude death, at least to eliminate as
Interesting press release from Duke University: “Over the past 170 years, in the countries with the highest life expectancies, the average life span has grown at a rate of 2.5 years per decade, or about 6 hours per day….It is
From the WSJ: “Scientists from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and others have shown they can keep certain types of cells living forever, including those from the breast, skin, retina and, recently, the colon, by adding
“That’s the conclusion of a study, published online this week in Plant Biotechnology Journal, which sought to determine whether seven diverse human therapeutic proteins could be produced in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a green alga used widely in biology laboratories as a
The NYT has a great story today about how the genome can be used to identify the cause of disease. Read more here.
Here is a fantastic article in CNET News today describing one student’s journey. The “student” in question is Rob Nail, an entrepreneur who “helped start Velocity11, which built robotics and automation equipment for cancer research and drug discovery, and as