Technology & Society
This is a fantastic development, since many of the low hanging problems in healthcare are caused by human error. From Wired: “What had taken Patient Number Two’s doctors 16 years to find took Face2Gene just a few minutes. Face2Gene takes
Here’s a neat idea reported on by The Scientist. “Five years ago, scientists at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City showed that circulating tumor cells (CTCs) could both colonize new metastases and travel back to their
From Singularity Hub: ““No, no it’s not science fiction; it’s already happening,” said Ido Bachelet to a somewhat incredulous audience member at a London event late last year. Bachelet, previously of Harvard’s Wyss Institute and faculty member at Israel’s Bar-Ilan
This is a super-interesting post about reactions to new technology over at the the WSJ. According to Intel’s Genevieve Bell, electricity was initially opposed because some people thought it would make women and children vulnerable in their homes at night
This is an amazing article about (70 year old!) Harvard Professor George Whitesides. He’s working to create cheap diagnostics for developing countries and he tells the reporter this: My view of the health care worker of the future is not
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.
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
Great article on the topic from the NYT. This sentence is of interest: Ideally you wouldn’t even need to know anything about DNA to manipulate it, just as a 5-year-old doesn’t need to understand the chemical composition of the plastic
NewScientist reports that Jon Vogel and colleagues at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland have come up with a procedure that creates “patches of synthetic skin could deliver gene therapies to patients without the need for injections.” As
The below text is from a speech given by Hawking at TED in 2008. He expects that humans will be able to repair and alter themselves, which will create new political issues. That just happens to be the topic of
This new movie based on Ray Kurzweil’s work opens in NYC April 28th. Really looking forward to seeing it!
Researchers at Oregon State University have discovered a gene responsible for the growth of tooth enamel. Lead researcher Dr. Chrissa Kioussi told the BBC: “A lot of work would still be needed to bring this to human applications, but it
It’s been called the “rapture of the nerds,” but such derision didn’t stop an estimated 500 enthusiasts from showing up to the Singularity Institute’s conference in San Jose, Calif., last weekend to discuss the possibility of artificial intelligence overtaking that
“If successful, the technique could be used to improve the quality of hearing in people with cochlear implants — and one day it may even help restore hearing to those who are totally deaf.” Read the story at Better Humans.
Here is an article and video about Intel’s plan to deliver wireless power. Note that if we can charge a laptop using wireless tech, we can also charge robots etc.
The Alzheimer’s Association recently reported that one out of eight baby boomers is expected to get Alzheimer’s disease, creating a total of 10 million victims. This staggering prediction underscores the need for brain health and augmentation, a new market that
The Allen Institute for Brain Science is launching a four-year, $55 million project to build an atlas of genes’ activity in the brain. From the WSJ: “Jones and his colleagues will take about a half dozen brains from recently dead
What do these two things have in common? According to MIT’s Technology review, a new material inspired by sea cucumbers “switches rapidly between rigid and flexible states.” This is important because “such a material may be useful in the design
At this week’s Digital Life Design (DLD) conference in Germany, renowned scientists Craig Venter, Ph.D., and Richard Dawkins wowed the audience with a conversation about genes and information technology. They discussed how evolution is becoming man-made, which brings up a
I spoke at Command College today on future tech issues. Below is a list of links for the people in the room who want to read more on the issue areas. Command College Links 2008 Virtual Reality and Intellectual property