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Researchers pioneer world’s first HIV/AIDS nanomedicines

Smaller doses may reduce drug side-effects and risk of drug resistance; still several years away from approval
September 3, 2012

TEM image of nanoparticles (credit: )

Scientists at the University of Liverpool are leading a £1.65 million project to produce and test the first nanomedicines for treating HIV/AIDS.

The research project, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), aims to produce cheaper, more effective medicines that have fewer side effects and are easier to give to newborns and children.

The new therapy options were generated by modifying… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Biotech | Nanotech/Materials Science

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Birth of a planet

University of Texas at Austin scientists are creating 3D models and visualizations of the birth of planets
September 3, 2012

birth_of_a_planet

Collaborating with Greg Abrams of Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC), Sally Dodson-Robinson and her team of researches at the University of Texas at Austin have developed advanced simulations to visualize how planets are formed over a timescale of millions of years.

They are modeling and simulating prototypical disks, and comparing the results to the Earth and the planets of our own solar system. The considerable computation involved was… read more

Topics: Physics/Cosmology | VR/Augmented Reality/Computer Graphics

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Drugs

September 3, 2012

Self-portrait on mushrooms (credit: Bryan Lewis Saunders)

“After experiencing drastic changes in my environment, I looked for other experiences that might profoundly affect my perception of the self. So I devised another experiment where everyday I took a different drug and drew myself under the influence.

“Within weeks I became lethargic and suffered mild brain damage. I am still conducting this experiment but over greater lapses of time.  I only take drugs that are given… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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Information overload? Not for most Americans, Northwestern researchers find

September 2, 2012

(Credit: iStockphoto)

“Information overload” may be an exaggerated way to describe today’s always-on media environment.

Actually, very few Americans seem to feel overwhelmed by the volume of news and information at their fingertips and on their screens, according to a new Northwestern University study.

A 2010 article in The New York Times featured a family of technology users framed as if they were addicts, unable to live… read more

Topics: Entertainment/New Media | Internet/Telecom | Social/Ethical/Legal

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Watch your back, Hasbro, 3D-printed games have arrived

September 2, 2012

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Ill Gotten Games‘ Pocket Tactics is the first open-source miniatures game designed to be manufactured on a 3D printer, Wired Design reports.

Consisting of character figurines, tiles, and dice, the pieces can be downloaded from Thingiverse and printed on a MakerBot. A complete set of parts takes several hours to extrude, but games can be played in just over 20 minutes.

The use of… read more

Topics: Entertainment/New Media | Nanotech/Materials Science

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Cloud computing for the poorest countries

September 2, 2012

450px-Using_Mobile_Phone_0251

As companies like Amazon, Google and Microsoft sell computing everywhere, the most dramatic changes may be in places most of us do not now see. Already, places without clean water, decent sanitation or steady electricity are using supercomputers, according to The New York Times Bits.

Unlike the developed world, where speed, agility and cost are factors that make Amazon Web Services attractive,… read more

Topics: Computers/Infotech/UI | Internet/Telecom | Social/Ethical/Legal

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California passes driverless car bill

September 1, 2012

(Credit: iStockphoto)

Catching up with Nevada, it will be legal for autonomous cars to drive in California, probably within the next five years, if Gov. Brown signs SB 1298, just passed by the California Senate, the San Jose Mercury reports.

The bill charges the DMV by January 2015 with determining standards for vehicles and rules.

Automakers would have to get their vehicles approved by the state, and then licensed… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics

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Blurring the boundary between biology and machines, engineers create light-activated skeletal muscle for robots

Technique may enable robotic animals that move with the strength and flexibility of their living counterparts
August 31, 2012

asada_muscles

Many robotic designs take nature as their muse: sticking to walls like geckos, swimming through water like tuna, sprinting across terrain like cheetahs. Such designs borrow properties from nature, using engineered materials and hardware to mimic animals’ behavior.

Scientists at MIT and the University of Pennsylvania have genetically engineered muscle cells to flex in response to light, and are using the light-sensitive tissue to build… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Biotech

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Math ability requires hemisphere crosstalk in the brain

Could special training in improving hemispheric cross-communication improve math abilities? What kinds of devices or exercises would be most effective?
August 31, 2012

Numerical and Arthimetic Tasks

The strength of communication between the left and right hemispheres of the brain predicts performance on basic arithmetic problems, a new study by researchers at UT Dallas’ Center for Vital Longevity, Duke University, and the University of Michigan has found.

The findings shed light on the neural basis of human math abilities and suggest a possible route to aiding those who suffer from dyscalculia — an… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience | Human Enhancement

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Living against the clock: does loss of daily rhythms cause obesity?

August 31, 2012

(Credit: iStockphoto)

The human clock struggles to stay in tune with the irregular meal, sleep and work schedules of the developed world, which might influence health and even cause obesity, says Dr. Cathy Wyse, working in the chronobiology research group at the University of Aberdeen.

Circadian desynchrony

Daily or “circadian” rhythms including the sleep wake cycle, and rhythms in hormone release are controlled by a molecular clock that is… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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A chance to finish life: UPDATE

August 31, 2012

kim_suozzi

UPDATE 8/31/2012 10:15 a.m. EDT:

This just in from Shannon Vyff: “We have raised $27,000.00 in just a week, we were at $17,000.00 Thursday when a generous $10,000.00 donation from Life Extension Foundation come in. Our minimum goal is $35,000.00 to cover transportation and cryopreservation costs — if additional funds are raised Kim is hoping to be able to cover standby as well. I’m very thankful to our… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity

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MRI scanners affect concentration and visuospatial awareness

Impacts seen with standard head movements made during exposure to the static magnetic field; are fMRI neuroscience studies affected?
August 31, 2012

7 Tesla MRI machine (credit: Siemens)

Standard head movements made while exposed to static 7 Tesla magnetic fields produced by a heavy duty magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner seem to temporarily lower concentration and visuospatial awareness, an experimental study published online in Occupational and Environmental Medicine shows. 

The effects were particularly noticeable in tasks requiring high levels of working memory, which may have implications for surgeons and other healthcare staff working within the vicinity of… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Cognitive Science/Neuroscience | Electronics

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Atomically thin, strong graphene-based integrated circuits

New "patterned regrowth" technique could lead to ultralight transparent electronics
August 31, 2012

Schematic illustration of single-atom-thick films with patterned regions of conducting graphene (gray) and insulating boron nitride (purple-blue) (credit: Provided/Jiwoong Park)

To go beyond Moore’s law and reduce the size of integrated circuits down to single-atom thickness, researchers led by Jiwoong Park, assistant professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Cornell, have invented a way to pattern single-atom films of graphene and insulating boron nitride without the use of a silicon substrate.

The new “patterned regrowth” technique could lead to substrate-free circuits so thin that they could float on… read more

Topics: Computers/Infotech/UI | Electronics | Nanotech/Materials Science

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Tracing the Paralympic movement’s ‘freak show’ roots

August 31, 2012

Danielle "Doc" Peers plays ball (credit: Michael Holly)

Danielle Peers has lived the thrill and pressure, revelled in competition and brought home hardware from the Paralympic Games. But beneath the cheers, the University of Alberta researcher questions whether the Paralympic movement is as empowering as its benevolent image.

The former Paralympian bronze medallist and women’s wheelchair basketball world champion says the history of the Paralympic movement dates to the freak shows… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Human Enhancement | Social/Ethical/Legal

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Gene mutation associated with ‘Internet addiction,’ German researchers suggest

Gene is associated with nicotine addiction, women more affected
August 30, 2012

(Credit: iStockphoto)

Researchers from the University of Bonn and the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim found that “pro­blematic” Internet users, especially women, are more often carriers of a variation in the CHRNA4 gene, the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor gene, which that also plays a major role in nicotine addiction and generation of dopamine.

The T- variant (CC genotype) of the rs1044396 polymorphism on the CHRNA4 gene occurred significantly more frequently*, the… read more

Topics: Internet/Telecom | Social Networking/Web/Education | Social/Ethical/Legal

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