Biotech company Tosk says it can add genes to mammalian cells with unprecedented efficiency with the help of fruit fly DNA that can jump in and out of chromosomes.
Introducing genes into mammals is laborious and expensive at present. The new method promises to make genetically modified mammals cheap and easy and could even be used to correct genetic faults in people.
GM mammals are usually made by injecting… read more
The Cyc knowledge base will acquire knowledge of 100 million things — about the number a typical person knows about the world — in five years, says Cycorp CEO and founder Doug Lenat. “It’s difficult to predict the course thereafter,” he adds.
The sharpest images ever achieved by optical means have been produced by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, who have imaged clumps of bacteria just 33 nanometres across, equivalent to 1/23 of the wavelength of light used to illuminate them.
The researchers hope to achieve a resolution of around 17 nanometres, using ultraviolet light. Practical devices are expected within two or three years, which could have microlithography… read more
The AAAS has posted an audio file of remarks made by K. Eric Drexler, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Molecular Manufacturing and Foresight Board Chair, who spoke on a panel discussion during a symposium on “The War On Terrorism: What Does It Mean for Science?,” held on 18 December 2001 in Washington, D.C.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, funded by the US Army, is setting up a $50 million research center known as the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN) to develop the soldier of the future.
The center will develop futuristic cyborg technologies, such as devices that can heal soldiers, nearly invisible uniforms, clothing that can become a rigid cast when a soldier breaks a leg, shoes with built-in power packs to endow… read more
Researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles have transplanted a man’s own brain stem cells to stop the trembling and rigid muscles that mark Parkinson’s disease. The treatment has been effective for two years, with an initial 58 percent increase in dopamine.
Other researchers are experimenting to see if brain cells can be regenerated using stem cells The study may be used in the debate over the use… read more
Duke University Medical Center researchers have discovered the brain region that automatically watches for patterns in sequences of events.
In an article posted online April 8, 2002 in Nature Neuroscience, researchers Scott Huettel, Beau Mack and Gregory McCarthy reported experiments in which they asked subjects to watch simple random sequences of a circle or a square flash onto a screen. During the experiments, the scientists imaged the subjects’ brains using… read more
A new type of analog processor that is compact while offering extremely fast computations for image processing may lead to the creation of an artificial eye to replace damaged human retinas.
The cellular nonlinear network (CNN) analog computer chip is integrated with a camera to produce an image processor. The 1 cm-square CNN chip can increase processing speed while reducing the power requirements over standard digital chips by two to… read more
In a new book, “Our Posthuman Future,” political theorist Francis Fukuyama warns that biotechnology may disruptively alter human nature.Fukuyama, who is also the author of “The End of History and the Last Man,” is concerned about genetic engineering of the human germline, mood-altering drugs, and major increases in human longevity, all of which could change society and alter the balance of human nature and cause us to “lose our humanity,”… read more
The World Wide Lexicon (WWL) project is developing a distributed computer program to harness the brains of the world’s computer users to build a multilingual translation database for less common languages.
Since the project depends on volunteers, quality assurance may be problem, but software developer Brian McConnell hopes to develop an automatic peer-review system to ensure that translations are accurate.
McConnell has designed a spider program to roam the… read more
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have grown the first three-dimensional nanotubes, which are essential for next-generation computer chips and integrated circuits.
The method is based on a selective growth process that allows the nanotubes to grow perpendicular to the silica-coated substrate. By chiseling the silica into predetermined shapes, researchers can precisely control and direct the nanotube growth.
Nanotubes have properties that make them attractive as active nanoscale electronic… read more
Lobal Technologies of London is building a natural language processing system called LAD (Language Acquisition Device) that understands sentences word by word and builds its replies word-by-word, rather than just reading a script.The system is based on a model of the human brain, with emulators for the five brain areas that are most important for language processing, built using neural network technology
Lobal’s roadmap for developing LAD is based… read more
Professor Steve Mann, from the University of Toronto, is suing Air Canada for negligence and damage to his wearable computer system during a security search.
Mann was delayed for three days and subjected to a humiliating strip search. A computerized heart monitor that he has attached to his skin was removed, leaving him bleeding.
Mann believes that his status as a cyborg should be treated in the same way… read more