2/22/2010 PERMALINK 
Your
weekly Breakthrough Alert podcast begins now.
Research involving 136,474 people who were asked about their use of non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), including aspirin, ibuprofen and acetaminophen has found after six years that regular users of ibuprofen were 40 percent less likely to develop Parkinson's disease than people who didn't take ibuprofen.
MIT's Flyfire project uses a swarm of miniature helicopters with LED lights to create a display screen in three dimensional space. With each bot acting as smart mobile pixel flying in close formation with the rest of the swarm. The Flyfire bots can theoretically form complex three dimensional shapes to create a digital display of virtually any size.
The history classes in government-run schools never mention this, but the Federal government once deliberately executed without trial more than 10,000 Americans in order to enforce a law inspired by religious zealotry. During the alcohol prohibition era, frustrated that people continued to consume so much alcohol even after it was banned in the 1920's and 1930's. Federal officials ordered the random poisoning of industrial alcohols manufactured in the United States that were regularly stolen by bootleggers and resold as drinkable spirits. The idea was to scare people into giving up illicit drinking by killing some of the lawbreakers, just for enjoying an illegal drink at their local speakeasy. By the time Prohibition ended in 1933, based on counts of the nightly death toll made by hospital doctors,
the Feds had poisoned to death over 10,000 people in their failed effort to impose puritanical Christian zealotry on Americans. Nation states and religious zealotry are at the top of the list of the most toxic, lethal and freedom destroying memes ever invented. They are especially destructive when they join forces, as they did to bring about alcohol prohibition and as they did again in the War on Drugs, which is even today adding to the millions of lives it has destroyed.
Dr. Ijad Madisch has created a "Facebook for scientists" called
ResearchGATE, which has rapidly grown to include more than 250,000 researchers in over 1,000 discipline subgroups sharing tens of thousands of new research documents annually on the site.
Scientists at the
Wingate Institute in Israel have determined that a few minor variations in just one gene, NRF2, appear to make the difference in determining your athletic endurance.
Scientists have found a way to program ordinary oil droplets to function as sophisticated nano-machines that are "smart" enough to navigate through a complex maze just like a trained lab rat. The finding could have a wide range of practical applications in human regenerative therapies, scientists say.
If you'd like to screen a panel discussion on the subject of
Is Aging Really Necessary?, a link is embedded in the text version of this podcast at our web site.
In an effort to
sidestep the religious Luddites holding back the tremendous medical progress possible through the study of human embryonic stem cells to treat diseases. Scientists are being forced to waste their precious research time developing non-controversial alternatives. In particular, they are seeking chemical compounds that can re-program adult skin cells into the stem cells now obtained from human embryos. The ultimate goal is to be able to reprogram any cell of the body into another by means of a simple molecular kit. Medical research delays caused by the need to get around religious obstructionism has cost millions of lives over the years. It began over 100 years ago, when religious zealots held up the introduction of blood transfusions for decades. Because they thought back then that the soul flowed around in your blood stream. So mixing your blood with another might mix your soul with another. Sadly, the hoodoo of these profoundly ignorant busybodies is still killing thousands every day by holding back stem cell research.
Memories that we have just acquired, a new phone number, or the name of a new acquaintance, are more liable to be forgotten than memories we have held for some time. We know this from experience, but we are just learning about events inside and between nerve cells that account for the loss of short-term memory. Now, a
neuroscience team at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory has discovered that three kinds of forgetting, all involving the erasure of short-term memory, are regulated within neurons by the activity of a protein called Rac.
Life's smallest motor, a protein called kinesin that shuttles cargo within your cells and helps your cells divide, does so by rocking up and down like a seesaw according to new high-resolution snapshots. The images, taken by researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Brandeis University, are the closest look yet at the structural changes kinesin proteins undergo as they ferry molecules.
New research from the University of California, Berkeley, shows that an hour's nap can dramatically boost and restore your brain power. Indeed, the findings suggest that a biphasic sleep schedule not only refreshes the mind, but can make you smarter.
Screen the next generation of fully articulated myo-electric hands.
Bebionic prosthetic hands feature naturally compliant grip patterns combining innovative technology with life-like appearance. Functions of the hand such as speed, grip force and grip patterns may be custom programmed to suit individual user requirements through smart software and wireless technology.
A 'metal foam' that has a similar elasticity to bone could mean a new generation of biomedical implants that would avoid bone rejection that often results from more rigid implant materials, such as titanium.
Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed the metal foam, which is even lighter than solid aluminum and can be made of 100 percent steel or a combination of steel and aluminum.
Researchers at the University of Washington have found that
watching a cursor respond to one's thoughts prompts brain signals to become stronger than those generated in day-to-day life. "Bodybuilders get muscles that are larger than normal by lifting weights," said lead author Kai Miller. "We get brain activity that's larger than normal by interacting with brain-computer interfaces. By using these interfaces, patients create super-active populations of brain cells."
Scientists from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and the Brigham & Women's Hospital of Harvard Medical School have discovered
a molecular pathway that works through the immune system to regenerate damaged kidney tissues and may lead to new therapies for repairing injury in a number of organs systems.
Indiana University School of Medicine researchers have identified a mechanism used by the tuberculosis bacterium to evade the body's immune system and have identified a compound that blocks the bacterium's ability to survive in the host.
A new study from the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and the University of Ottawa suggests that
stem cells intentionally break their own DNA as a way of regulating tissue development. The study could dramatically change how researchers think about tissue development, stem cells and cancer.
A new study reveals that
a common underlying mechanism is shared by a group of previously unrelated disorders which all cause complex defects in brain development and function.
A new way of using the genetic code has been created by researchers at the University of Cambridge, which
allows proteins to be made with properties that have never been seen in the natural world. The breakthrough could eventually lead to the creation of new or "improved" life forms incorporating these new materials into their tissue.
Thanks for listening. Links to source material are embedded in the text version on our web site.
Be seeing you.
2/14/2010 PERMALINK
Breakthrough Alert Episode 4 Your
weekly podcast briefing on the latest advances in genetic and cyborg mods for human regeneration and enhancement begins now.
Counsyl is offering a $349 genetic test kit that by analyzing a parent's saliva can determine their future children's risks for developing any of over 100 debilitating genetic diseases.
In a big step towards personalized genetic medicine,
Arizona State University scientists have found a way to much more quickly discriminate between DNA's four core chemical components for faster, cheaper, ubiquitous gene sequencing.
Researchers at the
Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego, have discovered a molecule that binds to a molecular 'switch' found in cancer cells and cancer-associated blood vessels to keep it in the 'off' position preventing tumor growth.
Aquaculture, a process that combines hydroponic vegetable growth with fish farming to create a resilient and robust food production system, is an essential technology for preventing mass human starvation in the years ahead finds research done at the
University of California, Davis.
UCLA chemists have created synthetic 'gene-like' crystals capable of capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
MIT researchers makes more progress on powering your implants and wearware using only the differences in temperature between your body (or any other warm object) and the surrounding air.
Google is testing and developing a bot that can give your cell phone real-time spoken language translation abilities. Researchers expect the universal translator bot to become available sometime in the next two years.
Telomeres are caps at the end of your chromosome that prevent errors in replication that grow shorter and more failure prone as you age. In a major breakthrough in life extension science, researchers at the
University of Leicester have discovered the genes that determine your telomere length.
According to
Michael Mautner, Research Professor of Chemistry at Virginia Commonwealth University, it is our moral obligation to propagate life throughout the cosmos. Certainly our cosmos is a dangerous place and if we do not
work to spread our species across multiple star system, humanity's extinction will arrive millions of generations sooner than necessary.
Neuroscientists at the California Institute of Technology have discovered the specific structure in your brain's amygdala that gives you an aversion to losing money.
IBM scientists have developed a method for creating solar cells that are just as efficient as today's cells but use an inexpensive ink-based fab process that utilizes much cheaper materials than any existing solar cell manufacturing techniques.
Star Wars research finally spins off something useful. A
laser system that can keep your picnics mosquito free by zapping up to 100 of those flying disease-filled syringes out of the air each minute.
The Pentagon's research arm, Darpa, is looking to re-write the laws of evolution by creating "synthetic organisms" with the ability to live forever unless killed with the flick of a programmed molecular switch.
New research from
Lund University in Sweden shows that blueberries can alleviate and protect against intestinal inflammations such as ulcerative colitis.
Researchers at
Arizona State University's Center for Single Molecule Biophysics at the Biodesign Institute have demonstrated a method using carbon nanotubes to sequence DNA bases as they pass through the tube the can sequence your DNA a thousand times faster than existing methods.
Because cartilage cannot regenerate after the body has stopped growing, defects caused by injuries or wear and tear from aging are a problem. But now genetic engineers and molecular biologists at the
Centre for Biological Signalling Studies (BIOSS) of the University of Freiburg have made it possible to remove healthy cartilage cells and grow these outside the body. This tissue can then be attached to the defective cartilage where it attaches and grows, repairing any damage in only three weeks.
Eating chocolates may help lower their risk of stroke says a preliminary study from researchers at
St. Michael's Hospital.
In research that gives literal meaning to the term "power suit,"
University of California, Berkeley, engineers have created energy-scavenging nanofibers that will one day be woven into your clothing to power all your personal gear.
A
new bot allows your computer to listen and intelligently summarize a boring meeting for you, while you snooze or think about more important things right through it.
In a
demo that drew gasps at TED2010, Blaise Aguera y Arcas demos how new augmented-reality and tele-presence mapping technology from Microsoft that maps crowd-sourced photos onto a 3-D representation of the world can dramatically enhance your reality.
Bruce Dunn, Professor of Materials Science at
UCLA's Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, appears in a short clip explaining how tiny 3-dimensional batteries and fuel cells powered by sugar will soon be able to power your implants off the sugar in your blood stream.
Consuming two or more soft drinks per week nearly doubles your risk of developing pancreatic cancer say researchers from the
School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota.
By exploiting a system that let's government employees retire at age 50 with 90% of their pay. Then take another job with the government. San Luis Obispo County Under Sheriff Steve Bolts will take home between $640,000 and $772,000 this year in taxpayer money. Public employee contracts like these are
one reason why America is sinking into a quagmire.
Volunteer firefighters are complaining that professional firefighters are using their control of state regulatory boards to eliminate volunteers from their profession by creating more and more hoops for the volunteers to jump through. The goal is convert all volunteer firefighter jobs into highly paid public employee union jobs. Requiring struggling rural communities to spend many billions more annually.
That completes your Breakthrough Alert briefing for this week. Links to more information on any item covered can be found at our web site.
Be seeing you.
2/07/2010 PERMALINK
Breakthrough Alert Episode 3 Your briefing on the latest advances in the ultimate personal technology - human genetic & cyborg mods for regeneration and enhancement of your mind and body.
Download the podcast.
Scientists at the
University of Leicester have announced that they have identified for the first time definitive variants associated with biological ageing in humans. The team analyzed more than 500,000 genetic variations across the entire human genome to identify the variants which are located near a gene called TERC.
Biofab is putting bioengineers from the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University to work characterizing the thousands of control elements critical to the engineering of microbes, so that eventually researchers can mix and match these "DNA parts" in synthetic organisms to produce new drugs, fuels or chemicals.
The
Parallellepipeda project at the new M museum in Leuven, Belgium is creating some amazing looking 3D art using a 3D printer.
ReWalk is a wearable, motorized quasi robotic suit. Partially concealable under clothing, ReWalk provides user-initiated mobility - leveraging advanced motion sensors, sophisticated bot control algorithms, on-board computers, real-time software, actuation motors, tailored rechargeable batteries and composite materials.
Northwestern University researchers are the first to design a bioactive nanomaterial that promotes the growth of new cartilage in vivo and without the use of expensive growth factors. Minimally invasive, the therapy activates the bone marrow stem cells and produces natural cartilage. No conventional therapy can do this.
Siri is actually a really useful virtual personal assistant bot for your phone. Here's a link to a
clip demonstrating some of its many capabilities.
The era of gene doping is arriving in sports according to
Dr Theodore Friedmann, chair of the World Anti-Doping Agency's Gene Doping Expert Group.
A patient in a vegetative state (persistent lack of awareness following brain injury) has been able to correctly answer a series of yes or no questions with his responses interpreted via brain imaging by researchers at
University of Liege, in Belgium.
Peptides that target blood vessels in fat and cause them to go into programmed cell death (termed apoptosis) could become a model for future weight-loss therapies, say
University of Cincinnati researchers.
Teams from the
National Cancer Institute, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and the University of Toronto have discovered that the protein MRG15, which previously had been known to affect cell growth and aging, also directs human gene-splicing machinery.
University of Michigan researchers have shown that tension on DNA molecules can affect gene expression - the process at the heart of biological function that tells a cell what to do.
Suppose, for instance, that the global financial system collapses, or a new virus kills most of the world's population, or a solar storm destroys the power grid in North America. Restarting an industrial civilization might be a lot harder the second time around, because we have used up most of the easily available resources, from oil to high-grade ores. Read
Digital doomsday: the end of knowledge.
Researchers from the
University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, UCLA, Harvard University, the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases and Cornell University have teamed up to develop and test a broad-spectrum antiviral compound capable of stopping a wide range of highly dangerous viruses, including Ebola, HIV, hepatitis C virus, West Nile virus, Rift Valley fever virus and yellow fever virus, among others.
Investigators at
Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute have demonstrated in mouse models that transplanted stems cells, when in direct contact with diseased neurons, send signals through specialized channels that rescue the neurons from death.
Researchers at the
University of Cambridge are calling their new artificial pancreas a "Holy Grail" breakthrough in the treatment of insulin-dependent diabetes. The artificial pancreas system is controlled by a bot that makes possible continuous real-time monitoring and adjustment of blood sugar levels.
Tiny circles of DNA are the key to a new and easier way to transform stem cells from human fat into induced pluripotent stem cells for use in regenerative medicine, say scientists at the
Stanford University School of Medicine. Unlike other commonly used techniques, the method, which is based on standard molecular biology practices, does not use viruses to introduce genes into the cells or permanently alter a cell's genome.
Scientists at
Georgia Tech and the Ovarian Cancer Institute have further developed a potential new treatment against cancer that uses magnetic nanoparticles to attach to cancer cells, removing them from the body. The treatment, tested in mice in 2008, has now been tested using samples from human cancer patients.
An investigational drug that inhibits serotonin synthesis in the gut, administered orally once daily, effectively cured osteoporosis in mice and rats reports an international team led by researchers from
Columbia University Medical Center. Serotonin in the gut has been shown in recent research to stall bone formation. This new therapy can not only prevent more bone deterioration, it can actually build new bone.
Scientists at the
Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), report that a genetic molecule, called Tbx3, which is crucial for many aspects of early developmental processes in mammals, significantly improves the quality of stem cells that have been reprogrammed from differentiated cells.
Kotura has announces a breakthrough in very low voltage, high speed silicon photonic modulation. This brings us closer to light computing wearware, pocket and implantable devices that can be powered by your body's heat or motion.
Your cells missegregate a chromosome approximately once every hundred divisions. Don't be too alarmed, new research from
Dartmouth Medical School shows that your p53 tumor suppressor is able to limit the growth of cells with incorrect numbers of chromosomes and prevents them from progressing toward cancer.
New research from
Johns Hopkins University has for the first time shown that your ability to orient yourself to the world around you and navigate through it is genetic in origin.
Add magnesium to your diet and get increased cognitive skills, or at least that is how it works in rats say researcher at
Tsinghua University.
Spray-on liquid glass is about to revolutionize almost everything say researchers at
Nanopool. The nano-scale glass coating bonds to the surface of most anything, due to the quantum forces involved.
Scientists have long known that high blood sugar levels from diabetes damage blood vessels in the eye, but they didn't know why or how. Now a
Michigan State University scientist has discovered the actual process that causes retinal cells to die, which promises new treatments to halt the damage.
Penn State researchers have created a new bot with the ability to contain self-propagating worms, the malicious computer programs that can spread throughout networks, stealing or erasing hard drive data, interfering with pre-installed programs and slowing, even crashing, home and work computers.
Scientists at the
University of Manchester have discovered and enzyme that 'cleans' cancer cells. The protease HtrA2 can 'clean' your cells of the oncogene WT1, which is found at high levels in many forms of cancer.
Neurobiologists at the
University of Maryland have found that your brain is a lot more chaotic than previously thought, and that this might be a good thing. Their work challenges previous understandings of the auditory cortex, which had suggested an organization based on precise neuronal maps. In the first study of the auditory cortex conducted using advanced imaging techniques, a much more complex picture of neuronal activity has been observed.
Be sure to listen to the
NPR segment on the science of why time seems to go by faster as you age.
That's your Breakthrough Alert for this week. Check the text version for links to any brief about which you wish to know more. Be seeing you.