Lifeboat Foundation

This is one of those “therotical” topics that many of us have had at some point in our lives with our engineering team pals, or with our research department/ lab buddies. Fun to see Elon Musk share his views on this topic. Who knows; maybe? Last week, we learned that black holes may be nothing more that a multi-layer hologram in space.

“There’s a billion to one chance we’re living in base reality,” Elon Musk said tonight on stage at Recode’s Code Conference, meaning that one of the most influential and powerful figures in tech thinks that it’s overwhelmingly likely we’re just characters living inside a simulation.

The Verge co-founder Josh Topolsky got half-way through asking Musk if he thought our existence was simulated before the Tesla CEO jumped in to finish his question for him. “I’ve had so many simulation discussions it’s crazy,” Musk explained. “You’ve thought about this?” Topolsky asked. “A lot,” Musk replied. “It got to the point where every conversation was the AI / simulation conversation, and my brother and I agreed that we would ban such conversations if we were ever in a hot tub.”

Continue reading “Odds are we’re living in a simulation, says Elon Musk” »

A group of scientists on Thursday proposed an ambitious project to create a synthetic human genome, or genetic blueprint, in an endeavour that is bound to raise concerns over the extent to which human life can or should be engineered.

The project, which arose from a meeting of scientists last month at Harvard University, aims to build such a synthetic genome and test it in cells in the laboratory within 10 years. The project was unveiled in the journal Science by the experts involved.

Precision medicine’s new friend.

CRISPR gene editing can now target RNA as well as DNA, which could be a way to treat infectious diseases and cancer and track RNA as it moves around cells.

Scientists have successfully created mice with significantly longer telomeres than normal, resulting in a drop in molecular ageing, without using genetic manipulation.

Telomeres, which are found at the end of all animals’ chromosomes, are thought to be vital to ending ageing, as their shortening as we age is a key factor in cellular ageing and the onset of age-related disease. However, when they are lengthened beyond normal levels in mice, they have the precise opposite effect, protecting against ageing and related diseases, and increasing lifespan.

The mice, which are chimeras carrying both regular and “hyper-long” telomeres, were created using a technique based on epigenic changes, where embryonic stem cells are expanded in vitro, prompting changes to telomeres.

Continue reading “Ageing breakthrough: Scientists create ‘hyper-long’ telomeres without gene editing” »

Daniel G. Nocera, the Harvard professor who made headlines five years ago when he unveiled an artificial leaf, recently unveiled his latest work: an engineered bacteria that converts hydrogen and carbon dioxide into alcohols and biomass. One can be used directly as fuel to power vehicles that run on conventional fuels, while the other can be burned for energy.

My new article for Vice Motherboard on extreme biohacking that compares the Uncanny Valley to Speciation Syndrome:

Transhumanism tech like CRISPR, 3D printing, and coming biological regeneration of limbs will not only change lives for those that have deformities, but it will change how we look at things like a person with a three-foot tail and maybe even a second head.

At the core of all this is the ingrained belief that the human being is pre-formed organism, complete with one head, four limbs, and other standard anatomical parts. But in the transhumanist age, the human being should be looked at more like a machine—like a car, if you will: something that comes out a particular way with certain attributes, but then can be heavily modified. In fact, it can be rebuilt from scratch.

Continue reading “The Coming Genetic Editing Age of Humans Won’t Be Easy to Stomach” »

Awesome.

Researchers have developed a new gene editing tool that is more efficient and easier to use. CRISPR-EZ addresses the issue of target RNA accuracy and embryo viability in IVF transgenic mice.

( andrew modzelewski/lin he | university of california berkeley )

Continue reading “More Efficient CRISPR Gene Editing May Potentially Help Cure Diseases” »

“The possibility to selectively activate genes using various engineered variants of the CRISPR-Cas9 system left many researchers questioning which of the available synthetic activating Cas9 proteins to use for their purposes. The main challenge was that all had been uniquely designed and tested in different settings; there was no side-by-side comparison of their relative potentials,” said George Church, Ph.D., who is Core Faculty Member at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, leader of its Synthetic Biology Platform, and Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School. “We wanted to provide that side-by-side comparison to the biomedical research community.”

In a study published on 23 May in Nature Methods, the Wyss Institute team reports how it rigorously compared and ranked the most commonly used artificial Cas9 activators in different cell types from organisms including humans, mice and flies. The findings provide a valuable guide to researchers, allowing them to streamline their endeavors.

The team also included Wyss Core Faculty Member James Collins, Ph.D., who also is the Termeer Professor of Medical Engineering & Science and Professor of Biological Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)’s Department of Biological Engineering and Norbert Perrimon, Ph.D., a Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School.

Continue reading “A Guide to CRISPR Gene Activation” »

For the first time ever, scientists were able to successfully cut out the HIV genes from live animals, and they had over a 50% success rate.

A significant milestone was achieved today in the fight against HIV—scientists led by Kamel Khalili of the Comprehensive NeuroAIDS Center at Temple University just reported that, for the first time, HIV genes have been successfully eliminated from the genomes of animals infected with the virus.

Continue reading “HIV Genes Have Been Cut Out of Live Animals Using CRISPR” »