Circa 2020 o.o!
Japanese researchers have had success with miniscule robots that are small enough to get inside and neutralize a cancer cell — and they want their creations to be ready to deal with future outbreaks of lethal viruses.
The only thing bad about Star Trek was they made the Borg evil.
Emerging technologies have unprecedented potential to solve some of the world’s most pressing issues. Among the most powerful — and controversial — is the gene-editing tech, CRISPR-Cas9, which will improve agricultural yields, cure genetic disorders, and eradicate infectious diseases like malaria. But CRISPR and other disruptive technologies, like brain-machine interfaces and artificial intelligence, also pose complex philosophical and ethical questions. Perhaps no one is better acquainted with these questions than Peter Diamandis, founder of the XPRIZE Foundation and co-founder of Singularity University and Human Longevity Inc. In this session, Peter will give a state of the union on the near future and explore the profound ethical implications we will face in the ongoing technological revolution.
“More than 100 malaria vaccine candidates have entered clinical trials in recent decades, but none has shown efficacy greater than 75% – until now.” https://www.futuretimeline.net/images/socialmedia/
Researchers led by the University of Oxford have completed a Phase II trial of R21/Matrix-M, a candidate malaria vaccine, which demonstrated an efficacy of 77% over 12-months of follow-up.
In their findings, posted on SSRN/Preprints with The Lancet, they note that their study is the first to reach the World Health Organization’s goal for a vaccine with at least 75% efficacy by 2030. It represents a substantial improvement over the current most effective malaria vaccine, which has shown just 55% efficacy in trials on African children.
Continue reading “Malaria vaccine is first to exceed 75% efficacy” »
The most interesting part is a longevity escape velocity answer starting at 12:19 and going to 16:30.
Join Aubrey de Grey, Ph.D., Sergey Young, and Sourav Sinha as they talk about how our understanding of aging has developed in the last two decades. They will discuss:
Continue reading “SERGEY YOUNG — AMA #8: ‘Aging as an Engineering Problem’ with Aubrey de Grey” »
Fasting is one of those subjects that is widely talked about, in limited circles. Those who have looked cannot but be intrigued and impressed by the claims and results, whilst those who have not, think it borders on madness, and must be bad for you because…well, FOOD!!
So, for those who want a refresher on the science, through to those who have questions they have always been embarrassed to ask, and onwards to all those you want to send this link to, in an attempt to open their eyes…I did a quick guide to what we know, what are just finding out and at the end, the top questions that get asked on the topic.
Physics of DNA —“In Each of Us Lies a Message, Its Beginnings Lost in the Mists of Time” | The Daily Galaxy.
“At one time,” writes science-fiction author Dennis E. Taylor in We Are Legion (We Are Bob), “we thought that the way life came together was almost completely random, only needing an energy gradient to get going. But as we’ve moved into the information age, we’ve come to realize that life is more about information than energy. Fire has most of the characteristics of life. It eats, it grows, it reproduces. But fire retains no information. It doesn’t learn; it doesn’t adapt. The five millionth fire started by lightning will behave just like the first. But the five hundredth bacterial division will not be like the first one, especially if there is environmental pressure. That’s DNA. And RNA. That’s life.”
With some unfortunate scifi examples.
What is it that gives meaning to your life? Is death necessary to give life meaning? Nicola is not quite convinced of that, and in this episode, he’ll tell you why along with why he’d like a longer life in good health instead.
Continue reading “Death, life, and meaning walk into a bar… — YouTube” »
Multi-resistant pathogens are a serious and increasing problem in today’s medicine. Where antibiotics are ineffective, these bacteria can cause life-threatening infections. Researchers at Empa and ETH Zurich are currently developing nanoparticles that can be used to detect and kill multi-resistant pathogens that hide inside our body cells. The team published the study in the current issue of the journal Nanoscale (“Inorganic nanohybrids combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria hiding within human macrophages”).
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are being swallowed by a human white blood cell. Colorized, scanning electron microscopic (SEM) image. (Image: CDC/NIAID)
In the arms race “mankind against bacteria”, bacteria are currently ahead of us. Our former miracle weapons, antibiotics, are failing more and more frequently when germs use tricky maneuvers to protect themselves from the effects of these drugs. Some species even retreat into the inside of human cells, where they remain “invisible” to the immune system. These particularly dreaded pathogens include multi-resistant staphylococci (MRSA), which can cause life-threatening diseases such as sepsis or pneumonia.
In February, the researchers introduced a new biomanufacturing platform that can quickly make shelf-stable vaccines at the point of care, ensuring they will not go to waste due to errors in transportation or storage. In its new study, the team discovered that enriching cell-free extracts with cellular membranes — the components needed to made conjugate vaccines — vastly increased yields of its freeze-dried platform.
The work sets the stage to rapidly make medicines that address rising antibiotic-resistant bacteria as well as new viruses at 40000 doses per liter per day, costing about $1 per dose. At that rate, the team could use a 1000-liter reactor (about the size of a large garden waste bag) to generate 40 million doses per day, reaching 1 billion doses in less than a month.
