Lifeboat Foundation

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In Martyn Amos’s Genesis Machines, Steven Poole discovers how to turn some DNA into 50 billion smiley faces.

An autonomous DNA molecular machine has been created that can be programmed to assemble a variety of natural and synthetic molecular building blocks into longer chains.

DNA machine can be programmed to produce a wide range of polymers and even keeps a record of each one it makes.

This new method of pain treatment can prevent risky side-effects such as addiction, dependence, and overdose-related deaths — and it does so using electricity.

Abuse of prescription pain killers or opioid medicines is common. But then again, how else can you treat chronic pain? Unfortunately, addiction is a terrible side-effect that can lead to overdose-related deaths.

But now a research team from the University of Arlington seems to have found a better and more efficient solution: Electrical stimulation.

Continue reading “New Device Can Ease Chronic Pain Without Drugs, Thanks to Brain Stimulation” »

Stem cell discovery could transform the treatment of type 1 diabetes. Bill Condie reports.

A micrograph of a section through the human pancreas shows the central purple “Langerhans islets”, which contain the cells that produce hormones including insulin. The surrounding exocrine tissue produces digestive enzymes. Credit: STEVE GSCHMEISSNER /Getty Images.

Scientists have for the first time created insulin-producing cells in the laboratory, a discovery that could transform the way we treat diabetes.

Continue reading “Insulin-producing cells created in the lab” »

FDA approves the world’s smallest artificial cardiac pacemaker.

Taking their cue from salamander regeneration, a team led by the University of New South Wales says that a stem cell therapy capable of regenerating any human tissue damaged by injury, disease, or aging could be available within a few years, thanks to an innovative new technique.

While stem cells have worked wonders in medicinal research, showing signs of curing everything from spinal cord injuries to blindness, they’ve always had their shortcomings. But one study is promising a new “game changing” technique for stem cells.

Taking their cue from salamander regeneration, new research led by the University of New South Wales says that a stem cell therapy capable of regenerating any human tissue damaged by injury, disease, or aging could be available within a few years, through an innovative new technique.

Imagine shirts that act as antennas for smartphones or tablets, workout clothes that monitor fitness level or even a flexible fabric cap that senses activity in the brain!

All this will soon be possible as the researchers working on wearable electronics have been able to embroider circuits into fabric with super precision — a key step toward the design of clothes that gather, store or transmit digital information.

“A revolution is happening in the textile industry. We believe that functional textiles are an enabling technology for communications and sensing and one day, even for medical applications like imaging and health monitoring,” said lead researcher John Volakis from Ohio State University.

Continue reading “Clothes that Transmit Digital Data Are Coming” »

The discomfort and stigma of loose or missing teeth could be a thing of the past as Griffith University researchers pioneer the use of 3D bioprinting to replace missing teeth and bone.

The three-year study, which has been granted a National Health and Medical Research Council Grant of $650,000, is being undertaken by periodontist Professor Saso Ivanovski from Griffith’s Menzies Health Institute Queensland.

As part of an Australian first, Professor Ivanovski and his team are using the latest 3D bioprinting to produce new, totally ‘bespoke,’ tissue engineered bone and gum that can be implanted into a patient’s jawbone.

Continue reading “Team uses 3D tissue engineering to revolutionize dental disease” »

Scientists harnessed a man’s brain waves to help him move his paralyzed hand again.