Lifeboat Foundation

A 25-year-old student has just come up with a way to fight drug-resistant superbugs without antibiotics.

The new approach has so far only been tested in the lab and on mice, but it could offer a potential solution to antibiotic resistance, which is now getting so bad that the United Nations recently declared it a “fundamental threat” to global health.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria already kill around 700,000 people each year, but a recent study suggests that number could rise to around 10 million by 2050.

Continue reading “The science world is freaking out over this 25-year-old’s answer to antibiotic resistance” »

A strong rebuttle to the sick article in the Telegraph which attempts to discredit Zuckerberg and Chan and their commitment to curing diseases.

Science and progress hardly ever stop just because a few cuckoos think we’re going too far. That’s what I tell myself most of the times when I bump into depressingly ill-informed articles about ageing and the diseases of old age. I tell myself that the best thing to do is to just let such articles disappear into oblivion and not give them any extra visibility. However, if instead of a few cuckoos we’re faced with an army of cuckoos, then we’re in for troubles.

At the time of this writing, people who are in favour of or oppose rejuvenation aren’t many, and neither are those who know about it but don’t care. Quite likely, most people in the world haven’t even heard about it yet. What I fear is that, when the advent of rejuvenation biotechnologies will be close, people who oppose rejuvenation will do their best to persuade undecided ones that disease is better than health, and ultimately, provoke an us-vs-them conflict that could jeopardise the cause of rejuvenation. The best way to avoid that conflict is to convince as many people as possible to support rejuvenation biotechnologies before they even arrive, so that when they do, those who oppose them will only be a few cuckoos indeed and not an army. Exposing the intellectual misery of deathist arguments is indubitably a good way of reaching this goal; that’s why I chose to respond to this spectacularly stupid article, instead of just ignoring it.

Continue reading “A sickeningly bad idea indeed” »

In an astonishing breakthrough, patients left paralysed by severe spinal cord injuries have recovered the ability to move their legs after training with an exoskeleton linked to their brain – with one even able to walk using two crutches.

Scientists developed the Walk Again Project, based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, thinking that they could enable paraplegics to move about using the exoskeleton controlled by their thoughts. But they were surprised to discover that during the training, the eight patients all started to regain the sense of touch and movement below the injury to their spine. It was previously thought that the nerves in seven of the patients’ spines had been completely severed.

But the researchers now believe that a few nerves survived and these were reactivated by the training, which may have rewired circuits in the brain. Writing in the journal Scientific Reports, they said: “While patient one was initially not even able to stand using braces when placed in an orthostatic posture, after 10 months of training the same patient became capable of walking using a walker, braces and the assistance of one therapist. “At this stage, this patient became capable of producing voluntary leg movements mimicking walking, while suspended overground.

Continue reading “Paralysed patient walks again thanks to virtual reality and brain-computer interfaces” »

The U.S. Department of State’s Office of the Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State along with the Kavli Foundation; the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Global Partnerships Forum hosted the event that launched the brain initiative during the 71st Session of the UN General Assembly to elevate brain science as a foreign policy priority.

The International Brain Initiative aims to foster coordination of large-scale brain projects around the world in partnership with governments, research institutions, private sector, foundations, advocacy groups, and social innovators.

Toward this end, the United States with Japan, Germany, Argentina and the UN Conference on Trade and Development announced the launch of the International Brain Initiative, part of which is a virtual International Brain Station to enhance and facilitate global collaboration on both basic and disease-focused brain science research.

Continue reading “US Launches International Brain Initiative to Coordinate Brain Mapping Efforts” »

A brief introduction about brain research.

The human brain is more complex and has far more capacity than a billion dollar computer. So far the research done on the brain is still in its nascent stages. What mysteries and secrets it holds for humanity in the future remains one of the big questions.

The 21st century has been called the “Century of the Mind”. Research into the functions and capabilities of the wonderful organ that is the human brain will skyrocket with duration as mankind enters a new era in discovery and invention.

Continue reading “Brain Research: Brain Enhancements, Treatments and More Scientific Brain Discoveries” »

University of Houston researchers aim to leverage a new, noninvasive brain-machine interface system that taps into human brainwaves to control and command a wearable exoskeleton—a technology that could enable paraplegic kids to walk.

Kristopher Sturgis

Continue reading “Mind-Controlled Exoskeleton Could Help Paraplegic Children” »

New Delhi [India]: Knee replacement technology has undergone sea change with years passing by.

With time and progress in technology the surgeons and researchers are constantly working towards achieving perfection in each surgery. One such example is ‘Computer Navigated Knee Replacement Surgery.’

Pinless Computer Navigated Total Knee Replacement technology is used by Dr Anil Arora, the head of unit and lead consultant of department of Orthopedics at Max Super Specialty Hospital, for Knee Replacement, in North India.

Continue reading “Pin-less computer navigated total knee replacement, used by Dr Anil Arora in North India” »

Microsoft has announced to solve’ cancer within the next decade by ‘reprogramming’ diseased cells like computer virus.

Researchers were able to prevent the death of neurons that causes ALS by introducing a genetic mutation to prevent the SOD1 protein from clumping.

The growing resistance of Gonorrhea, alarmed the researchers.

Continue reading “Microsoft Will Treat Cancer Like Computer Virus, Vows To ‘Solve’ Cance Within 10 Years?” »

Awesome; how about Elephant tusks, etc.

In Brief.

California biotech company Pembient has announced its production of synthetic rhino horns, in the hopes of providing an ethical alternative to purchasing from poachers. Conservationist groups express worries over any unintended impact.

Continue reading “The Age of Biotech: Can Bioengineered Rhino Horns Bring An End to Poaching?” »