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Mar 21, 2018
Divert an Astroid? Yes! But, no need to blast or shove it
Posted by Philip Raymond in categories: asteroid/comet impacts, existential risks, lifeboat, space travel
Instead of Nuking an Asteroid, Just Splash It With Paint
Recent headlines have contained lots of asteroid-nuking talk. There’s a team of Russian scientists zapping mini asteroids in their lab, and supposedly NASA is thinking about a plan that would hypothetically involve nuking Bennushould it threaten Earth in 2135.
It’s true that NASA is drafting up ideas on how one might nuke an incoming asteroid, a theoretical plan called HAMMER, or the Hypervelocity Asteroid Mitigation Mission for Emergency Response, as we’ve reported. But scientists probably won’t need to use such a response on the “Empire State Building-sized” asteroid 101955 Bennu, which is set to pass close to Earth in 2135. Diverting such a threat could be much, much easier.
“Even just painting the surface a different color on one half would change the thermal properties and change its orbit,” Michael Moreau, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Flight Dynamics System Manager, told Gizmodo. That would involve literally sending a spacecraft to somehow change the color of some of the asteroid.
Continue reading “Divert an Astroid? Yes! But, no need to blast or shove it” »
Mar 21, 2018
Gut microbes are vulnerable to wide range of drugs
Posted by Amnon H. Eden in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience
Take your probiotics seriously. Even a headache pill may weaken your gut bacteria, a condition linked to obisity, depression, alzheimer’s, and dementia.
Interesting.
Guillermo Haro was a Mexican astronomer. He was the first person elected to the Royal Astronomical Society from a developing country. He is portrayed on Google Doodle on 21 March 2018, commemorating his 105th birthday.
Mar 21, 2018
The Difficult Birth of the “Many Worlds” Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: quantum physics
Hugh Everett, creator of this radical idea during a drunken debate more than 60 years ago, died before he could see his theory gain widespread popularity.
- By Adam Becker on March 21, 2018
Mar 21, 2018
Bioquark Inc. — Al Bayan News (UAE) — AI and Health — Ira Pastor
Posted by Ira S. Pastor in categories: aging, automation, big data, bioengineering, biotech/medical, business, computing, genetics, health
Tags: aging, AI, anti-aging, bioquark, biotechnology, health, healthspan, lifespan, longevity, wellness
Mar 21, 2018
A drug to slow spread of dementia could be available in three years
Posted by Dan Kummer in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience
A drug to slow the spread of dementia could be available in three years and a ‘vaccine’ that prevents the disease within a decade, experts say.
- It is now a matter of ‘when not if’ a cure will be found for Alzheimer’s
- Last year dementia became Great Britain’s number one cause of death
- Existing drugs for Alzheimer’s only treat the symptoms, not causes
By Colin Fernandez for the Daily Mail
Continue reading “A drug to slow spread of dementia could be available in three years” »
Innovation is the latest social, political and economic battleground. Techno-optimists dismiss fears about innovation, typecasting non-believers as Luddites. The impact of recent technological changes, they believe, will be realised over time. Luddites, on the other hand, point to weaknesses in technology.
Policymakers are placing their faith on technological advancements to boost flagging growth. But it is founded more on hope than reality.
By Satyajit Das
Mar 20, 2018
Targeting levels of specific protein could improve memory in aging, reduce symptoms of PTSD
Posted by Nicholi Avery in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, life extension, neuroscience
A neural circuit mechanism involved in preserving the specificity of memories has been identified by investigators from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Center for Regenerative Medicine and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI).
They also identified a genetic “switch” that can slow down #memory generalization — the loss of specific details over time that occurs in both age-related memory impairment and in post-traumatic stress disorder (#PTSD), in which emotions originally produced by traumatic experiences are elicited in response to innocuous cues that have little resemblance to the traumatic memory.
“The circuit mechanism we identified in mice allows us to preserve the precision or the details of memories over the passage of time in adult as well as aged animals,” says Amar Sahay of the MGH Center for #Regenerative Medicine and HSCI, corresponding author of a paper appearing in Nature Medicine. “These findings have implications for the generalization of traumatic memories in PTSD and for memory imprecision in #aging.”
Mar 20, 2018
Drugs to vaccinate over-50s against Alzheimer’s could be here in a decade…with a £ 9bn price tag
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience
D rugs to vaccinate everyone over the age of 50 against Alzheimer’s could be available within 10 years, but would cost the NHS £9 billion, a new report has shown.
New analysis commissioned by Alzheimer’s Research UK found that drugs to halt, slow or reverse the disease could be available in as little as three years with major vaccine and screening programmes possible within a decade.
But dementia experts warned that demand from patients would be ‘instant and huge’ and called on the NHS to act now to make sure funds were in place for when the breakthroughs occurred.