Susan Young, technologyreview.com
Nature News reports today on three different studies that successfully used stem cell therapies to sprout new hair on bald mice, restore some vision to night-blind mice, and improve the heart function of mice with a cardiac…
Emergent Futures Tumblelog
This is the Tumblelog of Paul Higgins and Sandy Teagle - Futurists from Melbourne and Brisbane in Australia. Go to Emergent Futures to see more or follow on Twitter at
FuturistPaul .
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NANOTUBE TECHNOLOGY LEADING TO FAST, LOWER-COST MEDICAL DIAGNOSTICS
The new findings have almost tripled the speed of prototype nano-biosensors, and should find applications not only in medicine but in toxicology, environmental monitoring, new drug development and other fields.
Full Story: Oregon Uni
New Ability to Regrow Blood Vessels Holds Promise for Treatment of Heart Disease
The treatment method developed by Cockrell School of Engineering Assistant Professor Aaron Baker could allow doctors to bypass surgery and instead repair damaged blood vessels simply by injecting a lipid-incased substance into a patient. Once inside the body, the substance stimulates cell growth and spurs the growth of new blood vessels from pre-existing ones.
Full Story: University of Texas
‘Bed-Of-Nails’ Breast Implant Deters Cancer Cells
Researchers at Brown University have created an implant that appears to deter breast cancer cell regrowth. Made from a common federally approved polymer, the implant is the first to be modified at the nanoscale in a way that causes a reduction in the blood-vessel architecture that breast cancer tumors depend upon, while also attracting healthy breast cells.
Full Story: Science Daily
Reblogged from futurescope|505 notes |# Comments
Can you build a human body?
Technology has always strived to match the incredible sophistication of the human body. Now electronics and hi-tech materials are replacing whole limbs and organs in a merger of machine and man.
Later this year a team of researchers will try out the first bionic eye implant in the UK hoping to help a blind patient see for the first time. It is one of the extraordinary medical breakthroughs in the field, which are extending life by years and providing near-natural movement for those who have lost limbs.
Over the coming weeks, BBC News will explore the field of bionics in a series of features. We start with a selection of the latest scientific developments.
The Bionic Bodies series on the BBC News website will be looking at how bionics can transform people’s lives. We will meet a woman deciding whether to have her hand cut off for a bionic replacement and analyse the potential to take the technology even further, enhancing the body to superhuman levels. The series continues on Wednesday with a look at some of the earliest prosthetics from ancient Egypt.
![futurescope:
Can you build a human body?
Technology has always strived to match the incredible sophistication of the human body. Now electronics and hi-tech materials are replacing whole limbs and organs in a merger of machine and man.
Later this year a team of researchers will try out the first bionic eye implant in the UK hoping to help a blind patient see for the first time. It is one of the extraordinary medical breakthroughs in the field, which are extending life by years and providing near-natural movement for those who have lost limbs.
Over the coming weeks, BBC News will explore the field of bionics in a series of features. We start with a selection of the latest scientific developments.
The Bionic Bodies series on the BBC News website will be looking at how bionics can transform people’s lives. We will meet a woman deciding whether to have her hand cut off for a bionic replacement and analyse the potential to take the technology even further, enhancing the body to superhuman levels. The series continues on Wednesday with a look at some of the earliest prosthetics from ancient Egypt.
[via] [more]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0ez9pm9au1r08k60o1_500.png)
Researchers at Harvard’s Wyss Institute Develop DNA Nanorobot to Trigger Targeted Therapeutic Responses
WOW
Using the DNA origami method, in which complex three-dimensional shapes and objects are constructed by folding strands of DNA, Shawn Douglas, Ph.D., a Wyss Technology Development Fellow, and Ido Bachelet, Ph.D., a former Wyss Postdoctoral Fellow who is now an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Life Sciences and the Nano-Center at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, created a nanosized robot in the form of an open barrel whose two halves are connected by a hinge. The DNA barrel, which acts as a container, is held shut by special DNA latches that can recognize and seek out combinations of cell-surface proteins, including disease markers. When the latches find their targets, they reconfigure, causing the two halves of the barrel to swing open and expose its contents, or payload. The container can hold various types of payloads, including specific molecules with encoded instructions that can interact with specific cell surface signaling receptors.
Full Story: Harvard
Scientists Develop Biological Computer to Encrypt and Decipher Images
Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute in California and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have developed a “biological computer” made entirely from biomolecules that is capable of deciphering images encrypted on DNA chips.
Full Story: Science Daily
Nerve probe controls cyborg moth in flight
The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has been running a programme to develop machine-insect interfaces for years but electrodes implanted to stimulate the brains or wing muscles of insects were not precise enough. Now Joel Voldman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and colleagues have designed a unique, flexible neural probe that can be attached directly to an insect’s ventral nerve cord (VNC), which, along with the brain, makes up the central nervous system in insects.
Full Story: New Scientist
Can Extreme Microbes Solve the Clean Fuel Challenge? | Fast Company
Reblogged from smarterplanet|33 notes |# Comments
“Biology is the best chemist out there,” said Harvard scientist Pamela Silver. The U.S. Department of Energy funds Silver’s research exploring the use of deep-ocean extremophiles to create new biofuels. She described the bacteria she works with as being “like little batteries” that “move electrons around.” Silver’s goal is to genetically program these ocean bacteria to recover carbon from air or water and process it into fuel.
Bio-Assembling in 3-D with Magnetic Levitation
A new system grows tissue in 3-D without protein matrixes
Full Story: Technology Review
Reblogged from futuramb|20 notes |# Comments