Scientists Experiment With 'Trust' Hormone - Yahoo! News: "t sounds like the plot for another Batman sequel: The villain sprays Gotham City with a trust hormone and people rush to give him all their money. Banks, the stock market and even governments collapse.
Farfetched? Swiss and American scientists demonstrate in new experiments how a squirt of the hormone oxytocin stimulates trusting behavior in humans, and they acknowledge that the possibility of abuse can't be ignored."
=====================
Maybe we can have potions in a modern day setting...
Thursday, June 02, 2005
Sunday, May 22, 2005
Particle Accelerator Used to Decipher Text - Yahoo! News
Particle Accelerator Used to Decipher Text - Yahoo! News: "BALTIMORE - A particle accelerator is being used to reveal the long-lost writings of the Greek mathematician Archimedes, work hidden for centuries after a Christian monk wrote over it in the Middle Ages.
Highly focused X-rays produced at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center were used last week to begin deciphering the parts of the 174-page text that have not yet been revealed. The X-rays cause iron in the hidden ink to glow.
'One of the delightful things is we don't know what it's going to say,' said William Noel, head of the Archimedes Palimpsest project at the Walters Art Gallery."
===========================
I think we all know what it will say: hidden treasure! Then some adventure seeking treasure hunter will decipher the clues and solve the puzzle while being chased by gun toting thugs.
Highly focused X-rays produced at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center were used last week to begin deciphering the parts of the 174-page text that have not yet been revealed. The X-rays cause iron in the hidden ink to glow.
'One of the delightful things is we don't know what it's going to say,' said William Noel, head of the Archimedes Palimpsest project at the Walters Art Gallery."
===========================
I think we all know what it will say: hidden treasure! Then some adventure seeking treasure hunter will decipher the clues and solve the puzzle while being chased by gun toting thugs.
Friday, May 20, 2005
Major advance in stem cell research / Controversial step in regenerative medicine reported
Major advance in stem cell research / Controversial step in regenerative medicine reported: "Biologists in South Korea reported Thursday the creation of the first stem cell lines engineered to carry the DNA of patients with chronic disease and injury, a development hailed by some as perhaps the most significant technical advance for regenerative medicine since stem cells were isolated from human embryos in 1998."
========================
Pretty wild. They must put patient DNA in host embryo's (like they do with frog oocytes) and get them to differentiate. That way the cells match the host and could potentially be used as implants.
========================
Pretty wild. They must put patient DNA in host embryo's (like they do with frog oocytes) and get them to differentiate. That way the cells match the host and could potentially be used as implants.
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
'Brain' In A Dish Acts As Autopilot, Living Computer
'Brain' In A Dish Acts As Autopilot, Living Computer: "GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- A University of Florida scientist has grown a living 'brain' that can fly a simulated plane, giving scientists a novel way to observe how brain cells function as a network.
The 'brain' -- a collection of 25,000 living neurons, or nerve cells, taken from a rat's brain and cultured inside a glass dish -- gives scientists a unique real-time window into the brain at the cellular level. By watching the brain cells interact, scientists hope to understand what causes neural disorders such as epilepsy and to determine noninvasive ways to intervene. As living computers, they may someday be used to fly small unmanned airplanes or handle tasks that are dangerous for humans, such as search-and-rescue missions or bomb damage assessments."
============================
Whoa. Artificial brains. Flying jets in a flight sim. If that doesn't give you plot ideas, then you perhaps writing isn't for you. Perhaps you would be happier doing something else--like bowling.
The 'brain' -- a collection of 25,000 living neurons, or nerve cells, taken from a rat's brain and cultured inside a glass dish -- gives scientists a unique real-time window into the brain at the cellular level. By watching the brain cells interact, scientists hope to understand what causes neural disorders such as epilepsy and to determine noninvasive ways to intervene. As living computers, they may someday be used to fly small unmanned airplanes or handle tasks that are dangerous for humans, such as search-and-rescue missions or bomb damage assessments."
============================
Whoa. Artificial brains. Flying jets in a flight sim. If that doesn't give you plot ideas, then you perhaps writing isn't for you. Perhaps you would be happier doing something else--like bowling.
Friday, April 15, 2005
Protein Music
Computational Biology : UWA Computer Science: "ProteinMusic is a Java program converting DNA sequences into music. The original idea for this project came from R. D. King here at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth and C. G Angus from the Shamen (King, R.D. & Angus, C.G. (1996)). They developed a program written in C on an Apple Mac together with a MIDI connection to a synthesizer in 1996. This program here is a complete re-write of the original program in Java. by A. Karwath. "
==========================
Weird, wild stuff.
==========================
Weird, wild stuff.
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Researchers Find Largest 'Gene Deserts' in Human Genome
Welcome to GenomeWeb Daily News Wrapping up Chromosomes 2 and 4, Researchers Find Largest 'Gene Deserts' in Human Genome
By a GenomeWeb staff reporter
NEW YORK, April 6 (GenomeWeb News) - After analyzing chromosomes 2 and 4, a research consortium supported by the National Human Genome Research Institute announced this week that it has discovered the largest "gene deserts" in the human genome, and determined the location of an ancestral chromosomal fusion event.
Led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the analysis, to be published in the April 7 issue of Nature, shows that the largest gene deserts, or regions of the genome devoid of protein-coding genes, are located in chromosome 4.
According to a statement released by NHGRI, little is known of the function of gene deserts, but they are thought to be important as they occur in other mammalian genomes as well as in birds.
NHGRI said that chromosome 4 is of interest to the medical community because it holds the gene for Huntington's disease and other inherited disorders.
The team also discovered a 36,000-base-pair stretch of sequence in chromosome 2 that it believes is the site of the fusion that created chromosome 2 from what were previously two separate, smaller chromosomes.
Chromosome 2 is the second largest human chromosome, and scientists have speculated that a fusion of two chromosomes in a human ancestor rendered humans with 23 chromosomes, compared to the 24 chromosomes found in gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees, and other great apes, NHGRI said.
=========================
It may be a gene desert, but it is a plot breadbasket! Let your imagination come up with ideas for all that data. Leftover bits of evolution? Encoded messages from aliens? God? The Illuminati? The key to the next step of evolution? Who knows?
By a GenomeWeb staff reporter
NEW YORK, April 6 (GenomeWeb News) - After analyzing chromosomes 2 and 4, a research consortium supported by the National Human Genome Research Institute announced this week that it has discovered the largest "gene deserts" in the human genome, and determined the location of an ancestral chromosomal fusion event.
Led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the analysis, to be published in the April 7 issue of Nature, shows that the largest gene deserts, or regions of the genome devoid of protein-coding genes, are located in chromosome 4.
According to a statement released by NHGRI, little is known of the function of gene deserts, but they are thought to be important as they occur in other mammalian genomes as well as in birds.
NHGRI said that chromosome 4 is of interest to the medical community because it holds the gene for Huntington's disease and other inherited disorders.
The team also discovered a 36,000-base-pair stretch of sequence in chromosome 2 that it believes is the site of the fusion that created chromosome 2 from what were previously two separate, smaller chromosomes.
Chromosome 2 is the second largest human chromosome, and scientists have speculated that a fusion of two chromosomes in a human ancestor rendered humans with 23 chromosomes, compared to the 24 chromosomes found in gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees, and other great apes, NHGRI said.
=========================
It may be a gene desert, but it is a plot breadbasket! Let your imagination come up with ideas for all that data. Leftover bits of evolution? Encoded messages from aliens? God? The Illuminati? The key to the next step of evolution? Who knows?
Monday, April 04, 2005
Yahoo! News - Computers Obeying Brain Signals
Yahoo! News - Computers Obeying Brain Signals: "By MALCOLM RITTER, AP Science Writer
ALBANY, N.Y. - Researchers and volunteers around the world are taking early steps toward a complex but straightforward technological goal: to use electrical signals from the brain as instructions to computers and other machines, allowing paralyzed people to communicate, move around and control their environment literally without moving a muscle."
=========================
Very interesting article. I've tried something like that and it was quite the experience. We are getting closer and closer to science fiction here. Soon we'll have the powered battle armor from Starship Troopers and direct neural links to control our vehicles. And best of all, people whose bodies won't let them communicate the way most of us can will be able to.
ALBANY, N.Y. - Researchers and volunteers around the world are taking early steps toward a complex but straightforward technological goal: to use electrical signals from the brain as instructions to computers and other machines, allowing paralyzed people to communicate, move around and control their environment literally without moving a muscle."
=========================
Very interesting article. I've tried something like that and it was quite the experience. We are getting closer and closer to science fiction here. Soon we'll have the powered battle armor from Starship Troopers and direct neural links to control our vehicles. And best of all, people whose bodies won't let them communicate the way most of us can will be able to.
Yahoo! News - Oil Platforms May Be Used for Fish Farms
Yahoo! News - Oil Platforms May Be Used for Fish Farms: "By CAIN BURDEAU, Associated Press Writer
NEW ORLEANS - Thousands of oil and natural gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico could be converted into deep-sea fish farms raising red snapper, mahi mahi, yellow fin tuna and flounder, under a plan backed by the Bush administration."
============================
If Bush is backing it, you know it has to be in the best interest of the environment. On the up-side though, there is a good chance the fish will mutate horribly, crawl up on the platform and wreak havok leading to a runaway bestseller with lucrative movie rights.
NEW ORLEANS - Thousands of oil and natural gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico could be converted into deep-sea fish farms raising red snapper, mahi mahi, yellow fin tuna and flounder, under a plan backed by the Bush administration."
============================
If Bush is backing it, you know it has to be in the best interest of the environment. On the up-side though, there is a good chance the fish will mutate horribly, crawl up on the platform and wreak havok leading to a runaway bestseller with lucrative movie rights.
Yahoo! News - NASA Turns to Mexican Lake for Clues to Alien Life
Yahoo! News - NASA Turns to Mexican Lake for Clues to Alien Life: "By Tim Gaynor
CUATRO CIENEGAS, Mexico (Reuters) - With cobalt waters harboring eerie, coral-like formations, this archipelago of lakes in Mexico's searing Chihuahuan desert has always had an other-worldly appearance.
Now top researchers at the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration say the calcified clumps of primitive bacteria lurking in its pools could provide important clues in their search for extraterrestrial life.
The network of 170 cactus-ringed lagoons around the town of Cuatro Cienegas have intrigued evolutionary biologists for decades because their fish, snail and turtle species rival the Galapagos Islands in their uniqueness.
Scientists from NASA's Astrobiology Institute have begun studying the lakes' ancient formations called stromatolites -- rock structures formed by layers of algae that trap silt. Conditions within the stromatolites are similar to those that prevailed on Earth for more than 2 billion years before the dinosaurs evolved.
Studying their organisms could help NASA identify the unique atmospheric conditions created by primitive life on planets orbiting nearby stars and help settle the question of whether we are alone in the universe.
'They may be our best example of what to look for on other planets,' said Brad Bebout, a researcher at the NASA Ames Research Center, as he prepared to harvest methane belched out by the organisms in a shallow blue-green pool.
'Most of the time that life has been on Earth, this is what it looked like, not like the plants and animals that you see around you now,' he added."
=============================
I always knew there were strange new worlds to explore down south of here...
CUATRO CIENEGAS, Mexico (Reuters) - With cobalt waters harboring eerie, coral-like formations, this archipelago of lakes in Mexico's searing Chihuahuan desert has always had an other-worldly appearance.
Now top researchers at the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration say the calcified clumps of primitive bacteria lurking in its pools could provide important clues in their search for extraterrestrial life.
The network of 170 cactus-ringed lagoons around the town of Cuatro Cienegas have intrigued evolutionary biologists for decades because their fish, snail and turtle species rival the Galapagos Islands in their uniqueness.
Scientists from NASA's Astrobiology Institute have begun studying the lakes' ancient formations called stromatolites -- rock structures formed by layers of algae that trap silt. Conditions within the stromatolites are similar to those that prevailed on Earth for more than 2 billion years before the dinosaurs evolved.
Studying their organisms could help NASA identify the unique atmospheric conditions created by primitive life on planets orbiting nearby stars and help settle the question of whether we are alone in the universe.
'They may be our best example of what to look for on other planets,' said Brad Bebout, a researcher at the NASA Ames Research Center, as he prepared to harvest methane belched out by the organisms in a shallow blue-green pool.
'Most of the time that life has been on Earth, this is what it looked like, not like the plants and animals that you see around you now,' he added."
=============================
I always knew there were strange new worlds to explore down south of here...
Monday, March 28, 2005
Photoaffinity labeling analysis of the interaction of pituitary adenylate-cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) with the PACAP type I receptor
Photoaffinity labeling analysis of the interaction of pituitary adenylate-cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) with the PACAP type I receptor -- Cao et al. 244 (2): 400 -- FEBS Journal: "YJ Cao, E Kojro, G Gimpl, M Jasionowski, F Kasprzykowski, L Lankiewicz and F Fahrenholz
Max-Planck-Institut fur Biophysik, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
To identify residues and domains of the peptide hormone pituitary adenylate-cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) that interact with the type I receptor, two photoreactive analogues of PACAP-(1-27)-peptide were synthesized using solid-phase peptide synthesis. Phe6 or Tyr22 within the PACAP sequence were replaced by p-benzoyl-L-phenylalanine (Bz-Phe) thus creating two PACAP derivatives with a photoreactive amino acid in either the disordered N-terminal or the helical C-terminal part of the peptide. The ligand-binding properties and the efficiencies of these peptide analogues as photolabels were tested for pig brain PACAP receptors. [Bz-Phe6]-PACAP-(1-27)-peptide (Kd 1.3 nM) retained the high binding affinity of PACAP-(1-27)-peptide (Kd 0.5 nM), wheras Bz-Phe substitution of Tyr22 reduced the affinity about tenfold (Kd 4.4 nM) thus demonstrating the importance of Tyr22 for receptor binding. Monoiodination of the photoreactive analogues did not change the binding affinity of the photoreactive analogues. Photoaffinity labeling using pig brain membrane demonstrated that the 125I-labeled photoreactive analogues specifically label a 66000-Mr protein band. Photoaffinity labeling of the rat brain PACAP receptor expressed in COS cells resulted in two specifically photolabeled proteins: a major band of Mr 58000 and a minor band of Mr 78000. By treatment of photolabeled membranes with N-glycosidase F, both of the polypeptide bands were converted to a single polypeptide band of Mr 54000, which corresponds to the deglycosylated PACAP receptor. Despite its lower receptor affinity, [Bz-Phe22]-PACAP-(1-27)-peptide labeled the PACAP type I receptor in pig brain membranes and the rat receptor expressed in COS cells with much higher efficiency (20-fold for the pig receptor) than [Bz-Phe6]-PACAP-(1-27)-peptide. These findings suggest that Tyr22 in PACAP-(1-27)-peptide is located in or close to the hormone-binding site of the PACAP type I receptor. The results provide evidence that the alpha-helical C-terminal region of PACAP is directly involved in receptor binding."
==========================
I need to look into photoaffinity labeling more. Combine that with engineered protien crystallization, and hmmm....
Max-Planck-Institut fur Biophysik, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
To identify residues and domains of the peptide hormone pituitary adenylate-cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) that interact with the type I receptor, two photoreactive analogues of PACAP-(1-27)-peptide were synthesized using solid-phase peptide synthesis. Phe6 or Tyr22 within the PACAP sequence were replaced by p-benzoyl-L-phenylalanine (Bz-Phe) thus creating two PACAP derivatives with a photoreactive amino acid in either the disordered N-terminal or the helical C-terminal part of the peptide. The ligand-binding properties and the efficiencies of these peptide analogues as photolabels were tested for pig brain PACAP receptors. [Bz-Phe6]-PACAP-(1-27)-peptide (Kd 1.3 nM) retained the high binding affinity of PACAP-(1-27)-peptide (Kd 0.5 nM), wheras Bz-Phe substitution of Tyr22 reduced the affinity about tenfold (Kd 4.4 nM) thus demonstrating the importance of Tyr22 for receptor binding. Monoiodination of the photoreactive analogues did not change the binding affinity of the photoreactive analogues. Photoaffinity labeling using pig brain membrane demonstrated that the 125I-labeled photoreactive analogues specifically label a 66000-Mr protein band. Photoaffinity labeling of the rat brain PACAP receptor expressed in COS cells resulted in two specifically photolabeled proteins: a major band of Mr 58000 and a minor band of Mr 78000. By treatment of photolabeled membranes with N-glycosidase F, both of the polypeptide bands were converted to a single polypeptide band of Mr 54000, which corresponds to the deglycosylated PACAP receptor. Despite its lower receptor affinity, [Bz-Phe22]-PACAP-(1-27)-peptide labeled the PACAP type I receptor in pig brain membranes and the rat receptor expressed in COS cells with much higher efficiency (20-fold for the pig receptor) than [Bz-Phe6]-PACAP-(1-27)-peptide. These findings suggest that Tyr22 in PACAP-(1-27)-peptide is located in or close to the hormone-binding site of the PACAP type I receptor. The results provide evidence that the alpha-helical C-terminal region of PACAP is directly involved in receptor binding."
==========================
I need to look into photoaffinity labeling more. Combine that with engineered protien crystallization, and hmmm....
Friday, March 25, 2005
Soft Tissues From T. rex Fossil
AAAS - AAAS News Release: "A recently discovered Tyrannosaurus rex fossil appears to contain elastic soft tissues, blood vessels and cells, researchers report in the 25 March 2005 issue of the journal Science.
Tissues other than bone can be preserved in the fossil record, but it's usually difficult to determine their original form and composition in fossils more than a few million years old. These findings show that soft tissues can be clearly preserved for much longer, since this T. rex specimen, known as MOR 1125, is roughly 70 million years old.
Mary Higby Schweitzer and colleagues noticed unusual tissue fragments lining the marrow cavity of the MOR 1125 femur. When they dissolved the mineral deposits in the tissues, the authors were left with a flexible, stretchy material threaded with what looked like blood vessels. The treatment also released some thin, transparent soft tissue vessels that floated freely in the solution. These vessels resemble vessels from modern-day ostrich bone, the authors report.
Both the dinosaur and ostrich vessels also contained small, reddish brown dots that might be nuclei of the 'endothelial' cells that line blood vessels. Certain portions of the T. rex bone also contained fibril-like structures that looked virtually identical to bone cells called 'osteocytes' seen among collagen fibers in the ostrich bone.
The exquisite preservation of this tissue, which does not challenge the timing of dinosaur evolution, may open up avenues for studying dinosaur physiology and perhaps some aspects of their biochemistry, especially if researchers can identify soft tissues in other fossils as well."
========================================
That is pretty wild. Imagine this plot, scientist clone dinosaurs, grow them on a tropical island, and then they run amok, causing a blockbuster trilogy of movies. Oh wait, someone did that already.
Tissues other than bone can be preserved in the fossil record, but it's usually difficult to determine their original form and composition in fossils more than a few million years old. These findings show that soft tissues can be clearly preserved for much longer, since this T. rex specimen, known as MOR 1125, is roughly 70 million years old.
Mary Higby Schweitzer and colleagues noticed unusual tissue fragments lining the marrow cavity of the MOR 1125 femur. When they dissolved the mineral deposits in the tissues, the authors were left with a flexible, stretchy material threaded with what looked like blood vessels. The treatment also released some thin, transparent soft tissue vessels that floated freely in the solution. These vessels resemble vessels from modern-day ostrich bone, the authors report.
Both the dinosaur and ostrich vessels also contained small, reddish brown dots that might be nuclei of the 'endothelial' cells that line blood vessels. Certain portions of the T. rex bone also contained fibril-like structures that looked virtually identical to bone cells called 'osteocytes' seen among collagen fibers in the ostrich bone.
The exquisite preservation of this tissue, which does not challenge the timing of dinosaur evolution, may open up avenues for studying dinosaur physiology and perhaps some aspects of their biochemistry, especially if researchers can identify soft tissues in other fossils as well."
========================================
That is pretty wild. Imagine this plot, scientist clone dinosaurs, grow them on a tropical island, and then they run amok, causing a blockbuster trilogy of movies. Oh wait, someone did that already.
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Yahoo! News - Senate Votes to Open Alaskan Oil Drilling
Yahoo! News - Senate Votes to Open Alaskan Oil Drilling: "By H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Amid the backdrop of soaring oil and gasoline prices, a sharply divided Senate on Wednesday voted to open the ecologically rich Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling, delivering a major energy policy win for President Bush."
===========================
Great. If we want to get off of foreign oil, why aren't we increasing fuel efficiency? Oh right, we're short sighted and profit driven. The easy, Republican-friendly plot is enviro terrorists doing something to stop it but the FBI prevents it. Better is for the bad guys to be foreign oil agents, or perhaps they are in cahoots, or even one group is playing the other.
Even better is to have it happen and then show the long term economic and environmental impact. The setting of a near future novel could be scientists trying to recover from the damage, or a world where Korea took over as the dominant source for vehicles since we failed to pursue the new technology.
WASHINGTON - Amid the backdrop of soaring oil and gasoline prices, a sharply divided Senate on Wednesday voted to open the ecologically rich Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling, delivering a major energy policy win for President Bush."
===========================
Great. If we want to get off of foreign oil, why aren't we increasing fuel efficiency? Oh right, we're short sighted and profit driven. The easy, Republican-friendly plot is enviro terrorists doing something to stop it but the FBI prevents it. Better is for the bad guys to be foreign oil agents, or perhaps they are in cahoots, or even one group is playing the other.
Even better is to have it happen and then show the long term economic and environmental impact. The setting of a near future novel could be scientists trying to recover from the damage, or a world where Korea took over as the dominant source for vehicles since we failed to pursue the new technology.
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Yahoo! News - Large Plume Billows From Mount St. Helens
Yahoo! News - Large Plume Billows From Mount St. Helens: "MOUNT ST. HELENS, Wash. - Mount St. Helens released a towering plume of ash Tuesday, its most significant emission in months but one that seismologists did not believe heralded any major eruption."
=======================
Remember that movie Dante's Peak with Pierce Brosnan and that serious off road Suburban? Great thriller that didn't get much recognition.
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Remember that movie Dante's Peak with Pierce Brosnan and that serious off road Suburban? Great thriller that didn't get much recognition.
Yahoo! News - Few Clues on Dolphin Deaths in Florida Keys
Yahoo! News - Few Clues on Dolphin Deaths in Florida Keys: "By Laura Myers
SUMMERLAND KEY, Fla. (Reuters) - Biologists are investigating whether sonar used in U.S. Navy (news - web sites) submarine exercises or red tide bacteria contributed to the deaths of more than 30 rough-toothed dolphins in a mass stranding in the Florida Keys last week."
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Sad and weird. It sounds like the opening of a thriller. Hopefully they will figure it out, though I didn't think you could get decompression sickness unless you breathe compressed air at depth. Skin diving, which the dolphins do, can't result in it. Unless I missed something.
SUMMERLAND KEY, Fla. (Reuters) - Biologists are investigating whether sonar used in U.S. Navy (news - web sites) submarine exercises or red tide bacteria contributed to the deaths of more than 30 rough-toothed dolphins in a mass stranding in the Florida Keys last week."
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Sad and weird. It sounds like the opening of a thriller. Hopefully they will figure it out, though I didn't think you could get decompression sickness unless you breathe compressed air at depth. Skin diving, which the dolphins do, can't result in it. Unless I missed something.
Thursday, March 03, 2005
Yahoo! News - Tiny Early 'Hobbit' Human Was Smart, Skull Shows
Yahoo! News - Tiny Early 'Hobbit' Human Was Smart, Skull Shows: "By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tiny pre-humans who lived on an Indonesian island until about 12,000 years ago had brains so surprisingly sophisticated that the creatures may represent a previously unrecognized species of early humans, or hominids, scientists reported on Thursday."
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OK, no plot here, but I have to put a news article about real hobbits on the blog. I think it was in the small print somewhere (ha ha).
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tiny pre-humans who lived on an Indonesian island until about 12,000 years ago had brains so surprisingly sophisticated that the creatures may represent a previously unrecognized species of early humans, or hominids, scientists reported on Thursday."
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OK, no plot here, but I have to put a news article about real hobbits on the blog. I think it was in the small print somewhere (ha ha).
Monday, February 28, 2005
Yahoo! News - China Seen Opening Door Soon to Biotech Rice
Yahoo! News - China Seen Opening Door Soon to Biotech Rice: "By Jeremy Smith
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - China could open the door to biotech rice within two years, paving the way for the GMO crop to enter the food stream across Asia, the head of a trade group said Monday.
'Rice is likely to be approved in China in the near term, maybe in two years,' said Clive James, chairman and founder of ISAAA, a group with industry and public foundation support that promotes biotech as a way to halt global hunger."
===========================
There was an article a few years back where the FBI was investigating biotech industrial espionage down in San Diego. I seem to recall that a SE Asian country had set up an institute to study biotech, but it was really a front for industrial espionage.
Hmmm, I smell a plot...
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - China could open the door to biotech rice within two years, paving the way for the GMO crop to enter the food stream across Asia, the head of a trade group said Monday.
'Rice is likely to be approved in China in the near term, maybe in two years,' said Clive James, chairman and founder of ISAAA, a group with industry and public foundation support that promotes biotech as a way to halt global hunger."
===========================
There was an article a few years back where the FBI was investigating biotech industrial espionage down in San Diego. I seem to recall that a SE Asian country had set up an institute to study biotech, but it was really a front for industrial espionage.
Hmmm, I smell a plot...
Thursday, February 24, 2005
New FDA Clearance for Candela Family of Pulsed Dye Lasers
New FDA Clearance for Candela Family of Pulsed Dye Lasers: "WAYLAND, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 24, 2005--Candela Corporation (NASDAQ: CLZR - News) announced today that it has received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market its family of pulsed dye lasers for the treatment of benign epidermal pigmented lesions adding to the previously cleared treatments of facial veins, rosacea, leg veins, port wine stains, scars, wrinkles, psoriasis, stretch marks and warts."
===================
Weird. I wonder how that works? Burn the skin to stimulate healing?
The website wasn't too helpful...http://www.candelalaser.com/index.asp
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Weird. I wonder how that works? Burn the skin to stimulate healing?
The website wasn't too helpful...http://www.candelalaser.com/index.asp
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Brand New Brands, Inc.
MILL VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, February 14, 2005 - Function is the future of food. That’s the basic proposition behind Brand New Brands, Inc., a new company formed to develop great-tasting food and beverage products that incorporate health-promoting ingredients.
Launched to Develop ‘Functional’ Foods & Beverages; Announces $15 Million in Funding.
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At first I thought they were talking about biotech/pharmalogical kinds of ingredients. That would be pretty cool, and have lots of plot potential. Population control (the Brave New World way or by putting contraceptives in), or perhaps something more sinister...
But reading the press release makes me think it isn't that interesting, though probably healthy and tasty.
Launched to Develop ‘Functional’ Foods & Beverages; Announces $15 Million in Funding.
===============================
At first I thought they were talking about biotech/pharmalogical kinds of ingredients. That would be pretty cool, and have lots of plot potential. Population control (the Brave New World way or by putting contraceptives in), or perhaps something more sinister...
But reading the press release makes me think it isn't that interesting, though probably healthy and tasty.
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Yahoo! News - Dolly Scientist Gets Human Cloning License
Yahoo! News - Dolly Scientist Gets Human Cloning License: "By THOMAS WAGNER, Associated Press Writer
LONDON - The British government Tuesday gave the creator of Dolly the Sheep a license to clone human embryos for medical research into the cause of motor neuron disease.
Ian Wilmut, who led the team that created Dolly at Scotland's Roslin Institute in 1996, and motor neuron expert Christopher Shaw of the Institute of Psychiatry in London, plan to clone embyros to study how nerve cells go awry to cause the disease. The experiments do not involve creating cloned babies."
======================================
As I understand it, they'll use the same technique (nuclear replacement) to create cells that are an exact genetic duplicate of cells from people with incurable diseases (muscle wasting in this case), grow an embryo from that, get stem cells from the cloned embryo, and study those cells to see how the disease progresses.
That would give them a model system for the disease, which will hopefully lead to a treatment. So the cloning and stem cells would not be used in the actual treatment (thought that is another potential use). More likely, they will find where the development pathway goes wrong and make a drug to prevent it from going off-track.
Plot-wise, you could have a society so in fear of, oh, I don't know, terrorism, that they start mucking with developmental pathways of everyone (well, the next generation at least) to make the world less aggressive. Where does that lead? A utopia? A Brave New World? Who knows?
Or maybe they are evil and try to stamp out things they percieve as diseases like homosexuality, voting for Democrats, and separation of church and state.
LONDON - The British government Tuesday gave the creator of Dolly the Sheep a license to clone human embryos for medical research into the cause of motor neuron disease.
Ian Wilmut, who led the team that created Dolly at Scotland's Roslin Institute in 1996, and motor neuron expert Christopher Shaw of the Institute of Psychiatry in London, plan to clone embyros to study how nerve cells go awry to cause the disease. The experiments do not involve creating cloned babies."
======================================
As I understand it, they'll use the same technique (nuclear replacement) to create cells that are an exact genetic duplicate of cells from people with incurable diseases (muscle wasting in this case), grow an embryo from that, get stem cells from the cloned embryo, and study those cells to see how the disease progresses.
That would give them a model system for the disease, which will hopefully lead to a treatment. So the cloning and stem cells would not be used in the actual treatment (thought that is another potential use). More likely, they will find where the development pathway goes wrong and make a drug to prevent it from going off-track.
Plot-wise, you could have a society so in fear of, oh, I don't know, terrorism, that they start mucking with developmental pathways of everyone (well, the next generation at least) to make the world less aggressive. Where does that lead? A utopia? A Brave New World? Who knows?
Or maybe they are evil and try to stamp out things they percieve as diseases like homosexuality, voting for Democrats, and separation of church and state.
Friday, February 04, 2005
Yahoo! News - California Wine Country Considers Biotech Ban
Yahoo! News - California Wine Country Considers Biotech Ban: "SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A measure to ban genetically modified crops in the heart of California's wine country has qualified for a local ballot, officials said on Friday."
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Too bad all crops have been genetically modified through breeding and many through irradiation. I guess it will be good for my favorite Walla Walla wines when California stops growing grapes. Mmmm I'ecole 41. Or maybe a Canoe Ridge.
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Too bad all crops have been genetically modified through breeding and many through irradiation. I guess it will be good for my favorite Walla Walla wines when California stops growing grapes. Mmmm I'ecole 41. Or maybe a Canoe Ridge.
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