S.Korean panel says stem-cell result fabricated - Yahoo! News: "SEOUL (Reuters) -
South Korea's most famous scientist quit under a cloud on Friday and could face prosecution after investigators said results in a landmark 2005 paper on producing tailored embryonic stem cells were intentionally fabricated."
=============================
That guy's career is pretty much ruined now. Very hard to recover from this sort of thing.
Friday, December 23, 2005
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
New Scientist Grasshoppers brainwashed into suicide by a worm - News
New Scientist Grasshoppers brainwashed into suicide by a worm - News: "THE trick by which a parasitic worm brainwashes its host into killing itself has been revealed.
The nematomorph hairworm (Spinochordodes tellinii) develops inside land-dwelling grasshoppers and crickets until the time comes for the worm to transform into an aquatic adult. At that point it somehow persuades the insect to jump into water, allowing the adult worm to swim away.
David Biron and his colleagues at the Institute for Development Research in Montpellier, France, have found the worms produce proteins that mimic some of the grasshoppers' own (Proceedings of the Royal Society B, DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2005.3213). Some of the proteins affect neurotransmitter activity and response to gravity."
============================
That's a pretty wild trick. Can Biotech Induced Zombieism (BIZ Syndrome) be far off?
The nematomorph hairworm (Spinochordodes tellinii) develops inside land-dwelling grasshoppers and crickets until the time comes for the worm to transform into an aquatic adult. At that point it somehow persuades the insect to jump into water, allowing the adult worm to swim away.
David Biron and his colleagues at the Institute for Development Research in Montpellier, France, have found the worms produce proteins that mimic some of the grasshoppers' own (Proceedings of the Royal Society B, DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2005.3213). Some of the proteins affect neurotransmitter activity and response to gravity."
============================
That's a pretty wild trick. Can Biotech Induced Zombieism (BIZ Syndrome) be far off?
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Year of disasters speeds drive to pool knowledge - Yahoo! News
"LONDON (Reuters) - From tsunamis and earthquakes to hurricanes and bird flu, the natural disasters of the past year have underlined the urgency of a global project to pool knowledge that could limit the damage.
In Johannesburg in 2002, the World Summit on Sustainable Development highlighted the need for coordinating data on the state of the earth."
===============================
Now, if only they had a clandestine paramilitary force composed of special forces operators from around the world. Then they could enforce the necessary policies "with extreme predjudice".
In Johannesburg in 2002, the World Summit on Sustainable Development highlighted the need for coordinating data on the state of the earth."
===============================
Now, if only they had a clandestine paramilitary force composed of special forces operators from around the world. Then they could enforce the necessary policies "with extreme predjudice".
Monday, October 31, 2005
GenomeWeb Daily News
Team Led By UCSC’s Haussler to Reconstruct Whole Genome of Distant Mammalian Ancestor
By Bernadette Toner, BioInform editor
COLD SPRING HARBOR, NY, Oct. 31 (GenomeWeb News) - It's technically possible to computationally reconstruct the genome of the ancestor of all placental mammals, according to David Haussler of the University of California, Santa Cruz, who is spearheading a collaborative effort to deliver the assembly of such a genome to the research community.
Haussler, a professor of biomolecular engineering at UCSC, said that an effort to "reconstruct the evolutionary history of each base in the human genome" from the time of the so-called Boreoeutherian ancestor, which lived around 75 million years ago, is "the grand challenge of human molecular evolution."
=========================
I see a lab in a remote location. I see scientists creating the ancient DNA sequences. I see artificial wombs. I see a theme park with protobeings living as they must have. I see things running amok. Oh wait, it's been done.
By Bernadette Toner, BioInform editor
COLD SPRING HARBOR, NY, Oct. 31 (GenomeWeb News) - It's technically possible to computationally reconstruct the genome of the ancestor of all placental mammals, according to David Haussler of the University of California, Santa Cruz, who is spearheading a collaborative effort to deliver the assembly of such a genome to the research community.
Haussler, a professor of biomolecular engineering at UCSC, said that an effort to "reconstruct the evolutionary history of each base in the human genome" from the time of the so-called Boreoeutherian ancestor, which lived around 75 million years ago, is "the grand challenge of human molecular evolution."
=========================
I see a lab in a remote location. I see scientists creating the ancient DNA sequences. I see artificial wombs. I see a theme park with protobeings living as they must have. I see things running amok. Oh wait, it's been done.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Remote Control Device 'Controls' Humans - Yahoo! News
Remote Control Device 'Controls' Humans - Yahoo! News: "ATSUGI, Japan - We wield remote controls to turn things on and off, make them advance, make them halt. Ground-bound pilots use remotes to fly drone airplanes, soldiers to maneuver battlefield robots.
But manipulating humans?
Prepare to be remotely controlled. I was.
Just imagine being rendered the rough equivalent of a radio-controlled toy car.
Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp., Japans top telephone company, says it is developing the technology to perhaps make video games more realistic. But more sinister applications also come to mind."
===============================
More sinister applications? No joke! I got plenty of yer more sinister applications right here!
"I'm really hopeful Apple Computer will be interested in this technology to offer it in their iPod."
Hmmm, an IPOD for the girlfriend for Christmas this year... ;)
But manipulating humans?
Prepare to be remotely controlled. I was.
Just imagine being rendered the rough equivalent of a radio-controlled toy car.
Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp., Japans top telephone company, says it is developing the technology to perhaps make video games more realistic. But more sinister applications also come to mind."
===============================
More sinister applications? No joke! I got plenty of yer more sinister applications right here!
"I'm really hopeful Apple Computer will be interested in this technology to offer it in their iPod."
Hmmm, an IPOD for the girlfriend for Christmas this year... ;)
Friday, October 21, 2005
Giant 'corpse flower' blooms in Germany - Yahoo! News
Giant 'corpse flower' blooms in Germany - Yahoo! News: "BERLIN (Reuters) - The world's tallest -- and smelliest -- flower has bloomed, reaching a height of 2.94 meters, 18 centimeters more than the previous record for the species, the Stuttgart botanical garden said on Friday.
The Titan Arum, or Amorphophallus Titanum, nicknamed "corpse flower" because of its putrid stench, blooms rarely and briefly."
=================================
I rarely run across science news items that spark ideas for the Zook Terpin series, but this sure qualifies.
The Titan Arum, or Amorphophallus Titanum, nicknamed "corpse flower" because of its putrid stench, blooms rarely and briefly."
=================================
I rarely run across science news items that spark ideas for the Zook Terpin series, but this sure qualifies.
Monday, September 12, 2005
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Human-like skin gives robots sense of touch -study - Yahoo! News
Human-like skin gives robots sense of touch -study - Yahoo! News: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A flexible, electronic skin could provide robots, car seats and even carpets the ability to sense pressure and heat, Japanese researchers reported on Monday.
They described a new 'skin' that not only senses both heat and pressure, but that is flexible, cheap and easy to make."
=========================
Ewww, freaky.
They described a new 'skin' that not only senses both heat and pressure, but that is flexible, cheap and easy to make."
=========================
Ewww, freaky.
Monday, July 25, 2005
Mystery Illness Kills at Least 17 in China - Yahoo! News
Mystery Illness Kills at Least 17 in China - Yahoo! News: "BEIJING - An unidentified illness has killed 17 farmers and sickened 41 others in southwestern China after they butchered sick pigs or sheep, China's official news agency said Sunday.
Those affected had symptoms including high fever, fatigue, nausea and vomiting, and 'became comatose later with bruises under the skin,' Xinhua news agency said.
Over the past four weeks, 58 people from areas around the cities of Ziyang and Neijiang in China's southwestern Sichuan province were hospitalized with such symptoms, Xinhua said."
===================
Odd...
Those affected had symptoms including high fever, fatigue, nausea and vomiting, and 'became comatose later with bruises under the skin,' Xinhua news agency said.
Over the past four weeks, 58 people from areas around the cities of Ziyang and Neijiang in China's southwestern Sichuan province were hospitalized with such symptoms, Xinhua said."
===================
Odd...
Friday, June 24, 2005
Japanese robot guards to patrol shops, offices - Yahoo! News
Japanese robot guards to patrol shops, offices - Yahoo! News: "TOKYO (Reuters) - Burglars beware, robot guards are here.
In an idea straight out of science fiction, robots could soon begin patrolling Japanese offices, shopping malls and banks to keep them safe from intruders. Equipped with a camera and sensors, the 'Guardrobo D1,' developed by Japanese security firm Sohgo Security Services Co., is designed to patrol along pre-programmed paths and keep an eye out for signs of trouble."
================================
And you thought Protedyne was bad...
In an idea straight out of science fiction, robots could soon begin patrolling Japanese offices, shopping malls and banks to keep them safe from intruders. Equipped with a camera and sensors, the 'Guardrobo D1,' developed by Japanese security firm Sohgo Security Services Co., is designed to patrol along pre-programmed paths and keep an eye out for signs of trouble."
================================
And you thought Protedyne was bad...
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Nanotech advances need more safety screening-study - Yahoo! News
Nanotech advances need more safety screening-study - Yahoo! News: "NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nanotechnology, an engineering science that holds hope for scores of new products and processes, is not being properly evaluated for human and environmental risks, a study released this week has found.
The rapidly evolving science, which involves scores of start-ups, corporations and universities seeking to engineer materials on a molecular level, carries both actual and perceived environmental, health and safety (EHS) risks.
But without a full and continuing assessment of those risks, the nascent industry expected to employ thousands of people and generate billions of dollars in revenue may be hobbled by public opposition or corporate mishaps, a study by investment house Lux Research concludes."
=======================
Nanotech, lots of good and bad potential there.
The rapidly evolving science, which involves scores of start-ups, corporations and universities seeking to engineer materials on a molecular level, carries both actual and perceived environmental, health and safety (EHS) risks.
But without a full and continuing assessment of those risks, the nascent industry expected to employ thousands of people and generate billions of dollars in revenue may be hobbled by public opposition or corporate mishaps, a study by investment house Lux Research concludes."
=======================
Nanotech, lots of good and bad potential there.
Monday, June 06, 2005
'Super' bacteria live on sheets, fingernails: study - Yahoo! News
'Super' bacteria live on sheets, fingernails: study - Yahoo! News: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The mutated, drug-resistant 'superbugs' that cause an increasing number of hospital infections and deaths can live for weeks on bed linens, computer keyboard covers and under acrylic fingernails, U.S. researchers reported on Monday."
=========================
Whoa. Probably caused by years of anti-bacterial soap.
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Whoa. Probably caused by years of anti-bacterial soap.
Friday, June 03, 2005
Katan Associates Study Shows Long-Awaited Life Sciences Roll-Up Will Continue, as Pharma and Larger Biotechs Hustle to Fill Dwindling Pipelines
Katan Associates Study Shows Long-Awaited Life Sciences Roll-Up Will Continue, as Pharma and Larger Biotechs Hustle to Fill Dwindling Pipelines: "LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 3, 2005--Katan Associates International
Asia and European Union will continue to be fertile breeding ground for M&A transactions
Biotech-driven acquisitions will remain at the forefront of deal activity
'Consolidation will continue among Pharma and Biotech in 2005, whether a true 'roll-up' occurs or not. This activity will be fueled by the need for Pharma to fill the pipeline and the need for Biotech to continue to gain critical mass,' says Seth Yakatan, MBA, Partner, Katan Associates International. 'While the United States has historically been the most active region for deals, Europe and Asia will provide fertile grounds for buyers, given value considerations and a strong lack of mezzanine and secondary capital providers in these markets.'"
======================
Interesting...
Asia and European Union will continue to be fertile breeding ground for M&A transactions
Biotech-driven acquisitions will remain at the forefront of deal activity
'Consolidation will continue among Pharma and Biotech in 2005, whether a true 'roll-up' occurs or not. This activity will be fueled by the need for Pharma to fill the pipeline and the need for Biotech to continue to gain critical mass,' says Seth Yakatan, MBA, Partner, Katan Associates International. 'While the United States has historically been the most active region for deals, Europe and Asia will provide fertile grounds for buyers, given value considerations and a strong lack of mezzanine and secondary capital providers in these markets.'"
======================
Interesting...
Thursday, June 02, 2005
Israeli Companies Suspected of Spying - Yahoo! News
Israeli Companies Suspected of Spying - Yahoo! News: "JERUSALEM - It started out as a family feud. But a small-time computer break-in has erupted into Israel's biggest business scandal in decades, reaching into some of the country's powerful corporate suites and jolting the cozy world of the industrial elite.
Top Israeli blue chip companies, including a high-tech giant that trades in New York, are suspected of using illicit surveillance software to steal information from their rivals and enemies."
=======================
And we were all worried about the Koreans stealing biotech secrets.
Top Israeli blue chip companies, including a high-tech giant that trades in New York, are suspected of using illicit surveillance software to steal information from their rivals and enemies."
=======================
And we were all worried about the Koreans stealing biotech secrets.
Scientists Experiment With 'Trust' Hormone - Yahoo! News
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...
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...
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?
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