June 11, 2011
Published by admin at June 11, 2011
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A paper in Nature, summarised in The Scientist, reports success in making progenitor cells, that naturally exist in the outer layer of heart tissue, proliferate, migrate into heart muscle and transform into heart muscle cells (cardiomyocytes). The research in mice “suggests that the human heart could be encouraged to repair itself […]
May 22, 2011
Published by admin at May 22, 2011
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While lab-grown skin has been around for a while (relatively speaking!) and artifical bladders have already been used medically, the problem with growing solid organs is that their three-dimensional structure can be important, both in terms of localisation of cells with different specialisations and the blood supply to the organ. […]
May 21, 2011
Published by admin at May 21, 2011
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Telomeres are the “caps” on the ends of chromosomes that keep things functioning smoothly. Normally, each time a cell divides its telomeres get shorter, until eventually the cells can no longer function. The enzyme telomerase can restore the telomeres (that is how many cancer cells achieve their self-destructive “immortality”). By […]
May 21, 2011
Published by admin at May 21, 2011
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In the immortal words of Starship Troopers (originally of a military commander in the 20th century, I believe): “Do you wanna live forever?” A while ago at our monthly philosophy meetings, my talk was life extension: how for the first time in human history, technology was advancing at a sufficient […]
May 21, 2011
Published by admin at May 21, 2011
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There is a curious debate on the final elimination of smallpox stocks, reported in The Scientist: Destroying smallpox stocks This week, health ministers from the World Health Organization’s member countries will gather to decide the fate of the last two known remaining stocks of smallpox virus. Scientists and health officials […]
May 6, 2011
Published by admin at May 6, 2011
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Good recent news is the sensible decision by a US Appeals Court overturning an injunction that barred the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from funding research using human embryonic stem cells. Good as far as it goes, but it doesn’t put a stop to court action, which is based on a […]
May 5, 2011
Published by admin at May 5, 2011
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An interesting report from The Scientist: Chronic diseases world’s no. 1 killer Chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease are now the biggest killers around the world, a new report by the World Health Organization found. Accounting for more than 60 percent of the deaths worldwide in 2008, […]
April 9, 2011
Published by admin at April 9, 2011
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Ayn Rand identified the “package deal” as one of the deadly errors of thinking: combining opposites into the one concept, thus hopelessly confusing thinking. It is at its worst in ethical issues, where something good is conflated with something bad: something that can only damage the good and promote the […]
April 7, 2011
Published by admin at April 7, 2011
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Scientific American reports: Scientists want politics kept out of endangered species decisions Some 1,293 scientists have sent a letter to each and every U.S. senator urging them not to support any endangered species legislation that is based on politics rather than science. But the very existence of an “endangered species […]