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Archive for the ‘biotech/medical’ category: Page 1363

Feb 17, 2021

Ordering the vegetarian meal? There’s more animal blood on your hands

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, food

“Figures published in 2011 suggest that, in Australia, producing wheat and other grains results in: at least 25 times more sentient animals being killed per kilogram of useable protein more environmental damage, and a great deal more animal cruelty than does farming red meat. How is this possible? Agriculture to produce wheat, rice and pulses requires clear-felling native vegetation. That act alone results in the deaths of thousands of Australian animals and plants per hectare. Since Europeans arrived on this continent we have lost more than half of Australia’s unique native vegetation, mostly to increase production of monocultures of introduced species for human consumption. Most of Australia’s arable land is already in use. If more Australians want their nutritional needs to be met by plants, our arable land will need to be even more intensely farmed. This will require a net increase in the use of fertilisers, herbicides, pesticides and other threats to biodiversity and environmental health. Or, if existing laws are changed, more native vegetation could be cleared for agriculture (an area the size of Victoria plus Tasmania would be needed to produce the additional amount of plant-based food required). Most cattle slaughtered in Australia feed solely on pasture. This is usually rangelands, which constitute about 70 per cent of the continent.”


Going vegetarian, or even vegan, to minimise animal suffering and promote sustainable agriculture, actually kills more sentient animals living in vegetable crops that livestock farmed in paddocks.

Feb 17, 2021

How the Human Brain May Tap Into Visual Cues When Lacking a Sense of Touch

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Summary: Study of people who are unable to feel touch reveals surprising new details about how we unconsciously embody our physical selves.

Source: university of chicago medical center.

Feb 17, 2021

Defining spatial topography of gene expression in six-layered human dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

A team of researchers from Johns Hopkins Medical Campus, working with medical research company 10x Genomics has used a spatial gene expression technology to further define the six-layered human dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. In their paper published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, the group describes their use of the new technology and what it allowed them to see in their study of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.

Feb 17, 2021

World’s Oldest DNA – 1.2 Million Years Old – Reveals How Mammoths Evolved

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

An international team led by researchers at the Centre for Palaeogenetics in Stockholm has sequenced DNA recovered from mammoth remains that are up to 1.2 million years old. The analyses show that the Columbian mammoth that inhabited North America during the last ice age was a hybrid between the woolly mammoth and a previously unknown genetic lineage of mammoth. In addition, the study provides new insights into when and how fast mammoths became adapted to cold climate. These findings are published today (February 172021) in Nature.

Around one million years ago there were no woolly or Columbian mammoths, as they had not yet evolved. This was the time of their predecessor, the ancient steppe mammoth. Researchers have now managed to analyze the genomes from three ancient mammoths, using DNA recovered from mammoth teeth that had been buried for 0.7−1.2 million years in the Siberian permafrost.

Feb 17, 2021

Covid-19: World’s first human trials given green light in UK

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Healthy, young volunteers will be infected with coronavirus to test vaccines and treatments.


Like.

Feb 17, 2021

First baby born after uterus transplant in France

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

A baby has been born following a uterus transplant for the first time ever in France, the hospital treating mother and infant said Wednesday. Such births are extremely rare but not unprecedented, and come after a cutting-edge procedure to transplant a healthy uterus into a woman whose own is damaged or missing. The baby, a girl weighing 1.845 kilogrammes (4.059 pounds), was born on Friday, according to the team at the Foch hospital outside Paris.

Feb 16, 2021

Bill Gates: Unlike Elon Musk, I’m not a Mars person

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, Elon Musk, space travel

Gates wants to focus on fixing problems on earth instead of traveling into space.


Gates said he’d rather spend money on measles vaccines than traveling to space in a rocket.

Feb 16, 2021

Imperial College expert warns against lifting restrictions too soon

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Imperial College expert warns new coronavirus wave could kill tens of thousands of Britons by late summer if lockdown is completely lifted too early.


Professor Azra Ghani revealed how a new model made at Imperial College London forecasts a wave of deaths by summer 2021 if restrictions are eased in July — even despite a successful vaccine rollout.

Continue reading “Imperial College expert warns against lifting restrictions too soon” »

Feb 16, 2021

In Gaza, these 3D-printed masks are helping burn victims

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, futurism

Creating 3D printed masks for burn victims. These masks help prevent scarring and prepares the recipients for future surgery.


Preventing scarring, providing confidence.

Feb 16, 2021

Ultrasound-modulated optical glucose sensing using a 1645 nm laser

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Circa 2020


Regular and frequent blood glucose monitoring is vital in managing diabetes treatment plans and preventing severe complications. Because current invasive techniques impede patient compliance and are not infection-free, many noninvasive methods have been proposed. Among them, optical methods have drawn much attention for their rich optical contrast, but their resolution is degraded in deep tissue. Here, we present an ultrasound-modulated optical sensing (UOS) technique to noninvasively monitor glucose that uses an infrared laser (1645 nm) and a single-element focused ultrasound transducer. Focused ultrasound waves can acoustically localize diffused photons in scattering media, and thus optical contrast can be represented with much enhanced spatial resolution.