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Archive for the ‘biotech/medical’ category: Page 1732

Mar 15, 2020

How China is planning to go to Mars amid the coronavirus outbreak

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, space

Two other international teams are planning Mars launches in July. NASA plans to deploy a rover named Perseverance, and the United Arab Emirates will send a probe called Hope. The European and Russian space agencies were planning to send a probe to Mars this year, but announced on Thursday that the launch will be delayed by two years so they can finish important tests, and partly because of the coronavirus pandemic.


China’s first journey to Mars is one of the most anticipated space missions of the year. But with parts of the country in some form of lockdown because of the coronavirus, the mission teams have had to find creative ways to continue their work.

Researchers involved in the mission remain tight-lipped about its key aspects, but several reports from Chinese state media say that the outbreak will not affect the July launch — the only window for another two years.

Continue reading “How China is planning to go to Mars amid the coronavirus outbreak” »

Mar 15, 2020

Ending Aging

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension

Scientists who study the biology of Aging agreed that we would someday be able to slow down the aging process substantially.

Dr. Aubrey de Grey, Chief Science Officer at SENS Research Foundation and VP of New Technology Discovery at AgeX Therapeutics believes that the critical biomedical technology required to eliminate aging derived debilitation and death is now within reach.

In his book “Ending Aging” he and his research assistant Michael Rae described the details of this biotechnology. They explained that the Aging of the human body, just like the Aging of manmade machines, results from an accumulation of various types of damage. As with manmade machines, this damage can periodically be repaired, leading to the indefinite extension of the machines fully functional lifetime just as is routinely done with classic cars.

Mar 14, 2020

Chinese Tycoon Who Criticized Xi’s Response to Coronavirus Has Vanished

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, government

Ren Zhiqiang appears to be the latest government critic silenced by the Communist Party as it cracks down on dissent over the epidemic.

Mar 14, 2020

Expert: Chinese Scientists Sell Lab Animals as Meat on the Black Market

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, food

Population Research Institute President Steven W. Mosher wrote at the New York Post on Saturday that China’s coronavirus epidemic could have been unleashed by researchers who sold laboratory animals to the notorious “wet markets” of Wuhan for extra cash.

Mosher is not the first skeptic of Beijing’s official coronavirus narrative to note the presence of an advanced microbiology lab near Wuhan, the city where the epidemic originated. Since the early days of the crisis, theories have suggested everything from the lab accidentally releasing the virus to speculation that the virus might have been deliberately designed as a biological weapon.

His theory cited as evidence the release of new guidelines from the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology calling for “strengthening biosecurity management in microbiology labs that handle advanced viruses like the novel coronavirus.”

Mar 14, 2020

France gets ready to close all cafés, restaurants, clubs and cinemas

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, entertainment

All restaurants, cafés, cinemas and clubs in France will close at midnight in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus, the French prime minister Édouard Philippe said in a press conference.

He said the virus is spreading faster even though limitations on mass gatherings were imposed.

“People are still going to cafes and restaurants which is something that I would normally enjoy because this is the French way of living but not during these times,” he said.

Mar 14, 2020

Can wearing a face mask protect you from the new coronavirus?

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, health

A regular face mask won’t stop the coronavirus. An N95 respirator can help, but you need special training to learn how to use one, and they are most needed for health care workers.

Mar 14, 2020

Denver, Aurora police no longer sending officers to low-level crimes to minimize spread of coronavirus

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Uh oh…


Denver and Aurora police will no longer send an officer to take reports on low-level incidents in an effort to protect their staff from the new coronavirus.

Both departments are encouraging people to report crimes online if they don’t require an immediate response and if no one is in danger. The departments can then follow up with a phone call without risking exposure of officers or the person making the complaint to the virus. Aurora police leadership said they would not send officers to a call unless there is still a crime in progress or its a serious offense.

Continue reading “Denver, Aurora police no longer sending officers to low-level crimes to minimize spread of coronavirus” »

Mar 14, 2020

Human antibody to new coronavirus

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

First step towards medicine against new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)

Mar 14, 2020

Electrical Field May Speed Wound Healing

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

O.o circa 2019.


A scientist in Wisconsin has invented a bandage that uses an electrical field to speed up the time needed for a wound to heal. It could one day lead to treatments for baldness and obesity.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Continue reading “Electrical Field May Speed Wound Healing” »

Mar 14, 2020

Jugaad epitomized: a deep dive into India’s synthetic biology scene

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical

Google the word “jugaad,” and you’ll find a plethora of results, from simple dictionary definitions to advice that Western companies should adopt it as part of their practices. Jugaad — a colloquial Hindi, Bengali, and Punjab word — simply means “hack,” and captures the pervasive Indian spirit of finding a low-cost — and sometimes quite resourceful — solution to any problem. If this word doesn’t make one think of entrepreneurship, I don’t know what does.

Indeed, the small-scale biotech facilities scattered all across India, offering products with extremely high adoption rates such as microbial-based biofertilizers, capture the essence of jugaad. In India, finding solutions to the problems at hand is very natural, a way of life, essentially — and any solution, especially an economically sensible one, will be readily adopted. With such a pervasive ideal, India seems like the perfect setting for synthetic biology and biotech-based innovation.