Archive for the ‘biotech/medical’ category: Page 2567
Aug 31, 2016
How a Hillbilly Delivery Man Is Trailblazing Our Cyborg Future
Posted by Karen Hurst in categories: biotech/medical, cyborgs, neuroscience, transhumanism
Never under estimate people you never know who may be the next Bill Gates.
After losing his left arm to cancer in 2008, Jonny Matheny’s life changed radically. The self-styled West Virginia hillbilly, formerly a retail bread sales and delivery man, started traveling to medical research facilities around the country to volunteer as a test-subject for advanced prosthetics and experimental surgeries. Today, Matheny is something of a Model T for cyborgs, wielding one of the most advanced mind-controlled prosthetics ever built.
When I met Matheny at a DARPA technology expo earlier this year, I was astounded by the flexibility and responsiveness of his Modular Prosthetic Limb, the latest in a series of mind-controlled prosthetics developed at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. But nothing drives home the revolutionary potential of a device like this than seeing it used to perform mundane tasks: effortlessly putting on a hat or stirring a pot, for instance.
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Aug 31, 2016
Would treating cancer more like a long-term illness extend lives?
Posted by Karen Hurst in categories: biotech/medical, health
Interesting perspective on cancer.
A lot of the focus in the medical approach to cancer focuses on destroying it, but what if it was treated cancer like long-term diseases such as diabetes? Researchers have explored the concept of a method to control cancer with a drug delivery system that keeps the cells from multiplying.
The method, which researchers have called the “metronomic dosage regimen,” involves giving the patient lower doses of chemotherapy more frequently to create an environment where cancer cells cannot grow.
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Aug 31, 2016
What is Transhumanism?
Posted by Zoltan Istvan in categories: biotech/medical, evolution, robotics/AI, transhumanism
A nice story out on transhumanism:
An idea that has frequently been used by science fiction is now starting to gain widespread attention by futurists, scientists, philosophers, and even the general public; the idea that the human species needs to use either artificial augmentations or gene manipulation to usher in the next stage of evolution. That idea is transhumanism.
But why would humans want to willingly accelerate or initiate the next step in evolution? The positives of transhumanism are lofty goals that mankind has sought after for years, goals such as a world without diseases, ignorance, or even death. The only question, and an extremely important one, is how much is humanity willing to modify itself to attain those goals, and could the end result still be considered human? Some sources even suggest that in order to discuss individuals who are radically different from modern-day humans, the term “posthuman” must be used. Transhumanists who alter or augment themselves would theoretically at some point become a posthuman.
Aug 31, 2016
Elena Milova speaking in support of OncoSENS crowdfunding campaign
Posted by Steve Hill in categories: biotech/medical, life extension
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4U6qvNt81E&feature=youtu.be
The MMTP has recorded this film in support of SENS Research and their quest to find solutions to ALT cancer.
To support OncoSENS project with a donation click the link:
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Aug 31, 2016
Welcome to the digital health revolution
Posted by Klaus Baldauf in categories: biotech/medical, computing, economics, government, health, information science
Blended Reality is a versatile concept that can be extended from the physical and digital worlds to the chemical and biological world. In the convergence of healthcare diagnostics and digital health, it can play a fundamental role: the transformation of human biology, real-world parameters into digital data to obtain contextual health information and enable personalized drug treatments. The fusion of microfluidics, edge computing and commercial mobility with diagnostics, digital health, big data, precision medicine, and theranostics will disrupt existing, established structures in our healthcare system. This will allow new models of partnerships among technology and pharmaceutical industries (see fig. 1).
From the very beginning of mankind, healthcare was purely empirical and mostly a combination of empirical and spiritual skills. While access to cures was exclusive and very limited, the success rate was not very high in most cases. During the Renaissance a systematic exploration of natural phenomena and physiology laid the scientific foundation of modern medicine. A real breakthrough in quality and access to healthcare services has taken place in the past 150 years as an aftermath of the Industrial Revolution. It brought significant advances in science as well as societal changes: expanding government-granted access to the establishing working classes as the main human capital of the industrialization process in the Western Hemisphere. Keeping a business employees healthy became an indispensable prerequisite to increasing the national economic output and well-being on a societal level.
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Aug 31, 2016
Aubrey de Grey and Panel — Prolonging Lifespan
Posted by Montie Adkins in categories: biotech/medical, life extension
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5chIH_ozLkI
Inconvenient truths about aging, senescent cells and more.
Filmed August 16th 2016.
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Aug 31, 2016
Methuselah Foundation Fellowship Award Winner Tackles Research in Macular Degeneration
Posted by Steve Hill in categories: biotech/medical, chemistry, education, mathematics
Our friends at the Methuselah Foundation are working on macular degeneration.
Typically, a fellowship and participation in a research study to cure a major disease would occur years after completing undergrad, possibly even after earning a PhD. But Jennifer DeRosa is not a typical student.
As early as high school, DeRosa was already in the lab, conducting research in plant biotechnology at the College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) before graduating valedictorian from Skaneateles High School. As a freshman student at Onondaga Community College, she continued to develop skills in molecular biology, analytical chemistry, and cell biology. She logged over 1,600 hours in academic and industry laboratories while maintaining a perfect 4.0 GPA, completing her associate’s degree in Math and Science in only one year.
Aug 30, 2016
MIT’s 3D-Printed Shape-Shifting Objects Could Revolutionize Medicine
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: 3D printing, biotech/medical, cyborgs
Using light, a team of MIT researchers were able to print 3D structures that “remember” their original shapes. Even after being stretched, twisted, and bent at extreme angles, the structures sprang back to their original forms within seconds of being heated to a certain temperature “sweet spot.”
Beyond 3D-printed dinners, additive manufacturing has helped create artificial jaws, better prosthetics, and even brain tumors. Researchers at MIT have found a way to print 3D structures that remember their original shapes within seconds of being heated at a specific temperature “sweet spot,” paving the way towards developing tiny drug capsules that open upon early signs of infection.
Researchers often turn to 3D printing to fabricate shape-memory structures since the technology lets them to custom-design structures with relatively fine detail. The only problem is that conventional 3D printers come with size restrictions—the structures’ details can’t go any smaller than a few millimeters, and the restriction limits how fast the material can recover its original shape.
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