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Nov 16, 2016

Test of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the brain shows improved multitasking performance

Posted by in category: neuroscience

Placement of five anode electrodes (left) over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the cathode (right) over the right shoulder (to avoid spurious cognitive effects from cortical excitability) (credit: Justin Nelson et al./ Front. Hum. Neurosci.)

In an experiment at the Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, researchers have found that transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) of the brain can improve people’s multitasking skills and help avoid the drop in performance that comes with information overload.

The study was reported in a pre-publication paper in the open-access journal Frontiers of Human Neuroscience. It was motivated by the observation that various Air Force operations such as remotely piloted and manned aircraft operations require a human operator to monitor and respond to multiple events simultaneously over a long period of time. “With the monotonous nature of these tasks, the operator’s performance may decline shortly after their work shift commences,” according to the researchers.

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Nov 16, 2016

You Can Watch the First Episode of Syfy’s Incorporated Right Now

Posted by in categories: futurism, government

https://youtube.com/watch?v=RlzKH5nMr9E

Nifty…I’ll definitely give it a go when I find the time!

Has anyone else seen it yet? If so, thoughts?

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Nov 16, 2016

DNA-editing breakthrough could fix ‘broken genes’ in the brain, delay ageing and cure incurable diseases

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, life extension, neuroscience

Scientists have discovered a new way to edit DNA that could fix “broken genes” in the brain, cure previously incurable diseases and potentially even extend the human lifespan.

The breakthrough – described as a “holy grail” of genetics – was used to partially restore the sight of rats blinded by a condition which also affects humans.

Previously researchers were not able to make changes to DNA in eye, brain, heart and liver tissues.

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Nov 16, 2016

Cholesterol drug shows promise to help reverse heart disease

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Progress for heart disease!


For the first time, a new drug given along with a cholesterol-lowering statin medicine has proved able to shrink plaque that is clogging arteries, potentially giving a way to undo some of the damage of heart disease.

The difference was very small but doctors hope it will grow with longer treatment, and any reversal or stabilization of disease would be a win for patients and a long-sought goal.

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Nov 16, 2016

In silico Pathway Activation Network Decomposition Analysis (iPANDA) as a method for biomarker development

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, information science, life extension

Great to see more quality aging biomarkers arriving for researchers. Well done to Alex Zhavoronkov and his team for this brilliant work.


Pathway analysis aids interpretation of large-scale gene expression data, but existing algorithms fall short of providing robust pathway identification.

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Nov 16, 2016

NASA’s Quest for Suspended Animation Has Led to John Bradford’s Bear Den

Posted by in category: space travel

To get to Mars faster, humans might have to slow themselves down grizzly-style.

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Nov 16, 2016

Automatic Charging for E-Mobility

Posted by in categories: energy, transportation

NRG-X is the world’s first fully automatic charging solution, which provides efficient, high power energy transfer, has a great range of parking tolerance and can be simply retrofitted to almost every electric vehicle. Therefore, NRG-X is the ideal solution for convenient every day charging of your electric vehicle primarily at home. The system comprises two basic components:

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Nov 16, 2016

CRISPR gene-editing tested in a person for the first time

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, engineering, genetics

I said over a year ago that if the US will not do it China will. Whilst there was talk about a moratorium on CRISPR in the US the Chinese were forging ahead and taking steps to become a world leader in biotech. Well here we are, they have deployed CRISPR in humans for cancer and this is only the start. As George Church advocates, we should have appropriate engineering safety measures in place but we should push ahead and do these things.


The move by Chinese scientists could spark a biomedical duel between China and the United States.

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Nov 16, 2016

Spermidine found to lengthen lifespan in mice and to promote cardiovascular health

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, health

Fancy a bit of cheese?


(Medical Xpress)—A large team of researchers with members from several Europeans countries and the U.S. has found that mice fed a compound called spermidine lived longer than ordinary mice and also had better cardiovascular heath. In their paper published in the journal Nature Medicine, the researchers describe experiments they carried out with the compound and mice, what they found and why they believe the compound might provide benefits for humans.

Prior research has found that ingestion of spermidine—which was first discovered in semen samples, hence its name—led to longer lifespans in simple organisms such as fruit flies, yeast and roundworms. In this new study, the researchers sought to find out if the same would prove true for more complex creatures.

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Nov 16, 2016

Microsoft teams up with Elon Musk’s OpenAI project

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, robotics/AI

OpenAI, the artificial intelligence research non-profit backed by Tesla’s Elon Musk, Y Combinator’s Sam Altman, a Donald Trump fan called Peter Thiel, and numerous other tech luminaries, is partnering with Microsoft to tackle the next set of challenges in the still-nascent field.

OpenAI will also make Microsoft Azure its preferred cloud platform, in part because of its existing support for AI workloads with the help of Azure Batch and Azure Machine Learning, as well as Microsoft’s work on its recently rebranded Cognitive Toolkit. Microsoft also offers developers access to a high-powered GPU-centric virtual machine for these kind of machine learning workloads. These N-Series machines are still in beta, but OpenAI has been an early adopter of them and Microsoft says they will become generally available in December.

Amazon already offers a similar kind of GPU-focused virtual machine, though oddly enough, Google has lagged behind and — at least for the time being — doesn’t offer this kind of machine type yet.

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