Computer-Guided Nanoparticle Therapy Destroys Tumors
Jul0
“Gold nanoshells are among the most promising new nanoscale therapeutics being developed to kill tumors, acting as antennas that turn light energy into heat that cooks cancer to death. Now, a multi-institutional research team has shown that polymer-coated gold nanorods one-up their spherical counterparts, with a single dose completely destroying all tumors in a nonhuman animal model of human cancer.”
Teenage “baby” may lack master ageing gene
Jun0
“Walker thinks that Brooke is the first recorded case of what he describes as “developmental disorganization”. His hypothesis is that the cause is disruption of an as-yet unidentified gene, or genes, that hold the key to ageing by orchestrating how an organism matures to adulthood, reproduces, then gradually ages and dies.
“Walker believes that Brooke lacks this “regulator” of development – first proposed in 1932 by British marine biologist, George Parker Bidder. Like Bidder, Walker believes that the regulator guides organisms through to adulthood, but also works beyond then to orchestrate ageing and, eventually, death.”
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17379-teenage-baby-may-lack-master-ageing-gene.html
AI in the C-Suite (Forbes.com)
Jun0
“New fields of research under the banner of “data mining,” also known as informatics, have emerged to tackle not just the volume, but also the sheer complexity of modern data, such as the rise of bioinformatics in the field of medicine. And this, in my opinion, is the inroad into the business community that AI has needed.”
In Worms, Genetic Clues to Extending Longevity
Jun0
“People die, but one part of them, at least in principle, is immortal. In the germline cells that produce eggs or sperm, biological time stands still. This is why babies are all born with the same age, the clock set to zero, regardless of the age of their parents.”
Superhuman Imagination: Vernor Vinge on science fiction, the Singularity and the state (Reason.com)
Jun0
“It seems plausible,” Vinge says, “that with technology we can, in the fairly near future, create or become creatures who surpass humans in every intellectual and creative dimension. Events beyond such a singular event are as unimaginable to us as opera is to a flatworm.”
…..
“But if the Singularity were in prospect for 1,000 years from now, I think that many, including the likes of Ben Franklin, would regard it as the meliorist outcome of all the human striving down the centuries. It’s the possibility that it could happen in the next 20 years that’s scary! ”
Singularity University
Jun0
Just add a “U.”
How much will it cost for a student to attend?
Tuition for the Executive Programs ($8K for 3-day; $12K for 10-day) are approximate and no scholarships are available at this time.
Tuition for the 9 week GSP is US$ 25,000 (this includes all housing, food and tuition, but does not cover any travel to/from the program). A limited number of partial and full scholarships are available. We encourage our students to use their contacts and ingenuity to raise funds from donors and corporate sponsors to cover a portion of their tuition.
How Close Are We to Real Nanotechnology?
Jun0
“‘If we rearrange the atoms in coal we can make diamond,’ explains nanopioneer Dr. Ralph Merkle. ‘If we rearrange the atoms in sand (and add a few other trace elements) we can make computer chips. If we rearrange the atoms in dirt, water and air we can make potatoes.’”
“Such is the vision of nanotechnology – like the Mr. Fusion unit on the DeLorean time machine in the movie series Back to the Future, you can imagine dropping a banana peel into your Mr. Nano unit instead. Rather than the 1.5 GW of power required to power Dr. Emmett Brown’s time machine, you get Chicken Cordon Bleu (or a bag of potato chips if you prefer).”
http://hplusmagazine.com/articles/nano/how-close-are-we-real-nanotechnology
Newsweek writes about Ray Kurzweil; Ray Kurzweil corrects their errors and inaccuracies
May0
http://www.singularity.com/Newsweek/
Original Newsweek article: http://www.newsweek.com/id/197812/page/1.
Really Great Stem Cell Research News (Reason.com)
May0
“Researchers at Harvard and Advanced Cell Technology are reporting that they have been able to turn ordinary skin cells into stem cells by dousing them with the proteins made by four specific genes. The researchers were then able to turn the stem cells into mature cells of various tissues.”
The Singularity Summit at Stanford
May0
Ray Kurzweil’s keynote address at The Singularity Summit at Stanford sponsored by the Singularity Institute in May 2006.
There are links to parts 2 and 3 from part 1.