# Lately in Science, not Fiction. Part 2
1. Human Gene Editing: International Summit Statement
"Gene editing might also be used, in principle, to make genetic
alterations in gametes or embryos, which will be carried by all of the
cells of a resulting child and will be passed on to subsequent
generations as part of the human gene pool." ~ For three days,
some of the world’s leading geneticists and bioethicists have locked
themselves in a room in Washington DC to determine whether humans should
use genome editing tools on themselves. Yesterday, they released a statement that could help guide the genetically modified future of our species. B.S. Motto: If you can imagine something, it means that someone is working on that already!
More about (whole text) here: Link*
More about (whole text) here: Link*
2. New material forges the way for “stem cell factories”
"Experts at The Univ. of Nottingham have discovered the first fully
synthetic substrate with potential to grow billions of stem cells. The
research, published in Advanced Materials, could forge the way for the
creation of “stem cell factories”— the mass production of human
embryonic (pluripotent) stem cells.
If you experience a major heart attack the damage could cost you around five billion heart cells. Future stem cell treatments will require this number and more to ensure those cells are replaced and improve your chances of survival.
Prof. Alexander said: "The possibilities for regenerative medicine are still being researched in the form of clinical trials. What we are doing here is paving the way for the manufacture of stem cells in large numbers when those therapies are proved to be safe and effective."
Prof. Denning, whose field is in cardiac stem cell research, said: "The field of regenerative medicine has snowballed in the last five years and over the coming five years a lot more patients will be receiving stem cell treatments. Clinical trials are still in the very early stages. However, with this kind of product, if we can get it commercialized and validated by the regulators it could be helping patients in two to three years."
More about: Link*
If you experience a major heart attack the damage could cost you around five billion heart cells. Future stem cell treatments will require this number and more to ensure those cells are replaced and improve your chances of survival.
Prof. Alexander said: "The possibilities for regenerative medicine are still being researched in the form of clinical trials. What we are doing here is paving the way for the manufacture of stem cells in large numbers when those therapies are proved to be safe and effective."
Prof. Denning, whose field is in cardiac stem cell research, said: "The field of regenerative medicine has snowballed in the last five years and over the coming five years a lot more patients will be receiving stem cell treatments. Clinical trials are still in the very early stages. However, with this kind of product, if we can get it commercialized and validated by the regulators it could be helping patients in two to three years."
More about: Link*
3. $13.5M Moore Grant to Develop Working ‘Accelerator on a Chip’ Prototype
“The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has awarded $13.5 million to
Stanford University for an international effort, including key
contributions from the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, to build a working particle accelerator the size of a shoebox based on an innovative technology known as “accelerator on a chip.”
This novel technique, which uses laser light to propel electrons through a series of artfully crafted chips, has the potential to revolutionize science, medicine and other fields by dramatically shrinking the size and cost of particle accelerators.
“Can we do for particle accelerators what the microchip industry did for computers?” said SLAC physicist Joel England, an investigator with the 5-year project. “Making them much smaller and cheaper would democratize accelerators, potentially making them available to millions of people. We can’t even imagine the creative applications they would find for this technology.”
Robert L. Byer, a Stanford professor of applied physics and co-principal investigator for the project who has been working on the idea for 40 years, said, “Based on our proposed revolutionary design, this prototype could set the stage for a new generation of ‘tabletop’ accelerators, with unanticipated discoveries in biology and materials science and potential applications in security scanning, medical therapy and X-ray imaging.”
This novel technique, which uses laser light to propel electrons through a series of artfully crafted chips, has the potential to revolutionize science, medicine and other fields by dramatically shrinking the size and cost of particle accelerators.
“Can we do for particle accelerators what the microchip industry did for computers?” said SLAC physicist Joel England, an investigator with the 5-year project. “Making them much smaller and cheaper would democratize accelerators, potentially making them available to millions of people. We can’t even imagine the creative applications they would find for this technology.”
Robert L. Byer, a Stanford professor of applied physics and co-principal investigator for the project who has been working on the idea for 40 years, said, “Based on our proposed revolutionary design, this prototype could set the stage for a new generation of ‘tabletop’ accelerators, with unanticipated discoveries in biology and materials science and potential applications in security scanning, medical therapy and X-ray imaging.”
See also a video about: Link*
4. Ray Kurzweils wildest prediction until 2030 (about "nanorobots")
"In the 2030s we are going to send nano-robots into the brain (via capillaries) that will provide full immersion virtual reality from within the nervous system and will connect our neocortex to the cloud" ~ said Ray Kurzweil, an American author, computer scientist, inventor and futurist, promoter of transhumanism.
"As reported, "of the 147 predictions that Kurzweil has made since the 1990s, fully 115 of them have turned out to be correct, and another 12 have turned out to be "essentially correct" (off by a year or two), giving his predictions a stunning 86% accuracy rate." ~ He predicted or "disclosed" ahead of time???
Read more about (original text): Link*
5. DARPA looks to revolutionize neural interface implants
"DARPA has announced a program aimed at developing a cutting edge neural
implant capable of forming a communication bridge between a human brain
and electronic devices. It is hoped that technology developed under the
Neural Engineering System Design program will have a wide range of
applications in research and healthcare.
While modern computing continues to develop at a staggering pace, we're yet to develop a system that's truly capable of interfacing with the complexities of the human brain. DARPA's new program aims to improve things, dramatically enhancing the capabilities of neurotechnology.
"Today's best brain-computer interface systems are like two supercomputers trying to talk to each other using an old 300-baud modem," said Phillip Alvelda, manager of the NESD program. "Imagine what will become possible when we upgrade our tools to really open the channel between the human brain and modern electronics."
Neural interfaces currently employed in research programs compress vast amounts of information through 100 channels, each of which receives sensory information sent from tens of thousands of neurons. Unsurprisingly, this doesn't lead to the best results, with readings regularly coming through inaccurate and noisy.
DARPA envisions the next generation of the technology to be far more precise, leading the way with an implantable neural interface system with the capacity to connect and receive data from any one of up to a million neurons, all while measuring no more than one cubic centimeter in size.
The challenges faced by the program, both in terms of research and complexity in hardware design, are phenomenal. According to the agency, in order to achieve its goals, significant breakthroughs will have to be made in a wide range of scientific fields, from synthetic biology to neuroscience and low-power electronics. NESD researchers will work to develop complex, novel techniques designed to transcode the electrochemical signals transmitted by neurons in the brain, and present the data with the highest possible fidelity.
If the program does prove successful, then there will be a wide array of potential applications, from opening up new avenues in neurotechnology, utilizing the sensory data collected by the implant to significantly improve a patient's sight or hearing, and new treatment options for therapy patients."
While modern computing continues to develop at a staggering pace, we're yet to develop a system that's truly capable of interfacing with the complexities of the human brain. DARPA's new program aims to improve things, dramatically enhancing the capabilities of neurotechnology.
"Today's best brain-computer interface systems are like two supercomputers trying to talk to each other using an old 300-baud modem," said Phillip Alvelda, manager of the NESD program. "Imagine what will become possible when we upgrade our tools to really open the channel between the human brain and modern electronics."
Neural interfaces currently employed in research programs compress vast amounts of information through 100 channels, each of which receives sensory information sent from tens of thousands of neurons. Unsurprisingly, this doesn't lead to the best results, with readings regularly coming through inaccurate and noisy.
DARPA envisions the next generation of the technology to be far more precise, leading the way with an implantable neural interface system with the capacity to connect and receive data from any one of up to a million neurons, all while measuring no more than one cubic centimeter in size.
The challenges faced by the program, both in terms of research and complexity in hardware design, are phenomenal. According to the agency, in order to achieve its goals, significant breakthroughs will have to be made in a wide range of scientific fields, from synthetic biology to neuroscience and low-power electronics. NESD researchers will work to develop complex, novel techniques designed to transcode the electrochemical signals transmitted by neurons in the brain, and present the data with the highest possible fidelity.
If the program does prove successful, then there will be a wide array of potential applications, from opening up new avenues in neurotechnology, utilizing the sensory data collected by the implant to significantly improve a patient's sight or hearing, and new treatment options for therapy patients."
Full text here: Link*
6. Vein Viewer
VeinViewer is an infrared device used by medical professionals in the field to locate veins and arteries beneath the skin to aid in needle placement accuracy.
See Video: Link*
See Video: Link*
Read also: Link*
7. Russian scientists find traces of sea plankton on ISS surface!
The creatures were found during a space walk to clean the surface of the space station. The organisms seem to be a type of sea plankton and microscopic particles on the illuminator surface.
Nobody knows how they remained alive in space. Russian scientists are
both “shocked by [the] discovery and can’t really explain how [it] is
possible.” Several surveys proved that these organisms can even develop.
Source: Link*
Source: Link*
 |
| Illustration below showing how regions of low density may actually be evidence of a corrugated structure. |
8. Milky Way could be 50% Bigger Than We Thought
by Yan Xu (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY)
"The Milky Way Galaxy is huge with our small solar system acting as just a grain of sand of the giant beach that is the galaxy. NASA previously estimated that the galaxy spans approximately 100,000 light years across. With each light year representing about 6 trillion miles, we are talking about an almost unimaginable distance.
We know quite a lot about the Milky Way, so how can it be that we’re just now realizing that we were so wrong about its size? It turns out that what seemed to be concentric rings of stars surrounding our galaxy’s bulging center are instead concentric ripples–and that means the galaxy doesn’t end where we thought it did.
The concentric dense rings of stars are situated in this alternative pattern: a ring north of the galactic plane at two kiloparsecs (kpc; one kiloparsec equals 3,262 light-years) from the Sun, another south of the plane at four to six kpc, another (corresponding to the Monoceros Ring) north of the plane at eight to ten kpc, and a fourth south of the plane at 12 to 16 kpc.
These oscillating rings seem to line up with the Milky Way’s spiral arms. This ripple-like structure means that the Milky Way is around 150,000 light-years in diameter, rather than the previously proposed 100,000 light-years. The oscillations might be the result of a dwarf galaxy or body of dark matter interacting with the galaxy; if so, the oscillations could provide a means to indirectly measure the distribution dark matter in the Milky Way.
Scientist Yan Xu explains “We identified an asymmetry in disk stars that oscillates from the north to the south across the galactic plane in the anticenter direction,”.
“What we see now is that this apparent ring is actually a ripple in the disk. And it may well be that there are more ripples further out which we have not yet seen,” Xu said.
The new findings change our current understanding of the structure of the Milky Way. They reveal a galactic disc that is not stretched along a plane, but is contoured into concentric ripples with ridges and grooves. “As it radiates outward from the sun, we see at least four ripples in the disk of the Milky Way. While we can only look at part of the galaxy with this data, we assume that this pattern is going to be found throughout the disk,” Heidi Newberg from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York said, in a statement.
“It’s very similar to what would happen if you throw a pebble into still water – the waves will radiate out from the point of impact,” said Newberg. “If a dwarf galaxy goes through the disk, it would gravitationally pull the disk up as it comes in, and pull the disk down as it goes through, and this will set up a wave pattern that propagates outward. If you view this in the context of other research that’s emerged in the past two to three years, you start to see a picture is forming.”
The astronomers are hoping that 3D, high-resolution images of the ring of stars could be helpful in revealing more details and concluding the size of the galaxy. Scientists are now planning to use Gaia telescope in Europe for further investigations. Along with examining the Monoceros Ring, they are also planning to analyze the stars beyond the Monoceros filament."
"The Milky Way Galaxy is huge with our small solar system acting as just a grain of sand of the giant beach that is the galaxy. NASA previously estimated that the galaxy spans approximately 100,000 light years across. With each light year representing about 6 trillion miles, we are talking about an almost unimaginable distance.
We know quite a lot about the Milky Way, so how can it be that we’re just now realizing that we were so wrong about its size? It turns out that what seemed to be concentric rings of stars surrounding our galaxy’s bulging center are instead concentric ripples–and that means the galaxy doesn’t end where we thought it did.
The concentric dense rings of stars are situated in this alternative pattern: a ring north of the galactic plane at two kiloparsecs (kpc; one kiloparsec equals 3,262 light-years) from the Sun, another south of the plane at four to six kpc, another (corresponding to the Monoceros Ring) north of the plane at eight to ten kpc, and a fourth south of the plane at 12 to 16 kpc.
These oscillating rings seem to line up with the Milky Way’s spiral arms. This ripple-like structure means that the Milky Way is around 150,000 light-years in diameter, rather than the previously proposed 100,000 light-years. The oscillations might be the result of a dwarf galaxy or body of dark matter interacting with the galaxy; if so, the oscillations could provide a means to indirectly measure the distribution dark matter in the Milky Way.
Scientist Yan Xu explains “We identified an asymmetry in disk stars that oscillates from the north to the south across the galactic plane in the anticenter direction,”.
“What we see now is that this apparent ring is actually a ripple in the disk. And it may well be that there are more ripples further out which we have not yet seen,” Xu said.
The new findings change our current understanding of the structure of the Milky Way. They reveal a galactic disc that is not stretched along a plane, but is contoured into concentric ripples with ridges and grooves. “As it radiates outward from the sun, we see at least four ripples in the disk of the Milky Way. While we can only look at part of the galaxy with this data, we assume that this pattern is going to be found throughout the disk,” Heidi Newberg from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York said, in a statement.
“It’s very similar to what would happen if you throw a pebble into still water – the waves will radiate out from the point of impact,” said Newberg. “If a dwarf galaxy goes through the disk, it would gravitationally pull the disk up as it comes in, and pull the disk down as it goes through, and this will set up a wave pattern that propagates outward. If you view this in the context of other research that’s emerged in the past two to three years, you start to see a picture is forming.”
The astronomers are hoping that 3D, high-resolution images of the ring of stars could be helpful in revealing more details and concluding the size of the galaxy. Scientists are now planning to use Gaia telescope in Europe for further investigations. Along with examining the Monoceros Ring, they are also planning to analyze the stars beyond the Monoceros filament."
Source: Link*
 |
| ... I'm waiting when they say that the Earth is flat, you know... I bet patriarchal priests of all 3 semitic cults od death from Middle East would be very pleased. ;D |
9. Scientists From CERN Admit Everything They Know About Physics Is Likely Wrong!
Scientists at CERN have announced that everything scientists thought
they knew about physics may be entirely false, following the discovery
of two new baryon subatomic particles.
“The next few years may tell us whether we’ll be able to continue to increase our understanding of nature or whether maybe, for the first time in the history of science, we could be facing questions that we cannot answer,” Harry Cliff, a particle physicist at CERN said in a recent TED talk.
Equally frightening is the reason for this approaching limit, which Cliff says is because “the laws of physics forbid it.”
At the core of Cliff’s argument are what he calls the two most dangerous numbers in the universe. These numbers are responsible for all the matter, structure, and life that we witness across the Cosmos.
Read more: Link*
“The next few years may tell us whether we’ll be able to continue to increase our understanding of nature or whether maybe, for the first time in the history of science, we could be facing questions that we cannot answer,” Harry Cliff, a particle physicist at CERN said in a recent TED talk.
Equally frightening is the reason for this approaching limit, which Cliff says is because “the laws of physics forbid it.”
At the core of Cliff’s argument are what he calls the two most dangerous numbers in the universe. These numbers are responsible for all the matter, structure, and life that we witness across the Cosmos.
Read more: Link*
Also recommend video from TED to listen: Link*
You decide ... whether human imagination has already reached its limits?
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