The SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY News Thread

[synaesthetic]

Yeah just wait until the fundies hear about that shit. Our ears will burst from the shouts of "PLAYING GOD!"

Can I has more stem cell research plz

[AnimeFan188]

"Fast and reliable non-volatile memory of some sort that will replace flash memory
is the dream of more than a few semiconductor researchers and chip makers. And
boffins at IBM Research in Zurich, Switzerland, think they have come up with a new
encoding technique that will allow for multi-level cell (MLC) phase change memory
to be commercialized at some point in the not too distant future."

See:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06...change_memory/

[Ithekro]

With all these computer changes they are going to have to come up with new terms that don't sound too weird when spoken publicly (such as in commercials).

[Ithekro]

Soooo, how do we get a screen this big into our homes for our computer gaming needs?

[synaesthetic]

World's first synthetic organ transplant successful.

http://news.discovery.com/human/firs...nt-110708.html

SCIENCE BITCHES.

[LoweGear]

Computer reads manual, Plays Civ

Oh yes. AI's capable of reading the game's manual to improve their gaming performance... who says manuals are outdated?

[AnimeFan188]

"There’s a hidden clock that underlies every process of every living thing — from when
our cells start dividing to how quickly we age. Researchers at Darpa, the Pentagon’s
extreme science agency, believes they can find it, using a mash-up of biology,
code-cracking, mathematics and computer science.

If the effort succeeds — and, boy, is that a big if — the recently announced
Biochronicity program could help us understand why cancer is so hard to beat, how
stem cells self renew and why cells are programmed to die. In other words, it’ll be one
of the biggest breakthroughs Darpa has ever had."

See:

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011...-master-clock/

[synaesthetic]

You can't really alter the telomere though. It's there for a reason, not just to limit our lifespans, but to take damage in place of useful DNA. Maybe if you could repair it, or slow the damage it took (which is what a healthy lifestyle typically does) it would extend our lifespans, but that's kind of scary.

You think we've got problems now? What kind of problems would we have if everyone was immortal? Or far more likely--and far, far worse--if every rich and powerful person was immortal?

Seriously, could you live in a world controlled by robber baron corporatist overlords who can never die? This is cyberpunk dystopia level shit here!

[Kafriel]

Seriously, could you live in a world controlled by robber baron corporatist overlords who can never die? This is cyberpunk dystopia level shit here!

People would still die if they got shot :P
As interesting as this research is, I don't think it will go as expected. I remember reading about this guy who takes over 200 supplements daily and leads an extremely disciplined life while waiting for a breakthrough in medical nano-tech, so as to prolong his life as much as possible. I'd rather die at 75 or so, who'd want to live another 50 years of incessant decay?

[Ithekro]

If one decays. If they do find a reason for the body to basically stop renewing its cells (and make it so they keep renewing when they would normally stop), then one would live longer (you still might die for some other reason we don't know about yet), or at least you could stay active for longer, as I've been under the impression of late that people die when they get old, not just because their body is shutting down, but also because as it shuts down, they can't do the things they enjoy. They get bored with life. My 94 year old grandmother is getting to this point, and by late grandfather likely died because he gave up...couldn't see very well, couldn't hear very well, couldn't walk very well, and his hands didn't work very good. He couldn't read his books, he couldn't conduct the orchistra, he couldn't work in his shop (he was an engineer), and he couldn't hear the television. My grandmother is slightly better off, but she body is just starting to fail her.

If one could still do the things one enjoys doing, then one might have a reason to go on living. But to do that, the body has to at least fuction properly.

But..."people die when they are killed".

[synaesthetic]

Originally Posted by Kafriel

I'd rather die at 75 or so, who'd want to live another 50 years of incessant decay?

What if you had the body of a forty-year old at seventy-five? Or the body of a thirty-year old? I think your answer might change.

By extending our lifespans we also extend the healthy young and middle age. It's not like they just tack on zombie-tiems to the end of a 90-year-old person's life.

I'm actually addressing this in my novel--it is several thousand years in the future, and through various medical advances and genetic tinkering, people are capable of living to be two or three hundred years old. This has become somewhat "normal" and humanity has adjusted as a result--childhood is longer, adulthood is longer, old age is much shorter. Even those who don't have access to cellular maintenance, the major advancements in medicine mean that even the most common citizen will expect to see a hundred and fifty before they die.

[AnimeFan188]

More on longevity:

5 Ways Science Could Make Us Immortal:

"There are a lot of different ways to keep a human body and mind going long after its expiration date, and experiments are ongoing.
The most promising techniques involve ..."

See:

http://www.cracked.com/article_18964...-immortal.html

[AnimeFan188]

"Atlantis touched down for a final time Thursday, ending its last mission to the
International Space Station and bringing down the curtain on NASA's 30-year
space shuttle program.

The shuttle and its four-member US crew landed safely at Kennedy Space Center
at 5:56 am (0956 GMT), closing an era of human space exploration for the United
States and leaving Russia as the world's only taxi to the ISS."

See:

http://www.space-travel.com/reports/...t_era_999.html

[Ithekro]

Best question is...what is next? I know the Air Force is testing their X-37B. NASA is working on Orion. Private interests have Cygnus and Dragon that are suppose to be up a running by the end of the year, with manned flights sometime after that for Dragon.

So where do we go next?

[synaesthetic]

Start colony development at the Lagrange points!

[Decagon]

Scientists identify seventh and eighth bases of DNA

Short of it is that two more versions of cytosine are confirmed.
Little longer of it is that this is another step in the process to convert 5-methylcytosine (methylated cytosine) back to cytosine. This has implications for stem cell research because we could possibly remove methylation in an individual's differentiated stem cells (for use in research as an alternative to embryonic stem cells or it can be used for manufacturing individually tailored treatments), and also big implications for cancer treatment because you could possibly reactivate silenced tumor regulator genes.

[Ithekro]

I still want to see that Clark-based 2001 future...even if it is late.

My question would be how to build a colony with what we are using now? Though I just had a thought...use the ISS as a construction platform like they use to use the space shuttle. They will just need to figure out how to link large sections together in something that isn't modules (cause a ring station or a massive cylinder would be more more condusive to attract tourists and business than the little modules the ISS is made up of now...maybe). Though that is only if they decide to make the station actually have a light amount of gravity via rotation.

That would also give the ISS a purpose other than science and just being there. Also give then a reason to keep it up there longer than 2020 or whenever they think they are going to stop using it. A construction habitat and work platform that makes use of those robotic arms and such. Though it is only rated to serve six people long term at the moment.

[AnimeFan188]

"A combination of cheap DNA synthesis, freely accessible databases, and our
ever-expanding knowledge of protein science is conspiring to permit a revolution
in creating powerful molecular tools."

See:

http://edge.org/conversation/molecular-cut-and-paste


Sounds neat. Until someone starts making home-brew biowarfare agents.

[Jinto]

Originally Posted by AnimeFan188

"A combination of cheap DNA synthesis, freely accessible databases, and our
ever-expanding knowledge of protein science is conspiring to permit a revolution
in creating powerful molecular tools."

See:

http://edge.org/conversation/molecular-cut-and-paste


Sounds neat. Until someone starts making home-brew biowarfare agents.

Yeah, the first thing we need to teach those bio tech people is not to write spaghetti code (this was meant to be a joke, because that is what they actually have to do in the case of DNA). Cut and Paste, the idea is somewhat similar to object oriented programming in that high level objects (base pair groups) are used.
Now if we can derive a high level programming language from this, it might be possible to have bio tech developer software soon. I wonder what the programming language could be called then... maybe GOD-PL => Genetic Object Data Programming Language

[synaesthetic]

That had me rolling. The GOD language.