11
I stated yesterday that stem cell science and technology was at an absolutely remarkable stage. But it’s difficult to see that going article by article, so I’m going to try something a bit different this time.
Some of these are a bit dated, but they still represent the top of the line technology and are an indicator to what the future of the science and research holds. I set the search to go back just one year. These are just some of the headlines that I’ve seen while surfing:
Stem Cells From Monkey Teeth Can Stimulate Growth And Generation Of Brain Cells
November 12, 2008
Stem Cells Made From Developing Sperm
August 7, 2009
‘Glow-in-the-dark’ Red Blood Cells Made From Human Stem Cells
August 23, 2009
How Stem Cells Develop Into Blood Cells
March 12, 2009
Stem Cells Which ‘Fool Immune System’ May Provide Vaccination For Cancer
October 8, 2009
Biologists Find Stem Cell-like Functions In Other Types Of Plant Cells
January 30, 2009
New Way To Enhance Stem Cells To Stimulate Muscle Regeneration
June 7, 2009
Molecular ‘Key’ To Successful Blood Stem Cell Transplants Discovered
April 25, 2009
New Method For Bone-marrow-derived Liver Stem Cells Isolation And Proliferation
April 15, 2009
Stem Cell Protein Offers A New Cancer Target
June 8, 2009
Therapy May Block Expansion Of Breast Cancer Cells
November 15, 2008
Therapy May Block Expansion Of Breast Cancer Cells
November 15, 2008
Placenta: New Source For Harvesting Stem Cells
June 23, 2009
Scientists Prove Endothelial Cells Give Rise To Blood Stem Cells
December 6, 2008
An Inexhaustible Source Of Neural Cells
February 17, 2009
Large Quantity Of Stem Cells Produced From Small Number Of Blood Stem Cells
April 17, 2009
Bypassing Stem Cells: Adult Skin Cells Turned Into Muscle Cells And Vice Versa
May 1, 2009
Stem Cell Infusion And Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment Improve Islet Function In Diabetes
March 23, 2009
New Technique Invented To Reveal Pancreatic Stem Cells
April 17, 2009
Reprogramming Patient’s Eye Cells May Herald New Treatments Against Degenerative Disease
October 23, 2009
Better Targeting Of Stem Cells As Medication: Arteriosclerosis May Soon Be A Thing Of The Past
April 30, 2009
Stem Cell Transplant In Mouse Embryo Yields Heart Protection In Adulthood
May 20, 2009
Identifying Safe Stem Cells To Repair Spinal Cords
October 23, 2009
New Type Of Adult Stem Cells Found In Prostate May Be Involved In Cancer Development
September 10, 2009
New Strategy Improves Stem Cell Recruitment, Heart Function And Survival After Heart Injury
April 5, 2009
New Method To Coax Retinal Cells From Stem Cells
October 21, 2009
Muscular Dystrophy: Stem Cells That Repair Injured Muscles Identified
March 12, 2009
Enhanced Stem Cells Promote Tissue Regeneration
October 11, 2009
Single Adult Stem Cell Can Self Renew, Repair Tissue Damage In Live Mammal
December 16, 2008
Scientists Program Blood Stem Cells To Become Vision Cells
August 3, 2009
Ideal Time For Stem Cell Collection Defined For Parkinson’s Disease Therapy
November 23, 2008
Molecular Marker Identifies Normal Stem Cells As Intestinal Tumor Source
December 23, 2008
The Making Of An Intestinal Stem Cell
March 14, 2009
Switching On The Power Of Stem Cells
August 25, 2009
What Makes Stem Cells Tick?
August 9, 2009
Blood Cells Can Be Reprogrammed To Act As Embryonic Stem Cells
April 21, 2009
Stem Cells Used To Reverse Paralysis In Animals
January 29, 2009
New Stem Cell Therapy May Lead To Treatment For Deafness
March 23, 2009
How Stem Cells Make Skin
September 14, 2009
Stem Cell Therapy May Offer Hope For Acute Lung Injury
October 29, 2009
Stem Cell Success Points To Way To Regenerate Parathyroid Glands
September 30, 2009
Tumor Suppressor Gene In Flies May Provide Insights For Human Brain Tumors
June 23, 2009
Tumor Suppressor Gene In Flies May Provide Insights For Human Brain Tumors
June 23, 2009
Stem Cells From Skin Cells Can Make Beating Heart Muscle Cells
February 13, 2009
Stem Cells With Potential To Regenerate Injured Liver Tissue Identified
November 17, 2008
New Drug Achieves Pancreatic Cancer Tumor Remission And Prevents Recurrence, Study Suggests
April 20, 2009
Two Proteins Enable Skin Cells To Regenerate
September 28, 2009
This should give you a good idea of where stem cell research is heading. In just this quick survey from one website, sciencedaily.com, we’ve seen potential treatments for the lungs, liver, heart, brain, pancreas, parathyroid, leukemia, blood, skin, muscles, nerves and much more.
And I only went to page 9 of 338! There’s a LOT of research going on in this area and I can only report a small (VERY) part of it.
You’re humble moderator is awed and can’t wait to see where this science and technology go in the next 10-20 years!
Godspeed my friends!
It seems to your humble moderator that this kind of computer technology comes under the category of “Big Brother.” It’s easy to say that this kind of thing will be used for productivity gains, but it’s waaaay too easy to corrupt something like this into an all around spy tool that can be put to used by any group from private industry to government to military.
From the Register, UK:
It gives a whole new meaning to the word “micromanager.”
Judging from a recent patent application, Microsoft hopes to build some sort of “activity monitoring system” that keeps an eye on worker productivity using various “physiological or environmental sensors.” These sensors would track everything from heart rate, respiration rate, body temperature, facial expressions, and blood pressure to brain signals and galvanic skin response.
Yes, galvanic skin response is what drives a lie detector.
Redmond sees this system as a way for companies and, um, governments to monitor “group activities.” “In particular, the system can monitor user activity, detect when users need assistance with their specific activities, and identify at least one other user that can assist them,” the patent application reads, in classic patent speak. “Assistance can be in the form of answering questions, providing guidance to the user as the user completes the activity, or completing the activity such as in the case of taking on an assigned activity.”
In other words: If you don’t do your duty, the system will make sure your duties are assigned to someone else.
The system is designed to provide its unique brand of “assistance” as workers slave away on various computing devices, including desktops, laptops, and cell phones. But it doesn’t just track your physical use of such devices. It also monitors things like “frustration and stress.”
Imagine the ways that something like this can be abused and it can gives your humble moderator nightmares. Of all the technologies in the scitech realm, perhaps computer technology is the easiest to corrupt. Keep in mind that the data that these systems can collect is sent to backup logs and can be used to put together “productivity” profiles over years.
EASILY corruptible! *shiver*
02
“The Million Book Project, an international venture led by Carnegie Mellon University in the United States, Zhejiang University in China, the Indian Institute of Science in India and the Library at Alexandria in Egypt, has completed the digitization of more than 1.5 million books, which are now available online.”
Since it’s inception in 2002, the Universal Library (www.ulib.org) has been busily scanning books and manuscripts, both out-of-print and contemporary. The books are available in 20 different languages and represent about 1% of the worlds books.
One possible problem is that your humble moderator went in for a quick peek and chose to browse their astronomy listings. The listings started with books starting with A of course, but back to 1894. However there are options that allow searching and the are also categorized in 50 year increments to locate the information you’re looking for more easily.
One has to wonder where this will end up in the future. How many times have sci-fi authors dreamed over the years of having the knowledge of humanity’s science and technology computerized and available for instant access.
I guess the moral here is: Beware information overload in 1.5 million books 
This one from the “Oh brother” department:
New Scientist website notes that Frederic Libersat from Ben-Gurion University in Be’er Sheva, Israel reports having brought cockroaches back from a zombie-like state through the use of a mimic of the neurotransmitter octopamine.
It seems that cockroaches are used as a portable larder by jewel wasps (Ampulex compressa) females, well, non-portable really. The wasp, much smaller than the cockroaches, has evolved the ability to stab with its stinger directly into the roach brain and paralyze it through its venom. The wasp then grabs the roach by its antennae and drags it back to her burrow, implants an egg on it, then the roach, paralyzed but conscious, can watch the young’un eat its way through its stomach and eventually the rest of it, in living color.
But by giving the roach a mimic of the neurotransmitter octopamine, Fredric can restore use of the roaches legs, and unparalyze it, effectively bring it back from its zombie-like state.
Wow. Your humble moderator thinks that Fred needs a hobby and to take the time away from the science, biology and chemistry. Wonder how much of a research grant he got for that. I’m sure roaches around the world are cheering for him, though I’m not sure that it’s contributed much to the human future!
I wanted to find something big and spectacular for my first posting to this blog and this story seems to fit both bills. It’s as big as anything I can think of that science has come up with so far and your humble moderator’s mind keeps trying to wrap itself around it, and of course, failing.
The New Scientist website reported on 24 August 2007 that there’s a void in space, 6 to 10 billion light years from Earth that stretches across a billion empty light years of absolute nothingness from the direction of the constellation Eridanus. According to Lawrence Rudnick and colleagues at the University of Minnesota, there are no radio waves coming from this area of space, meaning no galaxies, no super clusters, stars or even dark matter, though he seems to think that this is confirmation of dark energy in the universe.
But another team at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill suggests that the incredible void may be the imprint of another universe on our own. Also reported in New Scientist, on 24 November 2007, Laura Mersini-Houghton and her team infer that this might also vindicate string theory.
According to the New Scientist article, “In string theory, 10500 universes (or string vacuums) are described, each with unique properties. They contend that the largeness of our universe is due to its vacuum counterbalancing gravity. This counter-gravity of the vacuum keeps our universe very large (rather than shrinking due to gravity)—larger than the other multitude of universes. The team says that smaller universes are positioned at the edge of our universe, and because of this interaction they are seen by us.”
This is one reason to watch astronomy closely in the future and we’ll try to keep a close eye on it on this blog. A billion light years across. wowser.
What can your moderator say? Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary proofs.
Greetings folks!
My name is Dean and I’m your humble blog moderator. I’ve always been fascinated in Science and Technology and it seems that for years now, areas of research have been gaining momentum at warp speed which is fascinating in itself. Though I’m not a scientist and don’t even play one on TV, I love the turns that science and technology are taking and want to share some of my more interesting findings of a SciTech nature with others.
I saw it put best years ago in, I dunno, some old magazine I ran across. “The augmentation of the intellect of man.” That’s what I’m after. I’d already been in the computer biz for quite a few years, but now watching nanotechnology taking shape and watching the discoveries of both outer and inner space that are taking place, I can’t for the life of me think of a better time to be alive.
Be warned however, that this is likely to be a hodgepodge of different subjects, astronomy, gadgets and gizmo’s, nanotechnology, chemistry, medicine, who knows. Whatever piques my interest is likely to end up here.
So sit back with a cup of java and let’s relax in each others company as we watch the human future unfold before us.
Dean