Category: News

The Future is Here: Animals Created from Stem Cells!

dna-computingThe field of biotech has been making some very interesting strides of late. First there was the medusoid, a cybernetic jellyfish that used electric current and real muscle tissue over a synthetic to generate movement. Then there was the creation of world’s first true cyborg flesh, where Harvard University researchers merged rat flesh and nanowires to create augmented” tissue. This was followed shortly thereafter by the creation of a remote controlled cyborg cockroach.

These are just the tip of the iceberg however, with the most impressive research and development in the field of biotech still yet to be unveiled. However, this most recent breakthrough is a real game-changer which is sure to lead in some new and interesting directions. This would be the creation, by scientists working at Kyoto University, of the world’s first animal crated entirely from stem cells.

Apparently, the research team produced mouse eggs using stem cells alone, and this comes on the heals of a previous accomplishment where the same team produced mouse sperm using the same methods. This allowed them to fertilize and create mice entirely by artificial means. While this presents a great deal of potential for stem cells research and its regenerative potential, there are those who worry that this might signal new and frightening possibilities for human procreation. If it’s possible to create human ova and sperm in the same way, could we be entering an age when human parents are no longer needed to create a child?

This represents the next step for Mitinori Saitou, the leader of the Kyoto research team, and his crew. It is there hope that these recent advancements will allow them to create primordial cells from human tissue. The primary purpose for this will be to help couples who are experiencing fertility problems by offering them the option of having biological children that are derived from their own stem cells. It could also allow women to have babies later in life, or for women who cannot get pregnant due to cancer treatments.

More conceptually, however, the breakthrough suggests that human babies might someday be born from tissue samples and cell lines alone. If all that is needed is for stem cells to be harvested from living tissue, then no parents need be directly involved. There are clearly a host of ethical implications that need to be addressed from this, not the least of which is the issue of who has the right to spawn human beings? And moreover, what purpose would they be spawned for? Human replacements? Breeding stock? Super soldiers? Oh, the mind reals at the possible sci-fi cliches!

Source: news.sciencemag.org

Nominated for a Beautiful Blogger Award!

Wouldn’t you know it? There’s yet another blogger award making the rounds, and I’ve picked up a nomination. And it comes from a new follower to this page, one who is equally if not more prolific than I am. So my thanks to Maarit-Johanna of Literature and Culture for the nod. May you musings on literature, the arts, travel and culture continue to inspire!

So… as always there are rules to this award. Four to be specific:

1. First up, thank the person who nominated you:
That’d be you, Mrs. Maarit-Johanna. Thanks a bunch!

2. Post the award image to your page:
Did that!

3. Tell seven facts about yourself:
-I love the smell of fresh air! City living is fine, but there better be plenty of green spaces to provide that scent of dense foliage and clean air

-I love cats and dogs. I grew up with the plenty of the former, but my wife’s love of the latter rubbed off on me. Now we need to get a big enough place to accommodate a few of each.

-I love to cook, bust suspect I might have only a few moves: Pasta, stir fry, stew and barbeque. But enough variations on these basic areas make it seem like I got lots of moves!

-I have a notorious passion for beer! I hope to one day be able to brew my own, and not from some sissy homebrew operation. I’m talking my own barley roasting, my own mash tun, and my own hops grown right out the back.

-Four books have inspired me more than any others: 1984; Guns, Germs and Steel; The God That Failed; and Dune. I’ve read plenty of good books, and quite a few great ones. But these ones stand alone as the one’s that blew my mind!

-My favorite colors appear to be green and black. Of all my clothes, the vast majority are one or the other.

-I’ve studied Taekwon-Do for a good twenty-four years and can’t really imagine life without it. I’ve gone for short periods without any training, and honestly felt like I something major was missing.

4. Nominate 15 other bloggers:

–Rendezvous Heath

–MythRider

–Mark Sackler

–Michelle Proulx

–Vinny Lanni

–Tazein Mirza Saad

–Shafiqah

–Casey Sheridan

–Erin Brady Pike

–Czech the Flip

–Gigable

–Liz

–Vee Villarreal

–Vandhana

–Carolyn

Thanks again, and congrats to all those nominated by meeeee! 😉

125,000 Hits! Thank You All!

fireworks1Okay, it seems I have a few things to be thankful for this week. Well for starters, there’s my health. You always have to be thankful when that’s in your favor. Second, there’s the positive feedback I’ve been getting for my serial novel Whiskey Delta, which is just a few chapters shy of completion. Third, there is the nomination for the Beautiful Blogger Award (thank you Maarit-Johanna!)

And last, but not least, there’s the fact that I passed the 125,000 hit mark this evening. As far as milestone go, its a bit arbitrary, not like 100,000 or anything. But I still feel like some celebration is in order and some thanks are due. So as usual, thanks a million to those of you who have tuned in to my site on one or more occasions, and a special, hearty thank you to those who make it a regular scheduled stop on their daily jaunts through the ether of cyberspace!

One of these days, I hope to be able to afford a getaway where I can host gathering of this nature, but in person! They always say that the internet is excelling at bringing people together and fostering communities, but I still look forward to the day when I can actually meet some of the people I talk to regularly on this thing. But until then, I guess this interface will have to suffice, and for my part, I hope to be able to continue to provide entertainment. Thanks again and keep on trucking! And of course, there’s more to follow, so stay tuned…

Oh, and it seems I also passed another milestone. This is my 601st post, which makes Whiskey Delta – Chapter 36 the 600th. How about that? 😉

Chuck Yeager Breaks the Sound Barrier… Again!

A very interesting anniversary came to pass this past October 14th. It was exactly 65 years ago to the day that pilot and daredevil Chuck Yeager became the first man to break the sound barrier. Yeager was just 24 years old when he made history on that day, and his exploits went on to be  chronicled in the book (and film) “The Right Stuff”. And wouldn’t you know it; Yeager, now 89, chose to make the occasion by breaking the sound barrier again.

But before getting into that, I would like to provide a recap on the events surrounding Yeager’s historic accomplishment. The year was 1947, the Second World War had ended just two years before, and for those old enough to remember, the world was a pretty scary place as Russian and American scientists competed to be the first to break scientific and technological barriers. In this particular race, the US was the first, when from his Bell X-1 rocket craft, Yeager reached a speed of 1126 km/h (700 miles per hour), or Mach 1.06, at an altitude of 13100 meters (43,000 feet).

For many years, Yeager found himself being chased by younger pilots in newer craft as they sought to challenge him and break new records in speed. Never the one to shy away from a fight, Yeager continually outdid them, setting new records for supersonic speed until his eventual retirement, by which time the astronauts were making the big headlines by being the first human beings to make it into space and orbit the planet.

Yeager retired with honors, having earned himself the rank of Brigadier General in the Air Force. And just the other day, Yeager celebrated the anniversary of his historic flight by stepping into the back seat of a retired F-15 fighter that broke the sound barrier at 10:24 a.m. on Sunday.

Check out the video of Yeager’s latest flight below.

More News From Curiosity!

Last weekend, Curiosity began conducting the “scooping” portion of its mission; in essence, taking samples of Martian soil from the area known as the Rocknest, and examining them using it’s array of sensors. In the course of doing so, it came across another interesting find – a series of shiny objects, not unlike the small shard of plastic it had discovered ten days earlier.

However, NASA indicated after a preliminary examination that unlike that shard of plastic, these objects did not come from Curiosity itself. According to John Grotzinger, a project scientist with the Mars Science Laboratory, “As the science team thought about it more and more, the bright object is about the same size as the granules that it’s in and it is not uniformly bright. We went back and forth, and the majority of the science team thinks this is indigenous to Mars.”

One hypothesis is that the specks are natural geologic material that might have a broken-off from larger crystalline formations, known as a cleavage, and became dispersed through the soil. These crystalline minerals are more adept at reflecting sunlight than the soil that contains them, hence why they appeared after Curiosity’s scooping exposed them to Martian daylight.

According to Grotzinger, the next step is to examine them using the ChemCam, “a remote sensing tool that has spectacular spatial resolution, and aim it right on that fleck. Then we’ll aim it on another darker grain and try to decide if it is a different class of mineral.” And that’s just one of the fancy tools it will be employing. Another is the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument, which analyzes samples of dirt to determine what minerals the sample contains. The team announced at a press conference the rover successfully placed a small sample of soil inside this sensor, and expects results in short order.

Stay tuned for more new from Mars!

Source: Universe Today

Watch Historic Skydive From Baumgartner’s POV

At this point in time, I’m sure everyone has heard about Baumgartner’s historic space jump which took him from the edge of space and deposited safely him into the record books for all time. However, amidst all the news and footage of Baumgartner’s 38,000 meter/126,000 foot jump, which involved 4 minute and 19 seconds freefall and the breaking of the sound barrier, one nagging question emerged. Where as the footage from Felix’s own chest camera?

Well, as luck would have it, the video was made available just a day later. Naturally, the crews had to access it from his suit, process it and upload it to the internet. With technology being what it is today, people expect things to be instantly available. Yet it seems that some things still have to be waited on. But I think you’ll agree once you watch this footage, a mere 24 hour wait was well worth it. Or in my case, a full four days. My apologies to my followers!

Space Shuttle Endeavour’s 2-Day Drive Through LA

Last week, amidst massive crowds and plenty of photo ops, the Space Shuttle Endeavour made a two day circuit of Los Angeles in order to mark its retirement. This was Endeavour’s 26th mission, the previous 25 having all taken place in orbit of the planet, a full 4671 orbits to be precise! During this time, Photographer/cinematographer Matthew Givot and his team followed the shuttle during the 2-day ‘endeavor’ – a drive that included photo-ops of the shuttle driving past several well-known L.A. landmarks – and compiled the footage into a nice 3-minute video (see below).

Showing the many twists and turns that were involved, not to mention stops for photo shoots and the crowds who showed up to pay their respects, the video concludes with Endeavour being brought into her new home, the California Science Center, where she will remain on display for years to come. Here, she joins such historic air and space craft as the A 12 Blackbird, the Apollo-Soyuz command module, Explorer 1, and the Viking Lander. Exhibitions for the Endeavour are reported to begin on October 30th, and are expected to draw some serious crowds!

On a side note, I have to admit that I feel bad for neglecting to mention Endeavour in any of my previous posts. For months now, news has been coming in about its final mission, but I was so caught up in my own story work and posts about cybernetics and other such stuff that I completely passed over it. I’m hoping this sets things to rights a little, as it would be a travesty if I didn’t acknowledge the retirement of this veteran spacecraft and all its accomplished over the years. Not to mention all the astronauts its delivered home, safe and sound. Good work, Endeavour! Enjoy the retirement, you’ve earned it!

Source: Universe Today, California Science Center

Also, if you want to see more of Endeavour’s cross-LA drive, Robert Pearlman has a gallery of over 150 images at collectSPACE.com, and NASA’s Flickr page has a huge collection, too.

Anonymous Busts Cyber Bully

As a sci-fi geek and indie writer, I rarely get into stories about terrible tragedies on this site. However, I couldn’t ignore this story once I came across it. Not only does it pertain to an issue which is of extreme importance to all of us – cyber bullying – there are also aspects of this case which are undeniably relevant when it comes to the fields of information technology and internet communications.

It’s no secret that the advance of technology has created new opportunities for predators to prey on the innocent. But at the same time, it seems that said same technology could be opening up opportunities to bring them down as well. What’s more, it seems that when it comes to certain types of cybercrime, hackers and authorities can come together in common cause.

As I’m sure many have already heard, a Canadian teen girl named Amanda Todd was recently found dead in her Coquitlam home after committing suicide. Within days of her death, it was reported that she was the victim of cyber bullying that had been going on for years. Apparently, it began when a man who had developed an online relationship with her convinced her to flash him on her webcam.

A year later, this same man contacted her and threatened to circulate the photo all over the internet unless she “put on a show” for him. The stranger also revealed that he knew everything about her: her address, where she want to school, her friends, relatives, and the names of her family members. Naturally, she was horrified and refused him, and the naked photo was forwarded to all her family, friends and online peers.

Humiliated and now the victim of harassment at school, Todd changed schools. However, things continued as a Facebook page was created with the picture of her flashing the camera as the profile photo. This began the deluge, and the 15-year old was harassed at school and at home for months by former friends, peers, and people she had never met. She posted about her torment online, saying how friends had abandoned her, a group of girls beat her up, and how she even tried to drink bleach to end her pain. For a time, she seemed to be recovering. But it seemed that no matter where she went, the torment followed. Invariably, she chose to end it by ending her life.

And now, in what can only be described as an act of Cyber Vigilantism, the hacker group Anonymous – the same people who brought you such things as the Occupy Movement – have uncovered the identity of the man in question. Apparently, the man is a 30-year old pedophile who lives in New Westminster, BC. Anonymous not only provided his address, but also included Google Map screenshots of his house, his Facebook profile, and chat conversations and screenshots from a “jailbait” website account supposedly tied to the man.

According to Vice Magazine, who picked up the story, Anonymous decided to act when it was becoming clear that the cyber bullying had not ended with Todd’s death. Shortly after her death, nude photos of her autopsy were also posted online. According to a statement released by the hacker group: “We generally don’t like to deal with police first hand but were compelled to put our skills to good use protecting kids. Ironically we have some good people in Vancouver who brought this to our admin’s attention. It’s a very sad story that affects all of us.”

According to CTV, the man identified by Anonymous appeared in court on Monday on charges of sexual assault and sexual interference with a minor. These charges were unrelated to Todd however, indicating that this is not the first time he has preyed on youths. The man denied being Todd’s harasser though, and pointed the finger at a New York man who was harassing her. I’d say that ranks right up there with “the check’s in the mail”, but if it leads to the break-up of a pedophile ring, perhaps it’s worth investigating. Either way, the man is now being tried for his brand of disgusting crimes, and I think he should count himself lucky. After word of his address broke, he could have easily found himself on the business end of some baseball bats and crowbars. Instead, he can look forward to prison, where his life expectancy will be slightly higher.

Alas, I should also mention that sites dedicated to Todd’s memory have been subject to harassment as well. It seems that anonymous flamers and trolls have taken to these sites to question why Todd should be mourned, or to post slanderous comments about her. To these people I can only ask, what the hell is your damage? Suicide is tragic, but suicide as a result of bullying, especially something as cowardly as cyber bullying, is just plain disgusting. In short, piss off or grow the hell up!

And I think I speak for just about everyone when I say that I hope there is a special place in Hell for scum bags like this, and in wishing Todd’s family all the condolences in the world. Nothing justifies this sort of behavior, and it will certainly be a better world when online predators can’t hide behind an internet connection and bully people with impunity. And though the means do not yet exist to police the internet as we might like, this most recent case shows that the weapons used against youth and innocent children could be turned against the predators themselves.

What’s more, it also shows that hackers and civil authorities can come together for the common cause of busting internet predators. I don’t know about you, but that gives me a slender ray of hope.

Hear that perverts? You’re free ride is over! Prepare to be crushed!

A Dance with Dragons, bought!

Hey all. I doubt if anyone remembers, but a few months back when I began reviewing A Song of Ice and Fire, I said that I would be ending the series with the fourth book. After completing A Storm of Swords, I figured one more book was enough. After all, with Dragons just released and the buzz claiming that there would be at least two more books to come, I was sure that I would have to cut myself off or risk being totally sucked in to Matrin’s “Wheel of Time”esque vortex.

But, and here where’s things get awkward, that was a lie… apparently! Last night, I finally finished A Feast for Crows and purchased A Dance with Dragons. And believe it or not, it was the not the cliffhanger ending in book four that made me want to do that, though that helped give me a final push. In truth, friends of mine, such as Goran Zidar, and a slew of other people have been saying how book five is really good and covers all the threads that were strangely missing from book four. So really, the decision to buy it was made several weeks ago, but after getting into the last few chapters, a number of sudden twists piqued my interest and I found myself wanting to know what happened right away!

And, interestingly enough, I also discovered that the final chapter of Crows was not a chapter at all, but a note from the author. In it, he explains that book four was the way it was –  namely, bereft of any information about Tyrion, Jon Snow, Daenerys, or Stannis and Melissandre – for a simple reason. Basically, he went this way because to include what he had planned for all of these characters – plus those of Samwell Tarly, Cersei, Sansa, Arya, Brienne, Jaime, et al, – would have turned Crows into a tome the likes of which had not been seen since War and Peace. Okay, he didn’t say it in those words, I’m just adding them for dramatic license 😉

Hence, he decided to break all he had planned for the fourth installment in the series into two volumes. And instead of telling all of the stories half-way, he chose instead to select half the stories and tell them in full, the rest to be followed up later. I can see the wisdom in this, and the marketing angle, because it certainly worked on me. Damn you, Martin! I swear that this is the last of your books that I’m going to read… It probably won’t be. I’m sure I’ll be checking out book six, especially if this one is as good as they say. I hate you, sir! Keep up the good work!

The Smart Bra: The Future of Cancer Prevention

It is no secret that breast cancer is a major disease, accounting for 22.9% of all cases and leading to the death of approximately 500,000 women a year. With one in eight women being effected worldwide at some point in their life, early detection is key. Up until recently, these took the form of doctor exams or self-examinations. However, within a few years, there may very well be an early detection system that women can wear and which never stops working.

It’s known as the Breast Tissue Screening Bra, or Smart Bra as many like to call it. Developed in 2008 by the company First Warning Systems, in Reno, Nevada, the bra is designed act as a continuous exam device. As an alternate to self-exams and the somewhat controversial mammography, early tests indicated that it may actually be the most effective form of cancer screening to date.

The bra accomplishes all this by relying on a series of internal sensors and pattern recognition software. By detecting tiny temperature changes that occur as blood vessels grow and feed tumors, the bra is able to identify the presence of tumors while still in early formation, and up to six years before they would be  detectable by mammogram and twelve years before they could be removed by surgery.

Thus far, First Warning Systems has conducted three clinical trials using a total of 650 participants. So far, the results have been favorable, with the bra showing a 92.1 percent level of accuracy in detecting and classifying tumors. This is compared to a 70 percent accuracy rating as seen in routine mammograms. At present, the company plans to being releasing the bra in Europe by 2013 and, pending FDA approval, in the United States by 2014.

Personally, I don’t think this product can reach the market soon enough. With luck, it could very well signal a new era in the ongoing struggle to put an end to cancer. And who knows? If this works out, perhaps a similar garment could be developed for men, a pair of shorts that help with the screening of testicular and prostate cancer. Combined with nanomachines that are capable of monitoring our hearts, brains, lungs, pancreas and other internal organs, we may very well be able to stop cancer through early detection and prevention.

Here’s hoping! Meanwhile, check out this video of the Smart Bra’s design and workings.

Source: news.cnet.com