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POPSTop 10 Forecasts for 2009 and Beyond 6. Professional knowledge will become obsolete almost as quickly as it’s acquired. An individual’s professional knowledge is becoming outdated at a much faster rate than ever before. 7. The race for biomedical and genetic enhancement will-in the twenty-first century-be what the space race was in the previous century. 8. Urbanization will hit 60% by 2030. 9. The Middle East will become more secular while religious influence in China will grow. 10. Access to electricity will reach 83% of the world by 2030.
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POPSTop Ten Forecasts for 2009 & Beyond Each year since 1985, the editors of THE FUTURIST have selected the most thought-provoking ideas and forecasts appearing in the magazine to go into our annual Outlook report. Over the years, Outlook has spotlighted the emergence of such epochal developments as the Internet, virtual reality, and the end of the Cold War. All of these forecasts plus dozens more were included in the report that scanned the best writing and research from THE FUTURIST magazine over the course of the previous year. The Society hopes this report, covering developments in business and economics, demography, energy, the environment, health and medicine, resources, society and values, and technology, will assist its readers in preparing for the challenges and opportunities in 2009 and beyond.
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POPSPalin and the fruit fly or just plain ignorance
One might have thought that Sarah Palin would take a more active interest in one aspect of scientific research. Palin's youngest son has Down's syndrome, a genetic disorder caused by the presence of an extra chromosome 21. Although a geneticist by training, I am certainly no expert on the pathogenesis of this condition, nor the significance of Drosophila research into Down's syndrome. So, I typed "drosophila trisomy 21" into PubMed, the scholarly biomedical equivalent of Google. There were 109 results, the most recent published just the day before Palin's gaffe. The concluding sentence of that study — about the genetic cues that steer nerve fibres around during the growth of the fruit fly — suggests that the paper will "have implications for the pathogenesis of Down's syndrome". These two are drops in the ocean of fruit fly research that have clinical relevance. Down's syndrome, Alzheimer's disease, autism, diabetes, ageing research, cancers of all types
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POPSDepressed astronauts might get computerized solace (AP) I couldn't help thinking how that the first paragraph is almost the same as that for a soldier. There are a lot more reasons for a soldier to become depressed though. And a lot less effort being made to help them, unless you consider a handful of a drug cocktail treatment.
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POPSStudy finds value in 'junk' DNA "Alu elements are a major source of new exons. Because Alu is a primate-specific retrotransposon, creation of new exons from Alu may contribute to unique traits of primates, so we want to better understand this process," said the study's senior author Yi Xing, Ph.D., assistant professor of internal medicine and biomedical engineering, who holds a joint appointment in the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine and the UI College of Engineering. To study the impact of Alu-derived exons on human gene expression, the researchers used a high-density exon microarray. The technology has nearly six million probes for monitoring the expression patterns of all human exons. Using data generated by these microarrays, the scientists analyzed 330 Alu-derived exons in 11 human tissues. The team then identified a number of exons with interesting expression and functional characteristics.
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POPS"To sleep, perchance to dream" continues: Housed in a dark space broken into discrete pockets (and designed by the German architect Nikolaus Hirsch), the flickering of the exhibits in and out of view itself invokes the fleeting secrets of sleep. It is organised more as a series of impressions than as a pedagogical chronology, divided into five themes: Dead Tired, Traces of Sleep, Dream Worlds, Elusive Sleep and World Without Sleep.
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POPSAustralia in biosecurity hotspot Germs don't need a passport. We cannot encase ourselves in a bubble. We cannot stop the evolution of pathogens. Our best defense is in our own immune systems. We need to know more about our immune system, than the germs, because lethal strains can develop at random. Our immune system is something we all have in common.
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POPSBrain and Creativity Institute The mission of the Brain and Creativity Institute is to gather new knowledge about the human emotions, decision-making, memory, and communication, from a neurological perspective, and to apply this knowledge to the solution of problems in the biomedical and sociocultural arenas.
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POPS68 Molecules that hold the key to all Cellular Life Currently, the vast majority of medical research looks to the human genome and proteome for answers, but those answers remain elusive, and perhaps for good reason. “We have now found instances where the pathogenesis of widespread and chronic diseases can be attributed to a change in the glycome, for example, in the absence of definable changes in the genome or proteome,” Marth said, adding that, as biomedical researchers, “we need to begin to cultivate the integration of disciplines in a holistic and rigorous way in order to perceive and most effectively manipulate the biological mechanisms of health and disease.” Marth believes that biology should become more integrative both in academic and research settings. “I’m one who believes that we don’t need to sacrifice breadth of knowledge in order to acquire depth of understanding.”
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POPSMRSA Roche search http://digital50.com/news/items/BW/2001/07/14/20080714005785/micronics-names-larry-hambleton-as-vice-president-of-sales-and-marketing.html
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POPSAssay Designs Technical Support Protocols Great resource anyone in the biomedical, pharmaceutical, and scientific research communities. Company seems to have a huge selection of elisa kits, heat shock proteins and other kits and reagents.
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POPSGPS for the Moon -Helping Humans Navigate the Lunar Surface "We will help with navigation, but also with astronauts' health as well," Li said. "We want them to avoid the stress of getting lost, or getting frustrated with the equipment. Lunar navigation isn't just a technology problem, it's also biomedical." The researchers have named the entire system the Lunar Astronaut Spatial Orientation and Information System (LASOIS).
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POPSResearchers close on chlamidia vaccine For the Australian native koala. When combined with habitat destruction, chlamydial disease continues to be a major threat to koalas. The disease is similar to the strain suffered by humans, and the research could help develop a vaccine in humans.
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POPSThe End of Aging - Still a Controvertial Vision Leon Kass and his friends are contemporary incarnations of an Orwellian nightmare. Besides "War is Peace", I hear also "Death is Life". Of course there are no known social good coming from the conquest of death, we never lived in a social system that conquered death. How could we possibly know? But Kass and his friends, seem to have some privileged knowledge we do not possess, and they already decided for us as individuals and as a society. Well, in time, I believe, they will have the choice to walk their talk. All I want is a chance to walk mine.
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POPSStem Cells 2.0: Scientists Make Revolutionary Advance First paragraph. A while back scientists were making revolutionary breakthroughs in stem cell research. Unfortunately they fell foul of interpretations of thousand year old texts in foreign languages, and a government with the scientific understanding of a squashed grape said "Sorry, our kind and loving God requires that people continue to suffer from Parkinson's, anemia, and various other horrible ailments." Luckily, scientists are awesome and did the obvious thing - make ANOTHER revolutionary breakthrough to get around the problem.
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