les nouvelles

The Gene Patents Case

Rare disorder erases all social anxiety

Spanking children can lead to aggressive behavior: study

NASA chief sees new jobs, products for industry

Backward planets may have flipped into place

Genetically Modified Crops Get Vote of Approval

les nouvelles

Endeavour cleared for Wednesday launch try

(abscence of)'Super marijuana' could be a problem

Stress–the Genetic Kind–Really Can Make Hair Go Gray

There have been plenty of promises and let-downs in the past, but Australian scientists are working on a new cure for baldness... trying to clone hair by using stem cells.

using stem cells to regrow hair? I've always loved the more practical applications of science and technology.

this ultramicro bacteria could unlock the mysteries of life in other areas of the universe

les nouvelles

Evidence That Mice Produce Egg Cells After Birth

The End of Private Health Insurance

Why didn't this happen in the 50s? Isn't health care that is availavle to all people the goal? Why does the government want healthcare for everyone now? Health Care for all people will make costs of everything go down, because the public will be healthy. I'm so fucking over insurance scams, why do they run this country?

Microchip that tells the GP if you’ve taken your pills

World's most powerful laser prepares to mimic nuclear reactions at centre of the Sun

Big Foot Britain: The average man's feet have grown a whole size in just five years

news

Stargazers were in for a real treat Friday night when the full moon lit up the night sky in its brightest display in 50 years.

-> I saw it last night, but for some reason it just didn't sparkle quite in the way I thought it would. Also, it was cloudy for half thr night, so I had to miss out on this great spectacle. I live a few blocks from the beach, and during a night walk to check out the tide, I did notice that it was a lot higher than usual!

Survey Asks: Internet Access or Sex?

why can't we have both? Sex with the internet

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/11/AR2008121103392.html

-> really bad idea! I'm so sad to see news like this. Everyone in power is forcing the world back into the 1800s.

news

Gender-bending chemicals putting our future at risk

-> I find it ironic how the first things to get fucked up is testes...

Survivor of 7/7 bombings fitted with clip-on arm which can fuse with her skin

news

Man-made noise in world's seas threatens wildlife

-> I've known about this for years, because I took both Oceanography as well as Marine Biology. It's a huge and devastating problem that doesn't receive a lot of media attention.

NASA delays Mars rover launch to 2011

-> costing an additional $400 million. Nasa could be competative in today's failing markets, but only if given enough $...

Astronomers have collected light bouncing around since a 1572 supernova, witnessed by Tycho Brahe himself, to figure out exactly what kind of explosion it was. Cynthia Graber reports

-> I want to see a supernova! I doubt I ever will...

Insurers propose universal, centralized healthcare

"Rogue" stem cell clinics exploit hope: report

-> I plan on doing this, if I don't kill myself first! :D

Experimental Vaginal Gel Doesn't Ward Off HIV

news

Scientists uncover 1,224 different species in first ever inventory of life at the poles

-> I always thought the most interesting aspect would be that you could name the species... after yourself!

A banker is set to become the world's first 'affordable' space tourist.
Per Wimmer will tomorrow be announced as the first customer of private space tourism company Xcor.
In 2010, he hopes to fly to an altitude of 200,000 ft in the Lynx, a two-seater jet-powered spaceplane built by the LA-based firm.

Ice breaker! Scientists predict when ice bergs will crack off Antarctic shelves

Parents offered £100 DNA test to find future sports stars

too bad I didn't go...

[SALT] Terms of biocontainment (Synthetic Biology debate) Inbox X
Stewart Brand to salt
show details 11:02 AM (8 hours ago)

Reply


"I want to develop tools that make biology easy to engineer," Drew Endy began. The first purpose is better understanding fundamental biological mechanisms through "learning by building." The toolkit of Synthetic Biology starts with DNA construction and ascends through DNA parts, to devices, to standardized systems. An organism's DNA code, and therefore the organism, can be digitally uploaded, stored, distributed, and downloaded. Life forms are programmable. So far 3,500 standard "BioBrick" parts have been developed for free distribution, and the number is growing geometrically. The number of amateur and student bioengineers also is growing geometicallly.

"There are 20,000 edible plant species," Endy noted. "At present we eat only 30." Synthetic biology can help diversify agriculture. Or how about engineering a gourd that can grow into a living house?

Endy concluded with five questions... Should teenagers practice genetic engineering? (Yes.) Should military weapons involve biotechnology? (No.) Should BioBrick parts be patented or freely shared? (Free.) Will biohackers be good or bad? (Good, if we help.) Should genetic engineers sign their work and publish it? (Yes.)

Jim Thomas asked Endy how he would defend against commercial interests locking up Synthetic Biology with patents? Endy said the best hope is building an open-source community that grows faster than businesses and out-innovates them.
Thomas began his statement by pointing out that it usually takes a whole generation to understand a new technology, so he urges moving slowly and cautiously, but Synthetic Biology is advancing at breakneck speed, and the window of opportunity to have effective public discussion and control is closing.

He cited the history of synthetic chemicals, which began in mid-19th century. The technology quickly became highly concentrated in an oligarchy of monopolistic companies, and then it was easliy commandeered by government in wartime. I.G. Farben supplied the poison gas for the death camps. "Powerful technology in an unjust world is likely to exacerbate the injustice."

Thomas said he worries when he hears comments like, "Anything that can be made by a plant can be made by a microbe." If that's played out, it means the death knell for everyone who works in agriculture, a vast economic restructuring. There's so much novelty coming so fast from Synthetic Biology, no predictive models or regulatory models can hold them. He recommends these new tools be strictly contained so there is no release of new life forms into the biosphere, and there should be no commercialization of the technology at all.

Endy asked Thomas if it's okay to make anything in a bioreactor vat? Thomas said, "Yes, beer."

For different reasons, both debaters wanted to see Synthetic Biology kept from domination by commercial patents. For Thomas, it would lead to unjust monopoly answering only to profit. For Endy, it would paralyze open-ended research.

--Stewart Brand
--


Stewart Brand -- sb@gbn.org
The Long Now Foundation - http://www.longnow.org
Seminars & downloads: http://www.longnow.org/projects/seminars/

big deal news

Goldmine Bug DNA May Be Key to Alien Life
Scientists Discover First Ecosystem Having Only a Single Biological Species

news

Intelligent men have healthier sperm, study claims

The brain can produce its own antidepressants with the right signal, report scientists, who say the finding suggests that meditating, or going to your 'happy place', truly works.

Cosmic eye looks back in time to picture a galaxy forming in the early Universe

Japanese researchers have created a life-like robot, based on a five-year-old girl.

Nasa spacecraft flies within 125 miles of Mercury to capture photographs of rocks and cliffs never seen before

Space tourist braves dangerous Soyuz ship

Gecko-like glue is said to be stickiest yet

Virgin shark got pregnant in Virginia aquarium

Google Maps is going high-definition with GeoEye-1, a satellite launched by GeoEye, an aerial and geospatial information company.

Android Could Signal Tipping Point In Smartphones

Study asks if gene testing motivates healthy living

news

Congress eyes restrictions on exporting e-waste

Tesla to build electric car plant in San Jose

NASA: Arctic sea ice at second-lowest level on record

Johnson space center to reopen next week: NASA

Scientists Find One Specimen of Bizarre Primitive Ant

Non-invasive colonoscopy is found to be effective

No Tan Is a Safe Tan

Feeling Cold? Maybe You're Lonely- Social Isolation Makes People Feel Colder, Seek Warmth

links

Homosexuality in the Animal Kingdom

dumb kids play catch on freeway get squished

Out In Nature: Homosexuality In The Animal Kingdom

A few years ago I was watching Logo, the cable channel designed for queer lifestyles. Since it wasn't until a few years ago that such a channel existed, I am endlessly grateful for the validation such a show (as well as channel) provides. In my peer group, I find many people unsatisfied with Logo for not being realistic enough, but for the time being everyone should just be grateful that it's accessible because there was nothing like that when I was in high school. I often wonder what the next queer generation will be like, from having that kind of exposure and validation from such a young age. Hopefully, less fucked up than mine.

The program I saw that struck me the most was a documentary called Out In Nature: Homosexuality In The Animal Kingdom. This documentary was a survey of scientific research done into the omnipresent expressions of homosexual love and sex displayed in all areas of the animal Kingdom. Biologists have discovered that many more types of animals are gay than just humans and binobos- in fact it's so common it can be viewed in most types of mammals, as a queer person learning this information made me feel so validated! Why is this not getting more attention in the media- in short this is a triumph for the queer community. We're not genetic mistakes, we hold a valuable and valid place in evolution.

What I find strange yet not surprising is how common it happens to be, especially in highly evolved mammals such as dolphins and primates. Since these animals are not socialized to see sexual expression as either "acceptable" or "not acceptable" it makes observing their behaviors so much easier. I've always been interested in biology and homosexuality, and I'm really happy it's finally being taken seriously- it seems like this will eventually lead to a new type of study all together, since there is so much more that has yet to be discovered. What's always been inspiring to me is the thought that there will always be more unknowns, variables, and mysteries and it only takes people like me with a vision and the will to understand to solve them.

What is so upsetting is that this kind of research is barely emerging in spite of being observable to all modern humans- previously all these behaviors had been dismissed by biologists, downplayed by being called "playing." Now that these behaviors have been observed as being so much more, there's no way any relevant scientist would try to dismiss the behaviors at this point, especially with all the new discoveries. Science only cares about what's true, and now that paradigms are liberal enough to allow for publishing findings without fear of backlash from conservatives, christians, and other small minded people, this kind of research is only going to become more prevalent and more respected.

My whole life, I have tried to figure who I am, as well as why I am the way I happen to be. I'm really inspired by all the emerging research, it really makes me want to be a part of it, because the more we can measure these expressions of love and sex, the sooner biology textbooks can be rewritten to include all this history that has been purposefully left out.

Remember:
Dumb Kids Play Catch On Freeway Get Squished-

Domain
Kingdom
Phylum
Order
Class
Family
Genus
Species

gay news

Scans see 'gay brain differences'

check it out

Well, these slugs are hermaphrodites, which means that they can act as both males and females at the same time. When they mate, they insert their penises into each other at the same time. The unusual thing (in case you don't find that unusual enough!) is that sometimes, but not always, when they finish mating one slug will chew the penis completely off the other, a process called Apophallation. Sometimes it happens that both slugs engage in chewing so that at the end of the mating encounter, both slugs are penis-less.

check out this website by an up and coming prominent scientist!

the next step in human evolution

Homo Noeticus

Institute of Noetic Sciences

The institutes name is derrived from noetic theory, which is concerned with intellectual or rational activity, and proposes the idea of an evolutionary shift in humans to a new species called Homo noeticus, possessing paranormal abilities.

Cell Recycling Theory

æ ∞ -æ

Si>C? ularity

c/p from singularity.org:
"Technologies Which May Take Us to Singularity:
Artificial entities generated by evolution within computer systems"

As a biologist, evolution (as one of the 4 unifying themes of biology) has always had a large impact on my life's experience. Evolution is both observable and measurable, it is one of the most fundamental aspects to life, and has created the diversity of life we observe here on planet earth. Genetic drift and natural selection carve and shape life to fit the planet's surface (even though as humans we'd like to think it's the other way around). Life is hard to define, every fact biology knows about life remains geocentric, planets vary greatly throughout the universe.

The emerged digital landscape mimics the biological one; evolution has the same effect on Silicone based life forms as it does on Carbon based ones. Only the strongest and most efficient codes will remain, and being the most adapted, they will be the most common. When time is thrown into the equation, it's obvious that the best adapted will evolve to be even better and even more efficient, giving rise to new "species" over time. These artificial entities may or may not be created by humans, who in comparison are less efficient, and less well adapted (to exist in computer systems). Silicon based life surpassing carbon based life has remained constant in biological consciousness.