biology – Impact Lab

3D Printer, Biotech, Health & Fitness, Medical Breakthrough, Medicine, Science & Technology News

Humans Can Now “Print” Genetic Code and Engineer Life

March 9, 2017

We have learned how to manipulate the code of life. Why this hasn’t received more attention is beyond me.

Synthetic Biology is a multidisciplinary field that often defies definition. Yet despite its complexity, it is a remarkably easy field to apply once you’ve learned the science behind it. From a computer, you can input your desired genetic sequence, print it out, glue it together, put it into a cell and then watch whatever you have created sprout.

Continue reading… “Humans Can Now “Print” Genetic Code and Engineer Life”

3D Printer, Medical Breakthrough, Science & Technology News

BioBots low-cost 3-D printer can make human organs and bones

August 28, 2015

At a Drexel University lab in Philadelphia, a desktop 3-D printer is printing miniature samples of bones. In Toronto, another researcher is using the same printer to make living tumors for drug testing. It looks like an ordinary 3-D printer, but instead of plastic, it squirts out living cells.

Continue reading… “BioBots low-cost 3-D printer can make human organs and bones”

Military, Science & Technology News, Space

DARPA says they are engineering the organisms that will teraform Mars

June 29, 2015

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is investing heavily in genetic engineering and synthetic biology, that could excite or terrify you depending on how you feel about the military engineering totally new life forms. Continue reading… “DARPA says they are engineering the organisms that will teraform Mars”

Science & Technology News

DNA reprogramming in human germ cells observed for first time

June 8, 2015

Led by the University of Cambridge a team of researchers have, for the first time, described in humans how the epigenome – the suite of molecules attached to our DNA that switch our genes on and off – is comprehensively erased in early primordial germ cells prior to the generation of egg and sperm. Continue reading… “DNA reprogramming in human germ cells observed for first time”

Analysis, Breakthrough Thinking, New Discoveries, People Making a Difference, Science & Technology News

Brave new world of biotech: Push one to create life; push two to create alien life

June 3, 2014

“We’re considering the possibility that you can write software for living things with bio-code (aka DNA).”

May was a good month for miracles. During these first weeks in May, two separate teams working at two separate institutions announced that when it comes to creating life from scratch, well, there are a couple of new gods in town.

Continue reading… “Brave new world of biotech: Push one to create life; push two to create alien life”

Analysis, Health & Fitness, New Discoveries, Science & Technology News

Scientists discover way to regenerate teeth with lasers

June 2, 2014

Scientists use low powered laser to grow teeth.

Scientists have used a low powered laser to activate and direct stem cells to grow teeth. It looks as if they did it right in the mouth (of a couple of species)! That’s a disruptive innovation compared to the way stem cells are typically grown and developed outside the body.

Continue reading… “Scientists discover way to regenerate teeth with lasers”

Analysis, Great Videos, Latest Trend, Robots, Science & Technology News

Advances in technology from robotic furniture to stuffed animals

May 30, 2014

Dragonbot is designed to support long-term learning interactions between children and robots.

Advances in exponential technology happen fast This week Singularity Hub points to significant developments to keep people in the know. (Videos)

Continue reading… “Advances in technology from robotic furniture to stuffed animals”

Analysis, Health & Fitness, Medical Breakthrough, New Discoveries, Science & Technology News

The most promising medical technology on the horizon today

February 6, 2014

Discoveries in the field of telomere biology will have an impact on how we can stay young naturally and look younger than our chronological age.

Research in telomere biology has the potential to extend human life span, to dramatically lower rates of the great remaining killer diseases: heart disease, stroke, and Alzheimer’s. All three diseases increase exponentially with age, and their toll will be slashed as we we learn how to address the body’s aging clocks.

Continue reading… “The most promising medical technology on the horizon today”

Analysis, Science & Technology News

4D printing: The new human bionics

July 25, 2013

Skylar Tibbits, an architect who heads up the Self-Assembly Lab at MIT.

The essence of human identity is increasingly in the hands of a new generation. We are entering a future where our biology is becoming self-defined, assembled, manufactured, and increasingly unique. For one, advancements in new materials technology are leading to potentially game-changing innovations. When combined with rapid improvements in 3D printing techniques, the applications for human biology become manifold.

Continue reading… “4D printing: The new human bionics”

Health & Fitness, Medical Breakthrough, Science & Technology News

Researchers clone human embryonic stem cells

May 16, 2013

Creating stem cells from skin.

Researchers have converted human skin cells into embryonic stem cells using the same process involved in cloning, which have the capability to turn into any type of cell in the body. Stem cell researchers have reached a long-sought milestone in “regenerative” medicine that seeks to provide rejection-free replacement transplant tissues to patients.

Continue reading… “Researchers clone human embryonic stem cells”

Architecture, Robots, Science & Technology News

Drones, bacteria, and 3D printers will build the cities of the future

April 25, 2013

Urban architecture could take on a much different form as scientists make huge strides in robotics, natural building materials, and new construction methods.

Cities are complex ecosystems and they are confronting tremendous pressures to seek optimum efficiency with minimal impact in a resource-constrained world. While architecture, urban planning, and sustainability attempt to address the massive resource requirements and outflow of cities, there are signs that a deeper current of biology is working its way into the urban framework.

Continue reading… “Drones, bacteria, and 3D printers will build the cities of the future”

Health & Fitness, Medical Breakthrough, New Inventions, Science & Technology News

Stanford engineers create biological computer

March 29, 2013

We’re going to be able to put computers inside any living cell you want,” said lead researcher Drew Endy.

A team of engineers at Stanford University have made a simple computer inside a living cell, where it could detect disease, warn of toxic threats and, where danger lurked, even self-destruct cells gone rogue.

Continue reading… “Stanford engineers create biological computer”