Group items tagged

"Electrofuels Ginkgo BioWorks is engineering an organism for the energy industry in partnership with the DOE that converts electricity and CO2 to liquid transportation fuels. "

"This website is all about the intersection of biology and technology. It seeks to educate and inspire in equal measures. We live in very exciting times and they are getting more exciting all the time! Synthetic biology and genetic engineering will be important game changers over the course of this century and thus knowledge about them is valuable for people of any background. An important hurdle for these technologies is public acceptance, this acceptance can only come through education - and that is the real goal of this site."

"Here we show that four days of immersion in nature, and the corresponding disconnection from multi-media and technology, increases performance on a creativity, problem-solving task by a full 50% in a group of naive hikers. Our results demonstrate that there is a cognitive advantage to be realized if we spend time immersed in a natural setting. We anticipate that this advantage comes from an increase in exposure to natural stimuli that are both emotionally positive and low-arousing and a corresponding decrease in exposure to attention demanding technology, which regularly requires that we attend to sudden events, switch amongst tasks, maintain task goals, and inhibit irrelevant actions or cognitions. A limitation of the current research is the inability to determine if the effects are due to an increased exposure to nature, a decreased exposure to technology, or to other factors associated with spending three days immersed in nature."

"A team of scientists at Oxford University have printed - yes, printed - what could be the predecessors to usable synthetic human tissue. The researchers released a paper called A Tissue-Like Material, announcing that they created their own version of a 3D printer, saying the current ones on the market couldn't print what they were after, according to PhsyOrg. And what were they after? A protein sack of water that can mold itself into different shapes and perform similar functions to human cells. After developing the printer, the team was able to print out a series of droplets that formed a network of human-like cells that could act like nerves and send electrical signals across the network."

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"Tissue engineering is often thought of as a "Frankenstein-type" science where scientists build living tissues from otherwise "dead" tissues and organs. However, current advances in technology mean bringing life to cadaveric tissues is becoming more and more sophisticated: less of the lightning strikes and more stem cells and 3D printing!"

"The press had a tendency to consistently overestimate [biohackers'] capabilities and underestimate our ethics. We have personal computing, why not personal biotech? That's the question biologist Ellen Jorgensen and her colleagues asked themselves before opening Genspace, a nonprofit DIYbio lab in Brooklyn devoted to citizen science, where amateurs can go and tinker with biotechnology. Far from being a sinister Frankenstein's lab (as some imagined it), Genspace offers a long list of fun, creative and practical uses for DIYbio. Ellen Jorgensen is at the leading edge of the do-it-yourself biotechnology movement, which brings scientific exploration and understanding to the masses"

"My link was shared by Bora Zivkovic, whose network is immense. And in turn, the link was shared by Twitter users in Greece, Germany, Belgium and throughout the United States. In the end, the blogpost wound up with 109 readers on January 22nd - with about 50 via Twitter, 26 via Facebook, and others via LinkedIn and elsewhere. When each person shared the link with her or his network, the momentum is carried forward, pushing out to new networks and new degrees of separation. Social sharing is a bit like the emails you would get forwarded by your relatives (you know, those emails). The deeper you scroll down the thread, the less sender names you recognize. But with Twitter, and using analytics like WordPress or Google, you can actually trace how a little link travels through different social networks, and eventually back to your website. Also, because many people embed a small bio or website link in their Twitter profile, I can quickly see who has retweeted and read my link. I can read their tweets to get an idea of their profession and passions,"

"Scientist Solutions Inc. was started in 2004 for the purpose of promoting the worldwide advancement of science and biotechnology. To achieve this goal we have developed an internet discussion site or "Board" to provide scientists a resource for the exchange of ideas and information. "

"A new bioprinter developed at a hackerspace can print living cells for less than the cost of an iPod touch. 3-D bioprinters have the potential to change the way medical research is conducted, even print living tissue and replacement organs, but they are expensive and highly specialized. They literally build living structures, like blood vessels or skin tissue, cell by cell, revolutionizing biomedical engineering. Unfortunately, they're expensive, rare, and require a Ph.D. (or two) to operate successfully. Frustrated by their cost and exclusivity, a group of makers at the DIYbio hackerspace BioCurious are developing a system open to anyone with a soldering iron and a serious passion for cell biology."

"After many centuries of splints and cumbersome plaster casts that have been the itchy and smelly bane of millions of children, adults and the aged alike, the world over, we at last bring fracture support into the 21st century. The Cortex exoskeletal cast provides a highly technical and trauma zone localized support system that is fully ventilated, super light, shower friendly, hygienic, recyclable and stylish."

Droplet network printer ""We aren't trying to make materials that faithfully resemble tissues, but rather structures that can carry out the functions of tissues," said Professor Hagan Bayley of Oxford University's Department of Chemistry, who led the research. "We've shown that it is possible to create networks of tens of thousands of connected droplets. The droplets can be printed with protein pores to form pathways through the network that mimic nerves and are able to transmit electrical signals from one side of a network to the other.""

"Le président de CaptainDash, Gilles Babinet, Digital champion pour la France auprès de l'Europe, révèle l'émergence d'un nouveau phénomène : le biohacking. Une nouvelle manière en fait de faire des biotechs en mode low-cost. Une initiative proche de l'esprit open source qui a touché l'informatique et les fab-labs."

cp. Olaf Blanke, http://ed.iiQii.de/gallery/Science-TheOnlyNews/OlafBlanke_inco_epfl_ch "I am interested in the neurobiology of visual perception, visual cognition, and motor control. Neurocognitive processes underlying social perception and social cognition form the second focus of my research."

The Community Robotics, Education and Technology Empowerment Lab (CREATE Lab) at Carnegie Mellon is our ongoing experiment in a new model for university-community relations.

"Vor wenigen Jahren trat eine neue Methode der Gentechnik ihren Siegeszug an. Heute ist Crispr eines der meist genutzten Werkzeuge im Labor und sorgt für Euphorie, aber auch Albträume. Das Potenzial von Crispr ist riesig. Das Werkzeug erlaubt Korrekturen, Veränderungen und Manipulationen am Erbgut und wird von Wissenschaftern breit angewendet, an Bakterien, Pflanzen und Tieren. Auch vor menschlichen Embryonen schraken einige nicht zurück. Als Erfinderinnen gelten die Mikrobiologin Emmanuelle Charpentier und die Biochemikerin Jennifer Doudna."

"or wenigen Jahren trat eine neue Methode der Gentechnik ihren Siegeszug an. Heute ist Crispr eines der meist genutzten Werkzeuge im Labor und sorgt für Euphorie, aber auch Albträume. Das Potenzial von Crispr ist riesig. Das Werkzeug erlaubt Korrekturen, Veränderungen und Manipulationen am Erbgut und wird von Wissenschaftern breit angewendet, an Bakterien, Pflanzen und Tieren. Auch vor menschlichen Embryonen schraken einige nicht zurück. Als Erfinderinnen gelten die Mikrobiologin Emmanuelle Charpentier und die Biochemikerin Jennifer Doudna."

"Ich bin nicht Wissenschaftlerin geworden, um mit den Medien zu sprechen. Aber mit der Zeit habe ich verstanden, dass ich das tun muss... WIE WICHTIG GRUNDLAGENFORSCHUNG ist... Meine Mitarbeiter waren allerdings nicht begeistert davon, diese Idee in einem Experiment zu testen. Wir standen kurz vor dem Umzug nach Umeå, und niemand wollte „noch eine verrückte Idee" testen."

"Conversations in Science with Jennifer Doudna"

"Es gibt tatsächlich etwas, das genetische Integrität heißt. Bei Pflanzensorten, die schon existieren und die sich wenig verändern sollten, wenn man sie vermehrt. Das ist wichtig für den Erhalt der Biodiversität. In der Pflanzenzucht aber geht es immer um Veränderung. Sie ist das Fundament, auf dem sich bessere Sorten mit neuen Eigenschaften entwickeln lassen, eine größere Vielfalt. Da ist es vom Grundsatz her egal, ob man im Klostergarten Erbsen miteinander kreuzt, um dickere Schoten zu generieren. Oder ob man in einem Hightech-Labor mit Genscheren wie Crispr-Cas9 den Code im Erbgut der Hülsenfrüchte umschreibt. Keiner der Prozesse schützt die genetische Integrität der Erbse. Beide Vorgänge bringen das gleiche Ergebnis. Nur dass moderne Gentechniken schneller sind, Ressourcen schonen, weniger Kollateralschäden im Erbgut erzeugen."