VirtualBody

A potentially amazing way to explore the human body Scientists in Switzerland have developed a novel way to monitor a neuron's electrical activity by bathing it in laser light. The technique, called holographic microscopy, doesn't require the invasive electrodes or dyes typically used to measure cell activity. Researchers say the approach could be used to rapidly screen new drugs designed to protect brain cells.

Finally. A hardware based approach to chips that may mimic the power or real human processing. Memory and processing together brings huge speed and power increases and energy savings. 

An investigation into the fascinating links between inflammation, depression, imunity, exercise and more. 

Fascinating project modelling protein folding and it's relation to diseases. essentially proteins are nano machines. biologys workhorses

Talks about the use of folding@home as a distributed platform investigating protein folding and reliated diseases. excellent talk.

The Giome Concept GIOME is a completely new concept in gastroenterology based on the human Physiome project originally proposed by James Bassingthwaighte in 1995. The purpose of the GIOME project is to facilitate integrative modeling of physiological and pathophysiological processes in the gastrointestinal tract and sharing of data, ideas and designs generated by gastroenterologists worldwide.

An excellent piece highlighting the growing focus on the dangers of activity. A key reason why a virtual body is needed. 

eterna is doing pretty much what we want to do but with RNA. Could be a very useful model to follow. 

Sweet game teaching RNA principles through fun. Also allows experimentation and sharing through community. 

A nice example of using game mechanics to simulate real world problems

a web based tool to diagram chemistry 

Fascinating overview of modern days genetics and what it teaches us about evolution. 

Blue Mars is the premium 3D virtual world platform featuring class leading fidelity, scalability, security, and connectivity.

A program designed to pitch one lifeform against another in a simpel computer world.  This is a tool for examining evolution.

Crowd funding for medical research. What a great new trend.

 A new set of computer models has successfully predicted negative side effects in hundreds of current drugs, based on the similarity between their chemical structures and those molecules known to cause side effects, according to a paper appearing online this week in the journal Nature.

MRI scans from a study being presented June 10 at SLEEP 2012 in Boston reveal how sleep deprivation impairs the higher-order regions in the human brain where food choices are made, possibly helping explain the link between sleep loss and obesity that previous research has uncovered.

Habitually sleeping less than six hours a night significantly increases the risk of stroke symptoms among middle-age to older adults who are of normal weight and at low risk for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), according to a study of 5,666 people followed for up to three years.

Within the walls of blood vessels are smooth muscle cells and newly discovered vascular stem cells. The stem cells are multipotent and are not only able to differentiate into smooth muscle cells, but also into fat, cartilage and bone cells. UC Berkeley researchers provide evidence that the stem cells are contributing to clogged and hardened arteries. Credit: Song Li illustration

"The cause of hypertension in insomniacs is due to the number of times the individual wakes during the night as well as their sleep latency - the length of time it takes to accomplish the transition from full wakefulness to sleep," says Christopher Drake, associate scientist at the Henry Ford Hospital Sleep Disorders and Research Center and lead author of this study.