VirtualBody

Scientists and surgeons from France, Germany, United Kingdom and Switzerland have developed a "virtual liver", using EU research funding, which will help surgeons better plan and carry out tumour operations and ensure quicker patient recovery. Personally I just find it a shame that there is no open source repository where this work can be made available to the general public. There is definitely no way for the general public to get involved. 

If it wasn't enough that scientists could read your memories, they can now listen in on them, too. 

Primitive moss-like plants could have triggered the cooling of the Earth some 470 million years ago, say researchers.

Genome Institute of Singapore's (GIS) Associate Director of Genomic Technologies, Dr. Yijun RUAN, led a continuing study on the human genome spatial/structural configuration, revealing how genes interact/communicate and influence each other, even when they are located far away from each other. This discovery is crucial in understanding how human genes work together, and will re-write textbooks on how transcription regulation and coordination takes place in human cells.

This is circuitry with a real twist that's able to monitor and deliver electrical impulses into living tissue. Elastic electronics are made of tiny, wavy silicon structures containing circuits that are thinner than a human hair, and bend and stretch with the body. "As the skin moves and deforms, the circuit can follow those deformations in a completely noninvasive way," says Rogers. He hopes elastic electronics will open a door to a whole range of what he calls "bio-integrated" medical devices.

Part of this is about eating bad food. The rest is about living a poor life. The effect that mindset has on you is hard to really understand unless you've lived it. This article does a good job at explaining.

Ward Round is an exciting new medical learning experience where you are placed in the role of the doctor to solve clinical medical mysteries against the clock. Test your medical knowledge and improve your clinical deductive skills through varied cases, spread across nine specialties, to become the ultimate diagnostician.

"When faced with a difficult question, we often answer an easier one instead, usually without noticing the substitution," writes Kahneman.

In a major discovery, biologists at Tufts University were able to cause tissue to grow a new organ by simply altering the membrane voltage gradients of cells: they caused tadpoles to grow eyes outside of the head area.

Using this 3D body suit, they are able to shoot 3D motion capture right out of the lab. More details about this suit - known as MVN BIOMECH from Xsens, this 3D human kinematic, camera-less measurement system will come integrated with small tracking sensors that are placed on the joints. All the sensors on the suit will comprise of a trio of components: an accelerometer, magnetometers and a gyroscope, working in tandem to deliver information on each of the joints, body segments between the joints and the 3D movements. Currently, a project is being developed to see how nurses are able to lift patients safely into a hospital bed without having to strain themselves.

The goal of NCHA research is to identify biological factors that determine good health at old age. NCHA integrates scientific disciplines, technological innovations and biomedical research in the largest collection of world-renowned human cohort studies. Rooted in the EU, NCHA has become a global player by large collaborative efforts with excellent scientific output. Activities in NCHA involve genetic en genomic discoveries all the way down to human intervention studies.

Beautiful, multi-coloured images of neurones in mice brains.

Keeping you mind really is about use it or lose it.  Langer had already shown that memory loss-a problem often blamed on aging-could be reversed by giving elderly people more reasons to remember facts; when success was rewarded with small gifts, or when researchers made efforts to create personal relationships with their subjects, elderly memory performance improved. she and Yale colleague Judith Rodin found that simply giving nursing-home residents plants to take care of, as well as control over certain decisions-where they would meet guests, what activities to do-not only improved their subjects' psychological and physical health, but also their longevity: a year and a half later, fewer of those residents had died. What she found, however, surprised even her own team of researchers.

We are retroviruses. Something I've thought for a while but here is a discussion explaining just how true that might be. 

ScienceDaily (Mar. 11, 2010) - The hippocampus, a part of the brain essential for memory, has long been known to "replay" recently experienced events. Previously, replay was believed to be a simple process of reviewing recent experiences in order to help consolidate them into long-term memory. However, researchers have discovered that the replay function of the hippocampus is actually a much more complex, cognitive process.

ScienceDaily (Feb. 24, 2009) - When it comes to the hippocampus, a brain structure vital to certain types of memory, size matters. Numerous studies have shown that bigger is usually better. Now researchers have found that elderly adults who are more physically fit tend to have bigger hippocampi and better spatial memory than those who are less fit.

A fascinating talk on how the mind learns and stores memory, and also shares some of his most recent findings.

This is a fascinating piece exploring the world of electronics and its relation to biology. Particularly the nervous system. It explains the lessons we are learning from the brain in how to produce amazing efficient yet powerful computational devices. 

Like fitbit. This is a wearable bit of kit that can track your daily habits. It can even remind you to be active or wake you up at the right part of your sleep cycle.  Complements an iphone app. Hopefully and android one will come along soon. Released in the US on november 6 2011. Not sure when it will reach the uk. 

brilliant animation explaining how the nervous system is influenced by training and how to use this knowledge for better learning