Newest global Nanofunding numbers

here

Scientists: Humans and machines will merge in future

# Nick Bostrom says technology will let humans manipulate their own biology
# Ray Kurzweil predicts humans will be mostly non-biological by around 2030
# Biotechnology, nanotechnology, robotics could merge mankind with machines
more here

Study shows increased education on nanotech, human enhancement increases public concerns

Educating the public about nanotechnology and other complex but emerging technologies causes people to become more “worried and cautious” about the new technologies’ prospective benefits, according to a recent study by researchers at North Carolina State University.

more here

Nanotubes bring artificial photosynthesis a step nearer

Carbon nanotubes are the crucial chemical ingredient that could make
artificial photosynthesis possible, say a team of Chinese researchers. The
team has found that nanotubes mimic an important step in photosynthesis that
chemists have been unable to copy until now.

more here

Canadian academies report on Nanotechnology

The Council of Canadian Academies has been asked by the federal Minister of Health: “What is the state of knowledge with respect to existing nanomaterial properties and their health and environmental risks, which could underpin regulatory perspectives on needs for research, risk assessment and surveillance?”

An Expert Panel on Nanotechnology has been appointed by the Council of Canadian Academies to address this question. Scientific knowledge, or evidence, is broadly interpreted to include natural sciences and engineering, as well as social sciences.
more here

here a Globe and Mail article

Council of Canadian Academies news release

a synthetic biology survey developed by my students

Dear readers of this blog,

as you are linked to various networks I hope
that you send this post through your networks so that the students get
many responses to the synthetic biology survey they designed. They worked very hard  on the survey.
You find the survey here
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=u3DnQ2vRzuA2RF_2bMb8KYaw_3d_3d

I am the convener of a team of four undergraduate students (all in the
bachelor of health sciences in my faculty, three finished the first
year, one finished the second year) that looks into the ethical, legal, social.. issues of synthetic biology.

They the “Calgary iGEM Ethics Team” will present their finding -which will include the results of the survey- at the International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition iGEM.

“The International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition is the
premiere Synthetic Biology competition and currently the largest
Synthetic Biology conference in the world. Working at their own schools
over the summer, participants use standard biological parts to design,
build, and operate biological systems in living cells. During the first
weekend of November, they share their work at the iGEM Competition
Jamboree at MIT and in competition for a variety of awards for
excellence. They add their new parts to the Registry of Standard
Biological Parts for the students in the next year’s competition.”
http://parts.mit.edu/igem08/index.php/What_is_iGEM

The Calgary iGEM Ethics team is the first undergraduate team to present on the ethical, legal, social.. issues of synthetic biology at iGEM.

Thanks again for your help.
Cheers
Gregor

Everything you needed to know about human-created life forms but were afraid to ask

more here

Mad Science Contest: Build a Lifeform and We’ll Send You to Hong Kong or Give You $1000

more here

Scientists Identify Genes for brain development

see here the academic paper

and here a write up on it

interestingly the write up title is

Scientists Identify Genes that Could Turn Ordinary People into Supergeniuses (or Mindless Drones)

Artificial DNA Made Exclusively of Nonnatural C-Nucleosides with Four Types of Nonnatural Bases

We describe a new class of DNA-like oligomers made exclusively of nonnatural, stable C-nucleosides. The nucleosides comprise four types of nonnatural bases attached to a deoxyribose through an acetylene bond with the β-configuration. The artificial DNA forms right-handed duplexes and triplexes with the complementary artificial DNA. The hybridization occurs spontaneously and sequence-selectively, and the resulting duplexes have thermal stabilities very close to those of natural duplexes. The artificial DNA might be applied to a future extracellular genetic system with information storage and amplifiable abilities.

here

Synthetic Biology Concept note by the International Risk Governance Council

more hereTechnorati Tags: synthetic biology

A New Zealand report on the cultural, ethical and spiritual aspects of pre-birth testing by Toi te Taiao: the Bioethics Council

some far reaching recommendations such as
Recommendation 9
There is insufficient cultural, ethical and spiritual reasons to prohibit the use of preimplantation
genetic diagnosis for sex selection for social reasons such as ‘family balancing’.

more here

Technorati Tags: Genetic testing, preimplantation, gender, sex selection, ethics, New Zealand

Getting Wrapped Up In Solar Textiles

Sheila Kennedy, an expert in the integration of solar cell technology in architecture who is now at MIT, creates designs for flexible photovoltaic materials that may change the way buildings receive and distribute energy.

more hereTechnorati Tags: solar, textile

Synthetic Biology: social and ethical challenges

more here

Technorati Tags: synthetic biology

Carbon Nanotubes Compromise the Functions of Certain Protozoa, Study Shows

A new study by researchers from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, hints that carbon nanotubes may be toxic to microorganisms. When cultures of a certain key protozoan, a single-cell organism, were exposed to the nanotubes their ability to ingest and digest bacteria was hindered.

more here

Technorati Tags: Carbon, nano, nanotube, microbe, toxic,

Carbon Nanotubes Compromise the Functions of Certain Protozoa, Study Shows

A new study by researchers from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, hints that carbon nanotubes may be toxic to microorganisms. When cultures of a certain key protozoan, a single-cell organism, were exposed to the nanotubes their ability to ingest and digest bacteria was hindered.

more hereTechnorati Tags: Carbon, nano, nanotube, microbe, toxic,

What Sorts of Paralympics? A Disabled Swimmer’s Dream, a Mother’s Fight

Its about a swimmer with cerebral palsy and developmental differences. An excerpt

“Mr. Kendall Bailey, an athlete who is a citizen of the USA and eligible to represent the USA in international competition, is inappropriately classified to compete in International Paralympic Committee (IPC) swimming competition. Mr. Bailey is intellectually disabled. The intellectual disability classification for swimming (S14) is not presently recognized by the IPC; nor is an intellectually disabled swimmer eligible to compete under the IPC Swimming Functional Classification System.”

see hereTechnorati Tags: Sports, Ableism, Olympics, Paralympics, Discrimination, Disabled people

Nano Vent-skin

Nano Vent-skin tries to make existing objects greener with a skin made out of micro wind turbines.
Using nano-manufacturing with bioengineered organisms as a production method, NVS merges different kinds of micro organisms that work together to absorb and transform natural energy from the environment….

more here

What sort of coverage: Amputees fight caps in coverage for prosthetics

By Dave Gram, Associated Press

SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. - After bone cancer forced the amputation of her
right leg below the knee, Eileen Casey got even more bad news: Her
insurer told her that she had spent her $10,000 lifetime coverage limit
on her temporary limb and that the company wouldn’t pay for a permanent
one……
more here

Question: One the one hand society promotes a body image and a social environment that seems to make legs essential 9most places are still not set up for non leg modes of movements)and on the other hand they are not willing to enable one to have the legs.
Technorati Tags: legs, prosthetics, insurance, payment, ableism, disablement,

The Politics of Ableism

a new paper out by Gregor Wolbring
Development 51: 252-258; doi:10.1057/dev.2008.17
http://www.palgrave-journals.com/development/journal/v51/n2/index.html

Technorati Tags: Wolbring, Ableism, Disability, Impairment, Transhumanized version of ableism, Politics, Policies,