Dec. 13, 2007 — South Korean scientists have cloned cats by manipulating a fluorescent protein gene, a procedure which could help develop treatments for human genetic diseases, officials said Wednesday.

In a side-effect, the cloned cats glow in the dark when exposed to ultraviolet beams.

A team of scientists led by Kong Il-keun, a cloning expert at Gyeongsang National University, produced three cats possessing altered fluorescence protein (RFP) genes, the Ministry of Science and Technology said.

“It marked the first time in the world that cats with RFP genes have been cloned,” the ministry said in a statement.

“The ability to produce cloned cats with the manipulated genes is significant as it could be used for developing treatments for genetic diseases and for reproducing model (cloned) animals suffering from the same diseases as humans,” it added.

By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 17, 2007; Page A01

It has been 50 years since scientists first created DNA in a test tube, stitching ordinary chemical ingredients together to make life’s most extraordinary molecule. Until recently, however, even the most sophisticated laboratories could make only small snippets of DNA — an extra gene or two to be inserted into corn plants, for example, to help the plants ward off insects or tolerate drought.

Now researchers are poised to cross a dramatic barrier: the creation of life forms driven by completely artificial DNA.

Scientists in Maryland have already built the world’s first entirely handcrafted chromosome — a large looping strand of DNA made from scratch in a laboratory, containing all the instructions a microbe needs to live and reproduce.

In the coming year, they hope to transplant it into a cell, where it is expected to “boot itself up,” like software downloaded from the Internet, and cajole the waiting cell to do its bidding. And while the first synthetic chromosome is a plagiarized version of a natural one, others that code for life forms that have never existed before are already under construction.

Ray Kurzweil speaks on Singularity at the RAS Conference 2007 in San Francisco, Feb. 7, 2007. Photo credit: Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images.

By Eliza Strickland Email 11.13.07 | 3:00 PM

Ray Kurzweil has plenty of titles already: inventor, author, futurist, techno-optimist, artificial intelligence expert. Now he’s adding a Hollywood gloss to that list by writing, directing, producing and acting in his first feature film. He’s adapting his latest book to make a movie titled The Singularity Is Near: A True Story About The Future.

The “technological singularity” is a concept that’s enchanting to some, like Kurzweil, and terrifying to others. As a result of the exponential progress of technology, Kurzweil believes, we’re racing towards a day when the power of the artificially intelligent machines we create will exceed human brainpower. Our computers will then carry on fashioning a new world — with luck, they’ll keep our best interests in mind.

Wired News talked to Kurzweil about the movie that he hopes will give us a glimpse into that world.

Wired News: Can you tell me a bit about the structure of the movie?

Ray Kurzweil: There’s an intertwined A-line and B-line: The A-line is a documentary, and the B-line is a narrative. Did you see What The Bleep Do We Know!? I didn’t like the movie that much. But you can convey information well with that structure. On its own, the narrative line is so specific, it can’t give you all the information. But sitting through 100 minutes of a documentary can be ponderous. So we’re combining the two. more>>>

From Pharyngula:

This month’s Mad magazine has a feature on the the 20 dumbest people, events, and things of 2007, and guess what won a slot on the list?

Click to see a larger image.

This is a *really* good doc on the exponential growth of technology and where it is headed.
I thought that what they had to say about robots having emotions was interesting! Maybe they will have to have emotions!

And they show a depression patient who had a computer implanted into her brain called a ‘brain pacemaker’ which made her happy. In the coming decades, intelligence surgery will become as normal as cosmetic surgery.

via betterhumans:

Erik Ramsey shortly before a car crash left him “locked-in,” able to think and reason but paralyzed except for his eyes

By Yvonne S. Lee
CNN

NEW YORK (CNN) — It’s been described as the closest thing to being buried alive — complete paralysis of the body, except for controlled movement of the eyes.

That’s how 24-year-old Erik Ramsey has spent the last eight years of his life. He suffered a brain stem stroke after a car accident when he was 16, leaving him with “locked-in” syndrome.

But new research may give Erik Ramsey the miracle he has been waiting for. Dr. Phil Kennedy, chief scientist at Neural Signals Inc., a company he founded to conduct research on the brain and communication. He came up with a revolutionary idea that he believed could turn Ramsey’s thoughts into speech.

He invented an electrode that detects the neural signals in the speech motor area of Ramsey’s brain. In December 2004, the electrode was implanted, and Kennedy, along with four independent labs, began decoding the signals in Ramsey’s brain. The researchers asked him to think of specific vowel sounds, then mapped his brain activity. By knowing what his brain looked like when he thought each specific sound, scientists could translate the activity into a language that a voice synthesizer could read. more>>>

Tiny phase-change wires could serve as a key element in next-generation memory.

By B. Christine Hoekenga

Researchers are now one step closer to realizing the full potential of next-generation memory devices based on phase-changing material.

Ritesh Agarwal, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, and his colleagues have pioneered a new technique for producing phase-change nanowires. The technique could make it possible to build memory devices thousands of times faster and eight to ten times more energy efficient than memory currently on the market, such as flash. more>>>

Researchers from the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition (CNBC), a joint project of Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, have for the first time described a mechanism called “dynamic connectivity,” in which neuronal circuits are rewired “on the fly” allowing stimuli to be more keenly sensed. The process is described in a paper in the January 2008 issue of Nature Neuroscience.

This new, biologically inspired algorithm for analyzing the brain at work allows scientists to explain why when we notice a scent, the brain can quickly sort through input and determine exactly what that smell is.

“If you think of the brain like a computer, then the connections between neurons are like the software that the brain is running. Our work shows that this biological software is changed rapidly as a function of the kind of input that the system receives,” said Nathan Urban, associate professor of biological sciences at Carnegie Mellon. more>>>

Organic compounds contain carbon and hydrogen and form the building blocks of all life on Earth. By analyzing organic material and minerals in the Martian meteorite Allan Hills 84001, scientists at the Carnegie Institution’s Geophysical Laboratory have shown for the first time that building blocks of life formed on Mars early in its history. Previously, scientists have thought that organic material in ALH 84001 was brought to Mars by meteorite impacts or more speculatively originated from ancient Martian microbes.

The Carnegie-led team made a comprehensive study of the ALH 84001 meteorite and compared the results with data from related rocks found on Svalbard, Norway. The Svalbard samples occur in volcanoes that erupted in a freezing Arctic climate about 1 million years ago—possibly mimicking conditions on early Mars.

“Organic material occurs within tiny spheres of carbonate minerals in both the Martian and Earth rocks,” explained Andrew Steele, lead author of the study. “We found that the organic material is closely associated with the iron oxide mineral magnetite, which is the key to understanding how these compounds formed.”

The organic material in the rocks from Svalbard formed when volcanoes erupted under freezing conditions. During cooling, magnetite acted as a catalyst to form organic compounds from fluids rich in carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O). This event occurred under conditions where no forms of life are likely to exist. The similar association of carbonate, magnetite and organic material in the Martian meteorite ALH 84001 is very compelling and shows that the organic material did not originate from Martian life forms but formed directly from chemical reactions within the rock. This is the first study to show that Mars is capable of forming organic compounds at all. more>>>

New Material Provides Constant Light For 12 Years Without a Power Source

MPK, a company that has made a name producing glow-in-the-dark paint, has developed self-luminous micro particles called Litrospheres. The new material is said to be inexpensive (35 cents to light up a 8 ½ x 11 piece of plastic that is 1/8″ thick), non-toxic, and capable of staying constantly lit for over 12 years thanks to a betavoltaic technology that uses a radioactive gas.

Fortunately, the gas is involves a “soft” emission of electrons that cannot penetrate the glass or polymer wall of the microspheres. So theoretically, you don’t have to worry about brain tumors or taking on super powers when using it.

The Litrospheres, which can be injected molded or added to paint, are not affected by the heat or cold and they can withstand up to 5000 pounds of pressure. They can also give off light that is equivalent of a 20-watt incandescent bulb in almost any color imaginable. As you might expect, the first applications of the technology will most likely involve safety equipment—or the clothing and accessories of frequent clubgoers. [Gizmodo via Wiki via Treehugger]

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So if I break it open and expose myself to the particles, will I gain superpowers? Can they guarantee that?

I wonder how well it would survive the human digestive tract… And why was glowing poop the first thing that came to my mind…

- Or for spelunking.

So theoretically, you don’t have to worry about brain tumors or taking on super powers when using it.

Reading Is FUNdamental!

this is beyond awesome… I want some glowing clothes right now!

…on a realistic note, I doubt this is ever gunna catch on…

I would like to paint my car. Not sure if that would pass for street legal, tho.

“But Officer! I can’t turn it off!”

sweet…. obviously pretty low level radiation, nothing that’s going to give you 3 balls or anything like that.

Maybe they should use it as an LCD backlight… that would be cool…

@Mondoz: Radioactive Poop!

Sounds like BS to me…..

I can just imagine them developing this a bit further to be brighter than 20 watts, and eventually being able to replace pretty much all interior light fixtures. Maintenance costs go down, lights are always on, and less use of electricity.

This stuff will be great for the outdoors industry, theater, mining, military, anything that needs to operate in the dark.
I can’t wait to get my hands on some!

Wonder if it could be safely mixed into tattoo ink..?

No commenter image uploaded BY PERIODONTIST AT 12/11/07 05:15 PM

Looks cool, but “soft” electrons are known as Beta particles in radiation speak, and while they cannot penetrate your skin, they’re not too healthy inside your body. I hope they’ve bullet proofed the Lithospheres enough that a teething toddler can’t munch through the casings.

So you can’t eat this then? What a rip.

So it’s foam with phosphors in it, where tritium replaces the air in the bubbles?

Oh man

it’s the future!

“Is that Plutonium on your gums??”

“Shut up and kiss me!”

Glowing Bodypaint

Glow Worms needed this technology. They sucked in the 80′s.

THERE ARE MORE CLICK HERE TO READ THEM.

Humans have moved into the evolutionary fast lane and are becoming increasingly different, a genetic study suggests.

In the past 5,000 years, genetic change has occurred at a rate roughly 100 times higher than any other period, say scientists in the US.

This is in contrast with the widely-held belief that recent human evolution has halted.

The research has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Professor Henry Harpending, an author of the study from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, US, said: “The dogma has been these [differences] are cultural fluctuations, but almost any temperament trait you look at is under strong genetic influences.

“Genes are evolving fast in Europe, Asia and Africa, but almost all of these are unique to their continent of origin,” he added. “We are getting less alike, not merging into a single, mixed humanity.” more>>>

A wearable digital camera may hold the key to helping people who have memory problems, experts believe.

Sensecam, produced by Microsoft, takes photos of daily events every 30 seconds so they can be played back later at high-speed to jog memory.

Trials showed it helped people recall the event and emotions related to it.

Experts believe it could help people with general memory loss and more serious conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, but they say it is early days.

Universities in the US and UK are currently testing the device.

Tested

The camera, which can fit in the palm of a hand, can store up to 30,000 images – enough for a fortnight’s use.

It has been tested on a 63-year-old woman with memory loss caused by a brain infection.

She spent about an hour every two days reviewing the images for a two-week period.

Without any other memory aids, she typically forgot everything within five days.

But during the test her memory steadily increased and after two weeks she could recall about 90% of the events she experienced. more>>>

Nasa says its robot rover Spirit has made one of its most significant discoveries on the surface of Mars.

Scientists believe a patch of ground disturbed by the vehicle shows evidence of a past environment that would have been perfect for microbial life.

The deposits were probably produced when hot spring water or steam came into contact with volcanic rocks.

On Earth, these are locations that tend to teem with bacteria, said rover chief scientist Steve Squyres. more>>>

ScienceDaily (Dec. 11, 2007) — Following ground-breaking research showing that neurons in the human brain respond in an abstract manner to particular individuals or objects, University of Leicester researchers have now discovered that, from the firing of this type of neuron, they can tell what a person is actually seeing. more>>>

University of Queensland researchers are part of an international team to have made the first ever execution of a quantum calculation, a major step towards building the first quantum computers. more>>>