The more research they do, the more evidence Ohio State University scientists find that specific elements of marijuana can be good for the aging brain by reducing inflammation there and possibly even stimulating the formation of new brain cells.

The research suggests that the development of a legal drug that contains certain properties similar to those in marijuana might help prevent or delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Though the exact cause of Alzheimer’s remains unknown, chronic inflammation in the brain is believed to contribute to memory impairment. more>>>

University of Tokyo researchers have developed a plastic pad that allows electronic devices placed on it to communicate with each other. This communications sheet could provide a more secure and lower-energy alternative to short-range wireless communications, such as Bluetooth.

“The first application might be an ‘intelligent table’ ” that would allow a few devices to communicate with each other without the need to wire them together, says Takao Someya, professor of engineering at the University of Tokyo. Someya says that the team’s long-term goal is to develop a system that connects thousands of devices, as might one day be required. The amount of energy needed to wirelessly connect such an array of devices “would be huge,” he says, and wiring them all together would be cumbersome. Someya’s approach uses a combination of extremely short-range wireless communications and wires to provide a low-energy alternative. more>>>

By Dan Simmons
Reporter, BBC Click

The idea of having a virtual you following the real you around may seem rather strange – for those of us used to having our feet firmly on the ground.

But the creation of a virtual Berlin lets people be in two places at the same time – as 20km of the city has been faithfully replicated into an online world.

By the end of 2008, 50,000 buildings in the German capital are expected to have been copied into the virtual world.

“While Second Life and others worlds offer some stylised versions of cities – Twinity uses the 3D mapping data currently used for things like satnav and Google Earth,” said Jochen Hummel, the chief executive of Metaversum – owner of Twinity.

“One by one each building is then made to look as it would in the real world,” he said. more>>>

Isabelle Dinoire, from Valenciennes, northern France, had her face was mauled by her pet dog.

Miss Dinoire was given a new nose, mouth and chin at the Amiens Hospital in November 2005 in the full glare of the world’s media.

Six months later in China, Li Guoxing, whose face was mauled by a bear, received the world’s first face transplant that included bone. But he suffered a set back when his body partially rejected his new face.

His surgeon, Professor Guo Shuzhong, said: “I’m really worried about the future of this patient.”

Human Face Transplant follows Li’s story and the progress of He Jiawei, a patient chosen to be the candidate for a full face transplant, a world first. more>>>

Scientists believe they have cracked a long-standing mystery of evolution – how the turtle got its shell.

It follows the discovery in south west China last year of the oldest known turtle fossils, believed to date back 220 million years.

The three adult specimens were discovered remarkably intact and with characteristics never before seen in turtles – including teeth and an incomplete upper shell. more>>>

US aerospace agency NASA has announced that it is developing a brain-monitoring hat for airline pilots to wear. The idea is that the bonce-clocking headset will know when pilots become “mentally overloaded” and help them to “realise” this.

The brain-titfers are being developed at NASA’s Glenn Research Center using “functional near infrared spectroscopy” (fNIRS, apparently) and “other imaging technology”. The spectroscope hats work by measuring blood flow in the cortex and the concentration of oxygen in the blood. NASA describes them as “non-invasive, safe, portable and inexpensive”. The kit is being tried out on guinea-pig pilots in simulators at Glenn. more>>>

My sip of heavy water is the culmination of a long journey trying to get to the bottom of a remarkable claim that Shchepinov first made around 18 months ago. He believes he has discovered an elixir of youth, a way to drink (or more likely eat) your way to a longer life. You may think that makes Shchepinov sound like a snake-oil salesman. I thought so too, but the more I found out about his idea, the more it began to make sense. more>>>

Julie Robotham Medical Editor
November 29, 2008

BABIES with a severe form of epilepsy risk having their diagnosis delayed and their treatment compromised because of a company’s patent on a key gene.

It is the first evidence that private intellectual property rights over human DNA are adversely affecting medical care.

Deepak Gill, head of neurology at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead, said he would test at least 50 per cent more infants for the SCN1A gene – which would diagnose the disabling Dravet syndrome – if the hospital could conduct the test in-house. more>>>

For an update on the current state of mind reading click on the YouTube video below

“IBM has announced it will lead a US government-funded collaboration to make electronic circuits that mimic brains.”

For more information, click here.

– Energy saving solar technology will be built into asphalt, paint and windows
– You will have a crystal ball for your health
– You will talk to the Web . . . and the Web will talk back
– You will have your own digital shopping assistants
– Forgetting will become a distant memory

more>>>

Like our current financial crisis, the aging process might also be a product excessive deregulation. Researchers have discovered that DNA damage decreases a cell’s ability to regulate which genes are turned on and off in particular settings. This mechanism, which applies both to fungus and to us, might represent a universal culprit for aging. more>>>

“It’s going to revolutionize western medicine…”

To read the article titled “New Longevity Drugs Poised to Tackle Diseases of Aging”
Click here.