Having already set private space travel a flight, the organizers of the X Prize are ready to unveil the future of the cutting edge competitions…

Click here for the complete article found on CNet News.

Click here for more “X Prize” information.

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Click here for more information from and about Craig Venter.

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Mackenzie Cowell is one of a group of amateurs exploring the techniques of synthetic biology which applies the tools and methodologies of engineering and computer science to the field of biology.

Click here to view the fascinating video found on the Thoughtware TV website.

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With so many incredible scientific advances and discoveries this year, Wired Science had a tough time choosing which 10 were the biggest…

Click here to learn about all 10 top scientific breakthroughs.

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SCIENTISTS have grown meat in the laboratory for the first time. Experts in Holland used cells from a live pig to replicate growth in a petri dish.

The advent of so-called “in-vitro” or cultured meat could reduce the billions of tons of greenhouse gases emitted each year by farm animals — if people are willing to eat it.

So far the scientists have not tasted it, but they believe the breakthrough could lead to sausages and other processed products being made from laboratory meat in as little as five years’ time. more>>>

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In his talk at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas, philosopher and bioethicist Julian Savulescu, Uehiro Professor of Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford., examines the nature of human beings as products of evolution, in particular their limited altruism, limited co-operative instincts and limited ability to take account of the future consequences of actions. He argues that humans’ biology and psychology are unfit for the kind of society we live in and we must either alter our political institutions, severely restrain our technology or change our nature. Or face annihilation by our own design. Festival of Dangerous Ideas, Sydney Opera House, October 2009

Genetically enhance humanity or face extinction - PART 1 from Ethics of the New Biosciences on Vimeo.

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Genetically enhance humanity or face extinction - PART 2 from Ethics of the New Biosciences on Vimeo.

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Last month, Matt Williams, an adjunct professor at the University of Akron, opened an e-mail from his bosses about the school’s new rules for hiring and was “absolutely blown away,” he says, “when I saw the reference to collecting DNA samples.”

The university was saying it could ask new workers for a DNA sample — to run background checks. But Williams knew his DNA could also be used to discover the most private of information about his health — like his genetic risk for cancer, heart disease or mental illness.

To Williams, who taught in the School of Communications, it was one more insult in the hard life of an adjunct professor. (He’s an officer in a national organization, New Faculty Majority, that advocates for adjunct professors.) He says adjuncts at the University of Akron sign new contracts from year to year, so he expected to be counted as a new worker the next time his contract came up.

So he quit. more>>>

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ScienceDaily (Nov. 21, 2009) — In recent years, scientists have decoded the DNA of humans and a menagerie of creatures but none with genes as complex as a stalk of corn, the latest genome to be unraveled.

A team of scientists led by The Genome Center at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis published the completed corn genome in the Nov. 20 journal Science, an accomplishment that will speed efforts to develop better crop varieties to meet the world’s growing demands for food, livestock feed and fuel.

“Seed companies and maize geneticists will pounce on this data to find their favorite genes,” says senior author Richard K. Wilson, Ph.D., director of Washington University’s Genome Center, who led the multi-institutional sequencing effort. “Now they’ll know exactly where those genes are. Having the complete genome in hand will make it easier to breed new varieties of corn that produce higher yields or are more tolerant to extreme heat, drought, or other conditions.” more>>>

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A leading genetics company that has pioneered personal DNA testing in health assessments went bust yesterday, raising privacy concerns about the sensitive data it holds.

DNA profiles belonging to thousands of people who have paid up to £600 for internet genetic tests are to be transferred to a new organisation, after deCODE Genetics filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in a US court.

The fate of the Icelandic company, which has never turned a profit despite making a string of discoveries about the genetic origins of common diseases, has fuelled fresh debate about access to DNA data. more>>>

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There is a clear link between living to 100 and inheriting a hyperactive version of an enzyme that prevents cells from ageing, researchers say.
Scientists from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the US say centenarian Ashkenazi Jews have this mutant gene.

They found that 86 very old people and their children had higher levels of telomerase which protects the DNA.

They say it may be possible to produce drugs that stimulate the enzyme. more>>>

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After four days in a classroom absorbing insights and information from the frontiers of science and technology, the Singularity University Executive Program busts out for a succession of field trips to real, live businesses…

Click here for the full report found on Wired.com.

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WHEN YOU APPLY for a mortgage in 10 years, you may be asked for your bank statements, your pay stubs… and a cheek swab. At least that’s one possible implication of a new study, which reports a groundbreaking finding: that whether you carry a specific gene variant can predict your propensity to rack up credit-card debt.

Specifically, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, of the London School of Economics, and James Fowler, of the University of California, San Diego, have found that if you carry one or both “low efficiency” alleles of the MAOA gene — we’ll get to what exactly the MAOA gene is and does in a minute — the likelihood that you have credit card debt increases by 8% and 16%, respectively. more>>>

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