It’s the most famous corkscrew in history. Now an electron microscope has captured the famous Watson-Crick double helix in all its glory, by imaging threads of DNA resting on a silicon bed of nails. The technique will let researchers see how proteins, RNA and other biomolecules interact with DNA.
The structure of DNA was originally discovered using X-ray crystallography. This involves X-rays scattering off atoms in crystallised arrays of DNA to form a complex pattern of dots on photographic film. Interpreting the images requires complex mathematics to figure out what crystal structure could give rise to the observed patterns.
The new images are much more obvious, as they are a direct picture of the DNA strands, albeit seen with electrons rather than X-ray photons. The trick used by Enzo di Fabrizio at the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa, Italy, and his team was to snag DNA threads out of a dilute solution and lay them on a bed of nanoscopic silicon pillars.
With a little help from genetic engineering, researchers at one Massachusetts company say they’ve created an organism that takes sunlight, water and carbon dioxide and creates liquid fuel…
DARPA is sick and tired of waiting around for Mother Nature. Instead, it wants to take the life-making business into its own hands — and manufacture new biological forms in a factory of mix-and-match bio-bits…
Click here to access the full report found on Wired.com.
Medical ethicist Harvey Fineberg shows us three paths forward for the ever-evolving human species: to stop evolving completely, to evolve naturally — or to control the next steps of human evolution, using genetic modification, to make ourselves smarter, faster, better. Neo-evolution is within our grasp. What will we do with it?
Click here to transfer to the TED Talks website to watch the video.
Each cow produces milk that contains proteins normally found in human milk. The cows are part of a vision belonging to Ning Li to put “human-like milk” onto supermarket shelves–and into baby bottles–all over the world…
Click here to see the entire article. You may have to scroll down a bit to view it.
In a report being issued Thursday, the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues says that at present the technology — which involves creating novel organisms through the synthesis and manipulation of DNA — poses few risks because it is still in its infancy…
Life Technologies, having recently acquired Ion Torrent, unveiled a new sequencer at TEDMED using Ions semiconductor technology. Backstage after the talk we asked Greg Lucier, CEO of the company to give us an overview of the new device.
A healthy baby born in Norfolk, Va., in May from an embryo cryopreserved for 19 years is raising questions about leftover life forms, bioethicists say.
The embryo, donated by an anonymous patient at the Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine after she gave birth to a son via in vitro fertilization, was implanted into a 42-year-old recipient 19 years later who gave birth to that May baby boy, The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot reported Sunday.
A patient who was partially paralysed as a result of an injury to the spinal cord has become the first person to be injected with millions of stem cells derived from early human embryos created by IVF.
Geron Corporation, based in Menlo Park, California, said that it has enrolled the first of several patients in a pioneering study of embryonic stem cells. The phase one clinical trial will attempt to assess whether the novel treatment is safe, rather than effective.
Embryonic stem cells have the proven ability to develop into any of the 200 or more specialised tissues of the body, from insulin-making pancreatic cells to the nerve cells of the brain. Scientists believe they could be used to treat many incurable conditions, from spinal injury to Parkinson’s disease.
Enjoy BTS?
Subscribe and get this blog delivered to you via RSS!
Blogging the Singularity Bloggers:
Chris Williamson: Filmmaker, science enthusiast, and futurist concerned with the accelerating nature of technological growth and where it's headed. He is currently studying for his MFA in Film Production.
Frank Whittemore: As an IT professional since 1961, the accelerating change of technology is not news to him but the wonder will never cease! Be sure check out Frank's blog about Life Extension!
A blog devoted to journaling our ascent toward the Technological Singularity.
Copyright Notice:
Blogging the Singularity is devoted to journaling our ascent toward the Technological Singularity.
All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners.
Bloggingthesingularity.com makes no claim to copyrighted materials owned by other entities.
The use of copyrighted material on BloggingtheSingualrity.com is intended as fair use to document and inform the public, which is vital to the functioning of a democratic republic.
BloggingtheSingularity.com is a non-profit news information service.
Comments Off 
to learn more about biotechnology.
to learn more about the book.
to also learn about 
Entries (RSS)