Here First - Science and Technology Blog

The idea that we live in a Matrix-like world is not new. In fact, many scientists say that it is possible to test whether our world is real or a computer simulation.  In 2003, Nick Bostrom , a professor of philosophy at the University of Oxford, published a paper called The Simulation Argument , arguing that it is most likely we live in a computer simulation world. Now, several researchers at Cornell University are trying to find a viable method of testing to see if we, as humans, are a string of numbers into a computer. Scientists at the University of Washington say that this theory can be tested. A similar idea came from German researchers, in November.  How to test if our world is real or imaginary? Researchers say that they can use a technique named latticequantum chromodynamics. In simple words, they will use computer simulation and they will try to build their own models.  The idea that we live in a computer simulation is not new. In 1977, the ...

Dolphins have the unparalleled ability to switch off and on diabetes, men of science have ascertained, in a discovery that might lead to remedy for the disease in humans.    Researchers determined that the mammal can stimulate the condition once there's little nutrient around and turn it off when nutrient is plenteous. They consider it is a unusual ability in the animal kingdom used in the mammal’s need to keep up high blood sugar levels to feed its big brain.  Scientists also think that this is an ability that humans have dropped off through evolution and that analyzing dolphins could guide to techniques to re-activate it. “Diabetes is to blame for 5% of human deaths globally,” said Dr Stephanie Venn-Watson, a veterinary epidemiologist and director of Clinical Research at the National Marine Mammal Foundation in San Diego.  “Maybe this is a vestige of something dormant that could be awakened and used as a therapy or cure.” It is believed that researching the...

A squad of Researchers, conducted by a biomedical technologist have established that possible patterns produced from information received by desoxyribonucleic acid microarrays, could be expended to correctly anticipate antecedently unidentified cellular mechanisms. This gets biologists a footstep nearer to one day equaling able to empathize and command the inside works of the cell as promptly as NASA masterminds secret plan the flights of space vehicle nowadays. "Thanks to the Human Genome Project, biology and medicine today may be at a point similar to where physics was after the advent of the telescope," averred Orly Alter, adjunct professor of biomedical applied science In a 2004 report issued in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in coaction with Gene H. Golub of Stanford University, Alter applied numerical formulas inspired by those used in quantum mechanism to anticipate a antecedently unidentified mechanism of ordinance that correlates the commen...

Jonathan Moreno of the Center for American Progress, outlines the promise of stem cell research and explains the significance of President Obama's decision to lift the ban on federal funding for new stem cell research.

Researchers said Tuesday they believe this is a first step toward helping people using stem cells. Stem cells collected from tiny embryos were used to restore lost hearing and vision in animals. One team repaired hearing in guinea pigs using human bone marrow stem cells, and second team recovered eyes functions in tadpoles using frog cells. The researchers said their findings help describe some of the most basic biological processes underlying the development of hearing and sight. This may help in the development of the new field of regenerative medicine. While there are no immediate uses for humans, the research continues. Read the rest of article here

Iran's Cord Blood Bank says 2.5 billion dollars will be invested in the next 5 years in stem cell research. Iranian scientists test treatments on mice for everything from heart disease to multiple sclerosis in state-run laboratories and private hospitals in Tehran. The fund will be used for the development of such facilities in other Iranian cities. "Stem cell research centers will soon be opened in all major cities," said managing Director of Iran's Cord Blood bank, Mortezah Zarabi. Iranian scientists developed human embryonic stem cell lines in 2003, with the approval of Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, the leader of Iran's Islamic revolution. Despite many western countries which impose restrictions on stem cell research, Iran, a premier in the realm of stem cell research, has some of the most liberal laws providing grounds for such studies. Muslim clerics acknowledge that life begins three months after conception, granting scientists access to human embryonic ste...

After nearly a decade of setbacks and false starts, stem-cell science finally seems to be hitting its stride. Just a year after Japanese scientists first reported that they had generated stem cells by reprogramming adult skin cells — without using embryos — American researchers have managed to use that groundbreaking technique to achieve another scientific milestone. They created the first nerve cells from reprogrammed stem cells — an important demonstration of the potential power of stem-cell-based treatments to cure disease. Led by Kevin Eggan at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and Christopher Henderson at Columbia University, the 13-person team reported online today in Science Express that they had generated motor neurons from the skin cells of two elderly patients with a rare form of ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease, a progressive neurodegenerative condition. The new study marks an important first step on the road toward real stem-cell-based therapies, and also answers several pl...