From: Max M (maxmcorp@worldonline.dk)
Date: Fri Mar 07 2003 - 11:39:46 MST
*http://www.futureport.dk/news - 2003-03-07 (11 articles)*
[AI]
Robots are getting more sociable
================================
http://www.msnbc.com/news/874039.asp?0q1=c8p
MSNBC - You can't help but smile when a good-looking robot makes
goo-goo eyes at you even though you know it's simply a matter of
24 mechanical actuators pulling a foam-rubber face in just the right
way. That's the trick that robotics experts will be trying to perfect
as they develop new strains of companion contraptions.
[Aging]
Scientists Developing Drugs To Extend Life
==========================================
http://sci.newsfactor.com/perl/story/20884.html
Newsfactor - "We definitely are not trying to find a miracle drug that
you start taking when you're 20 and you live longer," said McGill
University geneticist Siegfried Hekimi. Instead, the drugs he envisions
would be used to prevent or cure age-dependent diseases. Scientists
reported new research Wednesday showing that limiting caloric intake and
certain genetic mutations can extend the lifespan of animals and could
lead the way to drugs that mimic this effect in humans. Such techniques
could extend the human lifespan by 20 years or more, they said.
[Health]
Drug-resistant superbug now hitting the healthy
===============================================
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_757444.html?menu=news.scienceanddiscovery
Ananova - Scientists have warned a drug-resistant superbug that has
swept through US hospitals infecting patients is now hitting healthy
people. MRSA normally enters the wounds of patients weakened by disease
or injury, and is especially dangerous after surgery. But a new strain,
which can be transmitted simply by skin contact and poses a risk to
healthy people, has emerged. [Most people don't realize the possibility,
that some sort of superbug can develop which can have enormous death
tolls on world wide basis. Setting us all back by decades. - Max M]
[Health]
Self-Mended Heart
=================
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/GMA/Living/GMA030306Stem_cell_heart.html
ABC - Boy’s Own Blood Used for First-of-Its-Kind Stem Cell Transplant.
In the first operation of its kind, doctors used stem cells from a
16-year-old Almont, Mich., boy's own blood to repair his heart after he
was accidentally shot in the heart with a nail gun and subsequently
suffered a heart attack. [Repairing heart muscle with stem cells is good
research into building entire replacement organs, which is one route to
a longer lasting body. It also raises the publics positive awareness of
the technology - Max M]
[Politics]
Reeve: Reduce Limitations on Stem Cell Research
===============================================
http://sci.newsfactor.com/perl/story/20893.html
Newsfactor - Reeve faulted Bush for having "no consistent moral view" of
stem cell research, and expressed his frustration with the president's
2001 bioethics panel, which he said was "stacked" with theologians at
the expense of scientists."Superman" star Christopher Reeve yesterday
urged scientific elites at Harvard and MIT to exercise some political
muscle and protect their ability to conduct embryonic stem cell research
in the face of increasing federal restrictions. A guest of the MIT and
Harvard Hippocratic Societies' joint 2003 Conference on Neuroscience,
Reeve, who was paralyzed in a 1995 equestrian event, addressed a crowd
of about 150 students and faculty in Cambridge.
[Robotics]
Robots are getting more sociable
================================
http://www.msnbc.com/news/874039.asp?0q1=c8p
MSNBC - You can’t help but smile when a good-looking robot makes
goo-goo eyes at you — even though you know it’s simply a matter of
24 mechanical actuators pulling a foam-rubber face in just the right
way. That’s the trick that robotics experts will be trying to perfect
as they develop new strains of companion contraptions. Another good link
is: http://www.androidworld.com/prod04.htm
[Self transformation]
Building a Bridge to the Brain
==============================
http://www.betterhumans.com/Features/Reports/report.aspx?articleID=2003-03-02-3
Betterhumans - Researchers are close to breakthroughs in neural
interfaces, meaning we could soon mesh our minds with machines. If
you're like most people, you've fantasized about downloading Spanish 101
directly into your skull. That dream may become reality sooner than you
think. The prosthetic cochlear implant, for example, is now a commonly
used treatment for deafness. Doctors routinely implant electrode arrays
into the cochlea, which stimulate nerve fibers to restore hearing.
[Self transformation]
Neural Interfaces
=================
http://www.betterhumans.com/Resources/Technologies/technology.aspx?articleID=2003-03-02-2
Betterhumans - A neural interface is any type of data link between the
human nervous system and an external device, such as a computer or a
remote-controlled machine. Such a link can allow information
transmission to the nervous system, from the nervous system or in both
directions. Neural interfaces promise to improve the link between humans
and machines, empowering people in the process. The devices extend human
abilities by allowing people to benefit from what machines are good at
such as brute computation -- without sacrificing human control.
[Self transformation]
Study links Smart Start, child-care quality and children's outcomes
========================================================================
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-03/uonc-sls030403.php
EurekAlert - North Carolina preschoolers participating in high-quality
child-care programs are ahead of their peers who attend low-quality
programs, according to a new study of the state program known as Smart
Start. Researchers at the FPG Child Development Institute at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill released their results today
at a news conference in Raleigh.
[Self transformation]
Stupidity should be cured, says DNA discoverer
==============================================
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993451
New Scientist - Fifty years to the day from the discovery of the
structure of DNA, one of its co-discoverers has caused a storm by
suggesting that stupidity is a genetic disease that should be cured. On
28 February 1953 biologists James Watson and Francis Crick discovered
the structure of DNA - the chemical code for all life. The breakthrough
revealed how genetic information is passed from one generation to the
next and revolutionised biology and medicine. But in a documentary
series to be screened in the UK on Channel 4, Watson says that low
intelligence is an inherited disorder and that molecular biologists have
a duty to devise gene therapies or screening tests to tackle stupidity.
[Transhumanism]
The Hazards of Transhumanist Living
===================================
http://www.betterhumans.com/Features/Columns/Transitory_Human/column.aspx?articleID=2003-03-02-5
Betterhumans - It's not easy being a Transhumanist, but somebody has to
do it. Late last year the Toronto Transhumanist Association was asked to
set up a booth at the Ontario Skeptics Society's Psychic Unfair, an
annual gathering of skeptics, rationalists and scientifically oriented
groups and individuals. Simon Smith and I, the founding members of the
TTA, figured that we would be right at home in this environment.
Moreover, it marked our first opportunity to present Transhumanist ideas
to the public. [A good personal account of what it is like advocating
transhumanism to the general public, friends and families. - Max M]
Made in cooperation with Transhumanity at:
http://transhumanism.com/news.shtml
-- hilsen/regards Max M Rasmussen, Denmark http://www.futureport.dk/ Fremtiden, videnskab, skeptiscisme og transhumanisme
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