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Nanoshocks Heal Cancer

An interesting article in Nature discusses the healing power of nanshocks -- brief bolts of electricity -- on healing. They seem to cause cancer cells to commit suicide and healthy cells to get energized. Tesla was right. Again.

The Actual Situation in Madrid: Unsanitized News

Here is an article that accurately depicts the carnage in Madrid. In the USA we only get highly sanitized news and war coverage is usually very minimal -- but this article tells it like it really is. Perhaps if the public was shown what was war was really like there would be less of it?

Drinking Coffee Prevents Diabetes

One more reason to drink coffee -- a major study found that those who drank the most coffee had the lowest chance of getting diabetes.

Mystery Virus May Thwart HIV

Very interesting article about a strange new virus that seems to block HIV.

DuPont Chemical Found in Blood of 96% of People in USA

Amazing new research finds that C-8, a chemical produced exclusively by DuPont, has mysteriously found its way into the flesh of dolphins and cormorants, 5 percent of the bread, green beans and ground beef sampled in southern US states, and even in the blood of 96% of the people in the USA.

Low-Level Magnetic Fields from Common Household Appliances Cause Neuronal DNA Damage

New research indicates that prolonged exposure to low-level magnetic fields such as those emitted by common household electronic devices causes DNA damage to rat brain cells. The research shows further that damage from brief exposures appears to build up cumulatively over time. Exposure to a 60-hertz field for 24 hours appears to result in significant DNA damage. After 48 hours, rats showed even more breaks in DNA strands. Exposure resulted in a marked increase is cell apoptosis, or "cell suicide," a process by which cells self-destruct when they are unable to repair themselves. A previous study showed similar damage but used shorter exposures at 10 times the intensity. The recent study shows that even lower intensities can bring about cumulative effects that are more significant than short high-intensity exposures. Traditionally scientists have held that low-level EM fields were not harmful because they could not break chemical bonds in a living organism. While this may be the case, the recent research may suggest that instead of breaking chemical bonds directly, EM exposure may induce a different process in cells that causes damage indirectly. In any case, this is very significant research given the tremendous sea of EM energy we are all now living in.

Leptin Protein Converts Fat-Storing Cells to Fat-Burning Cells

Researchers have discovered a safe way to rapidly bring about weight loss, using a protein called Leptin.

Warning: Graphic. Horrible News Coming out of North Korea...

I read today with disgust further testimonials of shocking atrocities from defectors from the Gulags in North Korea. If you aren't aware of the situation, you should be. Perhaps more than any other nation today, North Korea is engaged in systematic, large-scale human rights abuses -- in particular, as the above cited news report alleges -- chemical weapons experiments on living prisoners, including experiments on entire families. The only word to describe this is "evil." This regime's utter lack of humanity really frightens me -- it appears they are experiencing a mass-psychosis on a cultural level. How did it happen? Why did the world let things go so far off course in North Korea? It reminds me of the Killing Fields. How can this happen in this supposedly "civilized" day and age? The horrors taking place in North Korea are widely known among governments but almost never discussed as a public issue. I feel so sad for the people living in the living hell of these concentration camps. I think we need to raise awareness of what is going on by blogging about it. In some small way that may eventually make this issue more of a public debate.

Girl With X-Ray Eyes

I have come across several references to Natasha in the last week. It seems to be a well-documented case of extra-sensory medical perception. This type of perception is not at all uncommon among Tibetan lamas and Chinese Taoists that I have studied with, and I have heard from friends who are close to Native American and African healers, of people with similar abilities. There is also a well-known teenager named Adam who gained some notoriety with similar abilities -- although he is able to do it remotely. I wonder how this is possible?

Warning Over Possible Link Between Cosmetics, Deodorants and Breast Cancer

A study found that many tumors contain traces of chemicals that are commonly found in women's cosmetics and deodorants. The question is now whether or not there is a causal linkage here or whether these chemicals are found in healthy tissue as well.

Using Nanoparticles to Augment Human Brains...?

CNN posted an article today about the potential risk of nanotechnology on the human brain. Basically some research shows that nano-scale particles such as industrial waste, or even components of nanotechnologies, can migrate through the human circulatory system and eventually lodge in the brain. This could cause harmful effects. But on the other hand, maybe this "bug" is actually a "feature!"

The fact that this is possible could be used to introduce nanoscale computational devices into the human nervous system -- essentially splicing a distributed computer into a living human brain. Suppose the nanoparticles could establish an ad hoc local area network amongst themselves, and suppose they lodged throughout the human nervous system, attaching to neurons. Suddenly it might be possible to do real-time sensing -- and triggering -- of any neuron in the human body. And all of this could be monitored by an external computer system. This could enable amazing new biofeedback systems. But that's just the beginning -- because it might also enable people to "backup" their nervous systems -- including perhaps their memories and skills. It could also potentially enable software augmentation of human thinking as it happens -- an external computer network could interact with your own "internal network" and as you think or sense things, it could search the entire Net or an expert system, or the brains of other people in your network, and give you suggestions, knowledge, etc.

Essentially this could be a way to network humans to computers, the Internet, and then to other humans. This could enable future "group minds" and "collective intelligences" that we cannot even imagine yet. It could also enable humans to easily interact with virtual reality environments -- they could be overlaid onto their sensory experience to augment information (such as a visual scene being augmented with labels or diagrams etc.), or even to "switch channels" from this "reality" (which may also be virtual) that we experience to other synthetic realities that exist in our computer networks. It might even enable people to record their dreams, and/or enter the dreams of other people -- that would be the most advanced "virtual reality" possible.

Another interesting application of this technology might be to deliver neural drugs more effectively. It could also be used to facilitate interspecies communication -- for example imagine a system that could map between a human brain and a dolphin brain. You permeate both a human and dolphin's nervous systems with nanocomputing particles. First there is "learning phase" where an external system monitors them as they do things in order to learn how their brains work. Then it starts to learn how to map between them by observing how they interact with other organisms of their species and with their environments in order to figure out their language, communicat and memory representation schemes.

Once that is known it could directly map information between them, maybe even in real-time, enabling not only communication but even memory uploading and downloading. That would be cool -- imagine being able to do virtual telepresence into the nervous system of a dolphin as it swims around with its pod in the wild. You could "look through it's sense organs" as it swims around, and maybe even observe what it thinks and feels like -- sort a window into being someone else -- in this case someone who is of a different species. Among the many other applications of this technology of course there would be amazing potential in the arts, education, therapy, collaboration, entertainment, science, relationships, etc. and many other enjoyable diversions that people would probably figure out they could engage in once their nervous systems are networked.

Anyway the idea of permeating a human nervous system with networkable nanocomputers is definitely something to think about, or think twice about, as the case may be (pun intended!).

It's Time for a Virtual Species Diversity Ark

A new article projects that global warming will eliminate up 1 million species by 2050 -- up to nearly 40% of all species. Combine that with the vast number of species that are being wiped out because of human activity (industrialization, elimination of habitats, pollution, over-fishing, etc.) and we are on the brink of losing a dramatic portion of our planetary's genetic diversity. From these trends combined we may lose up to 90% of all species within a short timeframe in fact.

This is a major "security threat" to human civilization, human freedom and human life. Humanity cannot survive without its biosphere and web of life to support it. We are about to lose a large part of our "life support" system -- Why isn't the government as alarmed about this as they are about terrorism? There should be an "environmental alert system" like the "terrorism alert" system provided by USA Homeland Security. And if this system existed, we should presently be at "Red Alert" -- there is a certain, unavoidable incoming threat. There is no uncertainty and our intelligence is 100% reliable. Mass-extinctions are happening now and will only get worse. Nothing can be done to prevent this. It's already too late. We need to focus on survival and preservation at this point.

The Metaweb: The Global Mind Just Got Smarter

One of the many cool things about the Metaweb is that it functions as a vast bottom-up collaborative filtering system. RSS feeds represent perspectives of publishers. Because feed publishers can automatically or manually include content from other feeds they can "republish," annotate and filter content. Every feed is effectively a switch, routing content to and from other feeds. You are my filter. I am your filter.

Entire communities can collaboratively filter information, in a totally bottom-up way. The community as a whole acts to filter and route content in an emergent fashion, without any central coordination. On top of this sites can then provide value-added aggregation and information-refinery services by tracking memes across any number of feeds and then repackaging and redistributing them in virtual feeds for particular topics or interests. And these new feeds are fed right back into the collective mind, becoming raw materials for still other feeds that pick them up.

What we have here is the actual collective consciousness of humanity thinking collective thoughts in real-time, and we get to watch and participate! We are the "neurons" in the collective minds of our organizations, communities, marketplaces. Our postings comprise the memes, the thoughts, in these collective thought processes. Already the Metaweb is thinking thoughts that no individual can comprehend -- they are too big, too distributed, too complex. As the interactions of millions of people, groups and memes evolve we will see increasing layers of intelligence taking place in the Metaweb.

Parasites are Good for You??? Bioengineered Parasites as Medicine?

New research and experiments indicate that deliberately ingesting certain types of parasitic worms may be the cure for colitis, hay fever, asthma and a host of other auto-immune diseases. Gross!!! But seriously, the theory is that since humans co-evolved with gut-worms they may in fact be necessary to our health. This is an interesting idea actually -- there are number of "bad" micro-organisms that modern medicine has eliminated -- but what if some of them are actually necessary for our health because we've evolved alongside them for so long that they are part of how we work? This is not so suprising. Human organisms are assemblages of many complex sub-systems some of which are unique organisms in their own right -- we are superorganisms -- for example, we cannot digest our food effectively without the help of e-coli bacteria and the mitochondira in our own cells seem to contain their own unique DNA. Gut-worms, disgusting as they may be, could be in fact good for our health. This reminds me of something that several hard-core backpackers in Asia told me when I was in the far reaches of India and Nepal: it turns out some of them found out that having a tapeworm prevented them from getting amoebas and other parasites because the tapeworm ate the other baddies they ingested. Tapeworms are pretty good parasites -- that is they can reside in a host for a long time without killing them, although their are certain risks from long-term tape-worm infections (such as brain, eye and other tissue diseases). This makes me think about the potential for a future medical advance: bioengineered parasites. Suppose we could evolve or build a form of gut-worm that could not reproduce. You could ingest the eggs and they would hatch in the intestinal tract and the resulting worms would live for a week or two. Then they would die without reproducing first. It would be sort of like taking a course of antibiotics, only a lot grosser!

Brain Scan Shows Racism Exhausts Brain

This is incredible -- brain scan study can identify "latent racism" and people who are racist seem to perform poorly on mental tests after racist episodes because racism exhausts the brain. Wow.

Shocking Healing Effect of LED Light on Wounds

Wired reports on a phenomena I found out about quite a while ago. LED light can dramatically decrease wound healing time, and also has interested DNA effects. This is supported by several clinical trials. Nobody knows why it works yet, but the hypothesis is that light may supply extra energy to cellular organelles.

3G Cellphone Signals May Cause Headaches, Nausea: Study

According to a new study, the radio signals from new 3G cellphones may cause headaches and nausea in users. This comes on top of last month's news that cellphone microwaves cause brain cells to fail to regenerate in old-age and may cause early-senility. The mobile industry is conducting the biggest uncontrolled biological experiment on the human species in history.

Crop Bio-terrorism Using Genetic Weapons: Horrifying Scenario

The New Scientist published this scary article in reaction to new reports from the US Agriculture Department about unorthodox terrorist risk scenarios. It's one more example of why uncontrolled genetic engineering is perhaps the greatest present long-term threat to the human species -- far more dangerous in fact than nuclear weapons. If we regulate plutonium technology and know-how with extreme security, why aren't we regulating genetic engineering technology and know-how just as carefully? Until we have effective means of quickly detecting and stopping genetic weapons we should be extremely careful about disseminating knowledge and technology that would potentially help terrorists or rogue states to cause harm. This is of course a very hairy ethical issue that could be debated endlessly. My point is not to limit scientific progress -- but on the other hand, not all scientific progress is "good" -- it's only good if humanity is ready to handle it responsibly.

Potentially HUGE Discovery: Molecule from Milk and Red Meat Found in Tumors

This is really big. Scientists have discovered that a molecule that is not normally found in humans -- but IS found in tumors -- comes from milk and red meat. They also found that the human body reacts to this molecule with an immune response. In other words, drinking milk and eating red meat can cause an immune response in humans AND seems to result in this molecule showing up in tumors. Now the question is, does the molecule cause tumors, or is this just a coincidence? Very very big discovery!

Are Brains Really Necessary?

It turns out that some people who have almost no brain tissue are able to perform as or more intelligently than people with normal brains. This article discusses some documented cases. I personally met someone who graduated from Harvard graduate school and then went on to be a senior strategist in the computer industry. Later during an unrelated x-ray of his head they discovered that he had less than half of a normal brain! I'm not kidding -- this is true. He was highly intelligent and well-respected in his field; nobody would have ever suspected that he was pretty much brainless. Of course the obvious social commentary here is irresistable -- maybe there are many more brainless people who graduated from Harvard??? In any case, the interesting point here is not that you don't need a brain to graduate from Harvard, but rather that it appears that in some documented cases people with little to no brain tissue are able to demonstrate full cognitive abilties. If that is the case, then (a) what is the brain for?, and (b) what is enabling them to think without a brain?

A Solution To The Landmine Problem

There are well over a million unexploded landmines around the world. Many of these devices outlast the conflicts they were intended for, only to later maim or kill innocent civilians. In many cases the locations of landmines are forgotten or lost, making the task of de-mining extremely difficult, dangerous and time-consuming. What is needed is a solution to this problem that protects innocent civilians and reduces the need for costly de-mining. It is a given that militaries will not likely voluntarily abolish the use of landmines, therefore any solution must take that into account. I propose a simple solution to the problem that meets all of the above criteria: Landmines should be manufactured with a built-in time-limited safety switch. After a certain amount of time, the mine simply will not explode anymore. The safety switch could be designed in a number of ways -- one embodiment would have it rust or dissolve over time by exposure to air and/or water. Another embodiment might base the switch on the decay of an isotope with a short half-life. Organic substances that are designed to degrade over time, perhaps by exposure to natural bacteria, could also be used. The time limit could be set to several years, or perhaps a decade, at most. Deactivated mines could be reactivead by simply replacing the switches. There are probably many other alternatives to accomplish the automatic time-limited self-deactivation of landmines. Getting landmine manufacturers to adopt such a technology is probably more achievable than getting them to stop making landmines altogether. This innovation could save a lot of lives and limbs.

Get Your Quantum Dots Here...

Hey, if like me, you ever have that familiar craving for a good cup of quantum dots, have I got something for you! Thanks to Richard I found out that you can now buy as many quantum dots as your heart desires for one low price.

Nanoparticles Keep Brain Cells Alive

New research indicates that exposure to extremely small particles has a beneficial effect on brain cells.

Breast Cancer Linked to a Virus?

New research indicates that nearly 50% of all breast cancer patients have antibodies for a strange virus. This could be a major discovery, especially if they can figure out how to develop a vaccine.

DNA computers getting smarter

DNA computes in much the same way that computers do. Scientists are dreaming of a range of new self-sustaining computers.

Jelly Lens May Replace Need for Cataract Surgery

Cataract Surgery is the most popular surgery in America. Now a new technique using a liquid polymer jelly may provide a new way to help aging eyes focus.

Fast Acting Ebola Vaccine Offers Hope -- If You're a Monkey

The good news is that they have a vaccine for Ebola. The bad news is, you have to be a monkey to get it. This is a good first step towards a human vaccine. Although this probably won't help much against the rumored Ebola-Smallpox chimeras that were developed by Biopreparat in Russia.