Public Release: 13-Feb-2017 University of Illinois College of Engineering Caption This is a schematic of a bio-bot: Engineered skeletal muscle tissue is coupled to a 3-D printed flexible skeleton. Optical stimulation of the muscle tissue, which is genetically… Read More ›
Biotechnology ( New )
Passing the chemical Turing test: Making artificial and real cells talk
Public Release: 25-Jan-2017 American Chemical Society The classic Turing test evaluates a machine’s ability to mimic human behavior and intelligence. To pass, a computer must fool the tester into thinking it is human–typically through the use of questions… Read More ›
Your body may soon be inhabited by swarms of microrobots
The microdoctors in our bodies Date: September 21, 2016 Source: ETH Zurich Summary: Researchers are developing tiny, sophisticated technological and biological machines enabling non-invasive, selective therapies. Their creations include genetically modified cells that can be activated via brain waves, and… Read More ›
The White House draws the line against CRISPR/Cas9-designed embryos
“The full implications of such a step could not be known until a number of generations had inherited the genetic changes made–and choices made in one country could affect all of us.” May 27, 2015 | By John Carroll… Read More ›
Tiny bio-robot is a germ suited-up with graphene quantum dots
Public Release: 24-Mar-2015 University of Illinois at Chicago Caption Graphene quantum dots deposited on a sporating bacteria produces a graphene coated spore. Upon attachment of electrodes across the cell, a bio-electronic device is produced that is highly sensitive to humidity…. Read More ›
‘Radiogenetics’ seeks to remotely control cells and genes
It’s the most basic of ways to find out what something does, whether it’s an unmarked circuit breaker or an unidentified gene — flip its switch and see what happens. New remote-control technology may offer biologists a powerful way to… Read More ›
Cockroach Cyborgs Use Microphones to Detect, Trace Sounds
November 6, 2014 North Carolina State University researchers have developed technology that allows cyborg cockroaches, or biobots, to pick up sounds with small microphones and seek out the source of the sound. The technology is designed to help emergency personnel… Read More ›
Scientists wipe out malaria-carrying mosquitoes in the lab by creating male-only offspring
Scientists have modified mosquitoes to produce sperm that will only create males, pioneering a fresh approach to eradicating malaria. In a study published in the journal Nature Communications, scientists from Imperial College London have tested a new genetic method that… Read More ›
How to erase a memory — and restore it
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have erased and reactivated memories in rats, profoundly altering the animals’ reaction to past events. The study, published in the June 1 advanced online issue of the… Read More ›
DNA nanobots deliver drugs in living cockroaches
It’s a computer – inside a cockroach. Nano-sized entities made of DNA that are able to perform the same kind of logic operations as a silicon-based computer have been introduced into a living animal. The DNA computers – known as… Read More ›
The Cyborgs Era Has Started
Press Release 003/2014 Interfaces of Technical Devices with Organisms for Medical Applications – KIT Scientists Report in “Angewandte Chemie Int. Ed.” Communication between man and machine – a fascinating area at the interface of chemistry, biomedicine, and engineering. (Figure: KIT/S…. Read More ›
Is it OK to torture or murder a robot?
Richard Fisher is the deputy editor of BBC Future. We form such strong emotional bonds with machines that people can’t be cruel to them even though they know they are not alive. So should robots have rights? Kate Darling likes… Read More ›
Neuro-enhancement in the military: far-fetched or an inevitable future?
As the science of brain stimulation forges ahead, neuroscientists and psychologists face tough ethical decisions The military has a genuine interest in brain stimulation research. Photograph: Alamy About five years ago, not long after I started up my research group… Read More ›
New Terminator-style ‘bots can self-assemble, leap, climb and SWARM
Creepy, limbless – MIT roboticists flywheel paves way for tiny, cube-shaped overlords By Brid-Aine Parnell, 7th October 2013 Rise of The Machines Roboticists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have devised a range of self-assembling cube robots, which have no external… Read More ›
Artificial intelligence ‘will take the place of humans within five years’
Salespeople, call centre staff and customer service personnel could all be replaced by computers within the next few years, claims one technology entrepreneur. Steven Spielberg’s 2001 film Artificial Intelligence (AI) depicts a future where robots have become eerily human…. Read More ›
Brain-to-brain breakthrough in mind control experiment
Two minds with but a single thought as University of Washington researcher controls colleague’s hand movements LAST UPDATED AT 13:48 ON Wed 28 Aug 2013 SCIENTISTS have achieved human mind control for the first time in an experiment at… Read More ›
Slime mould could make memristors for biocomputers
13:49 18 June 2013 by Paul Marks Magazine issue 2922. Subscribe and save A garish yellow slime that grows on rotten leaves and logs could one day form the brains behind living computers. The feeding fronds of… Read More ›
Motorola shows off tattoo and swallowable password hardware
Mobe manufacturer playing long game for end times By Iain Thomson in San Francisco Posted in Security, 31st May 2013 19:26 GMT Regcast training : Hyper-V 3.0, VM high availability and disaster recovery Motorola has shown off an electronic authentication… Read More ›
Advanced Biological Computer Developed with ability to read and transform genetic information
Microprocessor with DNA (illustration). Scientists have developed and constructed an advanced biological transducer, a computing machine capable of manipulating genetic codes, and using the output as new input for subsequent computations (Credit: © Giovanni Cancemi / Fotolia) May 23, 2013… Read More ›
E-tattoo monitors brainwaves and baby bump : “now modifying the tattoo to transmit data wirelessly to a smartphone”
26 April 2013 by Sara Reardon Magazine issue 2914. Subscribe and save For similar stories, visit the The Human Brain Topic Guide An electronic patch can analyse complex brainwaves and listen in on a fetus’s heart MIND… Read More ›
Your body’s microbiome has a unique ‘fingerprint’
Contact: Suzanne Price sprice@nutrition.org 617-954-3976 Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Study suggests increasing complexity of gut effect on health Boston, MA—The microbiome is your body’s set of microbial communities; microbial cells outnumber human cells roughly ten to one…. Read More ›
Biological computer that ‘lives’ inside the body comes one step closer as scientists make transistor out of DNA and RNA
Finding could lead to new biodegradable devices based on living cells that are capable of detecting changes in the environment Steve Connor Thursday, 28 March 2013 Scientists believe they are close to building the first truly biological computer made from… Read More ›
Human brain treats prosthetic devices as part of the body
Contact: Jyoti Madhusoodanan jmadhusoodanan@plos.org 415-568-4545 Public Library of Science People with spinal cordPeople with spinal cord injuries show strong association of wheelchairs as part of their body, not extension of immobile limbs injuries show strong association of wheelchairs as part… Read More ›
Cyborg Roaches, Glow-in-the-Dark Fish, and Other Biotechnology Beasts
Cyborg Roaches, Glow-in-the-Dark Fish, and Other Biotechnology Beasts By Emily Anthes Posted Monday, Feb. 25, 2013, at 10:34 AM Slate.com A remote-controlled flying flower beetle. Photo courtesy Michel Maharbiz. This article arises from Future Tense, a partnership of Slate, the… Read More ›
Blueprint for an artificial brain
Published 26. February 2013, 15:18 h Bielefeld physicist Andy Thomas takes nature as his model Scientists have long been dreaming about building a computer that would work like a brain. This is because a brain is far… Read More ›
Would you be willing to use a living animal as a respirator or dialysis machine?
Feb 23, 2013 8:00 AM Lauren Davis Designers Revital Cohen and Tuur Van Balen use both real and fictional biotechnology to explore the connection between the natural and the man-made, and invite questions about the impact of biotechnology. One of… Read More ›
Walking again after spinal injury ( sprinting, climbing up stairs, and avoiding obstacles after a couple of weeks of neurorehabilitation )
Contact: Hillary Sanctuary hillary.sanctuary@epfl.ch 41-797-034-809 Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne In the lab, rats with severe spinal cord injury are learning to walk—and run—again. Last June in the journal Science, Grégoire Courtine, of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL),… Read More ›
Temporary Tattoos Could Make Electronic Telepathy, Telekinesis Possible
February 19th, 2013 | by Charles Q. Choi Temporary electronic tattoos could soon help people fly drones with only thought and talk seemingly telepathically without speech over smartphones, researchers say. Commanding machines using the brain is no longer the… Read More ›
Scientists have created a “sixth sense” by creating a brain implant through which infrared light can be detected.
By Nick Collins 2:58PM GMT 17 Feb 2013 Although the light could not be seen lab rats were able to detect it via electrodes in the part of the brain responsible for their sense of touch. … Read More ›
Cold resistance runs in genes: Suggest people be genetically pre-adapted to develop Antarctica or the Arctic
Alexandra Zakharova Feb 3, 2013 16:29 Moscow Time Photo: RIA Novosti British researchers have found a cold resistance gene in the DNA of indigenous Siberian tribes, which helps them survive in the harsh local environment. A team of geneticists from… Read More ›
Could Human Enhancement Turn Soldiers Into Weapons That Violate International Law? Yes
•Subscribe •Renew •Give a Gift •Digital Edition By Patrick Lin New technologies reveal ambiguities and hidden assumptions in international humanitarian law. Alexis C. Madrigal Science fiction, or actual U.S. military project? Half a world away from the battlefield, a soldier… Read More ›
Ready to eat: the first GM fish for the dinner table
US decision after 17-year battle over fast-growing salmon could pave way for same step in Britain Steve Connor Monday, 24 December 2012 A GM salmon which grows twice as fast as ordinary fish could become the first genetically-modified animal in… Read More ›
Will machines kill mankind? Cambridge academics want to know
Academics highlight threat of super-intelligent technology James Legge Monday, 26 November 2012 Academics at Cambridge University are pondering the risk to humanity from super-intelligent technology which could “threaten our own existence.” Huw Price, Bertrand Russell Professor of Philosophy at Cambridge,… Read More ›
Engineers pave the way towards 3D printing of personal electronics
Contact: Anna Blackaby a.blackaby@warwick.ac.uk 44-024-765-75910 University of Warwick Engineers pave the way towards 3D printing of personal electronics Scientists are developing new materials which could one day allow people to print out custom-designed personal electronics such as games controllers which… Read More ›
Cartilage made easy with novel hybrid printer
Contact: Michael Bishop michael.bishop@iop.org 01-179-301-032 Institute of Physics The printing of three-dimensional tissue has taken a major step forward with the creation of a novel hybrid printer that simplifies the process of creating implantable cartilage. The printer has been presented… Read More ›
Brain-like chip outstrips normal computers
22 November 2012 by Michael Marshall Magazine issue 2892. COMPUTER chips that mimic the human brain are outstripping conventional chips in crucial ways. They could also revolutionise our understanding of how the brain functions.Attempts to simulate the brain usually involve… Read More ›
These Mini-Bots Were Made for Walking: Cells Power Biological Machines: non-electronic biological machines
Miniature “bio-bots” developed at the University of Illinois are made of hydrogel and heart cells, but can walk on their own. (Credit: Elise A. Corbin) ScienceDaily (Nov. 15, 2012) — They’re soft, biocompatible, about 7 millimeters long — and, incredibly,… Read More ›
Activating the ‘mind’s eye’ — sounds, instead of eyesight can be alternative vision ( can actually “see” and describe objects and even identify letters and words )
Contact: Jerry Barach jerryb@savion.huji.ac.il 972-258-82904 The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Jerusalem, Nov. 7, 2012 — Common wisdom has it that if the visual cortex in the brain is deprived of visual information in early infanthood, it may never develop properly… Read More ›
Weizmann Institute scientists observe as humans learn to sense like a rat, with ”whiskers”
Rats use a sense that humans don’t: whisking. They move their facial whiskers back and forth about eight times a second to locate objects in their environment. Could humans acquire this sense? And if they can, what could understanding the… Read More ›
Batteries not required, just plug into ear cells
16:55 08 November 2012 by Will Ferguson For the first time, an electrical device has been powered by the ear alone. The team behind the technology used a natural electrochemical gradient in cells within the inner ear of a… Read More ›
Researchers create laser the size of a virus particle
Contact: Megan Fellman fellman@northwestern.edu 847-491-3115 Northwestern University Miniature laser operates at room temperature and defies the diffraction limit of light A Northwestern University research team has found a way to manufacture single laser devices that are the size of a… Read More ›
Could we copy a specific brain or transfer our minds to another device? Research suggests this amazing idea might be feasible
Mind transfer: human brains in different materials 02 November 2012 by Randal A. Koene Magazine issue 2888. Subscribe and save For similar stories, visit the The Big Idea , The Human Brain and Death Topic Guides HUMAN brains and the… Read More ›
Photon Magnetism Used to Control Light breaks law of time-reversal symmetry: Nanoscale Applications That Use Light Instead of Electricity
Synthetic Magnetism Used to Control Light: Opens Door to Nanoscale Applications That Use Light Instead of Electricity Promise of harnessing light. An advance could yield a new class of nanoscale applications that use light instead of electricity. (Credit: © mrage… Read More ›
U.S. Army Sponsored Artificial Intelligence Surveillance System Attempts to Predict The Future
10/29/2012 @ 5:12AM |4,088 views In something that looks straight out of the CBS show “Person of Interest“, the science website Phsy.org is reporting on a potentially important breakthrough from researchers at Carnegie Mellon. In research sponsored by… Read More ›
Hacking the President’s DNA : Personalized Bioweapons
The U.S. government is surreptitiously collecting the DNA of world leaders, and is reportedly protecting that of Barack Obama. Decoded, these genetic blueprints could provide compromising information. In the not-too-distant future, they may provide something more as well—the basis for… Read More ›
Designer baby warning as embryos are made using TWO women and one man by Oregon scientists
Procedure would swap the nucleus of a mother’s egg containing mutated genes into a donor’s The donor’s normal mitochondria replaces the mother’s defective mitochondria containing mutated DNA Donor’s genes would amount to 1 per cent of the embryo’s genes and… Read More ›
Brain waves reveal video game aptitude
Contact: Diana Yates diya@illinois.edu 217-333-5802 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Scientists report that they can predict who will improve most on an unfamiliar video game by looking at their brain waves. IMAGE:University of Illinois postdoctoral researcher… Read More ›
Assembly of Nano-Machines Mimics Human Muscle
Researchers have succeeded in synthesizing an assembly of thousands of nano-machines capable of producing a coordinated contraction movement extending up to around ten micrometers, like the movements of muscular fibers. (Credit: © microcozm / Fotolia) ScienceDaily (Oct. 23, 2012) —… Read More ›
Scientists build ‘mechanically active’ DNA material
Contact: Melissa Van De Werfhorst melissa@engineering.ucsb.edu 805-893-4301 University of California – Santa Barbara Researchers at UC Santa Barbara designed a ‘smart’ material made of DNA that responds with movement when stimulated Artificial muscles and self-propelled goo… Read More ›
Bisphenol A exposure in pregnant mice permanently changes DNA of offspring
2009 study posted for filing Contact: Aaron Lohr alohr@endo-society.org 240-482-1380 The Endocrine Society Exposure during pregnancy to the chemical bisphenol A, or BPA, found in many common plastic household items, is known to cause a fertility defect in the mother’s… Read More ›
Engineering Evil 