Science & TechnologyS


Attention

Growing babies outside the womb

Neera Bhatia and Evie Kendal
The Conversation
Wed, 27 Nov 2019 17:05 UTC
Artificial Womb
© Flip BoardResearchers are developing artificial wombs as we speak. So we need to talk about the pros and cons before science fiction becomes reality.
The idea of growing babies outside the body has inspired novels and movies for decades.

Now, research groups around the world are exploring the possibility of artificial gestation. For instance, one group successfully grew a lamb in an artificial womb for four weeks. Australian researchers have also experimented with artificial gestation for lambs and sharks.

And in recent weeks, researchers in The Netherlands have received €2.9m ($4.66m) to develop a prototype for gestating premature babies.

So it's important to consider some of the ethical issues this technology might bring.

What is an artificial womb?

Growing a baby outside the womb is known as ectogenesis (or exogenesis). And we're already using a form of it. When premature infants are transferred to humidicribs to continue their development in a neonatal unit, that's partial ectogenesis.

But an artificial womb could extend the period a fetus could be gestated outside the body. Eventually, we might be able to do away with human wombs altogether.

This may sound far-fetched, but many scientists working in reproductive biotechnology believe that with the necessary scientific and legal support, full ectogenesis is a real possibility for the future.

Comment:

Scientists predict that babies will be grown in artificial wombs within ten years

Ectogenesis: Artificial wombs could soon be a reality

Welcome to the Matrix - Artificial wombs successfully pass 1st test, human trials could begin within 3yrs

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Beaker

'Deliberate falsehood': Scientists shred Chinese CRISPR babies experiment after leak of unpublished research


RT
Wed, 04 Dec 2019 00:43 UTC
crispr babies
© Reuters / Julia Symmes Cobb
A controversial genetic experiment to make Chinese twins resistant to HIV is causing renewed outrage after the release of the original research, with scientists charging that it failed to meet its goals and ignored basic ethics.

The MIT Technology Review published portions of two previously unseen research papers on Tuesday, principally authored by Chinese biophysicist He Jiankui, who last year attempted to use CRISPR DNA editing technology to immunize twins - Lulu and Nana - against HIV.

While He's bold claims about what the experiment accomplished have come under scrutiny before, a wave of new criticism has followed the publication, which was passed to MIT by an unnamed source. Chief among the complaints is that He's experiment didn't achieve its main goal: producing a mutation in the CCR5 gene that would create resistance to HIV.

Comment: See also:

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Info

Certain brain regions smaller among women using birth control pills

Chloe Williams
Live Science
Wed, 04 Dec 2019 12:47 UTC
A brain region called the hypothalamus is smaller among women who use birth control pills, compared with non-users, a new study finds.
Brain MRI Images
© M. Lipton et al., Radiological Society of North AmericaBrain MRI images showing the hypothalamus, in red. A new study finds that this brain region is smaller in women who use birth control pills, compared with women not taking the pill.
Birth control pills may slightly alter the structure of women's brains, according to a new study.

The study found that women taking the pill, or oral contraceptives, had a smaller hypothalamus than women not taking the pill. The hypothalamus is a pea-size structure deep inside the brain that helps regulate involuntary functions, such as appetite, body temperature and emotions. It also serves as a link between the nervous system and endocrine system, a network of glands that produce hormones.

About 150 million women use oral contraceptives worldwide, according to a 2019 report from the United Nations' Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Despite their widespread use, research looking at how oral contraceptives affect the brain is sparse. "It's a pretty understudied area," said Dr. Michael Lipton, professor of radiology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, who led the recent research.
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HAL9000

France's armed forces minister: How Artificial Intelligence figures into operational superiority

Florence Parly
Defense News
Mon, 02 Dec 2019 00:00 UTC
Florence Parly
Robot vs. human: This is the new battle in vogue. Ask Col. Gene Lee, a former fighter pilot and U.S. Air Force pilot trainer, defeated in 2016 by artificial intelligence in an air combat simulation. This specific AI program, even deprived of certain controls, is able to react 250 times faster than a human being. It is one story among many others of how AI technologies play and will play a leading role in operational superiority over the next decades.

I personally choose not to oppose the human to the robot. There is no discussion of replacing human intelligence by artificial intelligence, but it will be essential in increasing our capabilities manyfold. AI is not a goal, per se; it must contribute to better-informed and faster decision-making for the benefit of our soldiers.

AI means unprecedented intelligence capabilities. Crossing thousands of satellite images with data provided by the dark web in order to extract interesting links: This is what big-data analysis will make possible. AI also means better protection for our troops. To evacuate wounded personnel from the battlefield, to clear an itinerary or a mined terrain — as many perilous tasks that we will soon be able to delegate to robots. Lastly, AI means a stronger cyber defense. Cyber soldiers will be capable of countering at very high speed the increasingly stealthy, numerous and automated attacks that are threatening our systems and our economies.

Comment: Never say never, dear minister. The pandora's box of AI and related technologies will take a life of the their own in coming years thanks to the short-sightedness of scientists and researchers who are unable to predict where all this is going.

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Car Black

Study shows electric cars become practically useless in cold weather

Michelle Williams
Anonymous News
Sun, 01 Dec 2019 00:01 UTC
electric car winter
© shutterstock
According to recent studies, cold temperatures significantly reduce the performance of electric cars, especially when it comes to battery life.

One study by AAA suggested that cold temperatures can reduce the range of the batteries in most electric cars by over 40 percent. It was also noted that the performance can be even worse when the interior heaters are used.

However, even electric car owners who live in hot regions are not safe, because high temperatures can also reduce battery range, although to a far lesser degree.

Comment: It definitely seems like these electric cars don't have the kinks worked out of them yet, if they ever will. As usual, when decisions are made based on lies (the anthropogenic global warming hoax, for example) the outcome seems to never be the solution dreamed of. Base your decisions on ideology and reap the consequences.

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Info

Researchers successfully create artificial neurons that behave like real ones

Ian Connellan
Cosmos Magazine
Tue, 03 Dec 2019 19:09 UTC
Artificial Neuron
© UNIVERSITY OF BATHAn artificial neuron in its protective casing.
The authors of a bio-engineering study just published in the journal Nature Communications exhibit the kind of calm rationality that makes one believe.

They point out that while a range of neuromorphic silicon devices replicating biological nerve functions have been proposed, a number of problems have hampered the up-to-now theoretical attempts to develop them.

Devices proposed include silicon neurons, synapses and brain inspired networks, but their designs, say the authors, were not meant to copy the behaviour of biological cells, but to search for the organising principles of biology that can be applied to practical devices.

However, an increasing focus on implantable bioelectronics to treat chronic disease is changing this paradigm, they say, and "instilling new urgency in the need for low-power analogue solid-state devices that accurately mimic biocircuits".

The joint British/Swiss/New Zealand team's paper describes a way of making silicon chips that are much smaller than a fingertip but reproduce the electrical behaviour of biological neurons.

The approach, they say, could lead to the development of bionic chips to repair biological circuits in the nervous system when functions are damaged or lost to disease.
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Info

Some say transhumanism may hold key to eternal life - but others correctly point out its problems and ethical dilemmas


RT
Mon, 02 Dec 2019 11:11 UTC
transhumanism
© Pixabay / Gerd Altmann
Some people hope to cheat death by storing their consciousness digitally. Science isn't quite there yet, but we've done enough brain and memory research to have immediate implications - and to start asking uncomfortable questions.

The idea of attaining de facto immortality by translating your brain into code and storing your personality as a digital copy online has been captivating people's imagination for quite some time. It is particularly popular among transhumanists, people who advocate enhancing human intellect and physiology through the most sophisticated technology available.

As the most technologically advanced nations around the world pour resources into brain studies and yesterday's science fiction becomes reality, it might seem that humanity is nearing a breakthrough in this field. Could the ability to become a "ghost in the shell" - like in the iconic cyberpunk Japanese manga, or the 2017 film - be just around the corner?

Comment: See also:

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Megaphone

Scientists are playing sounds underwater to bring dead coral reefs back to life

Elias Marat
The Mind Unleashed
Mon, 02 Dec 2019 15:18 UTC
sounds revive coral reef
Dead coral reefs have become one of the major horrors resulting from human impact, with thousands of miles of coral ecosystem across the globe being transformed into bleached-out graveyards due to the devastating impact of fast-heating ocean temperatures, rising sea levels, pollution, and overfishing.

And for years, the Great Barrier Reef off Australia's coast — the largest living structure on the entire planet — has faced a slow death, with massive amounts of the corals simply dying while the rest of the once-dazzling coral transforms into bleached, lifeless matter.

But now, scientists have discovered an ingenious way to restore life to the dead patches of the Great Barrier Reef: by playing the ambient sounds of nature through loudspeakers to lure fish to the area. The fish would then help to clean up the reef, allowing for the growth of fresh corals necessary to recover reef ecosystems.

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Rainbow

Climate change delusions are undermining science

Dr. Jay Lehr
CFACT
Fri, 29 Nov 2019 00:01 UTC
utopia climate delusion
The lavish lifestyle exhibited by those who attend the annual International climate conferences called Conference of Parties (COP 25 Is set for Madrid, Spain next month) is just one of many secondary motives driving the global warming/climate change movement. For the scientific community, another basic motivation is self-preservation. Even the most objective scientist cannot fail to recognize that most of the unelected bureaucrats in charge of federal research funding and government laboratories are now progressive socialists, along with the professors at major colleges and universities in control of the peer review process, most of the editors at major publishing houses and media outlets, and many administrators and teachers within the public school system are also progressive socialists. The vast majority of these folks are completely intolerant of any ideas that run counter to mainstream progressive dogma. Most scientists now know that they must be careful to exhibit 'politically correct' behavior in order to survive. Anyone who dares to challenge the cornerstones of the global warming movement will be attacked. If they are labeled 'climate deniers' it will be difficult for them to obtain research funding, publish papers, or even in some cases, stay employed.

Global warming is a political, not a scientific issue, and is not about 'saving the planet'. The text of the 2015 Paris Climate Accord proves it. It states that climate action must include concern for "gender equality, empowerment for women, and intergenerational equity" as well as "climate justice". Governments around the world are being advised that all of these steps must be implemented in order to mitigate the evils of global warming.

Comment: See also:

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Info

Stars seen slinging comets at Earth for the first time

Mara Johnson-Groh
Live Science
Mon, 02 Dec 2019 12:41 UTC
Night Sky
© VISITBRITAIN/VISITSCOTLAND
Stars and comets make unlikely dance partners. Their gravitational partnership is one that astronomers have long suspected but have never seen — until now. For the first time, a Polish group has identified two nearby stars that seem to have plucked up their icy partners, swinging them into orbits around our sun.

The astronomers found the stellar duo after studying the movements of over 600 stars that came within 13 light-years of the sun. The new findings validate a theory born more than a half-century ago, and in doing so have also shown just how rare these stellar dances can be.

Out on the far edge of the solar system, hanging like wallflowers around the planetary dance floor, is the Oort Cloud. This icy group of objects were left over after the formation of the solar system, creating a giant shell enveloping our home system that extends from 66 times the distance to Neptune to 9.23 trillion miles (14.9 trillion kilometers) away from the sun. Astronomers think the Oort Cloud is a reservoir for long-period comets — those that take more than 200 years to orbit the sun. Comet Hale-Bopp, which has a 2,500-year orbit, is one of the most famous of these long-period comets.

Since the cloud's existence was first proposed by Jan Oort in the 1950s, astronomers have suspected that every so often, a passing star might be able to pick up an object and send it swinging on a wild ride through our solar system; that ride would bring some of those comets streaming through the night sky for us to marvel at. Astronomers have spent years trying to find proof of these stellar dances, but none had been conclusively shown until now.
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