(via msexplosion)
Personally, I’ve just taken to “Oh my science!” Hahahahaha
‘The DNA Transistor’ by Two videos from IBM - YouTube - RichardDawkins.net
IBM DNA Transistor
The Future of Genome Sequencing
In an effort to build a nanoscale DNA sequencer, IBM scientists are drilling nano-sized holes in computer-like chips and passing DNA strands through them in order to read the information contained within their genetic code.
This research effort is to design a silicon-based DNA Transistor that could help pave the way to easily and quickly read human DNA, generating advancements in health condition diagnosis and treatment. The challenge in the effort is to slow the flow of the DNA through the hole so the reader can accurately decode what is in the DNA. If successful, the project could improve throughput and reduce cost to achieve the vision of personalized genome analysis at a cost of $100 to $1,000. In comparison, the first sequencing ever done by the Human Genome Project (HGP) cost $3 billion.
A human genome sequencing capability affordable for individuals is the ultimate goal of the DNA sequencing and is commonly referred to as $1,000 genome. Ultimately, it can improve the quality of medical care by identifying patients who will gain the greatest benefit from a particular medicine and those who are most at risk of adverse reactions.
Click here for the other video.
Science is AWESOME. I can’t wait to see what comes of this.
Astronomers have seen the furthest back in time ever, measuring light from a star that exploded 13 billion years ago, just after the dawn of the universe.
They traced a gamma-ray burst called GRB 090423 to see the light from the massive star that died 630 million years after the Big Bang that brought the universe into being, they reported in the journal Nature on Wednesday.
Whoa. Kind of blows the whole 6,000 year thing out of the water, no? Check the link for the rest of the story.
U.S. researchers have found a way to coax human embryonic stem cells to turn into the types of cells that make eggs and sperm, shedding light on a stage of early human development that has not been fully understood.
The findings could lead to new understanding of inherited diseases and transform treatments for infertility, they said.
“We are really trying to look at the origins of normal and abnormal human development by going to the source,” said Dr. Renee Riejo Pera of Stanford University in California, whose study appears in the journal Nature.
Dear religions who denounce research on embryonic stem cells,
GTFO.
Love,
Sharklauncher.
"Every atom in your body came from a star that exploded, and the atoms in your left hand probably came from different stars than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics. You are all stardust. […] So forget Jesus; the stars died so that you could be here today."
Genetic Therapy Restored Boy’s Sight ~ Atheist Media Blog
A 9-year-old boy toured New York City for the first time since being cured of blindness thanks to gene therapy. Harry Smith reports.
If you want real miracles, you have to create them yourself.
‘Carl Sagan - Pale Blue Dot’ by YouTube - darknlooking - RichardDawkins.net
This is taken from the book. Having him read to you is something else. Enough said. Take a listen and leave comments please. Email this video to at least one other person, it’s your moral duty.
Carl Sagan gives me chills. I love his line, “In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.”
It just goes to show the danger in treating this life as if it’s somehow eternal, that somehow we have forever to accomplish the things we desire.
Why not live this life while you’re alive, and not for some sort of “maybe” or “probably not” for afterwards?
Space-Inspired Quilts Are Perfect This Time Of Year - Space quilts - Gizmodo
Holy crap this is awesome. I wonder if I could bring myself to actually use one.
Thirty-two planets have been discovered outside Earth’s solar system through the use of a high-precision instrument installed at a Chilean telescope, an international team announced Monday. This artist’s rendering shows one of the so-called exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system. This artist’s rendering shows one of the so-called exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system. The existence of the so-called exoplanets — planets outside our solar system — was announced at the European Southern Observatory/Center for Astrophysics, University of Porto conference in Porto, Portugal, according to a statement issued by the observatory.
Poor Pluto… now we’ve not only demoted him to a non-planetary state, but he’s been replaced with newer, cooler exoplanets.
Anyone have a countdown until Mountain Dew names a soda after this? “Mountain Dew EXTREME EXOPLANET!”
