Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Stem Cells to Brain Cells?!

Lets talk about weird cloning in the Dolly world....
Hell that didn't even make sense to me! So lets se if I can unravel it a bit.

Scientists at the Centre for Regenerative Medicine were able to make brain cells using stem cells from people suffering from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses. Why? To study the neurons and specifically to look at standard psychological medicines, such as lithium, to see how they affect these cells in the laboratory.

It seems that many of the drugs used to treat mental illness are well documented as to their effication but little is truly known as to how the drugs actually affects the brain cells of the patient.

The article goes on to say

  • Scientists also hope to work on multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and motor neuron disease.

Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson Speaks on MSNBC's Rock Center

Xnewsman sends in a facinating clip for MSNBC's Rock Center which recently hosted Neil DeGrasse Tyson and spoke in part of Gingrich's plan to place a colony on the Moon. I think it is telling that Neil's bullet points have been some of the same that I have expressed in the past. I love the quip about two spacefaring nations......see if you agree.......




Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Beam Me Up episode 298 now online

Little bit shorter episode this week. I misjudged how long the articles would take, but 298 still runs 50 minutes!

I start with a Librivox read of M. Cumming’s No Pets Allowed. He couldn’t do any real job, so they gave him a job that didn’t require him to do anything....guarding the treasure, and since there were no dishonest people anymore, he couldn’t get into trouble. But he was so far away and nothing to do...so maybe a pet? As long as no one knew.......

At the close of the hour I play Turning Back the Clock by David Steffen. He was too late! Mary was dead. Their life together was over. There was nothing he could do....or was there? If he could only get to the rift........

Between the stories I go back to the BMU blog. This episode I recognize the crew loss of Apollo 1. Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee all lost their lives to fire brought about by a series of mistakes that proved fatal. But out of that was a little known tribute that you might not have heard about. The iconic voice of the 60s classic Lost in Space's robot has died. Dick Tufeld who's famous lines like "Danger, Will Robinson" and "That does not compute" died Jan. 22 he was 85. Asteroid 2012 BX34 makes an extremely close pass! Nasa rover Opportunity is once again gearing up for another mission. Space Adventures' Eric Anderson, says basically in the commercial below, you give him 150 million and he will send you to the Moon. What Is The Air Force Using the X-37B Space Plane For? Xnewsman sends in some Star Trek gold. Interviews from 1966 of Shatner and Nemoy! In an effort to conserve diminishing power, NASA controllers turned of the heater to the ultraviolet spectrometer instrument aboard the Voyager 1 spacecraft.

and to make sure that I cover all the bases I head back and review the new x-men movie X-Men First Class.

Friday, January 27, 2012

WOW That Was CLOSE!

Anyone feel like ducking Friday?  Why?  Well Wednesday astronomers got a bit of a nasty surprise.   Asteroid 2012 BX34  was spotted quite literally in our back door.  What's worse BX34 was going to get MUCH closer.  By Friday it was one fifth the distance to the Moon or 36,750 miles!  And yes sports fans, that is one of the closest approaches on record.  

In all fairness I ought to tell you the good news - BX34 will pass by, close, but a miss and it is small  - about 37 feet across.  Oh and it passed by at 10:30 est.  


Lost In Space's Robot Has Lost His Voice

Airlock Alpha reports that the iconic voice of the 60s classic Lost in Space's robot has died. Dick Tufeld who's famous lines like "Danger, Will Robinson" and "That does not compute"  died Jan. 22 he was 85.

Tufeld worked on many of producer Irwin Allen's productions such as Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and  The Time Tunnel though, as AA points out, his work often went uncredited.

Tufeld is survived by two sons, two daughters and six grandchildren.   His wife Adrienne died in 2004.