What You Need To Know About 3D Printed Organs....

The first thing to consider is "why is the idea of 3d printed objects" is so popular.

Well from a straight numbers perspective, over 78 thousand new requests for transplant organs were made while only 34 hundred donations were made.   The idea of a printer that could print the failing organ would be a significant windfall.

Printers that can print material that is suitable for residence in the human body are really not all that new.   It was the Wake Forest Institute, who 3D-printed the synthetic building blocks they needed to grow human bladders.  Not the bladders but the "building blocks" that one day could become a bladder.  Or, more recently, the company Organovo founded in  2007, can now print out liver tissue samples that can be used for drug testing and research. The company's hoping to develop a functional liver in the near future.

Read how the printers work and how they deposit material Here

The real question now is, that with all this fantastic progress, how is it that we don't HAVE printed hearts and livers on demand.   Again it comes back to sophistication and complexity.    The first problem is finding material that can be used that can go through the printing process and then be robust enough to grow outside the human body.   You just can't take freshly printed cells and place them in a human body and hope then work.

Cornell engineer Hod Lipson:

    "You can put the cells of a heart tissue in the right place together, but where's the start button? The magic happens after printing has taken place."

 Lipson also notes that there's still no software powerful enough to make very detailed organ models that researchers can consult before printing.

Surgeon Anthony Atala notes that roughly 90% of the people on the waiting list are waiting for kidneys.  Atala is looking for ways to create a kidney using 3d printing, and even showed off a non-working model during his recent TEDs talk. 



Complete Endgadget article HERE

Twins In Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace!

Hey did you know that a set of twins has already visited space?  No?  Tis true.   Apart from its' "I didn't know that!" aspect, NASA is actually looking to document body / mind changes brought on by long duration space flight missions.  

From the Space.gov article:

• NASA's Human Research Program  will fund 10 short-term, first-of-its-kind investigations into the molecular, physiological and psychological effects of spaceflight in a continuous effort to reduce the health impacts of human space exploration. 

NASA's will fly veteran astronaut Scott Kelly aboard the International Space Station for one year, beginning March 2015.   His identical twin brother, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, remains on Earth.

NASA will compare blood samples from Scott and Mark that will  during and after the one-year mission. Physiological and psychological testing also will be conducted on the brothers before, during and after the mission.

For complete NASA article click HERE

Dogs Like to Poop North to South...?

It would seem that all that sniffin' and spinnin' before your dog does his "duty" is more than just an annoying ritual, it would seem that your pet pooch poopin' preference is north to south.  Think of it as the doggy version of a compass spinning before it settles down...which just begs the question that if you were lost in the woods with poochie and no compass....couldn't you just wait for your compass canine to relieve itself a couple of time and just line up the twin peaks to determine north.....     and then well you are on your way....  my anime friend just said he is going to name his next dog Compass....oh that is just tooooooooooo good! 

Ok lets get serious here....The data comes from German and Czech researchers, who spent two years watching numerous dogs defecating and urinating.  They then compared the dogs' behavior and orientation with the geomagnetic conditions at the time.   They found that dogs preferred to poop while aligned in a north-south direction.  Curiously, females preferred to urinate in a north or south direction — males didn't show much preference.  

Wow talk about animal magnetism.....

For more ....... ummm info  check out the complete Live Science article  HERE

3d Printing Could End Animal Testing

One of the less pleasant facets of modern medicine is that it depends in part on animal testing.  In a year apx. 100 million animals are used in labs and classrooms across the U.S.

As harsh as that idea is, the good news is that animal testing's days may be numbered due to Bio-ink and 3D printing of human tissue. 

The plus side is that printed human tissue returns more accurate test results and eliminate  possible harmful side effects that new drugs risk during human testing phases.   Another big plus is that specific samples can be printed of a patient to test their sensitivity to a particular range of  drugs, again lowering reactions from the patient.   This sounds like far future capabilities, but analysts predict that such testing could be available in as little as five years!

The complete Dvice article can be had HERE

Update,  medical 3D will be huge, but  every day printing will mean custom screens as well as curved monitors, custom lit clothing.....the sky is the limit.  Check out the Science Daily article on printing HERE

Denisovans are what? And They Lived Where?!!

Damn things are getting weird.  To what end? you might be inclined to ask.  Well, let's remember this

quirky  Denisova hominin.   Now the "hominin" part of the title might just have given these Denisova away as to their genus.  Yep, these early "hominids' may be, very likely, early relatives of modern man.

Fossils were first uncovered in the Denisova cave  located in the Altai mountains.  Dating puts the bones at 40+ thousand years ago.  This cave system is unique as it was inhabited at various times by both Neanderthals and modern humans alike.  

Though they may be thought of as ancestors,  Analysis of the mitochondrial DNA from Denisovans  showed it to be genetically distinct from that of Neanderthals and modern humans.  Denisovans may show a more common origin with Neanderthals.   But there is evidence that they also lived among and interbred with ancestors of modern humans.

Ranging from Siberia to SE Asia Denisovans bred with local modern human groups like Melanesians and Australian Aborigines with up to 6% derived from inbreeding with Denisovans.   Local Neanderthal populations were discovered to have upwards of 17%.

Now that there are plenty of outlets to find more info, Discover / The Loom has done a credible job.  As does the Wiki

Woman receives New Face

I was browsing through the IO9 blog and came across an article from The Verge  magazine.   The article reports on a highly experimental medical procedure so risky that it had at that time only be tried six times before.  

Normally I do not delve into the medical unless there is a science fiction link.  But this complex procedure has no clear links, well except that this one touches on a special little horror of mine.  

Now don't get me wrong I can only guess at the complexity and amazed that it can work at all. But the first time I saw the title of the Verge's article it drew up memories that I hadn't thought of in decades.

The article you see was about a very rare procedure called a complete face transplant.  When I read this, decades old recollections  of a very scary Saturday afternoon.  I had a quarter burning a hole in my pocket and had heard from the grapevine that the local movie theater had a several films for this weeks matinee that were touted as so horrific that if you could not sit through them your money would be refunded that and you received a complementary "barf bag".  

The movie was a total gimmick.  A mad doctor needed a fresh patient so at a preset moment the screen flashes in an odd way and all of a sudden the doctor and his henchman are coming out of the screen and onto the stage, walking up through the isles they pick out this woman and take her screaming back INTO the movie!  (by this time I am under the seats)  He then proceeds to remove her entire face for some nefarious reason.   Now I am up and out of there!  They can keep my damn dime, I ate the popcorn already so we were even.  I never did remember if they really did refund, I didn't care cause I was going to put space between the mad doctor and myself.  

I know I shouldn't have read the article but did it for some titillation,  but for whatever reason I was drawn to the article, I continued to read it and watch the embedded video.   It is truly a fascinating article that should be viewed on its own merits.  

Click on The Verge  for the complete article

Petman? Oh Come On!

You tell me the first thing that came to mind when I saw this DARPA video.   With the camo on the damn thing  is all but indistinguishable from a human corps-man.  

The article says this about the...what...robot?  Yeah I guess....anyway:

• The PETMAN robot was developed by Boston Dynamics with funding from the DoD CBD program. It is used to test the performance of protective clothing designed for hazardous environments. 

Then they say things about micro climates, sweating and stuff...but dollars to doughnuts we see it in the field with heavy packs or even dare I say it, mounted weapons?  Even the mounted part need not happen.  But if you have a weapons platform that can use weapons already in the theater of conflict or able to pick up and used any light to medium weapon would be golden for the same reason that a lot of American weapons started chambering NATO rounds, it makes them more universal in the field.  I can't be the first person to say ... hey  ground troops! As long as it doesn't have that stupid whine that big dog and the headless horse has.

Mark my word on this....

"Missing Link" Between Humans and Monkeys Found

Hows that for a headline!?  You want to start a riot you can always count on this one to really come with emotional baggage big time! But still......

The "missing link" comes in from an unexpected direction when scientists discovered a link between human speech and monkey chatter.    The "chatter" in question is a distinctive lip-smacking sounds 

made by baboons in the Ethopian highlands.  Researchers  found striking similarities between these lip-smacking sounds and human speech.

The sounds that these gelada baboons make are often so human sounding that researchers often are fooled into thinking there are humans close by talking. 

What this ability demonstrates is that the ability to make complex sounds may have developed well before speech.  When  the need to communicate complex ideas, the ability was already in place.  However the need to communicate complex ideas possibly drove the evolutionary process. 

It should also be noted that monkeys in general smack their lips when eating, it seems to only the gelada who use the "sounds" for communication or the males calling to the females.

link to the Register file

Meet Larry....Larry, It Seems, Has A Unique Talent

Meet Larry, a robotic head developed by the U.K.'s Health and Safety Laboratory.  Larry was invented to study the norovirus which has sickened more than a million people in the UK alone.

This particular  strain appears to be new which means that people's immune systems do not recognize the infection which equates to a surge of new infections.  

Norovirus causes a great deal of stomach distress.  Symptoms vary however stomach pain and vomiting seem to be the most common, hence the primary reason for the development of Larry the robot head.  

Norovirus, it should be noted, is incredibly robust.   It infects extremely fast and spreads equally as fast.  Plus it can live on an infected surface for an extremely long time. 

So where does robot head Larry fit in?  Well Larry can simulate a human vomiting!  "Why" you might ask?    Well it seems that Norovirus can be spread very easily through micro-particles of vomit, hence Larry the  anatomically correct "humanoid simulated vomiting system" which allows scientist to get a better idea of how far the aerosolized norovirus particles travel.

Check out the Verge artical here 

Plus the youtube video of Larry in action!

What tastes like raspberries & Smells of Rum?

Well according the the Guardian, the galactic center say astronomers!   It seems that in a search for complex molecules in the universe uncovered large "fruity" molecules.  

While exploring a large dust cloud in the Milky Way discovered ethyl formate, which gives raspberries their flavor and also makes up the smell of rum, the conclusion being that the center of the galaxy tastes mildly of fruit and alcohol.

Astronomers have be searching the vast dust cloud surrounding Sagittarius B2, which resides at the center of our galaxy, for amino acids.   Up to this point they have not had any luck finding the building block of life but discovering ethyl formate was interesting.  

Scientists caution that it takes many other molecules to make space raspberries or rum for that matter.

Another  chemical discovered in large amounts was the lethal chemical propyl cyanide  which leads one to suggest that tasting the center of the galaxy may "kill" you.  

read the complete article here

Thanks to listener Courtney for the link. 

Super Buuuuuuuuugs Innnnnnnnnn Spaaaaaaaaaace!

Ok, all kidding aside, modern astronauts have a very real and very dangerous problem that up to this point has been ignored.  

On September 18, 2006, ground breaking research was performed aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis. 

Previously dormant bacteria were allowed  to grow, change and multiply, in special nutrient baths,

allowing them to grow, change and multiply.   

As the experiment progressed, it soon demonstrated that bacteria, in the gravity-free environment of space turn into superbugs by gathering together, gaining strength and becoming much more effective at causing disease.  This in compounded by the tenancy of humans to develop weaker immune systems  on orbit than they would have planet-side.   

Taking bacteria on missions is certainly nothing new.  Both Russia and the U.S. have done so for decades.  From the Wired UK article:

• From ballooning experiments in 1935, to the Sputnik satellites and Gemini spacecraft of the 50s and 60s, and on to the Mir, Apollo and Skylab programs of the 80s and 90s, both Russia and the US have flown bacteria into space. Aboard these craft, bacteria were found to grow more quickly, become more resistant to antibiotics, and swap genes between one another more readily. 

However these new experiments are the first to provide information on how virulent these infectious agents can become.  This problem must be addressed if we ever hope to have extended missions says NASA administrators.  

For more information check out the Wired article 

Wired via Boing Boing

 

BMU # 344 Land of Fire & Ashes -

I open with Fit and the Consumption’s “Sweet Sister Starlight”  Love this song!

From there, I do a couple of Star Trek trivia questions.

Then I review Abe Lincoln – Vampire Killer!  Maybe not as bad as you thought or worse!

From the Blog, news from David Scholes,  John Anealio has a free EP for listeners, have scientists uncovered the oldest dino to date!?   3D printers….and AR firearms…can they be controlled, and if so how?   Zombies Among Us!!!!  and is there POOP on the moon!

Finally Part one of Colin P. Davies excellent short story “Land of Fire & Ashes”  It is so good to see Colin back on the program.   If you are not familiar with his work or possibly forgotten, you are in for a treat of  excellent story telling from one of the best!

Direct link to the podcast file here

Enjoy

Real Zombies Among Us!

Xnewsman send in an absolutely horrific article from the New York Time that reports on the current issue of the Journal of Experimental Biology which deals with the naturally occurring zombies in nature!

 For the Doubting Thomas' among you, should be aware that zombies are FAR more frequent than you think! Viruses, fungi, protozoans, wasps, tapeworms and a vast number of other parasites have developed very specialized biology that hijacks another's brain and nervous system for their own needs.

Like a Costa Rican spider that ends it's life weaving a special web for the larva of a parasitic wasp, or a virus that infects certain caterpillars and drives them to climb high into the canopy unlike the caterpillar's regular behavior to stay low and out of sight of predators. Once it is at the highest point, it's body disintegrates spreading millions of copies of the virus.

Mammals and humans are not immune from parasitic infections and even chemical alterations of their brain chemistry....yes Zombifacation!

Check out the New York Times article here

Man With Bionic Leg Climbs into History

Zac Vawter along with what is being called the world's first neural-controlled bionic leg, completed a goal for himself of climbing the 103 floors of Willis Tower in Chicago.

Vawter has only to thinking about moving his leg and sensors and motors take over the task of moving the bionic right limb.  Though this approach has been used previously in hand and arm applications but this is the first time it has been implemented in a leg.

From the WPTV.com website:

• (the climb was part of the) fourth annual SkyRise Chicago fundraiser was the first public test of the technology.  

Zac successfully made the 103 floor climb of  the Willis tower (formally called the Sears Tower) of Chicago in 53 minutes, 9 seconds. 

Vawter has been with the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago for a little over a year in hopes of replacing a leg he lost three years ago in a motorcycle accident. 

WPTV story page here
 

DNA's Biggest Asset? Middle Manament

It would appear that"junk DNA's" days are all but numbered.

Scientist have been puzzled for years by long strands of DNA that seem to have no purpose, doing noting at all. The standing opinion was that it was material from the early days of our evolution and has been "turned off".

Now after ten years of research, over 400 scientists in 32 laboratories from around the globe working on a project called Encode have announced that they have found what the "silent" DNA strands do. It seems the here to fore called "junk" DNA strands are the cell's "decision makers". These strands decide which genes are to be activated for protein production and which get turned off.

What is even more astounding is the amount of these decision maker DNA strands to specific genes! There are an average of a million for ever 23,000 genes or a ratio of apx. 50 - 1!

And even more astounding is treatments which traditionally have targeted genes. Now treatments that influence the decision makers to do the work for us.

For more, read Kent Sepkowts's article in the September 17th 2012 issue of Newsweek.

Dino Fleas!

Listener Dan pointed me towards this AP article concerning a parasitic life-form that plagued land dwelling animals 125 to 165 million years ago as they continue to do today. Fleas, a bane today as they were millions of years ago. Though fleas today are a far cry from the monsters that plagued early dinosaurs. The ancient pests were gigantic by today's reference - being almost and inch across - with females twice as large as males!

Paleontologists from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology in China say that the prehistoric fleas had:

• disproportionately long proboscis, or straw-like mouth, had sharp weapon-like serrated edges that helped them bite and feed from their super-sized hosts

One thing these monsters didn't have was well developed legs, so they didn't have the fantastic jumping ability that modern fleas do today.  Crawling was the order of the day

- full Huffington Post article -

Lake Vostok's Surface Finally Reached

Long time listener Dan pointed me towards this AP article concerning ground breaking achievement by Russian scientists. Lake Vostok at 160 miles long and 30 miles wide, (similar in size to Lake Ontario) is on of the largest of nearly 400 subglacial lakes in Antarctica. Located about 800 miles east of the South Pole Vostock has been locked under more than two miles of ice for twenty million years. Biologist hope that the lake contains unchanged microbial lifeforms that date back millions of years.

Drilling on the site has been on and off since 1969.

Mind Reading Computer Program

The Guardian list an article that very well could help people who may have lost the ability to speak as a result of a stroke or other medical conditions.

Scientists have had some success in decoding the brain activity caused by words that they hear.  Quite literally,  the mental "thoughts" that go along with hearing spoken words.

This tech is of course still very much in the early phase, but ultimately - from  the article -

•  the work paves the way for brain implants that could monitor a person's thoughts and speak words and sentences as they imagine them. 

Check out the video here

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.

A Cure For Many Viral Infections Found?

Rhino/cold virus

From BBC News via IO9 comes the news that a drug to treat a large variety of viral infection has possibly been discovered.

MIT research scientist Todd Rider says he's developed a drug named Draco, which he says has successfully destroyed 15 different viruses in lab trials.

The reason that earlier attempts to develop a successful broad spectrum anti-viral is the fundamental difference between biologic infectious agents (germs if you will) and viral is much in how they reproduce. Microbes and their ilk can reproduce by fission by themselves. If you kill the microbe, you control the spread of infection. Viruses on the other hand invade a cell and hijack the cell's reproductive machinery to make copies of the invading virus in large quantities. So many in fact that the cell burst spreading copies of the virus, that start the process all over again. The virus is only at risk while outside a cell. Once they have invaded a cell they are virtually undetectable.

Rider's drug Draco uses this "behavior" to kill the virus. Draco consists of two proteins. One to detect a viral invader and the other to kill the cell outright so that it can not be used for reproduction. This approach should be effective from everything from a cold virus to HIV. Initial tests have been promising but there is still a long trial schedule ahead for Draco or another anti-viral.