Good read. "Life on the Edge" by Jim Al-Khalili and Johnjoe McFadden covers the fascinating world of quantum biology. Could life be a delicate balance that organic molecules can provide to enable quantum coherence? The efficient quantum mechanisms of photosynthesis, magnetoreception, and enzymes are...
Source: amazon.co.uk
The Google search terms 'diabetes' and 'recipe' have contrasting patterns repeated each year over the festive period covering November to January. Could this be evidence of human behaviour from big data? I'm on a Big Data MOOC #FLbigdata and was introduced to this tool on Google. I've shown in the...
Source: google.com
Plastic-eating bacteria set to revolutionize waste disposal | ExtremeTech: Genetically engineering a bacterium that eats plastic could fix the world's spiraling problem of waste disposal.
Source: extremetech.com
Drone to police massive UK marine reserve - BBC News: An ocean-going drone will be helping to spot illegal fishing in the world's largest, continuous marine reserve.
Source: bbc.co.uk
UK press is the most aggressive in reporting on Europe's 'migrant' crisis: Public opinion has been polarised by the way newspapers are covering this story.
Source: theconversation.com
Portion distortion report (2013) from the British Heart Foundation
Source: bhf.org.uk
Top strategic predictions for 2016 and beyond: the future is a digital thing. The one that caught my attention was: "By 2018, 20% of all business content will be authored by machines.
... Technologies with the ability to proactively assemble and deliver information through automated composition...
Source: gartner.com
Junk DNA - a thorough but accessible account of modern genetics covering discoveries since mapping the human genome and epigenetics. Genomic imprinting, non-coding RNA, telomeres and ageing, etc. Everything discovered (or I forgot about) since I left medical school basically. Everything was explained...
Source: amazon.co.uk
First drug to reverse Huntington's disease begins human trials : The new drug, called IONIS-HTTRx, silences the gene known to be responsible for the production of a protein which causes Huntington’s
Source: telegraph.co.uk
SRI's Micro Robots Can Now Manufacture Their Own Tools: These tiny robots can reconfigure themselves in a custom tool shop that's just a few square inches in size
Source: ieee.org
Just finished reading "Dancing at the edge" an exploration of competencies for the 21st century. An excellent and academic review of the topic giving hope that "future persons" will indeed be more resilient. Instead of simply listing competencies they describe examples from the extensive range of interviews...
Source: internationalfuturesforum.com
Pope Says Artificial Contraception Can Be Considered During Zika Outbreak: Pope Francis suggested to reporters on Thursday that women could use artificial contraception to avoid getting pregnant during the Zika outbreak - NEJM Journal Watch.
Source: jwatch.org
WHO Looking at Genetically Modified, Sterile Mosquitoes to Control Zika Spread: "The World Health Organization is evaluating some newer techniques for mosquito control, given the rapid spread of the Zika virus.
One possible method to reduce the populations of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which transmit...
Source: jwatch.org
"In its ongoing effort to make MOOCs more and more like traditional
education, Coursera has launched 'mentor-guided courses' for the cost of
$US 248." I like Stephen Downes and the way he pokes fun at the big MOOC companies. Their aim though is simply to try and monetize their courses. The mentor...
Source: downes.ca
Shor's algorithm is implemented using five trapped ions - physicsworld.com: Quantum-computing scheme could be scaled-up to perform practical calculations
Source: physicsworld.com
Monkey Controls Wheelchair Using Pure Thoughts |: (A) The mobile robotic wheelchair, which seats a monkey, was moved from one of the three starting locations (dashed circles) to a grape dispenser. The wire
Source: medgadget.com
Briefly Noted: Mice Show How High-Fat Diet Could Cause Intestinal Tumors: By the Editors
A study in mice shows a possible mechanism for the known link between obesity and colon … NEJM Journal Watch.
Source: jwatch.org
Beyond investing: Making global health a reality for all | PLOS Biologue: A grand convergence in global health will require strategic investments in R&D and an aggressive scale-up of health-care delivery systems to ensure health tools reach those who need them most.
Source: plos.org
Life in Technicolor—One month wearing EnChroma’s color blindness-fixing glasses: By blocking wavelengths, glasses create a new world complete with grass, traffic lights.
Source: arstechnica.com
Windows 10 now shows ads on the lock screen — here’s how to kill them | ExtremeTech: Microsoft has begun using the Windows 10 lock screen to advertise content -- but while the game it chose is excellent, some people won't like the precedent this sets.
Source: extremetech.com