Technology has immortality, cures for the worlds devastating diseases, quantum computing and a host of other science fiction notions in its grasp. Current trends in a number of areas indicate that over the next 10 years many of these technologies will come to fruition. "The Next 10 Years" tracks the trends that will transform our everyday lives in almost unimaginable ways.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Coffee's aroma kick-starts genes in the brain

Coffee's aroma kick-starts genes in the brain:
In experiments with laboratory rats, they found that coffee aroma orchestrates the expression of more than a dozen genes and some changes in protein expressions, in ways that help reduce the stress of sleep deprivation. Their study is scheduled for the June 25 issue of ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
Technorati tags:

posted by expat at 11:29 PM | 0 comments

Technology Review: Making Old Muscle Young

Technology Review: Making Old Muscle Young

Manipulating stem cells in old muscle can restore youth to aging tissue, according to research from the University of California, Berkeley. Scientists altered the activity of a molecular pathway to make stem cells in older tissue produce new muscle fibers at levels comparable to young stem cells. They say that their findings may one day lead to novel therapies for age-related diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, as well as possibly to the reversal of the atrophying effect of aging.

Technorati tags:

posted by expat at 9:16 AM | 0 comments

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Researchers create molecule that nudges nerve stem cells to mature

Researchers create molecule that nudges nerve stem cells to mature

Inspired by a chance discovery during another experiment, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have created a small molecule that stimulates nerve stem cells to begin maturing into nerve cells in culture

This finding might someday allow a person's own nerve stem cells to be grown outside the body, stimulated into maturity, and then re-implanted as working nerve cells to treat various diseases, the researchers said.

 "This provides a critical starting point for neuro-regenerative medicine and brain cancer chemotherapy," said Dr. Jenny Hsieh, assistant professor of molecular biology and senior author of the paper, which appears online today and in the June 17 issue of Nature Chemical Biology.

Technorati tags:

posted by expat at 9:32 PM | 0 comments

Sunday, June 01, 2008

Researchers clear up Alzheimer's plaques in mice

Researchers clear up Alzheimer's plaques in mice:
Blocking a common immune system response cleared up plaques associated with Alzheimer’s Disease and enabled treated mice to recover some lost memory, Yale University researchers report Friday in the journal Nature Medicine.
Technorati tags:

posted by expat at 7:39 AM | 0 comments