Thanksgiving 2034: A glance at turkey day in 25 years

By Dick Pelletier

   No one knows for sure how the future will unfold in 25 years, but by projecting present-day knowledge with expected technology breakthroughs, we can make plausible guesses about what America's Thanksgiving could be like in 2034.

   Advancing technologies suggest that in 25 years we will meet loved ones via Internet-delivered holograms; receive most of life's essentials from personal nanofactories; be pampered by loyal, caring robots; run errands in computer-driven skycars; and enjoy a disease-free indefinite lifespan.

   Thanksgiving still includes sharing with family and friends, both live and virtual. Wall-size screens display interactive videos created by holographic Internet cameras that bring friends and families together from around the world – in virtual environments indiscernible from reality. As people touch, hug, or kiss a hologram image, nanobots convince participant's minds that the encounters are real.

   Turkey dinner still remains the favorite; but nanofactories, which first appeared in late 2020s, have eliminated messy food preparation. Personal nanofactories provide food, clothing, and nearly all family essentials at little or no cost. Mom replicates dinner with all the trimmings, which is then served by the family robot, voicing its often-humorous attempts at making conversation.

   Robots have become an essential acquisition in our homes. Priced at $10,000-to-$30,000 in 2030s dollars, these artificial beings understand and respond to our every need. They maintain home security, keep family members out of harm's way; and manage complex technologies such as nanobots that maintain our health, and simulations that send us to entertainment dreamland.

   Flying cars, promised since the 1950s, have finally arrived. Powered by superconductive electromagnetic drives with interactive speech capability, these computer-driven wonders allow riders to direct the vehicle with their voice. Skycars can travel streets and highways, or rise silently in the air and glide to destinations. A quantum-technology GPS system prevents accidents on the ground and in the air, making collisions impossible.

   Science has radically changed the ways that we supply nutrition to our bodies. Trillions of tiny nanorobots, produced inexpensively by personal nanofactories and housed in a special belt, deliver the exact required nutrients direct to every cell in the body. This revolutionary system eliminates the need for eating food; but more important, it keeps us forever trim and healthy.

   However, most people do not wish to give up their eating pleasures, so researchers have created a special digestive tract that receives `real' food such as our Thanksgiving feast, but prevents those nutrients from entering the blood stream. Nanobots break down this food, then route it into a disposable pouch.  Food lovers can now eat anything their heart desires without gaining an ounce.

   A government report predicts that by 2030, researchers will develop robots that swim through arteries and repair bodies. This medical nanotechnology has helped people realize that indefinite lifespans are no longer theory; in the 2030s, they have become reality. Most doctors now view indefinite lifespan as simply a natural progression of continued good health.

   Other breakthroughs expected by 2034: doctors can reprogram human consciousness to enhance happiness levels in marriages and friendships; and diminish violent tendencies in criminals, which has reduced crime rates.

   Will this "magical future" happen in just 25 years? Forward-thinkers believe that it will.

This piece, written 11/17/2009 will appear in various print media and blogs; comments welcome. See other articles by Dick at http://www.positivefuturist.com; click the "published work" tab.

Implant-based cancer vaccine is first to eliminate tumors in mice

November 25, 2009 Enlarge

A polymer implant, 8.5 mm in diameter, is embedded with chemical signals that
encourage immune cells to attack tumors. Photo: Omar Ali/Harvard University

(PhysOrg.com) -- A cancer vaccine carried into the body on a carefully
engineered, fingernail-sized implant is the first to successfully eliminate
tumors in mammals, scientists report this week in the journal Science
Translational Medicine.

The new approach, pioneered by bioengineers and immunologists at Harvard
University, uses plastic disks impregnated with tumor-specific antigens and
implanted under the skin to reprogram the mammalian immune system to attack
tumors. The new paper describes the use of such implants to eradicate melanoma
tumors in mice.

"This work shows the power of applying engineering approaches to immunology,"
says David J. Mooney, the Robert P. Pinkas Family Professor of Bioengineering in
Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Wyss Institute for
Biologically Inspired Engineering. "By marrying engineering and immunology
through this collaboration with Glenn Dranoff at the Dana-Farber Cancer
Institute, we've taken a major step toward the design of effective cancer
vaccines."

Most cancer cells easily skirt the immune system, which operates by recognizing
and attacking invaders from outside the body. The approach developed by Mooney's
group redirects the immune system to target tumors, and appears both more
effective and less cumbersome than other cancer vaccines currently in clinical
trials.

Conventional cancer vaccinations remove immune cells from the body, reprogram
them to attack malignant tissues, and return them to the body. However, more
than 90 percent of reinjected cells have died before having any effect in
experiments.

The slender implants developed by Mooney's group are 8.5 millimeters in diameter
and made of an FDA-approved biodegradable polymer. Ninety percent air, the disks
are highly permeable to immune cells and release cytokines, powerful recruiters
of immune-system messengers called dendritic cells.

These cells enter an implant's pores, where they are exposed to antigens
specific to the type of tumor being targeted. The dendritic cells then report to
nearby lymph nodes, where they direct the immune system's T cells to hunt down
and kill tumor cells.

"Inserted anywhere under the skin -- much like the implantable contraceptives
that can be placed in a woman's arm -- the implants activate an immune response
that destroys tumor cells," Mooney says.

The technique may have powerful advantages over surgery and chemotherapy, and
may also be useful in combination with existing therapies. It only targets tumor
cells, avoiding collateral damage elsewhere in the body. And, much as an immune
response to a bacterium or virus generates long-term resistance, researchers
anticipate cancer vaccines will generate permanent and body-wide resistance
against cancerous cells, providing durable protection against relapse.

Mooney says the new approach's strength lies in its ability to simultaneously
regulate the two arms of the human immune system: one that destroys foreign
material and one that protects tissue native to the human body. The
implant-based vaccine recruits several types of dendritic cells that direct
destructive immune responses, creating an especially potent anti-tumor response.

"This approach is able to simultaneously upregulate the destructive immune
response to the tumor while downregulating the arm of the immune system that
leads to tolerance," Mooney says. "In cancer, this latter arm is typically a
limiting feature of immunotherapies, since it can extinguish vaccine activity
and afford tumors a degree of protection."

Source: Harvard University (news : web)

There will be a bunch of transhumanists in Southern California next weekend!

See here for the schedule and details:
http://hplus.eventbrite.com/

"The goal of Humanity+ is to support discussion and public awareness of
emerging technologies, to defend the right of individuals in free and
democratic societies to adopt technologies that expand human capacities,
and to anticipate and propose solutions for the potential consequences
of emerging technologies."

Hi All:

Mike and Gilda will host a Future Salon and Potluck on SATURDAY December 19  at their home. 

We will combine holiday themed potluck with discussions on Epigenetics and Machine Learning.

Please RSVP to gcabral@... if you wish to attend.

Gilda

21st century terrorists changing the face of war

By Dick Pelletier

   In The American Way of War, historian Russell Weigley describes a crushing strategy of destruction used by the U.S. over the last 150 years.

   To end the Civil War, Grant felt he had to completely destroy Lee's soldiers; in World War I, Pershing relentlessly bombarded and wore down Germany's proud fighting machine; and the Army Air Corps pulverized major German and Japanese cities to win World War II.

   These wars were not won by tactical or strategic brilliance but by the sheer weight of numbers, the awesome destructive power that only a fully mobilized and highly industrialized democracy can bring to bear.

   In these conflicts, U.S. armies suffered and inflicted massive casualties. Our ability to inflict and endure such casualties more effectively than could our adversaries ultimately resulted in victory.

   However, these tactics are no longer effective. Inspired by information technologies and robotics, the U.S. has adopted new techniques that eliminate the bloody matches of old. The new style seeks quick victory with minimal casualties on both sides utilizing speed, flexibility, and surprise. This procedure was demonstrated in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

   But now, even this latest approach is inadequate. Today, we are experiencing warfare in which dominant military powers are confronted by groups of ideological extremists emboldened by radical religious' beliefs, bent on inflicting harm while capitalizing on publicity. These groups include al Qaeda, the Taliban, Hamas, and many others.

   And the danger isn't about to go away anytime soon. From suicide bombers to bio-warfare attacks; according to a national security panel assembled at a recent congressional meeting, the world faces an estimated 50 percent chance of a terrorist WMD strike within five years.

   Experts believe that radicals with biological weapons could cause unthinkable horrors. A single terrorist infected with a contagious disease that has been genetically altered to slow the infection process, could enter a large city and infect others who would then infect others. People would become carriers before they even realized they were infected. By the time authorities became aware of the threat, more than a million victims could be on their way to dying.

   So how can we defend against such a danger? The panelists saw no easy solutions, but they suggested measures that would minimize the risks. "America should increase public awareness about contagious diseases; stock more vaccination supplies; criminalize unauthorized use of pathogens; and above all, convince every country in the world to join forces to fight bio-warfare."

   Nevertheless, positive futurists believe that this will not be enough. It may require future technologies to eliminate the threat of terrorism completely.

   Within two decades, biotechnologies will improve health and extend lives, and nanotechnology is expected to end food, water, and energy shortages. As these breakthroughs materialize, they will increase prosperity and eliminate much of the underlying causes of unrest in developing nations.

   And even more important, will be the development of a better understanding of consciousness expected by mid-2020s, combined with tomorrow's artificial intelligence. These advances could lead to mind-enhancements that would reduce; or even eliminate human tendencies to commit violence towards each other.

   Some may cry `big brother', but most people would welcome a safer, "magical future" world.

This piece, written 11/24/2009 will appear in various print media and blogs; comments welcome. See other articles by Dick at http://www.positivefuturist.com; click the "published work" tab.

Computer Based on Insights From The Brain Moves Closer to Reality

November 18, 2009

BlueMatter, a new algorithm created in collaboration with Stanford University,
exploits the Blue Gene supercomputing architecture in order to noninvasively
measure and map the connections between all cortical and sub-cortical locations
within the human brain using magnetic resonance diffusion weighted imaging.
Mapping the wiring diagram of the brain is crucial to untangling its vast
communication network and understanding how it represents and processes
information.

(PhysOrg.com) -- Today at SC 09, the supercomputing conference, IBM announced
significant progress toward creating a computer system that simulates and
emulates the brain's abilities for sensation, perception, action, interaction
and cognition, while rivaling the brain's low power and energy consumption and
compact size.

The cognitive computing team, led by IBM Research, has achieved significant
advances in large-scale cortical simulation and a new algorithm that synthesizes
neurological data -- two major milestones that indicate the feasibility of
building a cognitive computing chip.

Scientists, at IBM Research - Almaden, in collaboration with colleagues from
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, have performed the first near real-time cortical
simulation of the brain that exceeds the scale of a cat cortex and contains 1
billion spiking neurons and 10 trillion individual learning synapses.

Additionally, in collaboration with researchers from Stanford University, IBM
scientists have developed an algorithm that exploits the Blue Gene®
supercomputing architecture in order to noninvasively measure and map the
connections between all cortical and sub-cortical locations within the human
brain using magnetic resonance diffusion weighted imaging. Mapping the wiring
diagram of the brain is crucial to untangling its vast communication network and
understanding how it represents and processes information.

These advancements will provide a unique workbench for exploring the
computational dynamics of the brain, and stand to move the team closer to its
goal of building a compact, low-power synaptronic chip using nanotechnology and
advances in phase change memory and magnetic tunnel junctions. The team's work
stands to break the mold of conventional von Neumann computing, in order to meet
the system requirements of the instrumented and interconnected world of
tomorrow.

As the amount of digital data that we create continues to grow massively and the
world becomes more instrumented and interconnected, there is a need for new
kinds of computing systems - imbued with a new intelligence that can spot
hard-to-find patterns in vastly varied kinds of data, both digital and sensory;
analyze and integrate information real-time in a context-dependent way; and deal
with the ambiguity found in complex, real-world environments.

Businesses will simultaneously need to monitor, prioritize, adapt and make rapid
decisions based on ever-growing streams of critical data and information. A
cognitive computer could quickly and accurately put together the disparate
pieces of this complex puzzle, while taking into account context and previous
experience, to help business decision makers come to a logical response.

"Learning from the brain is an attractive way to overcome power and density
challenges faced in computing today," said Josephine Cheng, IBM Fellow and lab
director of IBM Research - Almaden. "As the digital and physical worlds continue
to merge and computing becomes more embedded in the fabric of our daily lives,
it's imperative that we create a more intelligent computing system that can help
us make sense the vast amount of information that's increasingly available to
us, much the way our brains can quickly interpret and act on complex tasks."

To perform the first near real-time cortical simulation of the brain that exceed
the scale of the cat cortex, the team built a cortical simulator that
incorporates a number of innovations in computation, memory, and communication
as well as sophisticated biological details from neurophysiology and
neuroanatomy. This scientific tool, akin to a linear accelerator or an electron
microscope, is a critical instrument used to test hypotheses of brain structure,
dynamics and function. The simulation was performed using the cortical simulator
on Lawrence Livermore National Lab's Dawn Blue Gene/P supercomputer with 147,456
CPUs and 144 terabytes of main memory.

The algorithm, when combined with the cortical simulator, allows scientists to
experiment with various mathematical hypotheses of brain function and structure
of how structure affects function as they work toward discovering the brain's
core computational micro and macro circuits.

After the successful completion of Phase 0, IBM and its university partners were
recently awarded $16.1M in additional funding from the Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA) for Phase 1 of DARPA's Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive
Plastic Scalable Electronics (SyNAPSE) initiative. This phase of research will
focus on the components, brain-like architecture and simulations to build a
prototype chip. The long-term mission of IBM's cognitive computing initiative is
to discover and demonstrate the algorithms of the brain and deliver low-power,
compact cognitive computers that approach mammalian-scale intelligence and use
significantly less energy than today's computing systems. The world-class team
includes researchers from several of IBM's worldwide research labs and
scientists from Stanford University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Cornell
University, Columbia University Medical Center and University of California-
Merced.

"The goal of the SyNAPSE program is to create new electronics hardware and
architecture that can understand, adapt and respond to an informative
environment in ways that extend traditional computation to include fundamentally
different capabilities found in biological brains," said DARPA program manager
Todd Hylton, Ph.D.

Modern computing is based on a stored program model, which has traditionally
been implemented in digital, synchronous, serial, centralized, fast, hardwired,
general-purpose circuits with explicit memory addressing that indiscriminately
over-write data and impose a dichotomy between computation and data. In stark
contrast, cognitive computing - like the brain - will use replicated
computational units, neurons and synapses that are implemented in mixed-mode
analog-digital, asynchronous, parallel, distributed, slow, reconfigurable,
specialized and fault-tolerant biological substrates with implicit memory
addressing that only update state when information changes, blurring the
boundary between computation and data.

More information: Technical insight and more details on the SyNAPSE project and
recent milestones can be found on the Cognitive Computing blog at
http://modha.org/ .

Source: IBM

Why not capture step cells? then filter out the fly paper with
attached stem cells and grow more stem cells for reinserting?
Eric

"UCLA researchers create 'fly paper' to capture circulating cancer cells"
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-11/uoc--urc111809.php

___________________________________________________________

This message was sent from EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS,
the science society.

Visit http://www.eurekalert.org for more breaking science,
health and technology news.

eric (eric25001@...) has sent you a link to the following page on
ScienceDaily:

New on-off 'switch' triggers and reverses paralysis in animals with a beam of
light
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091118112421.htm

In an advance with overtones of Star Trek phasers and other sci-fi ray guns,
scientists are reporting development of an internal on-off "switch" that
paralyzes animals when exposed to a beam of ultraviolet light. The animals stay
paralyzed even when the light is turned off. When exposed to ordinary light, the
animals become unparalyzed and wake up.

* Note: the sender's email address has not been verified.

Wow if this explains 80% of aging in mammals then a mimic could
make average life spans longer.  from 80 to 120 would be a step
toward indeterminate lifespan.

Does anyone have an opinion on how long to understand the
pathway? Create a drug and dosage to mimic Caloric Restriction?

"Scientists find molecular trigger that helps prevent aging and disease"
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-11/tmsh-sfm111809.php

___________________________________________________________

This message was sent from EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS,
the science society.

Visit http://www.eurekalert.org for more breaking science,
health and technology news.

eric (eric25001@...) has sent you a link to the following page on
ScienceDaily:

Early cooling in cardiac arrest may improve survival
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091115191011.htm

In a new study, patients were more likely to survive without brain damage after
a cardiac arrest if emergency medical technicians lowered their body temperature
early during resuscitation. Cooling is recommended for comatose patients after
cardiac arrest, and this study demonstrates the potential benefits of beginning
cooling even sooner during the arrest in the pre-hospital setting.

* Note: the sender's email address has not been verified.

eric (eric25001@...) has sent you a link to the following page on
ScienceDaily:

Green heating and cooling technology turns carbon from eco-villain to hero
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091111111257.htm

Carbon is usually typecast as a villain in terms of the environment but
researchers have now devised a novel way to miniaturize a technology that will
make carbon a key material in some extremely green heating products for our
homes and in air conditioning equipment for our cars.

* Note: the sender's email address has not been verified.

Hi All:

Stay posted for Epigenetics Meeting details to be scheduled in December.

Sorry for the short notice.

Gilda

Hi Gang,

I just finished my Estonia Skype presentation and I guess, based on the rather large applause from the audience, it must have been a success.

The response from this foreign group was not much different than what I have experienced with local Las Vegas organizations where I have given talks. There were a few dissenters, but for the most part they totally embraced the positive future I laid out.

Will I do this again? Yes; in a heartbeat. This was loads of fun.

Comments welcome, Dick

Longevity Tied to Genes That Preserve Tips of Chromosomes

Now can this be used to increase lifespans? Maybe a youthful dose would alow
lifespans like the bristle pine of 5,000 years or more!

Click the Following Link to View This Story (
http://www.aecom.yu.edu/home/news.asp?id=435 )

Some friends of ours rescued two abandoned kittens that need a good home:
http://pariahdesign.net/kittens/

If you'd like to adopt them or want more information, contact me and
I'll put you in touch.

Paul

From a struggling past to a bold future, technology leads the way

By Dick Pelletier

   After celebrating my 79th birthday recently, I began thinking about how technologies have affected my life. In 1930, President Hoover announced that "Prosperity is just around the corner," but he couldn't have been more wrong. The 1929 Stock Market Crash had just brought America into The Great Depression.

   My five siblings and I were raised on a farm near Hermiston, Oregon. Our home had no electricity and few modern conveniences. We bathed in a small tub with little privacy, drank water from a hand pump in the back yard, and made bathroom trips to a two-seater outhouse.

   Then in 1938, we were connected to the electric grid. We installed electric lights, a water pump, an inside shower, and replaced the outhouse with an indoor toilet. As an eight-year-old, I was in awe of how electricity had changed our lives

   Jet travel didn't exist in the 1930s; a five-day ocean trip was the main way to go from America to Europe, and wireless meant the wood-paneled Zenith radio in the living room. Radio was the most popular form of home entertainment; and for travel, we rode crude cars on mostly unpaved roads.

   Today, we drive cars loaded with creature comforts on superhighways. America's mastery of the physical and biological world grew tremendously. Life expectancy soared from 50 years in 1930 to nearly 80 today. TV, cell phones, and computers are everywhere, and modern machines have transformed agriculture, which now provides food for 6.7 billion people.

   In late 1930s, President Roosevelt, emboldened by his "New Deal" legislation which ended the depression, authorized the "Manhattan Project," an effort to build an atomic bomb and use it to hasten the end of World War II.

   Understanding atoms helped drive our nation's hi-tech prowess, which prompted demands for machines to crunch numbers and arrange data; this brought us the PC and email. These advances raised worker output by 2% per-year, giving Americans the world's highest standard of living.

   So, if technology altered lives so drastically over the last 79 years, what might we expect in the next 79 years? The following predictions describe some mind-boggling possibilities:

   2020 – Personal genomes and regenerative medicine changes healthcare from reactive to proactive enabling doctors to replace damaged and aging body parts and cure some diseases.

   2030 – Nanotech provides household replicators that supply food, clothing, and necessities at little or no cost; and nanorobots whizz through our bodies to eliminate aging and restore youthful health and beauty to older adults.

   2050 – Scientists have produced non-biological bodies, immune to disease, accidents, and violence. Should a fatal disaster occur, consciousness and memories are transmitted to an automated system where a new body is cloned with the original mind intact. Patients `wake up' in their new body and resume life; not even realizing they had died. All deaths are now preventable.

   2088 – Nanotech eliminates storms and bad weather, Moon and Mars colonies will soon boast one billion inhabitants, and intelligent aliens were discovered on a planet orbiting a nearby star.

    Could these events unfold so quickly? Forward-thinkers believe this "magical future" will happen, and many alive today could live to experience it.

This piece, written 10/27/2009 will appear in various print media and blogs; comments welcome. See other articles by Dick at http://www.positivefuturist.com; click the "published work" tab.

enjoy.
cheap nano chips?
replicate the brain?

Self assembled house, car, clothes, food, robot??

"Caltech scientists develop DNA origami nanoscale breadboards for carbon
nanotube circuits"
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-11/ciot-csd111009.php

___________________________________________________________

This message was sent from EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS,
the science society.

Visit http://www.eurekalert.org for more breaking science,
health and technology news.

eric saw this story on the BBC News website and thought you
should see it.



** Early life stress 'changes' genes **
A study in mice has shown how stress in early life can have a long-term impact
on genes and on behaviour.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/8346715.stm >


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Scientists Reproduce a Building Block of Life in Laboratory

November 6, 2009 Enlarge

The molecular structures of pyrimidine and uracil.

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA scientists studying the origin of life have reproduced
uracil, a key component of our hereditary material, in the laboratory.

NASA scientists studying the origin of life have reproduced uracil, a key
component of our hereditary material, in the laboratory. They discovered that an
ice sample containing pyrimidine exposed to ultraviolet radiation under
space-like conditions produces this essential ingredient of life.

Pyrimidine is a ring-shaped molecule made up of carbon and nitrogen and is the
basic structure for uracil, part of a genetic code found in ribonucleic acid
(RNA). RNA is central to protein synthesis, but has many other roles.

"We have demonstrated for the first time that we can make uracil, a component of
RNA, non-biologically in a laboratory under conditions found in space," said
Michel Nuevo, research scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field,
Calif. "We are showing that these laboratory processes, which simulate
occurrences in outer space, can make a fundamental building block used by living
organisms on Earth."

Nuevo is the lead author of a research paper titled "Formation of Uracil from
the Ultraviolet Photo-Irradiation of Pyrimidine in Pure Water Ices,"
Astrobiology vol. 9 no. 7, published Oct. 1, 2009.

NASA Ames scientists have been simulating the environments found in interstellar
space and the outer solar system for years. During this time, they have studied
a class of carbon-rich compounds, called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
(PAHs), which have been identified in meteorites, and are the most common
carbon-rich compound observed in the universe. PAHs typically are six-carbon
ringed structures that resemble fused hexagons, or a piece of chicken wire.

Pyrimidine also is found in meteorites, although scientists still do not know
its origin. It may be similar to the carbon-rich PAHs, in that it may be
produced in the final outbursts of dying, giant red stars, or formed in dense
clouds of interstellar gas and dust.

"Molecules like pyrimidine have nitrogen atoms in their ring structures, which
makes them somewhat whimpy. As a less stable molecule, it is more susceptible to
destruction by radiation, compared to its counterparts that don't have
nitrogen," said Scott Sandford, a space science researcher at Ames. "We wanted
to test whether pyrimidine can survive in space, and whether it can undergo
reactions that turn it into more complicated organic species, such as the
nucleobase uracil."

In theory, the researchers thought that if molecules of pyrimidine could survive
long enough to migrate into interstellar dust clouds, they might be able to
shield themselves from radiation destruction. Once in the clouds, most molecules
freeze onto dust grains (much like moisture in your breath condenses on a cold
window during winter).

These clouds are dense enough to screen out much of the surrounding outside
radiation of space, thereby providing some protection to the molecules inside
the clouds.

Scientists tested their hypotheses in the Ames Astrochemistry Laboratory. During
their experiment, they exposed the ice sample containing pyrimidine to
ultraviolet radiation under space-like conditions, including a very high vacuum,
extremely low temperatures (approximately - 340 degrees Fahrenheit), and harsh
radiation.

They found that when pyrimidine is frozen in water ice, it is much less
vulnerable to destruction by radiation. Instead of being destroyed, many of the
molecules took on new forms, such as the RNA component uracil, which is found in
the genetic make-up of all living organisms on Earth.

"We are trying to address the mechanisms in space that are forming these
molecules. Considering what we produced in the laboratory, the chemistry of ice
exposed to ultraviolet radiation may be an important linking step between what
goes on in space and what fell to Earth early in its development," said Stefanie
Milam, a researcher at NASA Ames and a co-author of the research paper.

"Nobody really understands how life got started on Earth. Our experiments
demonstrate that once the Earth formed, many of the building blocks of life were
likely present from the beginning. Since we are simulating universal
astrophysical conditions, the same is likely wherever planets are formed,"
explained Sandford.

Provided by JPL/NASA (news : web)

Solar power generation around the clock

November 5, 2009 by Lin Edwards Enlarge

(PhysOrg.com) -- A Californian company, SolarReserve, is developing a solar
power system that can store seven hours' worth of solar energy by focusing
mirrors onto millions of gallons of molten salt, allowing the plant to provide
electricity 24 hours a day.

The company has applied to regulators in California for permission to build the
150-megawatt Rice Solar Energy Project solar farm near the abandoned town of
Rice in San Bernadino County, California.

The solar energy is stored using a massive circular array of up to 17,500
mirrors (heliostats), each measuring 24 by 28 feet and attached to a 12-foot
pedestal. The heliostat field encircles a concrete Solar Power Tower 538 feet
high, with a 100-foot high receiver on top, which holds 4.4 million gallons of
molten salt. When the heliostats focus the sunlight onto the receiver the salt
is heated to over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

When it is needed, such as at night or at peak times, the heat is released by
passing the molten salt through a steam generator that drives a turbine to
produce electricity. The cooled salt is then recirculated to the receiver for
re-heating. The project brings the dream of a solar system that generates
electricity in the dark to a reality, and avoids the need to use fossil fuel
plants for backup electricity generation.

The salt used is a mixture of sodium and potassium nitrate (the same as that
used in fertilizers), which is cheap, reliable, and environmentally friendly. It
will be mixed on site with no additives. Apart from a few unique components such
as the high heat flux hardware in the tower, the system uses existing
technologies such as turbines and steam generators. This means SolarReserve can
produce electricity at prices equivalent to or below fossil fuel burning plants.

The system was proven over a four-year period in the 1990s at the 10-megawatt
Solar Two demonstration project near Barstow in California. The solar salt
technology was originally developed by Rocketdyne, a subsidiary of United
Technologies, and many of SolarReserve's scientists are former employees of
Rocketdyne. United Technologies has licensed the system to SolarReserve and
guarantees its performance.

Chief Executive at SolarReserve, Kevin Smith, said other solar systems also use
salt as storage, but they use synthetic oil in the steam generation. Using salt
for both means the system is more efficient, since it can produce steam at
higher temperatures and can harvest three times as much energy for the same
amount of salt.

The Rice Solar Energy Project solar farm will be constructed on now
privately-owned land that used to belong to a World War II Army air base to the
east of Palm Springs. The system will be air cooled, thus avoiding criticisms
about water use, but its height, at 653 feet (with a maintenance crane on top),
could spark other criticisms, as did a previously proposed SolarReserve project
in Nevada.

SolarReserve expects the solar farm to go online late in 2013, and is in
negotiations with utility companies in California to buy the generated
electricity.

Scientists discover gene that 'cancer-proofs' rodent's cells

October 26th, 2009 Enlarge

Scientists discover that the naked mole rat, the only known cancerless animal,
has two-tier defense against cancer. Credit: University of Rochester

(PhysOrg.com) -- Despite a 30-year lifespan that gives ample time for cells to
grow cancerous, a small rodent species called a naked mole rat has never been
found with tumors of any kind—and now biologists at the University of Rochester
think they know why.

The findings, presented in today's issue of the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, show that the mole rat's cells express a gene called p16
that makes the cells "claustrophobic," stopping the cells' proliferation when
too many of them crowd together, cutting off runaway growth before it can start.
The effect of p16 is so pronounced that when researchers mutated the cells to
induce a tumor, the cells' growth barely changed, whereas regular mouse cells
became fully cancerous.

"We think we've found the reason these mole rats don't get cancer, and it's a
bit of a surprise," say Vera Gorbunova and Andrei Seluanov, professors of
biology at the University of Rochester and lead investigators on the discovery.
"It's very early to speculate about the implications, but if the effect of p16
can be simulated in humans we might have a way to halt cancer before it starts."

Naked mole rats are strange, ugly, nearly hairless mouse-like creatures that
live in underground communities. Unlike any other mammal, these communities
consist of queens and workers more reminiscent of bees than rodents. Naked mole
rats can live up to 30 years, which is exceptionally long for a small rodent.
Despite large numbers of naked mole-rats under observation, there has never been
a single recorded case of a mole rat contracting cancer, says Gorbunova. Adding
to their mystery is the fact that mole rats appear to age very little until the
very end of their lives.

'The naked mole rats' p16 gene kicks in early to stop cell overcrowding'

Over the last three years, Gorbunova and Andrei Seluanov, professor of bioogy at
the University of Rochester, have worked an unusual angle on the quest to
understand cancer: Investigating rodents from across the globe to get an idea of
the similarities and differences of how varied but closely related species deal
with cancer.

In 2006, Gorbunova discovered that telomerase—an enzyme that can lengthen the
lives of cells, but can also increase the rate of cancer—is highly active in
small rodents, but not in large ones.

Until Gorbunova and Seluanov's research, the prevailing wisdom had assumed that
an animal that lived as long as we humans do needed to suppress telomerase
activity to guard against cancer. Telomerase helps cells reproduce, and cancer
is essentially runaway cellular reproduction, so an animal living for 70 years
has a lot of chances for its cells to mutate into cancer, says Gorbunova. A
mouse's life expectancy is shortened by other factors in nature, such as
predation, so it was thought the mouse could afford the slim cancer risk to
benefit from telomerase's ability to speed healing.

While the findings were a surprise, they revealed another question: What about
small animals like the common grey squirrel that live for 24 years or more? With
telomerase fully active over such a long period, why isn't cancer rampant in
these creatures?

Gorbunova sought to answer that question, and in 2008 confirmed that
small-bodied rodents with long lifespans had evolved a previously unknown
anti-cancer mechanism that appears to be different from any anticancer
mechanisms employed by humans or other large mammals.

At the time she was not able to identify just what the mechanism might be,
saying: "We haven't come across this anticancer mechanism before because it
doesn't exist in the two species most often used for cancer research: mice and
humans. Mice are short-lived and humans are large-bodied. But this mechanism
appears to exist only in small, long-lived animals."

Now, Gorbunova believes she has found the primary reason these small animals are
staying cancer-free, and it appears to be a kind of overcrowding early-warning
gene that the naked mole rat expresses in its cells.

When Gorbunova and her team began specifically investigating mole rat cells,
they were surprised at how difficult it was to grow the cells in the lab for
study. The cells simply refused to replicate once a certain number of them
occupied a space. Other cells, such as human cells, also cease replication when
their populations become too dense, but the mole rat cells were reaching their
limit much earlier than other animals' cells.

"Since cancer is basically runaway cell replication, we realized that whatever
was doing this was probably the same thing that prevented cancer from ever
getting started in the mole rats," says Gorbunova.

Like many animals, including humans, the mole rats have a gene called p27 that
prevents cellular overcrowding, but the mole rats use another, earlier defense
in gene p16. Cancer cells tend to find ways around p27, but mole rats have a
double barrier that a cell must overcome before it can grow uncontrollably.

"We believe the additional layer of protection conferred by this two-tiered
contact inhibition contributes to the remarkable tumor resistance of the naked
mole rat," says Gorbunova in the PNAS paper.

Gorbunova and Seluanov are now planning to delve deeper into the mole rat's
genetics to see if their cancer resistance might be applicable to humans.

Source: University of Rochester (news : web)