Freeman Dyson on Our Biotech Future: Now, after three billion years, the Darwinian interlude is over. It was an interlude between two periods of horizontal gene transfer. The epoch of Darwinian evolution based on competition between species ended about ten thousand years ago, when a single species, Homo sapiens, began to dominate and reorganize the …
Tag Archive: Biotechnology
Dec 26 2006
What if the computer industry were regulated like biotech?
Bill Walker tells us Why There’s No Cure for the Common Cold. Bill makes a good point, of course, but in the process he ignores one reality: Biotech is potentially more dangerous than computer science. Personally I would argue that this doesn’t matter a hell of a lot simply because those people we don’t want …
Jul 18 2006
Have it your way
Randall Parker talks about customized cancer treatments using Proteonomics. From the linked article ‘New strategy rapidly identifies cancer targets‘: Traditionally, cancer-gene hunters have scanned the genome looking for mutations that trigger out-of-control cell growth. Druker tried this approach, but found it wanting. “We were doing some high-throughput DNA sequencing, and we weren’t really finding much,” …
Jun 21 2006
Wired discovers vat grown meat
Wired has a quickie article about vat grown meat. I wrote about making meat a year ago, and mine was way funnier!
Oct 26 2005
NanoBioEthics
Ronald Bailey talks about the ethical problems entailed by the coming age of nanotech, and waves them away. I agree with Ronald on only two points: No one can predict what is really going to happen Luddites suck, and Nanotech Luddites suck the most Come to think of it, those were probably his only real …
Jul 31 2005
The answer is an emphatic “Yes!”
The question is, “Should humans be allowed to live forever?” The problem is, some people think differently. From the above post: Clearly Dr. Nuland is convinced that immortality would destroy the human species. That is a plausible belief, but one I don’t share, and one that I doubt is shared by nearly as many other …
Jul 09 2005
Making meat
(This was originally published on LiveJournal.) Growing meat in a vat has long been a staple of Science Fiction. [Pun intended.] And the idea really isn’t all that crazy. After all, it’s just an extension of existing tissue culturing technology. Some scientists are working on ways to grow meat in commercial quantities. (More here.) And they’re …
Jul 09 2005
Making meat
Growing meat in a vat has long been a staple of Science Fiction. [Pun intended.] And the idea really isn’t all that crazy. After all, it’s just an extension of existing tissue culturing technology. Some scientists are working on ways to grow meat in commercial quantities. (More here.) And they’re coming pretty damn close to …
Jul 08 2005
Secrecy and Science
Ronald Bailey has a good article on ReasonOnline where he looks into scientists who think they should keep their biotech research a secret for the public good: “There is no doubt that our progress in fundamental science for the benefit of mankind has also created tools that have incredible capacities for mischief,” declared Elias Zerhouni, …
May 11 2005
The economics of vaccines
My friend has an article up on Technology Review about The Vaccine That Almost Wasn’t which describes the cost-benefit analysis that pharmaceutical companies must go through. Turns out that the process is pretty complex; Jim’s article helps to explain why some things happen and others do not. A must-read!
Loading tweets...
Del.icio.us
- Home | MakehumanOpen source human 3d model generator. […]
- SSilence/selfoss · GitHubOpen source web-based RSS reader. […]
- WikiStart - Tiny Tiny RSSOpen source web-based RSS reader. […]
- Home – Lilina News AggregatorOpen source web-based RSS reader. […]
- Prefab Homes, Manufactured Homes, Modular Homes, Modern Prefab, Log Home Kits, Log Cabin Kits, and more!Search site for prefab and modular housing. […]
Recent Comments