Search Results for: sci-fi

As exosome work advances, clinics pitch unproven therapies to patients

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Time to sell exosome therapies to patients? No. Some stem cell clinics and related firms are looking for new ways to make profits and toward that goal a few have latched onto the legitimate buzz around exosome research. What are exosomes? Imagine if you could bubble up a pea-sized sphere off your skin full of …

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Young blood as anti-aging fountain of youth: hype or hope?

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There’s an idea floating around out there called “young blood” to use donations from young folks to infuse older people to reverse aging. I’m skeptical. Imagine an old man and a teenager sitting side by side, with blood flowing from the kid to the oldster in a stab at anti-aging. Sort of like a one-way …

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A new possible environmental disaster: the gene spill

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New genetic modification technology such as CRISPR-Cas9 has opened the door to transformative biological research, but it has also set the table for some novel kinds of technological problems for which we aren’t at all prepared including one that I call the “gene spill”. The striking potential upsides to CRISPR paired with some of the …

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GMO Sapiens book teaser: time to talk frankly on human genetic modification

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I’ve written a new book on human genetic modification. This is my second book as the first one was Stem Cells: An Insider’s Guide, which is currently the top stem cell book on Amazon. The new book is called GMO Sapiens: The Life-Changing Science of Designer Babies.  You can pre-order it here at Amazon or over here at my publisher’s …

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Recommended thought-provoking books…and one I’ve been writing

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In choices of fictional books to read I gravitate toward sci-fi and fantasy. For example, in late 2014 and through the first few months of this year I read all the Game of Thrones books. The first three of those were the best and I thought definitely better than the TV show, although it’s pretty good …

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Kelly Hills interview: human genetic modification & bioethics

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Below is a conversation with bioethics commentator Kelly Hills (who BTW has a great blog), tackling some of the key issues surrounding the potential use of CRISPR-Cas9 technology to make heritable human genetic modification. I really appreciate her clear and insightful answers to some tough questions that many are grappling with today on this topic. Part …

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Will bioengineered body parts cost an arm and a leg?

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The idea that we could bioengineer new human body parts to replace old, faulty ones is exciting, and such parts could include limbs, digits, or even entire organs. Such replacements might be produced using stem cells, 3-D printers, and other rapidly evolving, cutting edge technologies. Sci-fi is becoming a reality. Remember in Star Wars when …

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Are babies from same-sex couples possible?

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A question that has come up with advances in stem cell technology: could same-sex couples have their own biological children? Since Shinya Yamanaka reprogrammed first mouse and then human ordinary cells into powerful pluripotent stem cells, termed induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, back in 2006-2007 many new research avenues have opened up. The impossible suddenly …

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