Hi-Sci-Fi

by Irma Arkus

Idiocracy had a valid point, apparently. According to GNXP, it seems to be so - women with lesser vocabularies seem to have greater number of children.

This image was uploaded with the post Making Babies…In the Future!.

by Irma Arkus

Love when Nature indulges in wearing the futorology hat? Well, look no further than Helen Pearson’s intriguing question of human procreation in the decades to come. Similar to that of great biologist and novelist Joan Slonczewski’s predictions, Davor Solter, developmental biologist at the Institute of Medical Biology (IMB) in Singapore predicts artificial wombs.

Production of germ lines (sperm and eggs) from pluripotent stem (iPS) cells has already been accomplished (for now, only in case of sperm) allowing for creation of embryos for people of all ages, or better yet, as Solter says: to “give children to those who can’t have them and remove children from those who don’t want them.” Awww, the joys of the great game of life.

Alan Trounson, IVF pioneer and director of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine in San Francisco on the other hand, touts extension of the fertility period - something that only recently occured on the science news radars, as apparently, there is no reason for women to be infertile after certain age (or at least, we still can’t think of one). Also, he proposes genetic engineering, an insertion of “genetic casettes” meant to correct genetic abnormalities, such as Huntington’s.

Susannah Baruch, director of reproductive genetics at the Genetics and Public Policy Center at Johns Hopkins University in Washington DC, has a far more conservative view of the future pondering whether “designer babies” will be feasible. Baruch, don’t doubt - I want one. And if I want one, everybody else does too. I’m a trendsetter, you see.

Miodrag Stojkovic, stem-cell biologist at the Prince Philip Centre of Investigation in Valencia, Spain explains (I kid you not): “humans are getting more and more lazy when it comes to reproduction. Male fertility is declining and parents are deciding to have their first child at 40.” My first inkling is to assume that Stojkovic visited the local dating pool - lazy and poor at communication, I might add! But then there is the whole “in order to be a viable member of economy you must finish school, make millions of dullars…and then….only then….maybe you’ll have babies too” - I think he may be right. He too proposes uses of artificial wombs, which, apparently as research goes, is kept hush hush.

I encourage you to read through the article, and think of babies…of the future. And do tell us what the choice of future procreation is for you?

by Irma Arkus

Brian Paegel and Gerald Joyce have announced their latest invention: the “Darwin chip,” a small device that creates a complex RNA used for detection of heavy metals and other pollutants.

As reported by New Scientist, the chip can be used in classroom for a speedy demonstration of evolution, a term recently thrown about by both presidential candidates and educators who called it an “unproven theory.”

Paegel and Joyce’s device creates a molecule which becomes 90 percent more efficient over the course of only 70 hours.

Not only can this device manufacture easy-to-make molecules used as environmental sensors, but it also has the potential to change the life of Chuck Missler, better known as the the peanut butter guy, or that of the banana guy.

This image was uploaded with the post Lunar Eclipse.

Last night across Canada, a lot of folks were captivated by the lunar eclipse. The eclipse occurs when visible portion of the moon is no longer lit by sun, but rather by Earth’s surface “glare.” As a result, slew of images of moon resembling a blood-orange cropped up. I highly suggest you visit the photo gallery here
If you have cool photos of the eclipse, share!

This image was uploaded with the post Chimeras: Stamped and Approved.

by Irma Arkus

The long awaited creation of genetic Chimeras has been approved, as reported by the BBC. The use of human and animal embryonic genetic hybrids, known in popular literature as chimeras, should accelerate the genetic research. Approved by Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (who knew this body exists, or that they have authority) the use of chimeras should allow for growth of tissues without harvesting human eggs or embryos, circumventing many ethical issues surrounding stem-cell research.

For those of you who think that this is going to lead to half-man-bear-pig , think again.