Biology medicine

This Behind the Scenes article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation. Why is an engineer studying stem cells? This is a question I have routinely been asked during my first three and a half years as an assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. The answer: the field of stem cell research needs engineers to translate the potential of stem cells into regenerative therapies and novel diagnostic technologies for biological sensing and pharmaceutical screening. Today, donated organs and tissues are used to replace ailing or injured tissues, but the need for transplantable tissues and organs far exceeds the available supply. Stem cells, directed to differentiate into specific cell types, offer the possibility of a renewable source of replacement cells to treat many chronic and degenerative diseases including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, spinal cord injury, … [Read more...] about Stem Cell Research Goes Beyond Biology

advertisement advertisement advertisement S.B. Divya’s new science fiction thriller, Machinehood , is set in a not-too-distant future when people have access to tabletop biotech labs that churn out everything from cures for new diseases to performance-enhancing drugs. But they find that taking such drugs is all but mandatory as they compete for paying gig work in an economy where more and more jobs can be done by artificial intelligence. advertisement advertisement Before she was a published author, Divya was an engineer with a background in computational neuroscience and data science, as well as computing hardware and software. She talked to Fast Company about how her work has shaped her writing, the not-quite-dystopian world she envisions in Machinehood , and why she’s still optimistic about the future. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. How did your tech career inform your writing? I actually … [Read more...] about Why this AI engineer is using sci-fi to unpack tech’s biggest problems

There's little chance this lead paragraph will make it through your spam filter, but here it goes: Doctors confirm the Andropenis penile extender can increase the flaccid length of a penis by nearly one inch. The penile extender, a traction device for the dedicated — to be used at least six hours a day for at least six months — is not only safe and effective, doctors say, but also can increase erection size and improve erectile function . The results appear in the March issue of the journal BJU International . (For my own sanity, I confirmed that BJU stands for British Journal of Urology , which isn't mentioned at all within the journal.) So, is this everything you might be looking for in a penis-stretching device that resembles something out of a medieval torture chamber ? Quite possibly, yes. The long and short of it While the topic might sound more like fodder for a pornography magazine than a urology journal, this research is on the up and up. Many men … [Read more...] about Penile Extenders Actually Might Work, Doctors Say

Kazuo Ishiguro’s latest novel, Klara and the Sun , presents us with a world in which not one but two kinds of artificial intelligence have arrived. In the book’s strangely familiar near-future, AI has upended the social order, the world of work, and human relationships all at once. Intelligent machines toil in place of office workers and serve as dutiful companions, or “Artificial Friends.” Some children have themselves become another form of AI, having had their intelligence upgraded via genetic engineering. These enhanced, or “lifted,” humans create a social schism, dividing people into an elite ruling order and an underclass of the unmodified and grudgingly idle. Klara and the Sun, Ishiguro’s first book since he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017 , builds upon themes that recur in his previous work—loss and regret, sacrifice and longing, a sense of reality unmoored. But technology takes a more central role, and Ishiguro uses artificial intelligence, both … [Read more...] about Imagines a Social Schism Driven By AI

Thank you doesn’t suffice for the awe-inspiring turnout at our event, ‘Ahmedabad Mirror Celebrates Wonder Women ’, on Monday. With scores of Amdavadi women joining in, Mirror wove a story that was truly woke Saw scores of women zooming (because we don’t believe in the monotony of walking now, do we?) into the Gujarat Convention Centre on Monday? All those lovely ladies were on way to the Mirror event, ‘Wonder Women’, where they joined the sisterhood to have some fun, seek inspiration and of course, celebrate being a woman. Here’s a lowdown on the event that became the talk of the town. - Asik Banerjee, Simran Chawla and Aakanksha Jetley Selfie toh banti hai: Our lovely ladies just had to freeze the moment they met RJ-actor Devaki When women of substance shared their stories Anju Sharma, Principal Secy, Higher & Technical Education Some define woman as weak gender, some as a better-half while some worship her as shakti. Biologically, women are … [Read more...] about Simply WONDERful!