Recent Posts You Should Read
As the title suggests, here are some recent posts from elsewhere in the blogosphere that you should read during your stroll about the net today:
FuturePundit - New Tool Speeds Up DNA Sequencing By 100 Times:
Biotechnology is going to advance at the rate of computer technology because biotechnology is shifting toward the use of very small scale devices. The current cost of human DNA sequencing is in the tens of millions of dollars per person. But that high cost won't last for much longer....
The researchers see their techology following a similar pattern to the development of integrated circuits which have sped up at the rate predicted by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore with his famous Moore's Law.
FuturePundit - Harvard Group Lowers DNA Sequencing Cost Order Of Magnitude:
The commercial DNA decoding technology they are referring to is from 454 Life Sciences Corporation and you can read about it in my post "New Tool Speeds Up DNA Sequencing By 100 Times". Whether the Harvard or 454 Life Sciences approach can go further in lowering DNA sequencing costs in the long run remains to be seen. But these are not the only two efforts aimed at lowering DNA sequencing costs and another company or academic group might yet bypass both of them.
FuturePundit - Average Age Of Cells In Body May Be Below 10 Years:
Note that the vast majority of neurons have existed since childhood. The need to rejuvenate existing neural cells makes brain rejuvenation by far the hardest part of the total rejuvenation therapy development puzzle. While the researchers found that in some parts of the brain the average cell age was less than the age of the person in the visual cortex the brain was about the same age as the person....
The fact that on-going cellular division makes most cells chronologically young and that old cells divide less well actually presents an opportunity for the development of rejuvenation therapies. The development of technologies for producing youthful adult stem cells will provide sources of youthful and healthier stem cells cells to replace the older and less healthy cells that accumulate in our bodies as we age. Since older stem cells divide more slowly rejuvenated stem cells introduced into various parts of the body would out-compete and gradually displace the older cells.
Classical Values - Maybe this time, denial can be made to work:
It's frustrating to see that there's really no available life extension technique which actually works now, though....
Ray Kurzweil speaks of a 15 year wait, and says that if we can stay alive for fifteen years, there's a real chance of workable, real, life extension.
Might it just be true?
This time?
The fact is, despite my talk of replaying 1980s denial, at the time of all the useless remedies and experimental drugs, genuine workable AIDS treatments were only fifteen years away.
The advancing technology of the 21st century is very impressive; it's clear that we're moving into new and different territory in the arena of biotechnology, changes spurred by dramatic improvements in efficiencies and capabilities of the tools of the trade. We should not forget why we are doing this, however, why we support medical research into aging, age-related disease and longevity - it's to save the lives of billions who will otherwise suffer and die in the years ahead.