A Report From the Singularity Summit

From Singularity Hub: "scientists, engineers, futurists, and other forward-thinkers converged for Singularity Summit 2011. ... In this first part of three [we'll] highlight the speakers who discussed the various aspects of health related to the singularity. This includes life extension and regenerative medicine as well as the implications of these new technologies. ... Hands down, one of the most exciting talks of the first day. Dr. Stephen Badylak was able to wow the crowd with his work on regenerative medicine ... Working at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, Badylak and his team have been experimenting with what's known as the extracellular matrix (ECM), the structural component in animal tissue outside of the cells. Research has found that besides providing support for cells, the ECM acts as a 'information superhighway', allowing cells to communicate with each other. Part of this communication involves molecular signals that recruit stem cells after injury and indeed, grafting pig ECM at sites of human injury have been shown to work better at regenerating tissue than injecting stem cells directly. ... Dmitry Itskov presented on a new movement that he has founded to tackle the issue of human immortality. Itskov gave a somewhat nationalistic presentation, touching on many aspects of why Russia is poised to become the leader in the area of longevity. He described the work of famous Russian scientists that are the intellectual grandfathers of this movement and gave an open invitation to anyone who wanted to help grow it. As was a common theme throughout the 2-day summit, Itskov doesn't think that the breakthroughs in the technology to bring radical life extension to market will necessarily come from government. Instead, he advocates grass-roots movements [that] assemble the necessary scientists, thinkers, and financiers to see it through."

Link: http://singularityhub.com/2011/10/10/singularity-summit-2011-a-state-of-the-future/

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