The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) held their annual meeting this week, and naturally a lot of very interesting stories and research results were unveiled: Turning paper and clothing into batteries – By coating fabric and paper with ink “laced” with carbon nanotubes, researchers were able to coax these ordinary materials into [...]
Posts under ‘Stem Cells’
Stem cell therapy lengthens telomeres for those with premature aging disease
People with a rare premature aging disease called dyskeratosis congenita (DKC) experience many of the symptoms we associate with the normal aging process – such as gray hair – but also experience serious symptoms such as anemia and a predisposition to cancer. It is thought that the symptoms of DKC are brought on by the [...]
HumanPlus Blog Linkstravaganza: 1/29/10
It’s Friday. Here’s some sweet linkage to check out over the weekend: io9 asks if vat-grown meat is kosher. I would think yes, but they consult a rabbi who gives a more nuanced answer. Boing Boing notes the doctor who created the “MMR vaccine scare” could lose his license. Good riddance to bad researchers. Climate [...]
Scientists use nanotech to create artificial artery
British researchers have developed an artificial artery that functions much like a real human artery, even imitating the “pulsing” of a natural blood vessel. This will come in handy for people who may not have any healthy blood vessels doctors can use for grafting, and will also prevent surgeons from having to perform two surgeries [...]
Your next surgeon may be a robot
Employing nanobots to patrol the blood vessels of the human body and repair damage along the way is still a couple decades away, at least, but doctors are already employing small robots that patients can swallow to perform remote surgeries. Some of these robots are even capable of being swallowed as separate components and then [...]
Placental tissue transplants for health and well-being?
Over at h+, Dr. Terry Grossman describes a procedure he recently underwent in Mexico in which placental tissue was implanted beneath his skin. He hopes stem cells from the tissue will “hone in on areas of the body in need of repair.” Dr. Grossman also describes several unique properties of placental stem cells when compared [...]