Researchers create embryo-like structures from monkey embryonic stem cells for the first time
Apr 2023, phys.org
via Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai: Zhen Liu, Cynomolgus monkey embryo model captures gastrulation and early pregnancy, Cell Stem Cell (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2023.03.009
Image credit: Logo for an app that allows users to take photos and submit them so that our company can create tactile sensory puzzles from the photo [link]
With in vitro model advances, group proposes refined legal definition of an embryo
Aug 2023, phys.org
(This doesn't seem to have made it to the national news, so I'm less suspicious that it's some political propaganda stuff; not not suspicious, just less.)
International Society for Stem Cell Research: "Stem cell research has enabled the formation of models capable of organizing into structures that rudimentarily resemble embryos and reflect various degrees of completeness and developmental stages," says first author Nicolas Rivron, a development biologist at the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
"These new propositions are part of an effort to bring clarity to ongoing research—to better classify the types of structures formed in the laboratory, to refine the legal definition of human embryos, and to pinpoint what currently makes models and embryos different from the legal standpoint."
Officially human, their definition: "a group of human cells supported by elements fulfilling extra-embryonic and uterine functions that, combined, have the potential to form a fetus."
But this is the line that really hits me:
"This definition allows us to think about the conditions under which models, if improved, might eventually pass a tipping point and be legally considered embryos."
In other words, we are making people, and so we're starting to wonder at what point we will start calling them people. (Actually, these scientists are saying no, these embryos cannot form neonates, but that they are showing us things we never knew about the developing human, since it's hidden in the womb.)
via the International Society for Stem Cell Research and : Nicolas C. Rivron, An ethical framework for human embryology with embryo models, Cell (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.07.028.
Researchers develop biodegradable optical fiber to measure or modulate electrical current in the body
Sep 2023, phys.org
A biocompatible and biodegradable optical fiber based on agar, a substance extracted from Gracilaria seaweed, when excited by coherent light, produces granular light patterns that modulate the agar's refraction index and create disturbances in the granular patterns, which can be used to detect bioelectrical stimuli, so it can be part of a sensor system for living things.
via State University of Campinas's School of Mechanical Engineering in São Paulo, Gleb Wataghin Institute of Physics, and Gunma University in Japan: Eric Fujiwara et al, Agar-based optical sensors for electric current measurements, Scientific Reports (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-40749-7
 |
| AI Art - Old Worker with Sombrero Operating a 3D Printer in Cosmic Space Graffiti - 2023 |
A non-invasive way to turn a cockroach into a cyborg
Sep 2023, phys.org
First, we made remote control roaches by smashing an electric circuit through their head. But now, it's as simple as slipping over their antennae a sleeve made of gold and plastic, and fixed in place by a blast of ultraviolet light, like plastic shrink-wrap.
Note to self -- insects don't get injured, they get damaged: "damaging cockroaches during attempts to control them results in a very short life expectancy, which then results in very little payoff for a lot of work".
via Nanyang Technological University in Singapore: Qifeng Lin et al, Resilient conductive membrane synthesized by in-situ polymerisation for wearable non-invasive electronics on moving appendages of cyborg insect, npj Flexible Electronics (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41528-023-00274-z
Note: For a cockroach, their antenna is their nose, and so this is how we'll do it for humans too. (Except I see the laser pulses through the retina as a likely candidate as well.)
 |
| Artist's representation of a person with a robotic arm - Ekaterina Ivanova QMUL - 2023 |
One hour of training is all you need to control a third robotic arm
Sep 2023, phys.org
Today we bring you "Supernumerary Body Parts", because humans, as they were originally designed, are just not enough and we need to do better -- The study, published in the IEEE Open Journal of Engineering in Medicine and Biology, investigated the potential of supernumerary robotic arms to help people perform tasks that require more than two hands.
via Queen Mary University of London, Imperial College London and The University of Melbourne: Yanpei Huang et al, Can Training Make Three Arms Better Than Two Heads for Trimanual Coordination?, IEEE Open Journal of Engineering in Medicine and Biology (2023). DOI: 10.1109/OJEMB.2023.3305808
No comments:
Post a Comment