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Display Name Justice Leaguer Offline I Love V&V! Posts: 1851 Joined: Jul 20^th, 2010 Gender:	Real super heroes Jun 2^nd, 2020 at 7:32pm	Print Post
	I've told people before that one day we would have real super heroes. But it surprises me how many people deny it. https://www.the-sun.com/news/917738/china-dna-modifying-tech-terminator-style-tr... China ‘considering plans to genetically-modify soldiers to make army of Terminator-style troops’ Jerome Starkey, Defence Editor Jun 1 2020, 16:59 ET Experts at Rusi say GM soldiers could be faster, stronger and cleverer than their battlefield opponents and even feel no pain. Their DNA could also be adapted to help them recover more quickly from injuries or give them superior hearing and night vision. Rusi’s Professor John Louth said: “The threat is obvious and real. Chinese money could be stealing a march on western armed forces and that is deeply concerning.” The warning comes after Chinese scientist He Jiankui said he used gene-editing technology to make GM babies. “GM technology is proven with plants, it could absolutely be applied to the person,” Prof Louth added. “In China, it is reasonable to assume that they are enhancing their battlefield soldiers on all these fronts.” China jailed Dr Jiankui for “illegal medical practices” over his claims to have made three babies immune to HIV. But investigations show that China’s military chiefs are backing research into human gene editing trials. Professor Louth’s report said the US has also invested heavily in military biotech and “human enhancement” — but warned that the UK is lagging behind. He said the MoD had been slow to embrace new technology and now needs to take the financial risk of investing in small biotech start-ups and accept that some will fail.
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Display Name Justice Leaguer Offline I Love V&V! Posts: 1851 Joined: Jul 20^th, 2010 Gender:	Re: Real super heroes Reply #1 - Jun 8^th, 2020 at 9:35am	Print Post
	https://newatlas.com/science/engineered-human-cells-transparent-squid-proteins/ Secret of squid invisibility used to turn human cells transparent By Michael Irving June 02, 2020 Of all the superpowers in the animal kingdom, the squid’s ability to turn invisible is one of the coolest. And now scientists at the University of California, Irvine have managed to recreate that in human cells for the first time, granting them tuneable transparency. Active camouflage is a survival strategy used by many cephalopods, including octopuses, squids and cuttlefish. The animals pull off this feat with the help of cells that change how light scatters off of them, allowing them to change color or effectively turn transparent. Understandably, this could come in very handy for new camouflage materials. But could this ability be transferred to our own cells? That was what the new study set out to investigate. The researchers focused on a particular species of squid called Doryteuthis opalescens, which can change a stripe along its body from white to transparent. This stripe is made up of reflective cells called leucophores, which themselves contain particles called leucosomes that are made up of proteins called reflectins. Altogether, this structure is what allows the squids to scatter light, producing iridescent camouflage. For the new study, the UC Irvine team attempted to introduce that ability into human cells. To do so, they genetically engineered human embryonic kidney cells to express reflectin, and sure enough it worked. On closer inspection, the proteins were seen to gather into particles inside the cells, altering how they scattered light. “We were amazed to find that the cells not only expressed reflectin but also packaged the protein in spheroidal nanostructures and distributed them throughout the cells’ bodies,” says Alon Gorodetsky, co-author of the study. “Through quantitative phase microscopy, we were able to determine that the protein structures had different optical characteristics when compared to the cytoplasm inside the cells; in other words, they optically behaved almost as they do in their native cephalopod leucophores.” In another test, the team investigated how this ability could be controlled. The cells were placed between two plates of coated glass and exposed to different amounts of sodium chloride. They found that under higher sodium levels, cells appeared to scatter more light and stand out from their surroundings better than those exposed to lower sodium levels. Unsurprisingly, cells that lacked the reflectin particles weren’t able to adjust how they scattered light. It sounds obvious, but the scientific method requires that these things are checked, just to be sure. “This project showed that it’s possible to develop human cells with stimuli-responsive optical properties inspired by leucophores in cephalopods, and it shows that these amazing reflectin proteins can maintain their properties in foreign cellular environments,” says Gorodetsky. The research was published in the journal Nature Communications. Source: University of California Irvine
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Display Name Justice Leaguer Offline I Love V&V! Posts: 1851 Joined: Jul 20^th, 2010 Gender:	Re: Real super heroes Reply #2 - Jun 10^th, 2020 at 11:59am	Print Post
	I have to admit, when I see stuff like this, a verse from the bible echoes in my mind: Revelation 9:6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. https://newatlas.com/medical/synthetic-red-blood-cells-oxygen-drugs-toxin-sensor... New synthetic red blood cells are even better than the real thing By Michael Irving June 03, 2020 Researchers have created synthetic red blood cells (RBCs) that have all of the useful properties of the real thing, plus a few new tricks. These new cells could be put to work carrying oxygen or drugs through the body, sensing toxins, and other tasks. It goes without saying that red blood cells perform a vital function – namely, they carry oxygen from the lungs to all tissues in the body. They do this by way of molecules called hemoglobin, which use proteins containing iron that bind to oxygen. RBCs also have a range of safety features that allow them to do their jobs properly. They can squeeze and stretch to get through tiny capillaries, and can circulate for a long time. In trying to create synthetic versions of red blood cells, scientists have had some trouble mimicking all of these properties. Now, researchers from the University of New Mexico, Sandia National Laboratories and South China University of Technology have created synthetic RBCs that can do all that – and more. To make the synthetic cells, the researchers start with real ones. These donated human RBCs were first covered with a thin layer of silica, followed by layers of polymers with positive and negative charges. The silica is then etched away, and finally the surface is coated in natural RBC membranes. The end result is artificial red blood cells that have similar size, shape, charge and surface proteins to the real thing. The team showed that these synthetic RBCs were able to deform enough to squeeze through tiny gaps in model capillaries. In tests in mice, the cells circulated for over 48 hours, and the team detected no toxic side effects. In other tests, the team showed off the various other abilities that these synthetic RBCs could perform. They successfully carried different cargoes of hemoglobin, anticancer drugs, toxin sensors, and magnetic nanoparticles. Each of these could represent a different potential use for the cells – transporting oxygen, delivering drugs, sensing toxins, and allowing for outside manipulation, respectively. The end result is artificial red blood cells that have similar size, shape, charge and surface proteins to the real thing. The team showed that these synthetic RBCs were able to deform enough to squeeze through tiny gaps in model capillaries. In tests in mice, the cells circulated for over 48 hours, and the team detected no toxic side effects. In other tests, the team showed off the various other abilities that these synthetic RBCs could perform. They successfully carried different cargoes of hemoglobin, anticancer drugs, toxin sensors, and magnetic nanoparticles. Each of these could represent a different potential use for the cells – transporting oxygen, delivering drugs, sensing toxins, and allowing for outside manipulation, respectively.


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Display Name Justice Leaguer Offline I Love V&V! Posts: 1851 Joined: Jul 20^th, 2010 Gender:	Re: Real super heroes Reply #3 - Jun 14^th, 2020 at 3:24pm	Print Post
	newatlas.com/science/world-first-3d-bionic-eye/ World-first 3D bionic eye could enable superhuman sight, night vision The human eye is an incredibly complex piece of equipment, so it’s no wonder that we’ve had a hard time reverse engineering it. Now, researchers have unveiled the world’s first 3D artificial eye, which can not only outperform other devices but has the potential to see better than the real thing. Bionic eyes are emerging as a way to restore vision to people who have lost their sight, and possibly even those that never had it to begin with. Currently the most advanced versions are those from companies like Bionic Vision Australia and Second Sight, which have both already been implanted into patients. Both of these devices take the same basic form, starting with a pair of glasses with a camera in the center. The data from that is processed by a small unit worn outside the body, then sent to an implant on the user’s retina. From there, the signals are transmitted to the visual centers of the brain. And they work. Users have reported being able to see flashes of light again, for the first time in years. Unfortunately, this vision isn’t clear enough for them to rely on to navigate the world, and other studies have shown that these kinds of bionic eyes might produce streaky images and are too slow to capture fast movements. But this new device could herald a huge improvement. A team led by scientists at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has developed what they call the Electrochemical Eye (EC-Eye). Rather than using a two-dimensional image sensor like a camera, the EC-Eye is modeled after a real retina with a concave curve. This surface is studded with an array of tiny light sensors designed to mimic the photoreceptors on a human retina. These sensors are then attached to a bundle of wires made of liquid metal, which act as the optic nerve. The team tested the EC-Eye and showed that it can already capture images relatively clearly. It was set up in front of a computer screen displaying large individual letters, and it was able to display them clearly enough to be read. Although it’s a huge improvement over existing bionic eye designs, the EC-Eye’s vision still falls far short of a natural human eye. But, the team says, this might not be the case forever. The technology has the potential to outshine the real thing, by using a denser array of sensors and attaching each sensor to an individual nanowire. The team even says that using other materials in different parts of the EC-Eye could bestow users with higher sensitivity to infrared – essentially, night vision. Of course, there’s still plenty of work to do in future, but the EC-Eye looks promising. The research was published in the journal Nature. The device can be seen nailing its eye test in the video below.
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