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mad medicine
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Medicine
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mad medicine
pharmaceuticals
Antibiotics Can Prevent Bacteria From Becoming Drug-Resistant
You've probably heard that all the antibiotics we take are breeding new generations of drug-resistant bacteria. In fact, many diseases we once killed easily with Penicillin now require mega-doses of super-antibiotics like Cipro. While researchers have known for a long time that bacteria are developing resistance to drugs, they weren't sure how the tiny organisms did it. Now a research team at the University of Illinois has figured it out — and that means we're like to see new, smarter antibiotics (you can see the chemical structure of one such antibiotic, Erythromycin, at left). More »
mad neuroscience
The Data Is In: Brain Implants Can Make You Happy
For over a decade researchers have been treating many different ailments, including depression, with electrodes lodged deep in the brain. Devices like this Soletra brain implant deliver electrical impulses to a targeted brain region, essentially creating artificial activity in an area that the brain won't activate on its own. While there have been anecdotal reports that brain implants can help people with depression or OCD, now there is solid proof. A long-range study being presented at the upcoming meeting of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons demonstrates how patients, over a 10-year period with brain implants, gained increasing control over their moods and obsessive behaviors. More »
Nanogauze Uses Ancient Tech to Staunch Blood
One of the main reasons why people with deep wounds die is blood loss. But now a company is marketing an amazing new form of gauze, made with nanotech, that can induce fast blood-clotting in a wound to stop bleeding and save lives. The truly weird part? The nanotech involved is actually an ancient technology: kaolin clay, integrated into the gauze. Wired's Aaron Rowe explains that the clay is rich in aluminosilicate nanoparticles, which cause human blood to clot. This is one form of nano medicine that has gone through nature's own trial trials already. Humans have been working with this kind of clay for thousands of years. [Wired]
One of the main reasons why people with deep wounds die is blood loss. But now a company is marketing an amazing new form of gauze, made with nanotech, that can induce fast blood-clotting in a wound to stop bleeding and save lives. The truly weird part? The nanotech involved is actually an ancient technology: kaolin clay, integrated into the gauze. Wired's Aaron Rowe explains that the clay is rich in aluminosilicate nanoparticles, which cause human blood to clot. This is one form of nano medicine that has gone through nature's own trial trials already. Humans have been working with this kind of clay for thousands of years. [Wired]
dystopia
Life Expectancy Going Down in the United States
In some parts of the United States, medicine has not improved the average life expectancy — and in fact, the average lifespan has been going steadily downward since the 1980s. No, immigration is not to blame for these shifting numbers. These are U.S. citizens in hundreds of different counties whose lives are getting shorter while many other people's lives get longer. A study published on Monday in PLoS Medicine shows where in the U.S. lives (especially women's lives) are getting shorter — and where they're getting longer. In these maps, dark red regions are those of decreasing life expectancy, and dark green regions are areas where it's increasing. Light red means life expectancy is lower than average but not decreasing; and light green means higher than average but not increasing. White is average. So what is killing people at younger ages now that didn't kill them in the 1970s? More »
concept art
This is a Prostethetic Commando, a robot whose processor is a human brain taken from a felled soldier or police officer. Generally, the PC guards dignitaries at public functions. I didn't make that up — the artist behind this trippy bot, Keith Thompson, did. He's got an amazing gallery on his website, with each image containing enough backstory to build into your next game campaign, or your next movie.
More »
Prosthetic Commando
This is a Prostethetic Commando, a robot whose processor is a human brain taken from a felled soldier or police officer. Generally, the PC guards dignitaries at public functions. I didn't make that up — the artist behind this trippy bot, Keith Thompson, did. He's got an amazing gallery on his website, with each image containing enough backstory to build into your next game campaign, or your next movie.
More »
ask a biogeek
Where Is My Medical Tricorder?
Reader Juan asks:If not the medical tricorder from Star Trek, when could we possibly see diagnostic equipment capable of scanning for infections, viruses or impending heart attacks, attached to wrist watches or other portable devices?Nothing against the phaser, but for many of us the most coveted piece of away team equipment is the tricorder, the medical version of which can perform a complex examination in a single whistling pass over a patient. If you've ever tried to lie perfectly still in a thumping MRI machine or sat in a doctor's office waiting for lab results, you've longed for faster, more portable diagnostic devices. More »
9:00 AM on Thu Apr 17 2008
By Terry Johnson
1,598 views,
18 comments
Latest by the_wiggle: @Gyrus: want! also, self cleaning clothes & home; plus flying car ;) more »
mad psychology
Virtual Psychotherapy Works Better Than Live Docs
Teenagers would rather see a virtual shrink than a real one. So says Eric Wagner, a psychologist at Florida International University. Last month at a meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) he unveiled his plan to cyber-rehab teenage alcoholics. Wagner's been helping kids through conventional therapy for years, but he says teenagers are notoriously tough to reach because they don't like talking to adults. Apparently he thinks kids might open up more to virtual world avatars than flesh-and-blood therapists. And he has proof, based on the success of virtual counseling for HIV-positive patients. More »
science porn
Top Medical Discovery of 2007 Explained via Cartoon
For a long time, it seemed as if a medical discovery that Science called "one of the greatest of 2007" might never get covered by the mainstream media because it was just too complicated. But then an enterprising journalist and artist with the Philadelphia Inquirer boldly went where no reporters dared go. Writer Tom Avril and artist Cynthia Greer figured out how to simplify this complicated discovery into a completely-accurate cartoon (pictured). More »
future sex
We Already Knew Men Could Get Pregnant
The media is going nuts over a man named Thomas Beatie who has become pregnant, but to anyone familiar with cutting-edge science or science fiction his situation is totally old news. Here's how it happened: there was this guy who used to be a chick, but when he switched over to the guy side he kept his uterus just in case. So he's a dude with a uterus. One day he and his wife decided to have a baby, but her uterus didn't work as well as his. So they let him carry the baby in that handy uterus he saved. (Yeah, he needed a sperm donor to get pregnant — humans still can't impregnate themselves.) Now he's a pregnant dude. Is that really so OMG SHOCKING? Anybody who has read John Varley, Charles Stross, or Ursula Le Guin can comprehend that one. Plus, this guy isn't even the first real-life pregnant man! Another guy has that honor. More »
vonda n. mcintyre
Classic Tale of Extraterrestrial Medicine from Vonda N. McIntyre -- Free Online
A doctor on an alien planet has only three tools in her medical kit, and they are all living snakes. Using a kind of biotechnology in her own body, she's able to synthesize tailor-made drugs from the snakes' venom after exposing them to people who are ill. Leading a nomadic life, she moves from town to town on an alien world, trying to help out people who are often as afraid of her as they are anxious for her services. Some of you may recognize this as the plot of Vonda N. McIntyre's dreamy, beautiful short story "Of Mist, Grass, and Sand," now available for free on the author's website. If you're looking for a little late-afternoon or bedtime reading, try this one out. (And if you like it, McIntyre has a "writer appreciation button" that lets you tip her via Paypal.) ["Of Mist, Grass, and Sand"]
mad medicine
Genetically-Engineered Babies With HIV-Resistant Genes
With a little genetic tweaking, homo sapiens could become naturally resistant to HIV. A gene that can disassemble the HIV virus inside its cell before it spreads to another cell lurks dormant in the body of every person infected with HIV. The problem is getting that gene to turn on and start stopping HIV in its tracks. Right now, a team of researchers at University of Alberta in Canada have been destroying HIV viruses by inserting the gene, called TRIM22, into cells. Once they figure out how to control TRIM22, the question is whether everyone should get the gene activated in their bodies at birth as a preventative measure. More »
neuroarm
Most precision brain surgery is done with robotic assistance, but there's one place robots can't go: inside MRI brain scanners. Enter the neuroArm, a robot specially designed to work inside the powerful magnet of an MRI — and guided by the detailed images the MRI creates. Developed by surgeons and robotics experts at University of Calgary, the neuroArm combines the best of telepresence surgery with the best imaging technology. But how do you create a sophisticated robot, with delicate actuators, that can withstand being destroyed by a giant magnet? We've got the answer, and cool videos of the arm in action, below.
More »
A Robot That Does Brain Surgery Guided by MRI
Most precision brain surgery is done with robotic assistance, but there's one place robots can't go: inside MRI brain scanners. Enter the neuroArm, a robot specially designed to work inside the powerful magnet of an MRI — and guided by the detailed images the MRI creates. Developed by surgeons and robotics experts at University of Calgary, the neuroArm combines the best of telepresence surgery with the best imaging technology. But how do you create a sophisticated robot, with delicate actuators, that can withstand being destroyed by a giant magnet? We've got the answer, and cool videos of the arm in action, below.
More »
mega epidemiology
This map shows the places in the world where the next deadly virus will probably begin its fatal sweep across the globe. Red areas are plague "hot spots," and green areas are regions where epidemics are least likely to break out. An international team of scientists came up with the map after years of exhaustive research into virus patterns. Researchers discovered that disease disasters have quadrupled over the past 50 years, and they have evidence showing which groups are most likely to spread a virulent disease.
More »
Disease Prediction Map Shows Where the Next Plague Will Hit
This map shows the places in the world where the next deadly virus will probably begin its fatal sweep across the globe. Red areas are plague "hot spots," and green areas are regions where epidemics are least likely to break out. An international team of scientists came up with the map after years of exhaustive research into virus patterns. Researchers discovered that disease disasters have quadrupled over the past 50 years, and they have evidence showing which groups are most likely to spread a virulent disease.
More »
mega surgery
How Many of Your Internal Organs Can You Live Without?
Organ failure is one of those annoying problems many of us face — often sooner than we want to. The good news is that there are a lot of organs you can live without. You probably already know, for example, that your appendix and tonsils can be removed entirely without any harm done. But there are several other organs you can live without, or replace with synthetics, that you didn't know about. Get ready for a body without organs in our helpful guide to five organs you can can get rid of. More »
virtual environments
Cavemen aren't just useful for stupid Brendan Frasier movies and Geico commercials. Scientists at the University of Calgary created a giant virtual hospital patient called CAVEman—CAVE is an acronym for cave automated virtual environment—and made him a guinea pig for all things anatomical.
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Virtual Caveman Becomes Humankind's Newest Slave
Cavemen aren't just useful for stupid Brendan Frasier movies and Geico commercials. Scientists at the University of Calgary created a giant virtual hospital patient called CAVEman—CAVE is an acronym for cave automated virtual environment—and made him a guinea pig for all things anatomical.
More »
living forever
A New Generation of Superold People, Created Without Genetic Tinkering
Living to be 100 years old is going to become more common in the twenty-first century, even if we don't make any great leaps forward in medical technology. The Archives of Internal Medicine today published a study showing that genetics account for only about one-fourth of the variation in human life span. That means 75 percent of the factors that affect longevity are environmental, and often under your control. Three basic ways of modifying your life can mean the difference between living to be 60, and living for a century. More »
mad science
