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POPSHow to fold Proteins Proteins are complex molecules, and understanding the way they can fold using distributed computing, in the unused cpu load of home computers, can spread the load and research in more detail , both the way proteins fold, and the effects of incorrect folding. A prime example of such an instance in in the proteins known as prions, which with a wrong fold can be one of the contributing factors in Alzheimer's disease. The foldingathome network is the biggest computer in the world, with calculations done by the petaflop
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POPSScientists put cocoa under the microscope 70% of the world's cocoa is grown in Africa, and it has remarkable resistance to drought and disease. I wonder however if the study will help the African farmers, or the chocolate manufacturers, due to the the tendency to pay a pittance for the beans, then mark up the price substantially after manufacture. Often the cacao industry is the equivalent of slavery.
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POPSBecoming immortal A very interesting read! Of course, what are we going to do with eternity is not a medical question but rather philosophical and emotional. At least we will have time enough for love... For the quasi immortal humans of the future, nothing in this existence will look even remotely similar to the way we see things today.
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POPSBrain drug abuse on the radar 
They restrict the damage that is caused by this kind of drug, in a similar way to the way they have restricted the damage caused by addictive drugs in the present, and the past. One dangerous side effect of 'stay alert' or 'thought accelerators' is that often they can be taken at the expense of the minimum required amount of sleep (which can vary from person to person.) Sleep is necessary for our brains to operate properly, and they've yet been able to find any cases where it can be compromised to any great extent. Sleep deprivation can lead to delusion and psychosis, poor concentration, and performance, and both short and long term memory loss. A bad combination. Where too many 'flashes of brilliance' are really just flashes. By the way. Who is going to test these drugs. Perhaps we'll have some smart monkeys that will unify Einstein's 'Grand Universal Theory' for us. I'm sure they'd find it much easier to be objective. (Douglas Adams told us what happens when you have smart mice
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POPSExtinct thylacine genome brought to life Known as the Tasmanian Tiger, it was one of the few marsupial predators that were in Australia before the arrival of the west. The other is the Tasmanian Devil, which survives, but is threatened by a disease that causes ulcers.
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POPSLow tech best in China, Burma disasters Sometimes the only way rescuers can dig someone out of the rubble, without making the situation more dangerous, is with their bare hands, after the Human ears of the searchers recognize cries for help. People who are drowning, or buried don't have the time to wait for technology to arrive, particularly in remote areas, where the survivors in an immediate area,who can start looking straight away, may be the only chance they have. In China, many hands seem to be on the job, While the regime in Burma are trying to wash their hands. Not as Pilate, but as Lady Macbeth. The Damned spot will not disappear.
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POPSTiny tubes, rocket fuel soup up motors Nanomotors. The rods that are part of the nanomachines, are coated, one end with platinum, the other with gold. The metals act as a catalyst and break up either hydrogen peroxide, or rocket fuel (hydrazine). While other nanomachines use the metals, it is the way they break up the rocket fuel that gives the kick. They draw water from the chemicals, and use it as a 'jet' . Of course they use much less rocket fuel than a launch.
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POPSIncubator fields affect baby's heart rate. The heart ? No doubt it is going to be affected, but the brain seems like it is more at risk. The brain runs at a very low frequency - between 0, and 25 Hz in a natural state -compared to MHz, and kHz for radio, and GHz for a cpu, but as with the chords in music, a frequency higher up the scale can, amplify a note it harmonizes with somewhere else on the scale. Maybe there is a link between incubator EMR. and ADHD. A kid may not need Ritlin, they might need a tune up. If you want to know more about brain frequencies, wikki has a good summary in electroencephalograpy. Below is the url : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroencephalography#Wave_patterns
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POPSCancer Survivors=Couch Potatoes? What does it take to get people to adopt healthy lifestyles? According to this HealthDay article, surviving cancer is not the wake up call you might think. While research has shown that eating well, exercising and generally watching your weight can prevent the recurrence of cancer, a new study to be published in the journal, Cancer, found that less than a quarter of cancer survivors are regularly physically active. I don't know about you but I'm consistently amazed at how much people dislike exercise/physical activity... These people have faced life-threatening illnesses and most of them still don't want to get up off of the couch.
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POPSNew virus causes deadly bleeding This virus has just been identified and distinct from some other viruses with similar symptoms but is not a mutation. They believe it had been around for a while before it was isolated.
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POPSCloned mice cells treat Parkinson's The cells came from the mouse used, and were accepted more easily. Embryonic stem cells are often said to be useful, because they don't have an identity yet, but the immune system can be hard to fool, and as every person has their own supply of stem cells, at different stages of advancement, . it makes sense to use cells that will be recognized. The field is only in it's early stages. While Embryonic stem cells seem to have had potential, there are no doubt cells that are just as pliable within each of us, and using them for any treatments, will mean a number of other problems wont have to be overcome.
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POPSOvereating disrupts web of genes. They say perhaps they can develop drugs that will solve the problem.? Perhaps sensible eating would be a good idea. We don't have any idea of the effects of a bad diet on our genes, amongst many other things. Many of these effects are no doubt passed down to the children.
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POPSDEET messes with mosquito 'nose' Known as an insect repellent, Scientists were not sure how it worked until now. DEET does not so much repel mosquitoes and ticks which are attracted to carbon dioxide, and other human odors which give a signal that there is a blood supply somewhere, It masks these signals so the mosquitoes go and look for their blood supply somewhere else. DEET has been available to the to the public,for over 50 years and is an active ingredient in many insect repellents, but adverse health effects have been noted such as rashes and seizures, is toxic to some marine species. The risk of DEET side effects are generally rare and must be matched with the risk of mosquito borne disease. Advice is given to avoid using on broken skin, and to wash off if no longer needed. The standard warning on an insect repellent can. I've always found that any itch or sting from an insect repellent is better than the itch of a mosquito bite.
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POPSSea cucumber makes hard plastic go soft and back again. It's amazing the number of discoveries we have made which have been described as great innovations, when nature has found a quicker and easier way long before us. Our destruction of the environment is destroying many of these examples before we find them. Nature has a remarkable way of working around problems, as the 'law of survival remains fundamental, and it has had hundreds of millions of years of field tests.
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POPSFolding(Proteins)@home-Distributed Computing Stanford University is doing valuable protein research spreading the load to thousands of personal computers using unallocated CPU time.It has a low 'status' so all other programs are given priority. I had heard about it but didn't know it was so easy to join. You can be anonymous, have a username, or also be part of a team. where the work done is tallied. I found out about it at the Ubuntu site, so I joined team Ubuntu, but thought there could always be a team clipmarks. I'll leave that with egoldstein, I just joined and have no idea about teams and team numbers. Theres 1 'client' per CPU so dual cores can have 2 (2 teams?) There is a link in the program to show how many proteins have been done. Programs for linux,apple and mac. I don't know about after rebooting. Ubuntu has a script that restarts every reboot Windows may have to run exe again. mac? I can't be sure the username search works from the clip, but if you're interested the top link to Stanford will make a lot more sense
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POPSCassowaries still feeling cyclone pain 2 years ago, all of the dependent chicks were blown away, presumed dead, They are suffering tuberculosis, and are being hit by cars, dog attacks, after a lack of food in the rainforests has sent them onto the roads, and weakened their immune systems. Moore also says .that around 90% of the flying fox populations have also disappeared
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POPSTattoos help vaccines penetrate the skin I remember when it was a spoon full of sugar. Of course they don't have to use ink, only the method is used. There is more than one way to be injected, and the method usually dictates the length of time the drug stays in the system, and the way it is treated by the body. Intravenous, when something is injected into the vein, usually goes straight to work. Good for things like insulin, and painkillers, but they also tend to be broken down quickly. Intramuscular is injected into the muscle, and has a slow release, The ingredients of an injection are usually broken down by the liver, so they stay in the body until they reach the liver. subcutaneous or under the skin seems likely to be good for vaccines, because the skin is one of the most likely places for an infection to attack, so the immune system is likely to be biased to it. However the method may not be the trouble. They are experimenting with DNA, but if they get good results it may be another weapon against disease.
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POPSTwo mums plus dad made this embryo There are embryos that are described as 'spare' It breaks my heart. It's experimental, with no guarantee of success, and the prospects for abuse by those with no scruples cannot be imagined. There are better ways of doing things, but, in the 21st century, life is a four letter word.
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POPSBlack Death 'discriminated' between victims While many apparently healthy people died, the black death was more likely to kill people people in poor health, poor nutrition, or with compromised immune systems. While this sounds obvious there seems to have been the allusion that the black death killed whoever it crossed. No doubt there were people in good health who had an immune system that was capable with dealing with it
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POPSLead Linked to Aging in Older Brains Once we absorb things like Lead, Mercury, Dioxins, Pesticides etc, they cannot be easily eliminated from the system, and can accumulate. Go and have a blood test looking for heavy metals, and toxic substances like dioxins, you may be shocked. Dioxins are in things like DDT (pesticide) Agent Orange (herbicide) Once they are in the environment they permeate the environment. They can be banned, but they will never go away - Some of them are refined Elements. That also includes depleted Uranium, and of course Chronic Lead poisoning (Gunshot Wounds)
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POPSGene Combo May Hike Prostate cancer risk The research may lead to a blood test that can identify high risk individuals A statement struck me as bizarre - Looking at gene combos being a relatively new approach. They are about to release products of many strands of genetic research to the general public, and it has only just occurred to them that many diseases and conditions are a result of a gene 'combo'? I would have thought that had already been established. But the truth seems to be that while we can fathom some of the actions of single genes, the way they act in combination is a complete mystery. Evidence they Do Not Have Enough Information or understanding, to allow products of genetic research to enter the public domain. But that won't stop them.
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POPSCloned animals given safety clearance. The phrase cloned seems particularly vague, considering the way they can manipulate any number of genes, in many different locations. Why so quickly after so few years of research? Particularly when dealing with the elementary modules of life, of which we can't pretend anything but the vaguest understanding. We wont need farms, when we'll have meat factories, and the prospect of the dreaded monoculture- variation removed so the whole line can be wiped out by the one disease. 'Organic' beef price will become exorbitant, and food will be controlled more tightly by multinational corporations The Monsanto lobby group must have stressed how important their profitability was to the national economy. Science was in the back seat gagged and bound. Unless they classify release to the public an experiment. Makes me feel like pumpkin soup. Home made.
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POPSDoctors without borders Also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres they take health care where it is needed, anywhere in the world. Politics is not an issue. They provide medical care, and health services to people who are victims of war, starvation and disease, who otherwise would have had no hope.
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POPSW.H.O. Urges vigilance as Bird Flu Spreads They are still waiting for the first case of human to human transmission, but there is the problem that many of the affected areas are remote, and far from medical facilities, so there can be a gap in communication, and action, and the disease can spread before action is taken. There is also the no-doubt crippling effect of having total populations of poultry destroyed for the sake of containing the disease, when they can be a communities primary source of food and income.
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