Genome breakthrough heralds new dawn for agriculture
Submitted by Buddhist on Sun, 08/29/2010 - 01:39In a scientific tour-de-force that has been hailed as the most significant breakthrough in wheat production since the cereal crop was cultivated by the first farmers more than 10,000 years ago, scientists have decoded the genome of the wheat plant.
TheAntiTerrorist on The Communist Manifesto
Submitted by Buddhist on Sun, 08/29/2010 - 01:30Where are the cures promised by stem cells, gene therapy, and the human genome?
Submitted by Buddhist on Wed, 08/25/2010 - 00:20
The disappointments are so acute in part because the promises have been so big. Over the past two decades, we've been told that a new age of molecular medicine—using gene therapy, stem cells, and the knowledge gleaned from unlocking the human genome—would bring us medical miracles. Just as antibiotics conquered infectious diseases and vaccines eliminated the scourges of polio and smallpox, the ability to manipulate our cells and genes is supposed to vanquish everything from terrible inherited disorders, such as Huntington's and cystic fibrosis, to widespread conditions like cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.
AdvertisementAdding to the frustration is an endless stream of laboratory animals that are always getting healed. Mice with Parkinson's have been successfully treated with stem cells, as have mice with sickle cell anemia. Dogs with hemophilia and muscular dystrophy have been made disease-free. But humans keep experiencing suffering and death. Why? What explains the tremendous mismatch between expectation and reality? Are the cures really coming, just more slowly than expected? Or have scientists fundamentally misled us, and themselves, about the potential of new medical technologies?
Bushehr launch a sign of US power fading
Submitted by Buddhist on Tue, 08/24/2010 - 05:07Treating Starcraft "addiction" with drugs
Submitted by Buddhist on Tue, 08/24/2010 - 01:35When you're being "cured" of doing something you enjoy, you know something is wrong.
South Korean psychiatrists claim to have successfully reduced video game addiction by plying the addicts with antidepressant drug Bupropion.
The study was conducted by Han, Hwang and Renshaw from the Department of Psychiatry at Chung Ang University, College of Medicine.
Eleven participants had been categorised as having "Internet Game Addiction", because they played Starcraft on average for at least four hours per day, which actually seems quite modest. However, six of them had been absent from school for more than two months because of their dirty little habit, while two of them had actually been divorced because they played so much.
The group was given Bupropion, an antidepressant and smoking cessation aid for six weeks. After the trial period, their group’s cravings to play Starcraft apparently decreased by 23.6 percent and total playing time decreased by 35.5 percent.
They also performed some MRI scans and discovered that the addicts’ brains responded to pictures of Zerglings – the six-limbed raptor popular in Starcraft -- less strongly after taking the drug.
Attack on the internet
Submitted by Buddhist on Sun, 08/22/2010 - 20:22I usually don't post a video of Alex Jones, because he likes to exaggerate some things and often jumps the gun. However, every single thing he claims in this video is totally factual. There are no exaggerations here.
Green Police in Cleveland
Submitted by Buddhist on Sun, 08/22/2010 - 20:02This story is particularly ridiculous because recycling actually takes more energy and is more expensive than producing non-metal products from scratch. It's actually harmful to recycle, not just a waste of your time, money, and effort.
Orwell in charge? Kucinich compares Iraq ‘exit’ to Bush’s ‘Mission Accomplished’
Submitted by Buddhist on Sat, 08/21/2010 - 02:22
“Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today challenged the notion that removing ‘combat brigades’ but leaving 50,000 U.S. troops in Iraq constitutes an end to combat operations, let alone an end to the war,” a press release sent to RAW STORY on Thursday stated.