Archive for the 'Biotechnology' Category
White House Refuses to Release Email From Monsanto-Linked Lobbyist
February 27th, 2012Via: TruthOut: The White House is withholding documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by an environmental group that suspects the Obama administration of working with Monsanto-linked lobbyists to defend the planting of genetically engineered (GE) crops in wildlife refuges across the country.
France Asks EU to Suspend GM Crop Authorisation
February 22nd, 2012Does anyone know what the French government means by, “Significant risks for the environment”? Via: AFP: France’s ecology ministry said Monday it had asked European regulators to suspend authorisation for the use of genetically modified MON 810 maize crops from US company Monsanto based on new studies. The request is “based on the latest scientific […]
Now Glyphosate (Roundup) Found in People’s Urine
February 22nd, 2012Via: GM Watch: According to an article in German in the Ithaca journal, a German university study has found significant concentrations of glyphosate in the urine samples of city dwellers. The analysis of the urine samples apparently found that all had concentrations of glyphosate at 5 to 20-fold the limit for drinking water. As well […]
‘What will the millions of middle-age, unskilled workers do when they are displaced by technology?’
February 19th, 2012My guess is that something like this will be part of the answer: Engineered H5N1: A Rare Time for Restraint in Science: Two scientific teams have recently engineered the H5N1 virus to make it readily transmissible between ferrets. Given that ferrets are considered the most reliable animal surrogate for human influenza infection, the newly engineered […]
UC San Diego: Artificial Cell Membranes
January 31st, 2012“Specifically, robots, engineered organisms, and nanobots share a dangerous amplifying factor: They can self-replicate. A bomb is blown up only once – but one bot can become many, and quickly get out of control.” —Bill Joy, Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us Via: UCSD: Chemists have taken an important step in making artificial life forms […]
Portable DNA Sequencer Demonstrated at World Economic Forum
January 30th, 2012Via: Medical Express: It was the talk of Davos, grabbing the imagination of a forum otherwise shrouded in gloom: a miracle machine that cracks the code of life within hours and could revolutionise healthcare. Patients will no longer have to wait weeks to know if they have cancer and their doctors will know immediately what […]
Britain: National Patient DNA Database?
January 26th, 2012The document to which he’s referring is here: Building on Our Inheritance: Genomic Technology in Healthcare. Via: Kevin Townsend: You have to look long and hard, but eventually you find it. There, on page 51 of ‘Building on our inheritance – Genomic technology in healthcare’ is the one and only mention of the national whole […]
The Age of Transitions
January 23rd, 2012Via: The Age of Transitions:
Genetics Researcher Killed in Texas
January 20th, 2012Flag for those maintaining lists of dead scientists. Via: ABC News: A Texas medical student well-known in her community as an Iranian activist was mysteriously shot and killed in her car, just yards from her home. … Gelareh Bagherzadeh, 30, was driving through her Houston townhouse complex around midnight on Monday when she was shot […]
McDonald’s Restaurants in Australia Will Spray Synthetic DNA on Robbers
January 9th, 2012Via: news.com.au: McDONALD’S restaurants are fighting back against thieves by blasting suspected robbers with an invisible DNA spray as they attempt to flee. The spray, which remains on the suspect’s skin for two weeks and on clothes for up to six months, has been introduced in some of the chain’s busiest NSW stores, including those […]
