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Researchers Turn Back The Aging Clock on Adult Stem Cells

Posted: September 29th, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Cankler, Favorite New Thought, Michael Courtenay, Science, Science News | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Ageing, it’s one of those things we’ve simply grown accustomed too: we’re born, we live, we get old and we cease to live. Ageing is a complex process that involves every cell and organ in the body and that leads to the deterioration of many body functions over the lifespan of an individual. With age, for example, the skin loses its elasticity and injuries heal more slowly than in childhood. The same holds true for bones, which turn brittle with age and take much longer to heal when fractured.  Although the vulnerability to infectious disease and cancer is caused by a decline of the immune system, the latter is in turn a product of interactions among haematopoietic stem cells and the microenvironments in the bone marrow and the thymus, as well as in the mucous lining of the bronchus and gut systems. Hence, all ageing phenomena—tissue deterioration, cancer and propensity to infections—can be interpreted as signs of ageing at the level of somatic stem cells. As the regenerative prowess of a living organism is determined by the ability and potential of its stem cells to replace damaged tissue or worn-out cells, a living organism is therefore as old as its stem cells.

Mammals, and especially humans, have paid a high price for climbing up the evolutionary ladder: they have lost much of the regenerative power found in lower animals. Whereas humans have only limited potential to rejuvenate their ailing tissues, other organisms show amazing regenerative abilities. On decapitation, planaria will regenerate a new head within five days. Hydra, a small tubular freshwater animal that spends its life clinging to rocks, is able to produce two new organisms within 7–10 days when its body is halved. After losing a leg to a predator, salamanders recover with a new limb within a matter of days. Animals with staggering regenerative potential either have an abundance of stem cells or can de-differentiate specialized tissue cells into stem cells. It has been estimated that about 20% of a flatworm consists of stem cells, and hydra is a “kind of permanent embryo”. Salamanders use a completely different mechanism. When they are in urgent need of a new limb, they convert adult differentiated cells back to an embryonic undifferentiated state. These cells then migrate to the site of injury where they regenerate the missing part. Read the full article »»»»

Harnessing Ambient Electromagnetic Energy: Power From Thin Air!

Posted: July 16th, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Applied Science, Cankler, Engineered Life, Science, Tecnoid | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology have demonstrated - at the IEEE conference July 6 - technology capable of harnessing ambient electromagnetic energy that pervades our modern world. By taking advantage of the transmitters that are already covering modern cities power is extracted from thin air. In a sense turning mobile phone base stations, tv transmitters and radio station transmitters into micro power stations. While this technology only provides very small amounts of power it is enough to power simple sensors and devices, eventually as the technology develops more advanced electronics may be powered, we may eventually see self-powered bumper stickers telling us to back the f off.

“There is a large amount of electromagnetic energy all around us, but nobody has been able to tap into it,” said Manos Tentzeris, a professor in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering who is leading the research. “We are using an ultra-wideband antenna that lets us exploit a variety of signals in different frequency ranges, giving us greatly increased power-gathering capability.” Read the full article »»»»