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What are the ethics of baby gene-editing?![]() Paris (AFP) Dec 1, 2018 A Chinese scientist's stunning claim he has pioneered the world's first genetically modified baby has suddenly made the eternal debate over ethics and emerging scientific capabilities pressing and real. Should everything that becomes technically possible be carried out? For most ethicists the answer is no - but the tricky part is whether it can be prevented. "It's obvious that everything that is technically feasible is not ethically desirable," said Cynthia Fleury, a member of the French Ethic ... read more |
China scientist defends gene-editing babies as trial pausedHong Kong (AFP) Nov 28, 2018 The Chinese scientist who claims to have created the world's first genetically-edited babies defended the highly controversial procedure Wednesday, but announced a halt to the trial following an international outcry. ... more
Gene-edited babies and cloned monkeys: China tests bioethicsHong Kong (AFP) Nov 27, 2018 A Chinese scientist's claim that he created the world's first genetically-edited babies has shone a spotlight on what critics say are lax regulatory controls and ethical standards behind a series of headline-grabbing biomedical breakthroughs in China. ... more
ISS microbes should be monitored to avoid threat to astronaut healthLondon, UK (SPX) Nov 26, 2018 Strains of the bacterium Enterobacter, similar to newly found opportunistic infectious organisms seen in a few hospital settings, have been identified on the International Space Station (ISS). The s ... more
Making an eye for youKyoto, Japan (SPX) Nov 26, 2018 If you want to build an organ, such as for transplant, you need to think in 3D. Using stem cells, scientists for some time have been able to grow parts of organs in the lab, but that is a far ... more |
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Small tissue chips in space a big leap forward for researchHouston TX (SPX) Nov 12, 2018 A small device that contains human cells in a 3D matrix represents a giant leap in the ability of scientists to test how those cells respond to stresses, drugs and genetic changes. About the size of ... more
China mulls $720,000 fine for faking vaccine tests after scandalBeijing (AFP) Nov 12, 2018 Chinese vaccine manufacturers who falsify test results or break other rules could be fined up to $720,000 under a new law proposed after a scandal that fulled public fears over domestically made medicine. ... more
Regeneration science takes a leap forwardMedford MA (SPX) Nov 07, 2018 Researchers led by Tufts University biologists and engineers have found that delivering progesterone to an amputation injury site can induce the regeneration of limbs in otherwise non-regenerative a ... more
Use of monkeys for medical research hits all-time highWashington (UPI) Nov 5, 2018 Use of monkeys in medical research hit an all-time high in 2017, according to United States Department of Agriculture data. ... more
New generation of Latin American tech 'unicorns' making markMontevideo (AFP) Oct 31, 2018 Nubank is the online bank with the greatest number of clients outside of Asia. Fellow Brazilian startup 99 is a platform that connects 300,000 taxi drivers and chauffeurs to provide a competitive service in which passengers pay less while drivers earn more. ... more |
![]() How hibernators could help humans treat illness, conserve energy and get to Mars
Ancient enzymes the catalysts for new discoveriesBrisbane, Australia (SPX) Oct 23, 2018 University of Queensland-led research recreating 450 million-year-old enzymes has resulted in a biochemical engineering 'hack' which could lead to new drugs, flavours, fragrances and biofuels. ... more |
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Nerve-on-a-chip platform makes neuroprosthetics more effectiveLausanne, Switzerland (SPX) Oct 24, 2018 Neuroprosthetics - implants containing multi-contact electrodes that can substitute certain nerve functionalities - have the potential to work wonders. They may be able to restore amputees' sense of ... more
Scientists grow functioning human neural networks in 3D from stem cellsBoston MA (SPX) Oct 19, 2018 A team of Tufts University-led researchers has developed three-dimensional (3D) human tissue culture models for the central nervous system that mimic structural and functional features of the brain ... more
New model helps define optimal temperature and pressure to forge nanoscale diamondsWashington DC (SPX) Oct 16, 2018 Nanodiamonds, bits of crystalline carbon hundreds of thousands of times smaller than a grain of sand, have intriguing surface and chemical properties with potential applications in medicine, optoele ... more
Russian Scientists Start Research on Impact of Zero-Gravity on HumansMoscow (Sputnik) Oct 11, 2018 The Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Biomedical Problems has initiated research on the influence of zero-G on the human body during flights to the Moon and back; around 20 people will engag ... more
China fines pharma firm $1.3 billion in vaccine scandalBeijing (AFP) Oct 16, 2018 Chinese authorities have slapped penalties totalling a whopping $1.3 billion on a pharmaceutical company over a vaccine scandal that fuelled public fears of domestically-made medicine, drug regulators said Tuesday. ... more |
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European insurers set to break into Chinese market Beijing (AFP) Nov 30, 2018
Two European insurance giants are moving towards having wholly-owned companies in China, marking a big step in the opening-up of the country's financial sector that experts say could send a positive signal amid tense US trade talks.
German heavyweight Allianz on Sunday got the go-ahead from the Chinese regulator to launch the first holding with 100 percent foreign capital.
The following ... more |
UK will build its own satellite-navigation system after Brexit London, UK (Sputnik) Dec 03, 2018
UK Prime Minister Theresa May announced that Britain would explore the possibility of building its own satellite navigation system instead of relying on the EU's Galileo, compelling another minister in her Cabinet to resign.
May announced on Friday that the UK was pulling out of the EU's satellite navigation system which was designed to compete with the US GPS system and is due to be launc ... more |
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Breakthroughs Inspire Hope for Treating Intractable Mood Disorders Washington DC (SPX) Dec 03, 2018
Four years ago, DARPA announced the start of a "journey of discovery" toward understanding and treating networks of the brain. The Systems-Based Neurotechnology for Emerging Therapies (SUBNETS) program proposed to develop responsive, adaptable, closed-loop therapies for neuropsychiatric illness that incorporate recording and analysis of brain activity with near-real-time neural stimulation to co ... more |
Planting more hedgerows could help UK bees thrive once again Lancaster UK (SPX) Dec 03, 2018
Planting more hedgerows and trees could hold the key to helping UK bees thrive once again, a new study argues.
And researchers suggest artificial intelligence could be used as a tool to design our landscapes so that trees, hedgerows and wildflowers are planted in the right place and the right numbers to ensure our pollinators have enough food.
It is well known that bees and other imp ... more |
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China confirms first swine fever cases in Beijing Beijing (AFP) Nov 23, 2018
China's agriculture ministry on Friday confirmed the first cases of African swine fever in Beijing, a disease that has spread across the country despite efforts to contain it.
The disease was found on two farms in the Fangshan District in southwest Beijing where 86 out of more than 1,700 pigs died, the ministry said in a statement.
A special task force has since sealed off the farms for ... more |
The 'Chinese Pyramids' and the pole star Milan, Italy (SPX) Nov 30, 2018
The funerary complex of the first Chinese emperor of the Qin dynasty (3th century BC) is one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world. This is of course due to the discovery of the statues of the terracotta army, intended to accompany the emperor in the afterlife.
Much less known than the statues is the fact that tomb proper (still not excavated) lies beneath a gigantic, artifi ... more |
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New president to inherit a Mexico plagued with grisly violence Mexico City (AFP) Aug 7, 2018
In the middle of the street, corpses riddled with bullets. Underground, thousands of bodies heaped in clandestine graves. And in the mountains, drug gangs locked in armed conflict with the military.
These grim scenes have increasingly become the norm in Mexico, a country gripped by violence stemming from its war on drugs which since 2006 has seen more than 200,000 murders and 30,000 people g ... more |
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Trump sets up stormy G20 with Putin snub Buenos Aires (AFP) Nov 29, 2018
US President Donald Trump headed to Argentina Thursday for a fractious weekend of G20 summitry, cancelling planned talks with the Russian leader and boasting that his trade war with China was paying off.
Rumblings of resistance to Trump's assault on the international order were apparent as French President Emmanuel Macron said he would convene his fellow European leaders in Buenos Aires to f ... more |
Four New Gravitational Wave Detections Announced London, UK (SPX) Dec 03, 2018
Four new gravitational wave detections have been announced including the most massive and distant source ever observed. The results are included in a new paper from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and the VIRGO gravitational-wave detector, which presents analysis of 10 stellar-mass binary black hole mergers and one neutron star merger.
Professor Sheila Rowan ... more |
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NATO exercises cyber defences as threat grows Tartu, Estonia (AFP) Nov 30, 2018
In a nondescript brick building on the snowy edge of Estonia's second city Tartu, soldiers in camouflage tap silently at computers. They are troops manning the 21st century's front line.
With its harsh lighting and partitioned desks, the room could be any soulless office. But this is NATO's "cyber range" and these men and women are running the alliance's biggest cyber warfare exercise, an e ... more |
With the jihadists gone, booze is back in Iraq's Mosul Mosul, Iraq (AFP) Dec 2, 2018
Rows of yellow-labelled whiskey bottles sit alongside imported French wines, while cans of Korean beer chill in the fridge: with Iraq's Mosul free of jihadists, the booze is back.
The city spent three years under the iron-fisted rule of the Islamic State group, which punished those caught drinking alcohol with public lashings or worse.
But more than a year since Iraqi forces ousted the ... more |
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US airstrike kills key Taliban leader in Afghanistan Kabul (AFP) Dec 2, 2018
A senior Taliban military commander has been killed in a US airstrike in Afghanistan, officials said on Sunday.
Abdul Manan, who was the Taliban's 'shadow governor' in the southern Helmand province, died of wounds sustained during an airstrike late on Saturday said Omar Zwak, a spokesman for the official governor of the province.
Manan's death was also confirmed by the Taliban who in a s ... more |
Indian firm presses ahead with controversial Australia coal mine Sydney (AFP) Nov 29, 2018
Indian mining firm Adani vowed Thursday to press ahead with the construction of a controversial coal mine in northeastern Australia, although the project will be dramatically scaled back.
Work on the Carmichael mine - which has attracted considerable controversy in Australia - could now get underway within weeks.
Adani said it would fund the multi-billion-dollar project itself, after a ... more |
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Floods ravage rice production in Niger's Diffa region Niamey Nov 26, 2018
Floods destroyed more than 400 hectares (1,000 acres) of rice in Niger's southeastern Diffa region, already beset by deadly attacks by Boko Haram jihadists, the local governor said.
Nearly 3,000 tonnes of rice worth 717 million CFA francs (more than one million euros, $1.13 million) have been lost as a result, Governor Mahamadou Bakabe said on state television late Sunday.
Grain defici ... more |
NASA's first asteroid sample-collector arrives at target, Bennu Tampa (AFP) Dec 3, 2018
NASA's first-ever mission designed to visit an asteroid and return a sample of its dust back to Earth arrived Monday at its destination, Bennu, two years after launching from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The $800 million unmanned mission, known as OSIRIS-REx, made a rendez-vous with the asteroid at around 12:10 pm (1710 GMT), firing its engines a final time.
"We have arrived," said Javier Ce ... more |
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