A Cure for Cancer, Shrooms Aren’t All Bad, and the Ethics of Brain Implants
The Mission News, 11/27/2017
A Cure For Cancer Discovered
People have been dreaming about, running for, donating on behalf of, and hoping for the day when humanity can cure one of the biggest, baddest, most gnarly effect on our happiness and well-being. You guess it. Cancer. In an interesting turn of events, it seems we might have uncovered the cure for cancer, in the seemingly most obvious of places. The process scientists used is:
- Find people who made miraculous recoveries from cancer
- Take a sample of their blood
- Extract the magical immune cells that seemed to counteract cancer
- Then multiply these cells
From the UK Express’s article:
Alex Blyth, chief executive of LIfT Biosciences, said: “We’re not talking about simply managing cancer. We’re looking at a curative therapy that you would receive once a week over the course of five to six weeks.
“Based on our laboratory and mouse model experiments we would hope to see patients experiencing complete remission. Our ultimate aim is to create the world’s first cell bank of immensely powerful cancer-killing neutrophils.”
Hacking Your Brain to Like Certain Music
Physicists understand that light is both a particle and a wave. But what if you reverse that? Could musical waves transform themselves into particles? An interesting thought experiment that a few researchers might be delving into by hacking our brains to increase our enjoyment of music. By changing our brain’s neural circuitry and forcing music down the pleasure pathways of neuron-to-neuron connections, we can make you like heavy metal even if you’re a classical fan. A few fine folks at McGill University share more over at Science Daily.
A Pathway to Preventing Parkinsons?
The King’s College London team has discovered something new that could help prevent Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. It centers around our ability to understand what causes certain cells in our brains to die. If we can figure that out, and how those are connected to these brain disorders, we might be able to extend it to a preventative medicine.
Exercise the Body to Remember in the Mind
Our scholarly friends at McMaster University have been spending time digging into the benefits of high-intensity exercise. Of course we all know that movement is good, it helps with bone density, better mood, and longer life. But what about other areas of the body, like our minds? These scientists found two major benefits:
- Better ability to distinguish fine details in similar objects
- Increases growth and health of brain cells
The hope is that in our elderly years, it will help prevent Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Either way, we’ve yet to find much wrong with getting out there and moving a bit more instead of all the sitting our society does now.
Shroomin Towards Longer Life
Mushrooms have two major antioxidants. Who knew? Not just fun for children of the 60s, the new news on shrooms is that they fight aging and boost health. So, win win and count us in. A professor of food science at Penn State says ergothioneine and glutathione (good luck) are found in their highest concentrations in mushrooms. More than any other food humans eat. The next time you 1800 Dominos, be sure to ask for the mushrooms.
Babies Know Things
At some point or another we all wonder how the rest of the world perceives us. But we probably haven’t considered what a baby might think. Some interesting research out of MIT has shown that infants as young as 10 months old can perceive how badly we want something by how intensely we work at it. That seems like quite the complex thought for someone so young, but makes sense to us. The harder someone works, the more likely we are to root for their success.
When Collecting Things Turns Into Collecting People
How much do you value the things in your life? Those special objects you bought for decorating your den, maybe your Michael Jackson jackets, or perhaps a snazzy pair of shoes. It turns out the more you care about stuff, the more likely you are to collect digital objects in social media as well. So, if you keep pulling to refresh Instagram and Facebook, and are obsessed with that follower/friend count going up, up, up, it might be because you love stuff. A new study says so.
Hacking the Brain, With Ethics in Mind
We’re nowhere near having FDA approved brain implants from startups, but already experts are on the soapbox sounding the alarm for ethics, free will, and the like. But as you can see from the self-driving ethical decisions being programmed now, getting out in front of this is going to be much more important.
Get Rehabed by Playing Games
Do playing video games have rehab benefits? Experts at Imperial College London believe so. In fact, stroke patients that play a specific game called Balloon Buddies (sounds fun) activate social, spatial and problem-solving abilities. Consider it a simulation for our human robots to re-learn what they once took for granted.
Shoo Fly, You’re Makin’ Me Sick
Shoo-ing flies away from food may now be more important than we previously thought. We all know flies are disgusting little creatures but the bacteria they carry from simply landing on food you’re about to ingest could make you sick. And we’re not talking stuffy nose sick. We’re talking stomach ulcers and yes, the bane of medical professionals everywhere, sepsis. Nasty.
Billionaires Becoming Alien Ambassadors
Billionaires are cool. They flight first. They have neat conversations. People dig ’em. And aliens might too, especially if these five individuals make first contact before a government. Private companies founded by startup billionaires could fuel the next great Space as a Platform race. But don’t forget about NASA and China, they’re no slouches.
Darwin Gets Jiggy With It
How long does it take for a new species to develop? Thousands of generations? Hundreds? Nay, a new study has shown it only takes two, yes two generations in Darwin’s favorite species: finches. Love, once again, conquers science.
That’s it for today’s news! Want to stay up-to-date on the latest (and coolest!) news out there? Be sure to subscribe to our M-F newsletter and get this delivered straight to your inbox every morning.
