Augmenting human sight into the infrared range?
Most of society is under the impression that human augmentation is something that our grandchildren will have to deal with. Stuff for T.V. and big screens. I have been screaming from the rooftops that this is something we need to discuss now because it is happening now.Case in point, this crowd-funded project that is looking into augmenting human vision so that we can see in the near infrared range. Infrared light is light that has a longer wavelength than red light and so is not in the range that we call "visible light." Their goal is to use dietary restrictions and supplements to increase porphyropsin in the hu...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - December 10, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Transhumanism Source Type: blogs
Stem Cell Funding Shifts Toward Ethical Research
I have always said that if you want accurate information about stem cell research and its possibilities, you should be reading the business section. Anything else is probably misleading, hyped or even flat out lies. In other words, follow the money. The money will tell you what is truly promising research.The money is painting a very clear picture of what pro-lifers knew all along: adult stem cells are worth investing in. Embryonic? Well, they haven't lived up to the incessant hype surrounding their potential.In just a few years, budgets that used to go almost entirely to embryonic stem cell projects are being quietly allo...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - December 4, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Stem cells, Adult Source Type: blogs
Embryos with Genetic Disease Destroyed for Their Stem Cells, Cell Lines Added to NIH Registry
King's College in London is proud that they have provided 16 new embryonic stem cell lines to the United States' National Institutes of Health (NIH) registry of stem cell lines eligible for federal funding. On the King's College website they explain that they have created these stem cell lines with a variety of genetic disease for US researchers to work on:Scientists from KingÂ’s College London have announced that 16 human embryonic stem (hES) cell lines have been approved by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and placed on their Stem Cell Registry, making them freely available for federally-funded research in the ...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - November 26, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Stem cells, Embryonic Source Type: blogs
Motorola Applies for Microphone Tattoo Patent
It seems that integration of technology into our otherwise healthy bodies may be on the horizon. Motorola has applied for a patent for a throat tattoo that can act as a microphone for many devices. PC Mag has the story:Motorola has applied for a patent for an electronic skin tattoo that acts as a mobile communication device.This isn't your usual parlor inking, though. The tattoo, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office application, can include an embedded microphone, a near field communication (NFC) transceiver, and a power supply.As the wearer speaks, the throat-printed tattoo streams the audio to a controller, ...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - November 15, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Transhumanism Source Type: blogs
Saying thanks to those who share their talents in the Mass
The piano player at my parish died last week. Her name was Maralyn. We barely knew each other. I didn't even know her last name. But I will miss Maralyn every Sunday, probably until the day I die. Let me explain.Continue reading at Creative Minority Report >> (Source: Mary Meets Dolly)
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - November 11, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Source Type: blogs
BioTalk, Episode 6: Good News About Down Syndrome
Chelsea puts together another awesome episode of BioTalk:In recent years, modern academics have managed to recast “eugenics” as a positive term, distinguishing their vision from past government-mandated eugenics policies. The emphasis now is on “selective reproduction” and the parentsÂ’ “choice” to decide what kind of child they want to have. The result has been a search and destroy mission to wipe people with Down syndrome off of the planet through eugenic abortion. And it has taken so much love and joy out of the world.In the latest episode of BioTalk, Rebecca Taylor and Chelsea Zimmerman “raise awarenessÂ...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - November 5, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Pro-life Source Type: blogs
Google Launches Calico to "Solve Death"
Google has launched a new company called Calico (California Life Company) whose focus is to "solve death." CNN reports:Last month Google announced a new medical company called Calico, whose explicit aim is to take on aging itself. But what will Google's approach be? And what other research into prolonging life already exists?...Calico -- or the California Life Company -- has been set up to research subjects related to aging and its associated diseases. Announcing Calico at a media briefing, Google said that the new and independent company will largely focus on age-attendant conditions such as Alzheimer's, cancer ...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - October 31, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Transhumanism Source Type: blogs
Resistance to Three-Parent Technique Coming from all Sides
To stop the latest of the Brave New World movements, we need a cacophony of resistance. Luckily, it is not just pro-lifers that are sounding the alarm about three-parent IVF, also called mitochondrial replacement (MR). People from all sides are voicing their concerns about the ethics and safety of this technique where a donor egg's nucleus is removed and replaced with the nucleus of a woman with mitochondrial disease. That genetically-engineered egg is then fertilized with sperm creating an embryo that has genetic material from three persons, the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from the donor, and nuclear DNA contributed by the ...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - October 25, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Genetic Engineering Source Type: blogs
African Girl Brought to UK to Harvest Organs
This is so horrific and evil that it almost defies reason. Officials have rescued a girl from Somalia that was brought to the UK to harvest her organs. They are sure that this is not an isolated incidence. The Telegraph has the story:The unnamed girl was brought to the UK from Somalia with the intention of removing her organs and selling them on to those desperate for a transplant.Child protection charities warned that the case was unlikely to be an isolated incident as traffickers were likely to have smuggled a group of children into the country.The case emerged in a government report which showed that the number of human...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - October 22, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Biotechnology Source Type: blogs
War on Humans
This is going to be a fascinating documentary:
<span id="XinhaEditingPostion"></span> If you are not reading Wesley Smith's blog Human Exceptionalism, you should be.
This clip reminds me of Wesley's quote on Starbucks cup The Way I See It #127 (which sits on my desk holding a variety of writing implements):
The morality of the 21st century will depend on how we respond to this simple but profound question: Does every human life have equal moral value simply and merely because it is human? Answer yes, and we have a chance of achieving univers...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - October 18, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Transhumanism Source Type: blogs
Mom: "Down Syndrome Research, Hope for My Daughter"
This year scientists announced a major breakthrough and a possible gene therapy for Down Syndrome. In cells taken from a person with Downs, they were able to silence the extra 21st chromosome. This may mean a targeted therapy to help fix the health and cognitive problems caused by have that extra bit of genetic material. Reactions were mixed. Some thought that people with Down Syndrome are perfect as God made them and we should do nothing to change them. I understand this reaction very well. We live in a society that kills 90% of people with Down Syndrome before they make it out of the womb. It is entirely natural to want ...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - October 14, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Genetic Engineering Source Type: blogs
Genetics Company Awarded Patent for System to Create Designer Babies
This week the genetics world exploded with discussion about a new patent just issued by the U.S. Patent Office to a California company, 23andMe. 23andMe is a direct-to-consumer genetic testing company that offers genetic information to anyone who sends in a saliva sample and a fee.23andMe was offered a patent on their inheritance calculator, a feature where prospective parents can figure out the likely traits their children will have. The controversy surrounds the patent's extension into the fertility industry where this technology could be used to screen donor egg and sperm to create a child with desired physical attribut...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - October 9, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Reproductive Technologies Source Type: blogs
Technology as Savior
I worry for young people these days. I know every generation says that about the one that follows, but today's youth may face a world where simply being human won't be good enough. Augmentation may be required to participate in society. A cyber-brain here, a bionic limb there with some genetic engineering and a few nanobots sprinkled in for good measure. Being without such tech integrated into their bodies may be a one-way ticket to second-class citizenship, maybe even slavery. Choosing to live as God created them could become a great sacrifice.I have argued many times that once we must violate our bodily integrity with te...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - October 4, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Transhumanism Source Type: blogs
Columnist: Government Should Take Organs for Donation
I have said many times that we abandon the embryo at our own peril. Once we allow some human organisms to be ripped apart for their cells, then we all start to look more and more like harvestable biological material.No where is this more apparent than in the debates about organ donation. Donating organs in the event of death used to be considered something that should be completely voluntary and without incentive. But because the demand for organ outweighs the supply, more and more we are hearing that organ donation should be "opt-out" instead of "opt-in" where doctors presume consent unless otherwise s...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - October 2, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Science and Ethics Source Type: blogs
Paper Exposes Three-Parent Technique as Untested, Possibly Unsafe
In the last year there has been a push in both the United Kingdom and the United States for permission to create children with three genetic parents. This technique, often called mitochondrial replacement (MR), is presented as a simple switching out the mitochondria in the eggs of women with mitochondrial disease. We inherit all of our mitochondria from our mother, so a woman with mitochondrial disease cannot help but pass that onto her offspring.In reality, the technique is far from simple. The nucleus of a donor egg is removed and replaced with the nucleus of the woman with mitochrondrial disease. This creates a genetica...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - September 24, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Genetic Engineering Source Type: blogs
