Baidu’s AI can clone anyone’s voice in under a minute
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to clone people’s voices, and mimic them, opens up a range of well meaning opportunities, but it also paves the way for fake news chaos and everything in between… In the near future, just as it is today, fake news will become...
New Cancer “Vaccine” wipes out cancer in mice, human trials next
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Cancer ruins millions of lives every year, but now, thanks to an army of researchers and new powerful technologies and tools it might just be possible we’re seeing a tiny chink of light at the end of the tunnel. The eradication of cancer has...
World first as Chinese scientists clone two monkeys, raising fears humans could be next
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF So far monkeys have proven resistant to cloning, but now that barrier has been broken, and many suggest it leaves the way open for a day when we can see the first cloned humans. Last week Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua, the world’s first...
Google’s AI is helping scientists unravel the mysteries of the human genome
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF With the advent of personalised medicine and new revolutionary gene treatments, being able to interpret and make sense of the vast volumes of human genomic data in order to better predict disease indicators and outcomes, and provide patients with better treatments, will become increasingly crucial....
Cream that creates suntans without the sun also reduces cancer risk
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Lots of people like having a natural looking tan, but with over 100,000 cases of skin cancer a year, noone likes the sun’s nefarious side effects, but now scientists have created a way to tan that doesn’t need the Sun. If you’re like me...
A simple blood test detects cancer years earlier than previously possible
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF A new blood test will, one day, let doctors detect cancer years earlier than ever before, and earlier detection means earlier treatment and better chances of survival for those who have the disease. Scientists from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre and Grail, a...
Gene therapy successfully cures two babies of cancer
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF New gene therapy treatments could spell the end of painful and exhausting chemotherapy treatments, and give patients new hope, but there’s a long road ahead still. Just think of living in a world where people don’t have to go in for chemotherapy treatment any...
Artificial intelligence identifies skin cancer as well as trained doctors
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Every year tens of millions of people around the world are diagnosed with skin cancer, and Stanford’s artificial intelligence app could save tens of thousands of lives. It’s scary enough making a doctor’s appointment to see if a strange mole could be cancerous so...
New virtual reality project lets doctors fly through cancers to save lives
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The ability to visualise and fly through cancers will help researchers create better treatments and better outcomes for cancer patients. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. In May this year, in a...
New micro-rocket will one day travel round your body fighting disease
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Miniaturised rockets that can travel around your body at will, tracking and tackling disease, repairing tissue and looking for the early signs of cancer would usher in a healthcare revolution. In the 1980’s one of the decade’s most popular films was one called “Innerspace” where...
World first as scientists use synthetic stem cells to repair a damaged heart
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Traditional stem cell therapies can often lead to cancer down the line, but NC State’s new “generic” synthetic stem cells eliminate that risk and will bring stem cell therapy to millions more people who need it. Hearts are having a busy time in the...
Accidental discovery pauses life and puts embryos into suspended animation
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to put embryos, cells, organisms and people into suspended animation could have a significant impact on anti-ageing, cancer treatments, IVF and space travel. A new study by researchers at the University of California San Francisco published in Nature this week has shown, for...
Chinese researchers trial the worlds first cancer vaccine on humans
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The CRISPR gene editing technique is being used to create everything from new forms of life that are resistant to every known virus on Earth to vaccines for cancer, it will, and is already, revolutionising life and wellbeing In July this year a team...
British girl who died of cancer wins right to be cryogenically frozen
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In an age where we are making so many advances in healthcare it is increasingly conceivable that we may be able to bring people back from the dead which opens up a myriad of moral, ethical and religious questions about life and death. A...
Google and UK NHS team up to use AI to improve cancer treatment
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Machine learning could cut the time it takes to plan a patient’s radiotherapy treatment by hours. Working out how to zap a tumour with radiation is a laborious process for physicians and Google’s machine learning division, DeepMind, thinks AI can help ease the burden. When...
3D printed ovaries help infertile mice give birth
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF 3D printing could give infertile couples new hope. Northwestern University scientists have created a prosthetic ovary using a 3D printer – an implant that allowed mice that had their ovaries surgically removed to bear live young and the results will be presented at the Endocrine Society’s...
Scientists use swarms of nanobots to precisely target cancer
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to deliver drugs in situ within the human body precisely to the areas where they can do the most good will help doctors treat patients better and patients recover faster. Researchers from Polytechnique Montréal, Université de Montréal and McGill University have just...
China trials a CRISPR vaccine for Cancer on humans
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Researchers around the world are racing to be first to create a viable cure for Cancer, now a team in China might beat the US to the punch. Medicine, and the way that we treat disease, is changing and nowhere is that more self...
