The world’s first telepathic interface is getting better
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Imagine a new form of communication, one that transcends phones and virtual reality. Imagine telepathy. I know what you’re thinking… literally. Only kidding – for now anyway. Imagine being able to read another persons mind then imagine a question and answer game played by two people...
Rio 2016 introduces tests to hunt for genetically modified athletes
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In the not so distant future drugs cheats will give way to gene cheats, and WADA plans on catching them all – eventually. Mention Erythropoietin to most people on the street and they won’t have any idea what you’re talking about. It took over...
Human on a chip development signals the end of animal testing
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Noone will be sad to see the back of animal testing. Before a new drug or medical treatment can be let loose on human beings, it has to go through a rigorous set of tests to make sure it’s safe – tests that unfortunately...
Scientists have grown a brain in a jar
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Once the stuff of science fiction movies scientists have managed to grow a (small) brain in a jar. Scientists in Singapore have successfully grown functioning midbrain tissue – a feat that may bring researchers a step closer to finding a cure for brain diseases...
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...
Scientists travel to the edge of space to 3D print a heart
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF 3D bioprinting has long held the promise of ending organ donation lists, now there’s an end in sight. A team of scientists working for the NASA and SpaceX contractor Techshot have become the first people in history to successfully 3D print a heart structure in zero gravity using human...
Artificial sperm breakthrough gives infertile men new hope
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Researchers give new hope to infertile men and raise ethical questions about how we define fatherhood in the future. No doubt there are some of you that are sniggering about the news that Chinese researchers have managed to grow artificial sperm – after all, imagine...
Robot surgeon STAR bests its human counterparts in world first
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF One step for a robot, one giant leap for robot kind. In a recent study Oxford University and others estimated that between 35% and 45% of all of todays’ jobs would be automated by AI, robots and, or, software robots (bots) within the next...
Scientists develop “Stem cell fillings” that trigger teeth to repair themselves
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Never visit the dentists again and eat all the sweet stuff you like. Marvellous! Scientists in the UK have developed a new Biomaterial that can be inserted into teeth, via a traditional dentists filling, that can repair and regenerate dentin – the hard, bone like material...
Bionic leaf could revolutionise energy and manufacturing
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF A revolution in the making, the Bionic Leaf ushers in a new era of biomanufacturing. Harvard University has created a “bionic leaf” that converts solar energy into a liquid fuel. The work, a proof of concept in an exciting new field called biomanufacturing, is the fruit...
The future of jobs and education
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As AI and other Robo automation tools and technologies become increasingly proficient it is increasingly clear that more and more jobs will suffer the same fate – automation. Life is a learning experience, or so they say. Broadly speaking educational activities can be split...
The history of the “Genesis Engine”, CRISPR
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Scientists have discovered the Genesis Engine, a technology that gives them the keys to the Code of Life. Spiny grass and scraggly pines creep amid the arts and crafts buildings of the Asilomar Conference Grounds, 100 acres of dune where California’s Monterey Peninsula hammerheads into...
HIV defeats revolutionary gene editing technology CRISPR
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Questions are appearing over CRISPR’s ability to cure HIV. HIV can defeat efforts to cripple it with CRISPR gene editing technology, researchers say and furthermore the very act of editing which involves snipping at the virus’s genome may actually introduce mutations that help it to...
Generation Z, the first immortal generation?
It’s a matter of When, not If we solve Death and Generation Z could be the first generation to experience Immortality in their lifetimes. Today we can reverse paralysis, restore sight, print hearts, eliminate disease and transfer memories, age is a quirk of genetics, nanotech is a game changer and only Darwinism...
Apples new trojan horse
Love it or loathe it the Apple Watch is superbly positioned to help Apple capture three new mass markets Even Apple can’t escape the gravity of centuries of tradition and the Apple Watch is a great case in point. Sure enough it sits on the wrist like a regular watch, looks like a...
The end of Paralysis gets closer
We live in an exciting age, one where science and innovation are making things that even our recent ancestors would have thought impossible possible. In 1969 man first landed on the moon and by the end of this Century it’s looking increasingly likely that there’ll be human foot prints on...
In the future everything will be connected
In 400 years time our descendants will look back at our Age in the same way we look at the Stone Age Leonardo Da Vinci was a genius, by combining his observations of the laws of nature with his passion for mechanical invention he managed to conceive early versions of...
Scientists turn to gene editing to reverse blindness in humans
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Scientists are using the revolutionary gene editing technology CRISPR, dubbed the “Genesis Engine,” to treat, cure, and reverse a whole range of medical conditions that range from Cancer and HIV to blindness and inherited syndromes and the results so far are staggering. Hailed as...
