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All cancer deaths could be eliminated within 7 years, officials predict

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:43:44 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Can we realistically expect to end cancer deaths in seven years? Economists predict nanotech products will reach $1 trillion by 2015. Driven by this financial push, forward-thinkers believe Americans will soon be enjoying a cancer-free “magical future.”

Clip Source: memebox.com

Former National Cancer Institute Director Andrew von Eschenbach claims that “By 2015, nobody will die of cancer; it may not be cured at that time,” he says, “but innovative new therapies will make the disease manageable and finally bring an end to the pain, suffering, and death that cancer now dishes out.”

Cancer is the leading cause of death in the US for people under age 85, experts say.

if in 58 years we have made such little headway in fighting this disease, how can Eschenbach claim we will eliminate cancer deaths in seven years?

The answer lies in what some refer to as the “nanotech revolution.” Scientists working with this new technology are creating an impressive array of new cancer therapies and drugs.

The nanotech approach to fighting cancer can be divided into two parts; detection and therapeutic.

Detection systems identify cancer cells before they become dangerous

Therapeutic systems non-invasively destroy cancer cells without harming healthy cells; these include:

Tags: cancer, cancer therapy, nano medicine

Terabit per second internet coming soon

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 21:41:18 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: nextbigfuture.com

Researchers at the University of Sydney have developed technology that could boost the throughput of existing networks by sixty to 100-fold without costing the consumer any more, and its all thanks to a scratch on a piece of glass.

After four years of development, University of Sydney scientists say the Internet is set to become on average 60 times faster than existing networks.

"This circuit uses the 'scratch' as a guide or a switching path for information - like when trains are switched from one track to another - except this switch takes only one picosecond to change tracks. This means that in one second the switch is turning on and off about one million times. We are talking about photonic technology that has terabit per second capacity."

An initial demonstration proved it possible to achieve speeds 60 times faster than existing local networks.

Tags: internet, technology

Bio-Earth: Are Planets Living Super-Organisms?

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 17:48:23 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks: He believes that expanding the study of life sciences to the core of our world and the depths of outer space will help us find distant relatives of our own Earth -- planets that could also sustain life.
To explain why contintental plates drift on the surface of the Earth's molten mantle, Maruyama argues that continents actually have life cycles. Old, cold plates on continental fringes sink to “plate graveyards” deep in the Earth’s mantle, and then rise again, creating volcanoes fueled by three-dimensional convection movements deep below the surface.

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

Japan's Maruyama Shigenori, one of the world's leading geophysicists, is working on a global formula for a vast new field of study that would include dozens of disciplines collaborating to produce an overall picture of the Earth.

Maruyama is creating a new institute called the Center for Bio-Earth Planetology will be launched in 2009 and fully dedicated to creating a new conception of life in space.He wants to find out if the continents will merge again in 250 million years to form a single super-continent; how meteorites change the chemical composition of the Earth; and what the connection is between the temperature of a planet and its magnetic field, which protects plants and animals from being bombarded with cosmic radiation, which in turn influences the rate of mutations and thus the development of new forms of life.

As he connects the dots from astronomy to life sciences, the outlines emerge of an all-encompassing image of entire planets, which appear as living super-organisms.

Tags: planet, gaia, geophysics

More Americans Say U.S. Split into Haves/Have-Nots

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 10:13:29 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern

Clip Source: www.gallup.com

More Americans Say U.S. a Nation of Haves and Have-Nots

Half now say it is, up from 37% four years ago

PRINCETON, NJ -- Along with their mounting concerns about national economic conditions in recent years, Americans have grown more likely to perceive structural economic inequality in the country. Nearly half of Americans, 49%, now say the nation is divided into two groups: the "haves" and the "have-nots." This is up from 45% two years ago, and from 37% in June 2004.

At the same time that more Americans see an economic class divide in the country, the percentage of Americans holding a profoundly negative view of the U.S. economy has jumped sharply, from 41% in June 2004 to 55% in June 2006 to 84% in June 2008.

Tags: inequality

Beijing takes dog off the menu for Olympics

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 17:35:11 GMT

clipped by: Kelika

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing has asked hotels and restaurants in the city to take dog meat off the menu for the duration of next month's Olympics and September's Paralympics.

Dog is eaten not only by the large Korean community in China's capital but is also popular in Yunnan and Guizhou restaurants.

A directive from the Beijing Food Safety Office issued last month ordered Olympic contractor hotels not to provide any dishes made with dog meat and said any canine material used in traditional medicated diets must be clearly labeled.

Concerned that canine dishes might offend animal rights groups and Western visitors, Beijing said restaurants expected to be popular among foreign visitors must stop serving dog meat "to respect the dining customs of different countries."

The directive "advocated" that all restaurants serving dog suspend it during the Olympics but made no mention of the many popular establishments with donkey on the menu.