Article #1: “Biofabrication Fit to Print” from The Economist
Scientist have recently discovered a way to synthetically create tissue layers, as well as create synthetic cells. These synthetic cells and tissue layers are not cell cultures or grafts, but instead are fabricated objects. This is a revolutionary breakthrough for multiple reasons.
Firstly, cells are extremely delicate, so it is hard to arrange them in a desired manner. The method used to create the synthetic tissue layers is comparable to 3D printing. The fact that cells can now be manually arranged in any desired configuration can allow for the creation of more sophisticated and complex tissue layers.
Secondly, the newly created synthetic cells are pluripotent, meaning that they have the ability to change cell type. These cells can be used to create new heart cells, liver cells, nerve cells, and so on if the technology is further refined. As the article mentions, if both the methods used to create these artificial cells and tissues layers are refined, in about 100 or so years, synthetic organs can be manufactured to save lives. This breakthrough is on the cusp of changing medicine as we know it.
http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21575745-new-ways-make-living-tissue-artificially-fit-print
Article #2: “America’s Neuroscience Initiative Mind-expanding” from The Economist
President Obama has officially decided to fund a project known as Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies initiative or “BRAIN”. He is expected to speak with Congress later on this week to see how this project will fit with the current budget.
The fact that the United States is considering funding for BRAIN is of relative surprise. This project, for the most part, is all based on pioneer work. There is a limited amount of literature available on the brain, and there is a lack of adequate or sufficient infrastructure to facilitate such a project. The BRAIN project is going to attempt to map the human brain. As the article makes clear, this endeavor will surely be compared to the mapping of the human genome, although this is a task of much greater difficulty and complexity. The majority of the tools, technology, and equipment needed for this project will have to be created from scratch.
In all reality, this project seems to be a shot in the dark, but one of the primary reasons it is being funded is because if it succeeds, the research conducted has the potential to allow for the development of breakthrough treatments. The article points out that a large portion of the American population is aging at a rapid rate. Alzheimer’s and a host of other diseases become common as a person ages. These diseases are costly to treat and they devastate patients and on looking family members. The research produced by the “BRAIN” project could allow for the development of treatments capable of curing or preventing many diseases that affect the functionality of the elderly.
This project is the largest of its kind and the most ambitious endeavored of humanity by far. It will no doubt propel the human species into a new era if it succeeds.
Article #3: “Monetary Costs of Dementia in the United States” from The New England Journal of Medicine
Now this The New England Journal of Medicine article is no cake walk. It is written for an entirely different audience and at an entirely different level as opposed to most news publications, however if you are able to get through the article you will have a greater understanding as to why the “BRAIN” project is in the best financial interest of the United States.
The article does an excellent job of tabulating the average cost an elderly American patient acquires over the course of the year if they are suffering from dementia, or a host other conditions and diseases of a similar nature. Let’s just say, that the cost of treating, or more realistically caring, for these dementia patients is higher that the gross income of certain people in the country.
The article gives valuable insight into the financial ramifications that are imposed upon patients and families that suffer from these abhorrent and destructive diseases and syndromes.
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1204629?query=featured_home#t=article
The article does an excellent job of tabulating the average cost an elderly American patient acquires over the course of the year if they are suffering from dementia, or a host other conditions and diseases of a similar nature. Let’s just say, that the cost of treating, or more realistically caring, for these dementia patients is higher that the gross income of certain people in the country.
The article gives valuable insight into the financial ramifications that are imposed upon patients and families that suffer from these abhorrent and destructive diseases and syndromes.
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1204629?query=featured_home#t=article
Article #4: “Globalization, Climate Change, and Human Health” from The New England of Medicine
There is no point in even trying to summarize this article, for it would not do justice to the article. The article brilliantly shows how climate change and globalization is altering the spread of pathogens as well obscuring geographic boundaries of certain illnesses. It eloquently discusses how illness, and disease has synonymously adapted with changes in human society and the environment. It demonstrates the fluidity of nature and the progressive tendencies of biological life when it encounters drastic change.
I will warn all readers of one thing. This article is not the simplest thing in the world to read. It is written at a higher standard in comparison to your average news publication, so it may take 2 or 3 read overs to fully understand.
Article #5: “Dark matter: Furcated distillation” from The Economist
The Economist was full of great science related news article this week, however unlike the two article previously mentioned, the above article refers to developments in the academic discipline of physics, and not biology.
With the discovery of the Higgs boson last year, physicists around the world were finally able declare that they had completed one of the most time consuming quests in their field. Now all they have to do is complete a seemingly longer quest. The search for dark matter is being taken to full throttle.
Dark matter is said to be the substance that composes the majority of the existing universe. It outnumbers normal matter that we can see by and overwhelming amount. Dark matter has yet to be identified in a definitive sense, and at the moment it is still a theoretical substance. According to multiple theories, it is said to be a key component that holds the universe together. If its existence can be confirmed, physics can finally begin to critically analyze the structure and potential origin of the university.
If it is discovered that dark matter does not exist, then physicists will have to reform current perceptions of the universe and readjust their approach of understanding the universe as we know it. The search for dark matter has been long overdue, and the results that the future will yield will not only change our understanding of the universe, but existence as we know it.
Article #6: “A hunt for dark matter in a former gold mine” from the Los Angeles Times
Building upon the previous article and the topic of dark matter, the article mentioned above from the Los Angeles Time highlights current efforts to find dark matter.
A group of scientists has relocated themselves to an abandoned gold mine in South Dakota. Almost a mile under the surface of the earth, they have set up a complex lab designed to potentially detect the passing of dark matter particles through the earth. The article goes in to relative depth as to how the group of scientist in questions aims to find the dark matter particles.
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