For the first time in history a company will be able to scan your DNA and tell you the history of your cells, where you’ve been for the past billion years and where your genetic future is going. 23andMe, a silicon valley startup with links to Google offers you the chance to shell out $999 for a personal map of your genomic profile.

Why would anyone beyond scientists and researchers want to do this? The company says because the information could be as fun as tracing family food preferences, sleeping habits and seeing which grandparent passed down your athletic ability. On a more serious note it will also give you insight as to what diseases and conditions you’re predisposed to – all the way from glaucoma to cancer.

The challenge isn’t behind uncovering the data. It’s finding a way to present it to both the layperson and a researcher. That’s really where this service aims to shine. The massive amount of information will be linked to current and future research. Right after you read about a new disease study you can go online and look to see if you are predisposed to that ailment in real time. While the novice will have very minimalistic reports, anyone can scan deeper. Possibly even to become a genetic hobbyist, where you’ll realize that access to your detailed information is already at your fingertips.

The founders of the company envision groups of people getting together that may share genotypes on a type of social-networking engine. They would have the potential to be involved in research work, which would help to exponentially advance the field of genetics.

Genetics changes the nature of medicine, it changes the predictions of medicine and how medicine works. For instance, what if you find that you have a personal genetic variation that makes you 50% more likely to get getting breast cancer? Armed with that information you can take preventative measures, find out what you need to avoid/do and even take drugs that are specifically trailered to your DNA.

We’re just beginning to learn what we came from and where we are. It’s exciting that in 2003 the map of our common genetic sequence was completed by the Human Genome Project. The costs associated were upward of $3 billion. Four years later we are able to take portions of our own DNA and have them genotyped, finding references to the past and future for a mere fraction of the cost.

For more information on the importance of genetics please take a look at this TED video by Juan Enriquez:

[Guardian]

Microchips in your head? It’s nothing to panic over, brain machine interfaces have been around for a while now. They are slowly beginning to fulfill their role as a functional tool for people with disabilities. With them, patients are able to move a computer cursor, move their wheelchair or jerkily pinch at something with a simple robotic clamp, with nothing more than the power of their minds.

Andrew Schwartz is trying to take that functionality to a new level. His research team has developed a robotic arm that is controlled by the mind of a monkey. The arm is fully functional, unlike it’s simple predecessor.

With it, the monkey can pick up food and feed itself by means of a neural implant in the motor cortex, the part of the brain that controls movement. Previous attempts have never allowed for such a wide range of motion or movement of fingers at the same time. It all looks so seamless.

This technology will also benefit individuals who suffered a massive stroke on one side of their brain. The usual result is that they are unable to move one half of their body. The implanted device will link the mind to both sides of the body, allowing them to regain control of the damaged side.

[Technology Review]

We’re all so excited to see lasers used as light sabers instead of key chain pointers. The gap between the two may actually prove to unite us against a common enemy. No, it’s not the Sith. Viruses and diseases are being targeted by groundbreaking laser research.

Currently, lasers can cause more harm than good, sometimes destroying cells and DNA. Physicists at Arizona State University have developed an improved technique that can kill viruses such as HIV and Hepatitis without harming human cells.

Using a femtosecond laser, the machine shoots out beams at extreme speeds. A femtosecond blazes by at 1 millionth of a billionth of a second. Instead of burning through the targeted cells, like lasers today, they use a process that can be compared to an opera singer breaking a glass with a high-pitched note. The vibration to the protein envelope in microorganisms is deadly.

Now the clock is ticking to find the perfect wavelengths as the vibrations need to be safe for human cells. The vast differences between the composition of protein coats in human cells and bacteria or viruses allow for the team to zero in on a specific frequency.

Although the treatment may not be available for some time, immediate uses could be to disinfect blood supplies and biomaterials. Lead researcher Kong-Thon Tsen told the BBC, “The research … could provide treatments against some of the worst, often drug-resistant, bacterial and viral pathogens.”

[BBC]

What has six legs, smaller than a grain of salt and is designed clear blocked arteries? Give up? It’s a new microscopic robot that was produced by the Chonnam National University in Korea.

This little crab-like device was designed to release a chemical that will immediately clear obstructions to the heart. The legs are made of grafted heart tissue and may need to be grown from stem cells based on the patients own body. Otherwise the little bugger might be destroyed by the patients immune system.

External power has often made such projects impractical if not impossible. So they came up with an ingenious alternative. Sugar in the patients blood will power this bad boy.

Just like the personal computer these machines will become more efficient and much smaller. Nanomedicine will make even this robot seem big one day.

Robert Freitas at the Institute for Molecular Manufacturing is on record stating that a common nanorobot would be between 0.5-3 micrometers in size. For comparison purposes, that is about 1,000 times smaller than this artery clearing crab.

Nanorobots will provide cures for life threatening diseases, like cancer. They could even repair cells to slow biological aging, allowing us to live hundreds of years. This is just the first step in a succession of advances that will change medical and human history. It sure is an exciting time to be alive.

[Gizmodo]

Transhumanism is the name, uploading your brain to a computer is the game. Neuroscientists, biologists and futurists met at the World Transhumanist Association’s ninth annual meeting last week to discuss the viability of a shocking acceleration in human evolution: fusing man and machine.

Ideas include wrapping the brain in plastic, slicing it with lasers and diamond blades and then using an advanced camera to take images of the tissue. This method is being used currently in mice, but this rapidly growing movement foresees it being developed to transfer human memories and emotions onto microchips.

Immortality isn’t a question of ‘if’ to people like PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and Star Trek’s William Shatner, it’s ‘when.’ By donating sums of up to $4 million Peter hopes that ‘when’ is sooner than later.

This type of research doesn’t come without controversy. The ethics of immortality and the artificial intelligence required to undertake such a notion have been under attack since their inception. Social concerns involve the question of where all of us would live if no one ever dies and the divide between rich and poor (such as in the movie Gattaca).

Environmental ethicist Bill McKibben is outraged at the idea of the trivialization of human identity. What becomes meaningfully if life has no obstacles? What if we give birth to monsters that enslave the human race?

Eighty year old co-founder of the MIT artificial intelligence lab Marvin Minsky told New Scientist, “Ordinary citizens wouldn’t know what to do with eternal life… Only scientists who work on problems that might take decades to solve appreciate the need for extended lifespans.”

As to regulating the development of new technologies, Minsky thinks that researchers should have the freedom to pursue science for the sake of human advancement. To do that they need to have the freedom to form different values.

Ray Kurzweil, the futurist author of The Age of Spiritual Machines and The Singularity is Near told the audience, “People sometimes say, ‘Are we going to allow transhumanism and artificial intelligence to occur?’ Well, I don’t recall when we voted that there would be an Internet.”

[New Scientist]