WASHINGTON -- Scientists announced a bold step Thursday in the enduring quest to create artificial life. They've produced a living cell powered by man-made DNA. While such work can invoke images of Frankenstein-like scientific tinkering, it also is exciting hopes that it could eventually lead to new fuels, better ways to clean polluted water, faster vaccine production and more.
Concerns about progress, patient access voiced at Senate hearing for JDRF's Children's Congress WASHINGTON, June 22, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Kevin Kline and four children with type 1 diabetes urged the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take immediate action to accelerate the research and review of artificial pancreas systems at a hearing before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs. The hearing, "Transforming Lives through Diabetes Research," was part of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's (JDRF) 2011 Children's Congress, a biennial, three-day event aimed to raise awareness for type 1 diabetes and the importance of Congressional leadership to help accelerate research to cure, treat and prevent the disease.
After two days of being shaken, stirred and overstimulated, I needed a break. So I was relieved to wander into Epcot's upscale Les Chefs de France, which reminded me of the bistros I'd recently visited in the real Paris. Everything from the imported French staff to my favorite French spring water made me forget for a few minutes that I was in Orlando. As my waiter served me a perfect croque monsieur sandwich, I watched as the maitre d', Amelie, pushed a food cart down a nearby aisle. Dessert, I supposed. She stopped in front of a table and lifted the silver dome to reveal a 6-inch-tall beady-eyed rat standing in the middle of a cheese tray. It looked real, but as soon as he started talking -- in a squeaky French accent, of course -- I realized that I was having another Disney "experience.
WASHINGTON - Scientists are advancing slowly toward one of the most audacious goals humans have ever set for themselves: creating artificial life. They've already accomplished some steps needed to construct a simple, single-celled organism that's capable of evolving and reproducing itself - basic requirements for life.
After two days of being shaken, stirred and overstimulated, I needed a break. So I was relieved to wander into Epcot's upscale Les Chefs de France, which reminded me of the bistros I'd recently visited in the real Paris. Everything from the imported French staff to my favorite French spring water made me forget for a few minutes that I was in Orlando. As my waiter served me a perfect croque monsieur sandwich, I watched as the maitre d', Amelie, pushed a food cart down a nearby aisle. Dessert, I supposed. She stopped in front of a table and lifted the silver dome to reveal a 6-inch-tall beady-eyed rat standing in the middle of a cheese tray. It looked real, but as soon as he started talking -- in a squeaky French accent, of course -- I realized that I was having another Disney...
Like most people, I wonder what it's like to be a dog or a cat. How can we ever know? Does my cat worry about her appearance? Does a coyote plan ahead or fondly remember his grandmother? Alas, we don't know how to find out. Worse, we don't know what it's like to be another human being. If I turned into my sister for five minutes, what would it be like to get up in the morning as Julie? There's a special word for the inner lives of sentient beings: qualia. There are many kinds of mental activity, and machines are excellent at one of them, "computation." Thus, for example, a powerful computer can often beat a grand master at chess. It uses brute force. One frustrated player said it was like allowing a fork lift to enter a weight-lifting contest. But qualia are different from analysis. Her...
When there is a conflict in some far-off place and the decision is made for the United States to intervene militarily, it is vital that our troops and their supplies and equipment get there fast. For this, a modern airlift fleet is essential. But some in Congress do not understand this and have created "artificial barriers" to providing the airlift necessary to accomplish efficient, rapid, and safe deployments. The Pentagon's strategic airlift strategy, we have been told, will require "300 capable strategic aircraft" to ferry our military personnel and their equipment to various future theaters of conflict.
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