tagged w/ Biotech
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From Rodale Institute comes this very interesting article describing new methods for potential salmonella contamination in the industrial 'food' web.From Rodale Institute comes this very interesting article describing new methods for... more
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Latin America is a prime marketing target for Big Biotech's little darlings, often tagged "semillas asasinas" or "killer seeds" for their devastating impacts on local food stocks. Now the killer GMOs are suspected of literally provoking murder most foul.Latin America is a prime marketing target for Big Biotech's little darlings,... more
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The increasing costs of production and the falling farm prices that go hand in hand with globalisation and corporate hijack of seed supply, combined with the decline in farm credit is putting an unbearable debt burden on farmers. The lure of huge profits linked with clever advertising strategies evolved by the seeds and chemical industries are forcing farmers into a chemical treadmill and a debt trap. It has been witnessed that across the country, farmers are taking the desperate step of ending their life. The pesticides, which had created debt, also became the source of ending indebted lives. More than 150,000 farmers have committed suicide in India due to distortions introduced in agriculture as a result of trade liberalisation. More than 20,000 farmers have committed suicide in Andhra Pradesh alone. After the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in July 2006, the suicide has increased alarmingly, reaching more than 1400 with debt trap cotton farmers putting an end to their lives in Vidharbha region alone.
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Apart from providing guidance and help to the farmers for the revival of agriculture, Navdanya, under the "Asha ke Beej" (Seeds of Hope) program, distributed the indigenous variety of seeds to the farmers and encouraged them to shift to organic and sustainable agriculture. More than 6000 farmers were distributed indigenous seeds.
Navdanya also realized that one of the crisis farmers were facing was a seed famine created by Monsanto. Navdanya therefore started a seed bank in Kalaspur village. And on 2nd and 3rd June seeds were distributed from the seed bank in villages in Vidharbha.
Navdanya is committed to ending the vicious cycle of violence in agriculture, which is leading to farmers' suicides. We are committed to strengthening the virtuous cycles of peace based on cooperation with nature and among communities to promote a sustainable and life enhancing food system.
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People taking it upon themselves to fight Monsanto and give people hope gives me hope. Dr. Vandana Shiva is a woman who has been fighting for farmers and women, and against Monsanto and corporate ownership of seeds and resources including water for years. She is a heroine whom I personally love and respect very much for her tireless work on behalf of others.
The increasing costs of production and the falling farm prices that go hand in hand... more
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To rid the world of migraines, Eli Lilly has joined forces with a German biotech startup that makes drugs from unusually twisted molecules.
Noxxon Pharma will test experimental drugs made from short strands of RNA, which is ordinarily quite delicate. Enzymes called nucleases can destroy the stringy substance within minutes. With a few sophisticated tricks, the German company can create sturdy molecules that tangle themselves up around a chemical that causes headaches. According to the Noxxon website, those chemicals have the added benefit of not stirring up the immune system, something that biopharmaceutical companies always worry about.
To discover the experimental drugs, researchers sort through a cocktail of over 1,000,000,000,000,000 stringy molecules -- looking for the few that can stick to a headache-causing substance. That process is sometimes referred to as in vitro selection or SELEX -- systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment.
By using L-ribose, a sugar that is the mirror image of its natural counterpart, D-ribose, the researchers give each experimental drug the ability to survive in bodily fluids. Nucleases in those liquids would tear the experimental drugs to shreds, if they could recognize them, but the left-handed rotation of each sugar imparts each molecule with a twisted shape that runs in the opposite direction of their natural counterparts -- allowing them to slip through the body undetected.
The exciting announcement, made yesterday, marks the beginning of what could be a very long research project. Since the experimental drugs have not been tested on humans yet, they will not be on the market for at least five years.To rid the world of migraines, Eli Lilly has joined forces with a German biotech... more
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kushan
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added this
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3 years ago
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Scientists at the University of Nevada say they've figured out how make a human-sheep chimera. That's a sheep with 85 per cent animal cells and 15 per cent human cells.
It's done by an elegant process of sucking stem cells out from a person's bone marrow and injecting them into the unripe belly of a sheep fetus. The apparent point is to one day let animals rather courteously grow our organs for human transplant.
Here's the deal — the only place where human bone marrow and sheep fetuses should be mixed together is the grinder in a hotdog factory. And sheepmen? Really? We'll bet a good portion of our readers have turned off the filtering on Google Image Search and accidentally seen drawings of what some people fantasize doing to human/animal hybrid creatures. (And Mrs. Buttersworth too, apparently. I still have nightmares.)
If all that's not enough to scare you, this author has a handy little reference manual called a "D&D sourcebook" and it flat-out says Chimera are by nature chaotic evil. And 2d6+4 bite attacks aren't something our children should be exposed toScientists at the University of Nevada say they've figured out how make a... more
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Documentary filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin's film "Le Monde selon Monsanto" ("The World According to Monsanto") explores the history and future direction of chemical and so-called "life sciences" industrial company Monsanto. Based in St. Louis, Missouri, Monsanto was founded in 1901 to manufacture the synthetic sweetener saccharin. The multinational biotech company in the intervening decades has produced styrene and PCBs; became the leading producer of Agent Orange used in the Vietnam War; manufactures Roundup, the best-selling herbicide; and has advanced the development of genetically engineered seeds and bovine growth hormone. The company has also had a history of mergers and spin-offs, and in 2000 merged with Pharmacia and Upjohn.
"Le Monde selon Monsanto" aired on the French-German television network ARTE earlier this year, and had its premiere in Switzlerland in February. Marie-Monique Robin's film -- based on her book "Le Monde selon Monsanto" -- is the result of three years of research and interviews from around the world, and explores the biotech giant's legal battles and controversies in the manufacture of toxic herbicides and the production of genetically modified organisms. Monsanto currently markets its brand as a "life sciences" company emphasizing its green image.
"Le Monde selon Monsanto" will have public screenings at Ex-Centris in Montreal on Friday, May 23; at Cinéma Le Clap in Quebec City starting Friday, May 23; and at the Toronto Mediatheque on Monday, May 26.
Check out the National Film Board of Canada's newsletter for details:
http://www.nfb.ca/newsletters/20080514/
The NFB / ONF site for further film information:
http://nfb.ca/webextension/monsanto/?ec=en20080514
"Le Monde selon Monsanto" (ARTE.tv official site -- in French)
http://www.arte.tv/fr/connaissance-decouverte/Le-monde-selon-Monsanto/1912794.html
Documentary filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin's film "Le Monde selon... more
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The new material can be poured over a site and will stop the bleeding almost at once.The first application, pending Food and Drug Administration approval, will be for use during surgery to quickly stop bleeding and even prevent it in the first place.The new material can be poured over a site and will stop the bleeding almost at... more
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Meet Mike, a scientist at Insmed, a Boulder, Colorado-based biotechnology company. Mike wants Washington to act now to allow access to safe, affordable follow-on biologics, or biogeneric medicines to treat diseases like cancer, MS, anemia, Lou Gehrig's disease or kidney failure.
Help Mike by telling your story about why Congress needs to act in the interest of patients, savings and competition.
While an estimated $20 billion worth of biologic drugs are expected to come off patent by 2015, no approval pathway currently exists at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to make follow-on biologics available to patients. Without this important pathway biotech companies will continue to have a monopoly and competition will not exist in the market. Without competition access to these critical medicines will remain expensive and will continue to drive up the overall healthcare expenditures in the US.Meet Mike, a scientist at Insmed, a Boulder, Colorado-based biotechnology company.... more
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Meet the hybrid car that gets over 100 miles to the gallon.
You can see it all here:
http://science.discovery.com/video/invention-nation.html
We are never limited by ideas and inventions, we are only limited by lack of financial resources to do it. -Stopnoise 2008 [T]Meet the hybrid car that gets over 100 miles to the gallon.
You can see it all... more
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A contest that asks lab techs and scientists how they would "rethink" PCR. People who post get a free tshirt and a change to win an iPhone. Some of the top entries so far:
"I think PCR is Ponder Cycle and Regret"
"I think the only thing my cycler amplifies is my temper"
"I think the 'hot start' I've been using is more like 'not start'"A contest that asks lab techs and scientists how they would "rethink" PCR.... more
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Mojave
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added this
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4 years ago
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Ever finish drunk texting somebody, and think "hmm, I wonder how my liver is doing?"
A Korean biotech firm has created a device that allows you to check the health of your liver from your cell phone by checking two enzymes in your blood stream.
Weird?Ever finish drunk texting somebody, and think "hmm, I wonder how my liver is... more
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But next spring, for the first time, Mr. Green intends to plant beets genetically engineered to withstand Monsantos powerful Roundup herbicide. The Roundup will destroy the weeds but leave his crop unscathed, potentially saving him thousands of dollars in tractor fuel and labor.
For Mr. Green and many other beet farmers, it is technology too long delayed. And the engineered beets could pave the way for the eventual planting of other biotech crops like wheat, rice and potatoes, which were also stalled on the launching pad.
?!??!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
Sorry, for repeating graphic, but it's so fitting.
But next spring, for the first time, Mr. Green intends to plant beets genetically... more
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In a major breakthrough, neurologists are reporting that they can decipher neurological impulses into speech with an 80% accuracy. A paralyzed man who is incapable of speech has electrodes implanted in his brain which detect the electrical pulses in the brain relating to speech. These signals are then fed into computers which covert these pulses into signals suitable for speech synthesis. As a biotech marvel, this is astonishing. Depending on the rate of development it is possible to imagine Professor Hawking migrating to this, as it would be immune to any further loss of body movement and would vastly accelerate his ability to talk. On the flip-side, direct brain I/O is also a major step towards William Gibson's Neuromancer and other cyberpunk dark futures.
via /.In a major breakthrough, neurologists are reporting that they can decipher... more
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Coming soon: home biotech tinkering. Attila Chordash (real name? is that possible?) says "all you need is a short course in biotech basics, a few thousands of bucks, some tinkering capability, and enough spare time."
Like most things from The Future, this is simultaneously really exciting and freak-out scary.Coming soon: home biotech tinkering. Attila Chordash (real name? is that possible?)... more
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sloan
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added this
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4 years ago
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Saw Juan Enriquez speak at a Long Now Foundation lecture last night in SF -- it was a panoramic discussion of biotechnology, computer science, economics, education, religion, the rise and fall of societies... almost too much to process, actually.
But one thing that stuck was his mention of a recent experiment that is being hailed as the first example of synthetic life. He says it's the biotech equivalent of the transistor. More info in this Gizmodo piece.Saw Juan Enriquez speak at a Long Now Foundation lecture last night in SF -- it was a... more
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sloan
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added this
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4 years ago
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One of my brothers worked in biotech with corn for years. Biotech was able to develop corn that is sweeter. Corn that gives a 40% higher yield. Plants that are resistant to bugs. Corn that grows with less water for arrid nations.All of this was done by putting 2 or more plants together. They do it with Orchids and Roses all the time. It's nature working with more nature. Organic produce actually uses more insecticides than Biotech produce. The Monarch butterflies did not die because of Biotech. They didn't die at all. They simply moved on due to the fact that the corn had no bugs for them to eat. Because someone like my brother mixed a sweet corn with one that naturally resists bugs. One of my brothers worked in biotech with corn for years. Biotech was able to develop... more
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Marlys
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added this
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4 years ago
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