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Craig Venter has been on a tear of invention and exploration. In 2004 he sailed around the world, discovering thousands of new species and sequencing millions of new genes. In 2007 he unveiled his own genome, unexpurgated (it revealed a predisposition for risk-taking, among other things). And in 2010 he announced the first successful synthesis of life—a unique critter borne from two distinct organisms, thus proving for the first time that it is indeed possible to create new organisms for specific purposes and functions. He is, in every respect, the epitome of an icon—a figure who has pushed science forward, sometimes by sheer force of will.
Photo: Joe Pugliese
Everyone’s favorite genome cowboy, profiled at Wired Science.
To get your appetite going, here’s some of his words about how the human genome project panned out, and where we’re going from here (emphasis mine):
“… what most people think about when it comes to genetics is personalized medicine. If we sequence your genome or my genome, what can we interpret, what can we predict for the future, what can we change? That’s in its absolute infancy. We’re at the point where we don’t need one genome or just a few genomes to interpret your genome. We need tens of thousands of genomes as a starting point, coupled with everything we can know about their physiology. It’s only when we do that giant computer search, putting all that DNA together, that we will be able to make sense in a meaningful statistical manner of what your DNA is telling you. We’re just at the start of trying to do that.”
This guy is hardcore.
6 hours ago / 106 notes / Source:
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(via spamthedamage)
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Paralyzed Woman Controls Robotic Arm With Her Mind
The world is just freaking amazing. Imagine being trapped in a body with barely functioning motor control for 15 years. This woman has lived that life, after having a stroke.
Thanks to Leigh Hochberg’s team at Brown University, a tiny chip implanted in her brain now lets her control a robotic arm. It’s called BrainGate2. She can reach out, grab, and manipulate objects with no more effort than her thoughts. The same effort that each of us make when we move our own arms.
This is such a heartwarming example of dedicated, hardcore scientific research affecting lives for the better. Just look at her face as she sips from the thermos (it’s at about 1:55, and you might get some dust in your eye).
Sure, space is an amazing frontier for inspiration. But if that doesn’t work out, we’ve got a whole lot of lives to change down here. And science is getting a great start.
Previously: A paralyzed man controls a prosthetic arm with his mind, high fives his girlfriend for the first time in years. (Additional face-water warning)
(via Wired Science)
20 hours ago / 152 notes / Source:
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Why people love Loki more than Thor
How Thor asks to borrow your horse:
How Loki asks to borrow your horse:
Case closed.
XDDD
(via kittycatrose)
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“Before our white brothers arrived to make us civilized men, we didn’t have any kind of prison. Because of this, we had no delinquents. Without a prison, there can be no delinquents. We had no locks nor keys and therefore among us there were no thieves.When someone was so poor that he couldn’t afford a horse, a tent or a blanket, he would, in that case, receive it all as a gift. We were too uncivilized to give great importance to private property. We didn’t know any kind of money and consequently, the value of a human being was not determined by his wealth. We had no written laws laid down, no lawyers, no politicians, therefore we were not able to cheat and swindle one another.We were really in bad shape before the white men arrived and I don’t know how to explain how we were able to manage without these fundamental things that (so they tell us) are so necessary for a civilized society.” — John (Fire) Lame Deer, Sioux Lakota, 1903-1976.
(via illuminary)
