Discovery of wound-healing genes in flies could mitigate human skin ailments | KurzweilAI
I never thought that I would find a reason to like flies, but this article has me thinking of them in a new way. God has a reason for everything and perhaps we are finally beginning to realize that even flies are important!
Discovery of wound-healing genes in flies could mitigate human skin ailments | KurzweilAI.
Biologists at UC San Diego have identified eight genes never before suspected to play a role in wound healing that are called into action near the areas where wounds occur.
Their discovery, detailed this week in the open-access journal PLOS ONE (open access), was made in the laboratory fruit fly Drosophila. But the biologists say many of the same genes that regulate biological processes in the hard exoskeleton, or cuticle, ofDrosophila also control processes in human skin.
“Many of the key molecules and proteins involved in Drosophila wound healing are involved in mammalian wound healing,” says Rachel Patterson, the first author who published the paper with Michelle Juarez and William McGinnis, a professor of biology and interim dean of the Division of Biological Sciences. “The genetics of Drosophila are not as complicated as mammalian genetics, so it’s easier to attribute specific biological functions to individual genes.” Read the rest at Discovery of wound-healing genes in flies could mitigate human skin ailments | KurzweilAI.
Bringing people back from the dead | KurzweilAI
Bringing people back from the dead | KurzweilAI.
A doctor says people can be revived several hours after they have seemingly died, BBC News reports. Should this change the way we think about death?
“While 45 minutes is absolutely remarkable and a lot of people would have written her off, we now know there are people who have been brought back, three, four, five hours after they’ve died and have led remarkably good quality lives,” says Dr Sam Parnia, the director of resuscitation research at Stony Brook University in New York. Read more at Bringing people back from the dead | KurzweilAI.
3D printer makes tiniest human liver ever | KurzweilAI
3D printer makes tiniest human liver ever | KurzweilAI.
Lab-grown livers have come a step closer to reality thanks to a 3D printer loaded with cells, New Scientistreports.
Created by Organovo in San Diego, California, future versions of the system could produce chunks of liver for transplant.
The mini-livers that Organovo made are just half a millimeter deep and 4 millimeters across but can perform most functions of the real thing.Read more at 3D printer makes tiniest human liver ever | KurzweilAI.
Watch video at http://bcove.me/x9tub6fr
Nanosponges soak up toxins released by bacterial infections and venom | KurzweilAI
Nanosponges soak up toxins released by bacterial infections and venom | KurzweilAI.
Engineers at the University of California, San Diegohave invented a “nanosponge” capable of safely removing a broad class of dangerous toxins from the bloodstream — including toxins produced by MRSA, E. coli, poisonous snakes and bees.
These nanosponges, thus far studied in mice, can neutralize “pore-forming toxins,” which destroy cells by poking holes in their cell membranes. Unlike other anti-toxin platforms that need to be custom-synthesized for individual toxin type, the nanosponges can absorb different pore-forming toxins regardless of their molecular structures. Read more: Nanosponges soak up toxins released by bacterial infections and venom | KurzweilAI.
Related articles
Wired Science Space Photo of the Day | Wired Science | Wired.com
Wired Science Space Photo of the Day | Wired Science | Wired.com.
A CTX image shows topographic cones in local depressions on Mars. What are these and how did they form?
This image reveals “rootless cones,” which form on lava flows that interact with subsurface water. They are in depressions because subsequent lava flowed around the base of the cones, then “inflated.” Lava inflation is a process where liquid is injected beneath the solid (thickening) crust and raises the whole surface, often raising it higher than the topography that controlled the initial lava emplacement.
This scene is in Amazonis Planitia, a vast region covered by flood lava. The surface is coated by a thin layer of reddish dust, which avalanches down steep slopes to make dark streaks.

New injectable hydrogel encourages regeneration and improves functionality after a heart attack | KurzweilAI
University of California, San Diego bioengineers havedemonstrated in a study in pigs that a new injectable hydrogel can repair damage from heart attacks, help the heart grow new tissue and blood vessels, and get the heart moving closer to how a healthy heart should.
The gel is injected through a catheter without requiring surgery or general anesthesia — a less invasive procedure for patients.
There are an estimated 785,000 new heart attack cases in the United States each year, with no established treatment for repairing the resulting damage to cardiac tissue.
Lead researcher Karen Christman, a professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, said the gel forms a scaffold in damaged areas of the heart, encouraging new cell growth and repair. Because the gel is made from heart tissue taken from pigs, the damaged heart responds positively, creating a harmonious environment for rebuilding, rather than setting off a chain of adverse immune system defenses.
“While more people today are initially surviving heart attacks, many will eventually go into heart failure,” said Christman. “Our data show that this hydrogel can increase cardiac muscle and reduce scar tissue in the region damaged by the heart attack, which prevents heart failure. These results suggest this may be a novel minimally invasive therapy to prevent heart failure after a heart attack in humans.” Read the rest at New injectable hydrogel encourages regeneration and improves functionality after a heart attack | KurzweilAI.
Using 3-D Printing and Injectable Molds, Bioengineered Ears Look and Act Like the Real Thing
Using 3-D Printing and Injectable Molds, Bioengineered Ears Look and Act Like the Real Thing.
Released: 2/19/2013 5:00 PM EST
Embargo expired:
Source Newsroom: Cornell University
Newswise — Cornell bioengineers and physicians have created an artificial ear – using 3-D printing and injectable molds – that looks and acts like a natural ear, giving new hope to thousands of children born with a congenital deformity called microtia.
In a study published online Feb. 20 in PLOS One, Cornell biomedical engineers and Weill Cornell Medical College physicians described how 3-D printing and injectable gels made of living cells can fashion ears that are practically identical to a human ear. Over a three-month period, these flexible ears grew cartilage to replace the collagen that was used to mold them.
“This is such a win-win for both medicine and basic science, demonstrating what we can achieve when we work together,” said co-lead author Lawrence Bonassar, associate professor of biomedical engineering.
The novel ear may be the solution reconstructive surgeons have long wished for to help children born with ear deformity, said co-lead author Dr. Jason Spector, director of the Laboratory for Bioregenerative Medicine and Surgery and associate professor of plastic surgery at Weill Cornell in New York City.
“A bioengineered ear replacement like this would also help individuals who have lost part or all of their external ear in an accident or from cancer,” Spector said.
Replacement ears are usually constructed with materials that have a Styrofoam-like consistency, or sometimes, surgeons build ears from a patient’s harvested rib. This option is challenging and painful for children, and the ears rarely look completely natural or perform well, Spector said.
To make the ears, Bonassar and colleagues started with a digitized 3-D image of a human subject’s ear, and converted the image into a digitized “solid” ear using a 3-D printer to assemble a mold.
This Cornell-developed, high-density gel is similar to the consistency of Jell-o when the mold is removed. The collagen served as a scaffold upon which cartilage could grow.
The process is also fast, Bonassar added: “It takes half a day to design the mold, a day or so to print it, 30 minutes to inject the gel, and we can remove the ear 15 minutes later. We trim the ear and then let it culture for several days in nourishing cell culture media before it is implanted.” Read the rest at Using 3-D Printing and Injectable Molds, Bioengineered Ears Look and Act Like the Real Thing.
txchnologist.com/post/43496630304/temporary-tattoos-could-make-electronic-telepathy
txchnologist.com/post/43496630304/temporary-tattoos-could-make-electronic-telepathy.
by Charles Q. Choi
Temporary electronic tattoos could soon help people fly drones with only thought and talk seemingly telepathically without speech over smartphones, researchers say.
Commanding machines using the brain is no longer the stuff of science fiction. In recent years, brain implants have enabled people to control robotics using only their minds, raising the prospect that one day patients could overcome disabilities using bionic limbs or mechanical exoskeletons.
But brain implants are invasive technologies, probably of use only to people in medical need of them. Instead, electrical engineer Todd Coleman at the University of California at San Diego is devising noninvasive means of controlling machines via the mind, techniques virtually everyone might be able to use.
His team is developing wireless flexible electronics one can apply on the forehead just like temporary tattoos to read brain activity.
“We want something we can use in the coffee shop to have fun,” Coleman says.
The devices are less than 100 microns thick, the average diameter of a human hair. They consist of circuitry embedded in a layer or rubbery polyester that allow them to stretch, bend and wrinkle. They are barely visible when placed on skin, making them easy to conceal from others.
The devices can detect electrical signals linked with brain waves, and incorporate solar cells for power and antennas that allow them to communicate wirelessly or receive energy. Other elements can be added as well, like thermal sensors to monitor skin temperature and light detectors to analyze blood oxygen levels.
Using the electronic tattoos, Coleman and his colleagues have found they can detect brain signals reflective of mental states, such as recognition of familiar images. One application they are now pursuing is monitoring premature babies to detect the onset of seizures that can lead to epilepsy or brain development problems. The devices are now being commercialized for use as consumer, digital health, medical device, and industrial and defense products by startup MC10 in Cambridge, Mass.
Read the rest at txchnologist.com/post/43496630304/temporary-tattoos-could-make-electronic-telepathy.
The Watchers – Exploding fireballs reported all over the globe: Japan, Russia, Cuba…
The Watchers – Exploding fireballs reported all over the globe: Japan, Russia, Cuba….
In last 2 days exploding fireballs were reported on all sides of the world – Russia, Kazakhstan, Japan, Australia, Cuba, South Africa, Morocco, Germany, Switzerland, northern Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, UK…
An enormous fireball was reported by numerous witnesses over Belgium, Netherlands and Germany on February 13, 2013. The sight lasted from 10 – 20 seconds. There were two separate fragmentations that shone brightly, one witness reported. Apparently it was part of Soyuz rocked it still remains unclear what it was exactly. One Soyuz was launched but on February 11th: The 1800th flight of a Soyuz launch vehicle was performed on Monday, 11 February 2013 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 18:41 Moscow time (15:41 Paris time). Arianespace and its Russian partners report that the Progress cargo spacecraft was accurately placed on the target orbit for another mission to the International Space Station. This was the second Soyuz family mission in 2013. Detailed reports here.
Russian exploding fireball was covered in-depth and most people only heard about that one. First reports came early February 15, 2013 at about 01:00 UTC. During the morning hours Russian military discovered a 6-meter crater, normal background radiation was reported. Russian Academy of Science said the meteorite weighed 10 tons before it entered Earth’s atmosphere but some reports mentioned 50 tons. The meteorite exploded nine times, starting at an altitude of 55 kilometers. Read the rest at The Watchers – Exploding fireballs reported all over the globe: Japan, Russia, Cuba….
Extinction-Level Supervolcano Growing in the Pacific – Pt 2 | Earthquakes
Extinction-Level Supervolcano Growing in the Pacific – Pt 2 | Earthquakes.
Related articles

CEH: Rare Moments of Glory: Planetary Scientists Admit Seeing “Lucky” Circumstances
CEH: Rare Moments of Glory: Planetary Scientists Admit Seeing “Lucky” Circumstances.
Why are we seeing young phenomena in the planets if they are billions of years old? Some scientists are abandoning uniformitarian assumptions and admitting we are lucky to be witnessing them in “rare moments of glory.”
In Nature this week, Maggie McKee interviewed scientists who are struggling with short-lived phenomena in the solar system. The subtitle of her article, “Caught in the Act,” states, “We may be seeing some of the Solar System’s most striking objects during rare moments of glory.” Her first two paragraphs elaborate why this is unsettling for some:
Ever since Copernicus evicted Earth from its privileged spot at the centre of the Solar System, researchers have embraced the idea that there is nothing special about our time and place in the Universe.What observers see now, they presume, has been going on for billions of years — and will continue for eons to come.
But observations of the distant reaches of the Solar System made in the past few years are challenging that concept. The most active bodies out there — Jupiter’s moon Io and Saturn’s moons Enceladus and Titan — may be putting on limited-run shows that humans are lucky to witness. Saturn’s brilliant rings, too, might have appeared relatively recently, and could grow dingy over time. Some such proposals make planetary researchers uncomfortable, because it is statistically unlikely that humans would catch any one object engaged in unusualactivity — let alone several.
It seems a bitter pill for some planetary scientists to “go against the grain of one of geology’s founding principles: uniformitarianism, which states that planets are shaped by gradual, ongoing processes,” she wrote. Then she quoted Jeff More (NASA-Ames) who explained that “Geologists like things to be the same as they ever were” because it’s “philosophically comforting because you don’t have to assume you’re living in special times.” Why that should be “comforting” was not explained. Read the rest: CEH: Rare Moments of Glory: Planetary Scientists Admit Seeing “Lucky” Circumstances.

Zinc helps against infection by tapping brakes in immune response
Zinc helps against infection by tapping brakes in immune response.
February 7, 2013 by Emily Caldwell in Immunology
Scientists determined in human cell culture and animal studies that a protein lures zinc into key cells that are first-responders against infection. The zinc then interacts with a process that is vital to the fight against infection and by doing so helps balance the immune response. This study revealed for the first time that zinc homes in on this pathway and helps shut it down, effectively ensuring that the immune response does not spiral out of control. The team led by Ohio State University researchers also found that if there is not enough zinc available at the time of infection, the consequences include excessive inflammation. In this research, zinc’s activity was studied in the context of sepsis, a devastating systemic response to infection that is a common cause of death in intensive-care unit patients. But scientists say these findings might also help explain why taking zinc tablets at the start of a common cold appears to help stem the effects of the illness. “We do believe that to some extent, these findings are going to be applicable to other important areas of disease beyond sepsis,” said Daren Knoell, senior author of the study and a professor of pharmacy and internal medicine at Ohio State. “Without zinc on board to begin with, it could increase vulnerability to infection. But our work is focused on what happens once you get an infection – if you are deficient in zinc you are at a disadvantage because your defense system is amplified, and inappropriately so. “The benefit to health is explicit: Zinc is beneficial because it stops the action of a protein, ultimately preventing excess inflammation.” While this study and previous work linking zinc deficiency to inflammation might suggest that supplementation could help very sick ICU patients, it’s still too early to make that leap.
Read more at: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-zinc-infection-immune-response.html#jCp
Chapter 29: When Does Life Begin? – Answers in Genesis
Chapter 29: When Does Life Begin? – Answers in Genesis.
It is fairly easy for those who feel no real responsibility for their actions, or those who don’t believe that they will have to face judgment someday, to tell the world that life does not begin at conception and that the baby in the womb is just a bunch of cells. What they neglect to tell is the rest of the story and that is that we are all a bunch of cells but that life itself is scientifically established with the dividing of those cell, at least human life is. They like to convince people that abortion is acceptable not because they don’t believe in life, but because they don’t believe in anything but themselves. To admit to something greater would be to admit to the possibility that they might have to take some responsibility for their actions at some time. They prefer to live a life that is simply filled with whatever they desire, the mentality that says if it feels good, do it. If there is an unwanted reaction to that lifestyle, it is easier to dispose of if you can deny the reality of it. These same people will also argue the worth of life or the quality of life. As if by some accidental arrangement of their brains, they have the right to decide who is worthy and what quality of life they have. They would like to be able to euthanize the disabled, the elderly or simply those that they find burdensome. These are the lawless of our society. The ones who want to do as they will, if they can change the laws they will, if they can not, the laws are something to be gotten around. Their only value on life is what it brings them. They would rather treat the Word of God as a history book that doesn’t fit todays lifestyle, rather than a book by the Creator that emcompasses all of creation itself and warns regularly of the consequences of our actions. Please take time to visit the site and consider the book written by Tommy Mitchell MD and God bless! An excerpt is below!!!
Who Is More Human?
Life is a continuum. From the season of growing in the womb to being born, from playing as a child to growing older, each stage of life seems to blend gracefully (or not so gracefully in my case) into the next. Life progresses and time passes, culminating in death. Death, a very visible end point, is more easily defined than the point at which the continuum of human life begins.
Where is the starting point? If life is indeed a continual process, can we not just work backward to its beginning? There are a variety of opinions about life’s beginnings. Many say life begins at conception. Others argue strongly that life does not start until implantation in the womb. Still others say that human life begins only when the umbilical cord is cut, making the newborn child an independent agent. How is fact separated from opinion?
Perhaps another way to ask the question is, when do we become human? Certainly a child sitting on grandpa’s knee or a fully grown adult would be considered human. Is the adult more human than the child? Of course not. No reasonable person would consider the child to be less human. At what point along the journey did this child become human? Was it at conception, somewhere during his development, or at birth?
Doug Ross @ Journal: The 5 Most Mind-Blowing 3-D Printed Objects Of 2012
Doug Ross @ Journal: The 5 Most Mind-Blowing 3-D Printed Objects Of 2012.
Wired Science Space Photo of the Day | Wired Science | Wired.com
Wired Science Space Photo of the Day | Wired Science | Wired.com.
Microbiologist Skipper | Vol 33 | Creation Magazine
Microbiologist Skipper | Vol 33 | Creation Magazine.
Soil microbiologist: Evolution no help in research
Don Batten interviews Professor ‘Skip’ Skipper
©iStockphoto/MikeCanada

Horace D. Skipper is Professor Emeritus, Soil Microbiology, College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences, Clemson University, South Carolina, USA. He has a B.S. from North Carolina State University, M.S. from Oregon State University and a Ph.D. from Oregon State. His main field of research and teaching concerns microbes that benefit plant growth. He was also honoured to be elected President of Clemson University’s Faculty Senate.
Dr ‘Skip’ Skipper
I met Dr Skipper when I spoke at the Creation Study Group meeting in Greenville SC last year. Dr Skipper’s research includes the role of beneficial soil organisms in plant growth and also the degradation of pollutants and pesticides.1
Skip got saved at the age of 30 when he turned away from his sins and recognized that Jesus died on his behalf to take the punishment he deserved. He recognizes that he could not earn this salvation; it is undeserved. He says, “There is no way I can work hard enough or be good enough to merit eternal life.” He totally accepts the Bible’s teaching on Jesus’ supernatural conception, resurrection, ascension, as well as creation in six days, the global Flood of Noah’s day, etc. Dr Skipper sees no conflict between believing the Bible and his scientific research and knowledge.
Skip became particularly interested in the creation-evolution debate in the early 1990s after hearing Dr D. James Kennedy (Coral Ridge Ministries) on a DVD, where he showed the link between abortion and other social issues and evolutionary dogma. Dr Skipper is active with the Creation Study Group2 in Greenville SC.
Read the rest at Creation.com
Looking for Origins in All the Wrong Places – Creation Revolution
Looking for Origins in All the Wrong Places – Creation Revolution.
Looking for Origins in All the Wrong Places
Virtually all major branches of science were founded by men and women seeking to understand God’s creation. They didn’t question the origin of the universe or of life because they already had the answer before them in God’s Word. As in the days of old man started to turn away from God and worship the creation more than the Creator.
With the advent of the theory of evolution many more have turned from the Creator to the creation. Now they no longer have the knowledge of the creation of the universe and of life and they seek to find answers in places that will not give them answers. Most have turned to look at some form of primordial mud puddle which somehow miraculously produced the first living cell. They look at molecules and form proteins, enzymes, acids, bases, and organic compounds to be the progenitors of life. They kneel before the periodic table and pray that it will give up its secrets, to no avail.
Realizing that none of their theories of how all these chemicals and compounds could come together to create a living cell will work, a pair scientists from Arizona State University are suggesting they look in another direction. Paul Davies and a Sara Walker suggest that trying to understand the right chemical makeup for the origin of life is not sufficient. They believe that it is also necessary to try to understand how chemical information organizes itself into the life creating processes.
Walker describes the process much like the workings of a computer that needs both hardware and software programming, saying:
When we describe biological processes we typically use informational narratives – cells send out signals, developmental programs are run, coded instructions are read, genomic data are transmitted between generations and so forth. So identifying life’s origin in the way information is processed and managed can open up new avenues for research.
Read more: http://creationrevolution.com/2012/12/looking-for-origins-in-all-the-wrong-places/#ixzz2Fb0SeCTK
Did Meteors Trigger Noah’s Flood? (via Answers in Genesis)

Geologists are uncovering mounting evidence of asteroids and meteorites that struck the earth during the past. Are these extraterrestrial missiles somehow related to the initiation of the Flood?
Have you ever wondered what triggered the Genesis Flood? Genesis 7:11 tells us that a unique geologic event took place at the same moment as the Flood began: “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.”
Most creation geologists believe that the opening of “the fountains of the great deep” refers to the breakup of the earth’s crust into plates.1The subsequent rapid, catastrophic movement of these plates would have released huge quantities of hot subterranean waters and molten rock into the ocean. As the hot water gushed through the fractured seafloor, the water flashed into superheated steam and shot high into the atmosphere as supersonic steam jets, carrying sea water that eventually fell as rain.
But what catastrophe might God have used to cause the earth’s crust—many miles thick—to crack? Some have suggested a meteorite or asteroid impact of unprecedented size and scope.2Do we find any evidence? Geologists have discovered some gargantuous remnant craters and piles of debris, leftover from massive impacts that easily fit the bill. Read the rest at Answers in Genesis

Incredible Time Reversal Technology Can Change The Future – MessageToEagle.com
Incredible Time Reversal Technology Can Change The Future – MessageToEagle.com.
I think that this is a fascinating story on many levels. We constantly find those who argue with us that “Even God has to obey the laws.” I find that odd because they can’t seem to get their heads around the fact that the One who created the laws surely can fathom what they are and how they work. In their arrogance they assume that man has discovered everything that there is to discover and therefore because they see limits, think that He is limited. The creator of time, the universe and everything in it, is so far beyond what we can perceive that it is foolish to try to bind Him into something that will fit into some small box so that we can bundle Him up and show Him off as some kind of tool that faulty men can use to their own advantage. There are so many things that we are just beginning to understand and the great I am has no need for the limits of time that we see around us.
The Wonders and Glory of God’s Creation

Animation of the structure of a section of DNA. The bases lie horizontally between the two spiraling strands. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The beauty and wonder of God‘s handiwork surrounds in all it’s splendor! We see it in the mathematics of creation, in the blueprint of our own DNA and the structure of every single thing that exist on earth and throughout the universe.There are many who would rather assume that all things came together by accident and that is their choice. God forces no one to believe in Him, but those that would so willingly and blindly ignore the abundance of evidence around them are sad in a way. In denying God, they limit themselves to the smallness of their existence and erase any hope of taking part in the wonder of God’s majesty and wholeness of His promise. Each of the videos I am presenting below show us the majesty of God and the wonders that we are still finding to this day. The very last video is one that I think should impress even the skeptical who have an answer for everything. The Bible tells us that God knows the number of sands on the earth, and it seems as if He has many more ways to record that information than we even suspected. God bless and enjoy!
Psalm 8 God’s Glory and Man’s Dominion
O LORD, our Lord,
How excellent is your name in all the earth,
You who set Your glory above the heavens!
Out of the mouth of babes and infants
You have ordained strength,
Because of Your enemies,
That You may silence the enemy and avenge the avenger.
When I consider Your heavens, the
work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which you
have ordained,
What is man that You are mindful of
him,
And the son of man that You visit
him?
For You have made him a little lower
than the angels,
And You have crowned him with glory
and honor.
You have made him to have dominion
over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet.
All sheep and oxen—
Even the beast of the field,
The birds of the air,
And the fish of the sea
That pass through the paths of the seas.
O LORD, our Lord
How excellent is Your name in all the
earth!
Hat tip to Message to Eagle for this video

Pharisees Commit the Unpardonable Sin Matthew 12:31-37
The Holy Spirit depicted as a dove, surrounded by angels, by Giaquinto, 1750s. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
“Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.
“Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in in this age or in the age to come.
“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.
“Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart a mouth speaks.
“A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.
“But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.
“For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Related articles
- Words Come From the Heart (christianresolutions2012.wordpress.com)
- What is the sin of the world? (thepauls.wordpress.com)



























