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Archive for the ‘cyborgs’ category: Page 120

Jan 16, 2016

Your bones could soon heal a whole lot better thanks to polymer nanoshells

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, cyborgs, transhumanism

Might we one day have bionic body parts able to ward off disease and injury and even heal themselves? Today it’s still the stuff of sci-fi movies, but there are regular breakthroughs in the field of medical science that suggest that such a future might one day be possible – one example is a new nanoshell treatment from a team working at the University of Michigan in the US and reported in Gizmag.

Instead of using foreign cells or molecules to patch up and regrow damaged bone tissue, the new technique uses polymer nanoshells – microscopic capsules inside the body – to deliver microRNA molecules right to the site of an injury. Once the shells begin to break down, the microRNA molecules are released and instruct the surrounding cells to ‘switch on’ their natural bone-building and healing mechanisms. It’s a bit like a site manager arriving on the scene of a broken-down development and telling his construction workers to get busy with the rebuilding process.

There are a couple of key advantages to this new technique. One, the shell is designed to degrade slowly, leading to a gradual release of the microRNA molecules and thus ongoing restorative treatment that can last for a month or more. Second, the process uses the body’s own cells rather than introducing foreign healing agents – an approach that can sometimes cause cell rejection or even tumours associated with the injury.

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Jan 15, 2016

‘Spermbots’ are a bionic suit for your sperm

Posted by in categories: cyborgs, transhumanism

One of the main causes of infertility in men is low sperm motility. That is to say, the sperm are present and alive, but they have the swimming prowess of a toddler that’s afraid to lose its water wings.

In short, they just aren’t fast enough to reach the egg.

It’s hard to fault them, I can’t get to the front door fast enough for the FedEx guy not to leave my package in the bushes these days.

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Jan 13, 2016

7 Mind-Blowing Digital Health Tools That Could Disrupt Health Care in 2016

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing, cyborgs, electronics, existential risks, health, wearables

Wow!!! Chewing gum wearable technology, Cyborg Chips, Ingestible sensors to let doctors know if you’re taking your meds, etc. 2016 is going to be interesting


The phrase “Brave New World” has become one of the most often used clichés in medical technology in recent years. Google the title of Aldous Huxley’s 1932 dystopian, and anticipatory, novel with the word medicine and 2,940,000 results appear.

But could there be better shorthand to describe some of the recent developments in medical, health and bio-tech? Consider these possibilities coming to fruition, or close to, in 2016:

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Jan 10, 2016

We’re already living in the cyborg future

Posted by in categories: cyborgs, robotics/AI, transhumanism

This article does bring one interesting question up for the broader population to really ask themselves and that is at what point does an individual truly become a Cyborg v. not? And, how do we know for sure that some of us are not already there given the bionic implants, our daily interactions and addiction to technology. Definitely, something for each person to think about.


Roy Batty was born—sorry, “incepted”—Friday, Jan. 8, 2016. The Blade Runner replicant, played with aggressive melancholy by Rutger Hauer, went on to see attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion and watch C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate before delivering one of sci-fi’s most moving soliloquies on life, memory, and mortality. And then he was lost, like tears in the rain.

Quibble if you want: Batty was an android, a replicant—not a cyborg. But in Blade Runner he wasn’t one half of the man versus machine binary. He was the complication—the living, breathing proof that a mere assemblage of technology could be, in fact, more human than human. This refusal of a simple division—the belief that sometimes machines could show us humanity, even as humans could become like machines—was a hallmark of Philip K. Dick’s later work, and it’s distilled to its essence in Batty.

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Jan 9, 2016

I became a cyborg to feel older, not stronger

Posted by in categories: cyborgs, humor, life extension

Really nice. I may actually see the day that I can climb Everest or K2 at 100 yrs old with my cyborg body.


I like to joke that I’m technically 33 years old, but on the inside I’m 65. I’m less inclined to make that joke after spending 20 minutes or so inside Genworth’s “Aging Experience” exoskeleton. The R70i, which apparently is a barely coded reference to the fact that 70 percent of Americans will need some sort of long term care as they age, is a full body simulator that lets you experience what its like to lose your sight, hearing and even range of motion as the effects of aging creep in.

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Jan 8, 2016

This exoskeleton lets you know what it is to age

Posted by in categories: cyborgs, electronics, life extension

An Aging Suit: This Exoskeleton lets you know what it feels like to get older.

Interesting use of the latest tech being shown at the largest consumer electronics show in the world CES 2016.

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Jan 7, 2016

Meet the Man With a Thought-Controlled Robotic Arm

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, cyborgs, physics, robotics/AI

Johnny Matheny is the first person to attach a mind-controlled prosthetic limb directly to his skeleton. After losing his arm to cancer in 2008, Johnny signed up for a number of experimental surgeries to prepare himself to use a DARPA-funded prosthetic prototype. The Modular Prosthetic Limb, developed by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, allows Johnny to regain almost complete range of motion through the Bluetooth-controlled arm. (Video by Drew Beebe, Brandon Lisy) (Source: Bloomberg)

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Jan 7, 2016

New synthetic molecular prosthetic cell acts as AND gate for disease treatment

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, cyborgs, singularity

And the Singularity rolls ever on. And on.


“Cytokine converter” AND-gate synthetic-biology prosthesis used to treat psoriasis in mice. Top left: skin before; right: skin after. (credit: Lina Schukur et al./Science Translational Medicine)

An advanced “molecular prosthetic” — a cell with synthetic gene circuits that can be implanted into an organism to take over metabolic functions that the organism cannot perform itself — has been developed by ETH Zurich scientists.

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Jan 1, 2016

We will someday transform into immortal cyborgs, claims Zoltan Istvan

Posted by in categories: cyborgs, genetics, life extension, transhumanism

Zoltan Istvan, you re in the Daily Mail.


California-based, Zoltan Istvan, is leader of the Transhumanst party, and believes that mind uploading, cyborg body augmentation, and genetic manipulation could help us live forever.

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Dec 30, 2015

Computer-on-Modules Enable First Bionic Leg with No Surgery or Implants

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing, cyborgs, electronics, transhumanism

Small Form Factor Technology Solves Complexities of Thought-Controlled Leg Prosthetics

Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago has developed the first neural-controlled bionic leg, using no nerve redirection surgery or implanted sensors. It’s a powerful advancement in prosthetics, including motorized knee and ankle, and control enabled by the patient’s own neural signals. Powered by a tiny but powerful Computer-on-Module platform, this thought-controlled prosthetic represents a significant breakthrough in medical embedded design, improving patients’ lives and mobility with a prosthetic that more closely than ever acts like a fully-functioning natural limb.

The technology of prosthetic limbs has come a long way over time, yet options are still limited for leg amputees. While simple peg legs have evolved to more sophisticated and realistic artificial limbs, the patient was forced to undergo nerve surgery or endure invasive implants. And even though the technology to produce through-controlled mechanized arms has existed for some time, the complexities of leg motion have kept it from being successfully applied in leg prosthetics. Without the ability to move and control the knee and ankle, the prosthetic leg remained a passive solution for patients struggling to replicate natural leg motion.

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