All Posts Tagged With: "Technology"

Move over Jamie Sommers, Bionics are about to become a reality. Researches at the University of Manchester have successfully transformed fat tissue stem cells into nerve cells. The significance of this feat being that damaged limbs and organs can potentially be brought back to life or regenerated.

In a study published in October’s Experimental Neurology, Dr Paul Kingham and his team at the UK Centre for Tissue Regeneration (UKCTR) isolated the stem cells from the fat tissue of adult animals and differentiated them into nerve cells to be used for repair and regeneration of injured nerves. They are now about to start a trial extracting stem cells from fat tissue of volunteer adult patients, in order to compare in the laboratory human and animal stem cells.

Following that, they will develop an artificial nerve constructed from a biodegradable polymer to transplant the differentiated stem cells. The biomaterial will be rolled up into a tube-like structure and inserted between the two ends of the cut nerve so that the regrowing nerve fibre can go through it from one end to the other.

This ‘bionic’ nerve could also be used in people who have suffered trauma injuries to their limbs or organs, cancer patients whose tumour surgery has affected a nearby nerve trunk and people who have had organ transplants.

And you just thought it was all Science Fiction!

via: Slashdot

Mitch Bainwol and Cary Sherman, both of the Recording Industry Association of America explain why they feel it necessary to sue children for illegal downloading of music. Approximately 400 legal actions are aimed at college and university students.

Yet this is about far more than the size of a particular slice of the pie. This is about a generation of music fans. College students used to be the music industry’s best customers. Now, finding a record store still in business anywhere near a campus is a difficult assignment at best. It’s not just the loss of current sales that concerns us, but the habits formed in college that will stay with these students for a lifetime. This is a teachable moment — an opportunity to educate these particular students about the importance of music in their lives and the importance of respecting and valuing music as intellectual property.

Unfortunately I fail to see the lesson here. What I see is the latest attempt by an organization who’s so out of touch with it’s consumers that it can’t see the forest for the trees. The reason this is an issue is because RIAA refuses to acknowledge the consumer has spoken, loudly about what it wants & expects. Instead of embracing new technology to the benefit of both the industry, the artists and the consumer they ignore it and pretend nothing about the industry or the market has changed from twenty years ago, intent on protecting that piece of the pie they’ve held for many years now.

photo: Engadget

Ending months of speculation by industry analysts and gadget junkies alike, Apple announced today that it would be releasing new product called the “iPhone”. Initial cost of the iPhone will be $499 with a two year contract and that will get you a 3.5-inch touchscreen, proximity sensor for when you have it close to your face, 2 megapixel camera, a hefty 8GB of storage for all those movies, music and photos that sync via Apples iTune’s store. It also sports Bluetooth with EDR, automatic WiFi and quadband GSM radio with EDGE. Nice. The most shocking aspect of the new iPhone is that is runs on OS X and supports widgets, Google Maps, iTunes and more. With the popularity of the iPod, the iPhone looks to be the next geek must have gadget.

During his speech, Jobs said the iPhone would surpass current phone offerings and “leapfrog” the telecommunications sector.

“Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything,” he said during his keynote address at the annual Macworld Conference and Expo. “It’s very fortunate if you can work on just one of these in your career. … Apple’s been very fortunate in that it’s introduced a few of these.”

I want one. Unfortunately, at $499 that might be a bit too rich for my blood right now. For now though, view all the cool pictures from MacWorld 2007 courtesy of Engadget.