Occasionally the Scientific American magazine prints articles describing inventions that will probably change our future, and rarely I can understand at least a part of them. I thought you might enjoy reading about some of the directions brave new minds are affecting our brave new world (with a nod, of course, to Aldous Huxley.)
In the 1970s scientists successfully spliced DNA from a bacterial virus into a monkey virus and had an organism in which introduced genes stayed active for generations. This led to production of insulin for diabetes. Although early triumphs changed the course of medicine, the methods remained imprecise. Now scientists have discovered a genetic mechanism in cells that allows genomes to be edited with speed and ease and make multiple and precise changes in a genome at once. It has accelerated genetic-modification dramatically, offering hope for therapies for diseases as diverse as Alzheimer’s, HIV, schizophrenia and Parkinson’s. The technology is called CRISPR (Clustered, Regularly Interspaced, Short, Palindromic Repeats.)
By 2013 researchers had made CRISPR work in plants and some animals instead of lowly bacteria. CRISPR offers exciting hope of editing out of genes the factors that cause many diseases. It also presents the possibility of ethical challenges as well. There should be an interesting future for the “gene genie.”
Another branch of research is that of controlling cells to do our work for us, like manufacture hormones or attack tumors. Just recently scientists have found a way to “get inside” cells by altering their shape and thereby the cell membrane. In this manner a wide variety of behavior-altering agents, such as proteins and nucleic acids, can be introduced into the call, even in stem and immune cells, offering unprecedented possibilities.
In the field of biomedical research, it is now possible to “clear” the lipid tissue out of sacrificed lab rats, making the animal transparent, so that progress can be observed and notated. Progress does sometimes reveal dreadful methods, doesn’t it?
An Arabian scientist has found a way to power a microbial cell for glucose-monitoring that is placed near the pancreas. The microbial fuel cell generates power by feeding organic matter to bacteria via saliva — of all things!
Electrical engineers have developed screens for smart phones that correct for vision problems. It is as if the glasses are on the screens instead of the eyes.
There are now sheets of material that are only one atom thick. These “atomic-scale Legos” have amazing properties and represent something that has never before been created. These sheets can be stacked with extraordinary precision, although they do not bond in a conventional way. It offers tantalizing possibilities, like transmitting electricity with no loss of energy and without the need of extreme cold. It has great implications for superconductivity. This idea has not yet been fully tested. Atomic-sized Legos are still in their infancy. Yet we have transitioned from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age to the Iron Age to the Silicon Age, say the authors.
Chemists are developing ultra-hard polymers that could be used in building cars or airplanes.
There is now a wireless way of charging devices with sound waves.
Waste heat can now be captured by batteries that line the smokestacks of factories or power plants, converting low-grade heat into energy.
A laser microscope has been developed that costs about a tenth of an electron microscope. It could read the molecular message — the fingerprint, if you will — of explosives or other goods.
My grandmother used to say, “What is this world coming to?”
What indeed?
(Note: Information is from an article by Nobel Laureate Andre Geim)
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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