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Category Archives: Transhuman News

The Futurist: A vision for the future – Human Resources Online

Posted: July 13, 2017 at 6:40 am

Calling all L&D and corporate training professionals! Do not miss Asias premier conference on learning, training and corporate development strategy, Training & Development Asia. In Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Philippines and Singapore in July/August 2017 Register Now.

Many employers have recognised the importance of employee wellbeing and work-life balance as key strategies to improving employee engagement, loyalty and retention.

Employers are increasingly searching for innovative offerings to address their employees demands; and employees are asking more and more for choice and benefit programmes that meet their personal and family needs.

One such new and exciting offering to the region is vision care. According to Euromonitors 2016 Eye Health Indicator Analysis, Hong Kong has the highest rate of nearsightedness difficulty seeing far away in Asia, impacting 76% of the population or 5.6 million people.

While having an ancillary vision offer is quite common in other parts of the world, it has recently become available locally as a low-cost, highly valuable option employers can add to their benefit suite.

A vision scheme provides access to annual comprehensive eye examinations and fashionable eye wear at little to no out-of-pocket costs for your employees.

With a comprehensive eye exam, you get more than just a standard vision test, you also get a thorough check of your eye health. Through a comprehensive eye examination, a registered optometrist can check for signs of chronic conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

A vision scheme can also help address issues that impact employees quality of life and productivity. According to a 2008 report by US-based vision advocacy group, The Vision Council, poor vision results in 32 times more productivity lost than absenteeism.

Digital eye strain is an example of a condition that impacts your staff. Per the Vision Council, more than 87% of adults report using digital devices more than two hours a day, yet many people neglect to care for their eyes, which can have unintended health consequences and impact work productivity.

Vision care schemes can play a major role in employee benefit programmes. Although many companies offer an annual health screening programme, a comprehensive eye examination is a good supplementary piece.

In addition to making your employee package more competitive and helping to retain valuable employees, a thorough vision care scheme can increase employee health awareness, leading to a healthier and more productive workforce.

Pizza Hut and adidas might be hiring robots to cut costs, but they're also saving staff from being stuck in 'mundane' jobs, say ex..

We took a look at how some of the city's biggest employers reward their employees. Featuring Cathay Pacific, Midland Holding and Y..

With workplace attire trending towards the casual side, 41% are at times unsure about whether clothing is office-appropriate. ..

The firm plans to focus its capital and resources on business opportunities expected to deliver higher returns...

About 2 in 5 employees have dated a co-worker. Of those who have had an office romance, 29% have dated a superior...

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The Futurist: A vision for the future - Human Resources Online

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The 2016 Spacex Mars Colonization plan has been published …

Posted: July 12, 2017 at 12:01 pm

Spacex is estimating they wil be able to achieve $140,000 per ton for the trips to Mars. If a person plus their luggage is less than that, taking into account food consumption and life support, the cost of moving to Mars could ultimately drop below $100,000.

Cost will be brought down 5 million percent with * fully reusable rocket * orbital refueling * Propellent production on Mars * CH4 / O2 DEEP-CRYO Methalox fuel

The Spacex ITS (Interplanetary Transport Systme) rocket booster is really a scaled-up version of the Falcon 9 booster. There are a lot of similarities, such as the grid fins and clustering a lot of engines at the base. The big differences are that the primary structure is an advanced form of carbon fiber as opposed to aluminum lithium, we use autogenous pressurization, and we get rid of the helium and the nitrogen.

Spcex has been able to optimize the propellant needed for boost back and landing to get it down to about 7% of the lift-off propellant load. With some optimization, maybe we can get it down to about 6%.

Spacex is now getting quite comfortable with the accuracy of the landing of rockets. With the addition of maneuvering thrusters, they think they can actually put the booster right back on the launch stand. Then, those fins at the base are essentially centering features to take out any minor position mismatch at the launch site.

The Raptor engine is going to be the highest chamber pressure engine of any kind ever built, and probably the highest thrust-to-weight. It is a full-flow staged combustion engine, which maximizes the theoretical momentum that you can get out of a given source fuel and oxidizer. We subcool the oxygen and methane to densify it. Compared with when used close to their boiling points in most rockets, in our case, we load the propellants close to their freezing point. That can result in a density improvement of around 10%12%, which makes an enormous difference in the actual result of the rocket. It gets rid of any cavitation risk for the turbo pumps, and it makes it easier to feed a high-pressure turbo pump if you have very cold propellant.

One of the keys here, though, is the vacuum version of the Raptor having a 382-second ISP. This is critical to the whole Mars mission and we are confident we can get to that number or at least within a few seconds of that number, ultimately maybe even exceeding it slightly.

Over time, there were would be many spaceships. You would ultimately have upwards of 1,000 or more spaceships waiting in orbit. Hence, the Mars Colonial fleet would depart en masse.

It makes sense to load the spaceships into orbit because you have got 2 years to do so, and then you can make frequent use of the booster and the tanker to get really heavy reuse out of those. With the spaceship, you get less reuse because you have to consider how long it is going to lastmaybe 30 years, which might be perhaps 1215 flights of the spaceship at most. Therefore, you really want to maximize the cargo of the spaceship and reuse the booster and the tanker as much as possible. Hence, the ship goes to Mars, gets replenished, and then returns to Earth.

This ship will be relatively small compared with the Mars interplanetary ships of the future. However, it needs to fit 100 people or thereabouts in the pressurized section, carry the luggage and all of the unpressurized cargo to build propellant plants, and to build everything from iron foundries to pizza joints to you name itwe need to carry a lot of cargo.

The threshold for a self-sustaining city on Mars or a civilization would be a million people. If you can only go every 2 years and if you have 100 people per ship, that is 10,000 trips. Therefore, at least 100 people per trip is the right order of magnitude, and we may end up expanding the crew section and ultimately taking more like 200 or more people per flight in order to reduce the cost per person.

However, 10,000 flights is a lot of flights, so ultimately you would really want in the order of 1,000 ships. It would take a while to build up to 1,000 ships. How long it would take to reach that million-person threshold, from the point at which the first ship goes to Mars would probably be somewhere between 20 and 50 total Mars rendezvousso it would take 40100 years to achieve a fully self-sustaining civilization on Mars.

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Made In Space to use PEI/PC polymer on International Space Station 3D printing platform – TCT Magazine

Posted: at 11:54 am

Made In Space has revealed it has begun using PEI/PC, a high-performance polymer, in its Additive Manufacturing Facility (AMF) on the International Space Station (ISS).

PEI/PC, or polyetherimide/ polycarbonate, is an aerospace-grade polymer that has often been used in aviation and space applications due to its ability to produce strong and heat-resistant materials. Examples of PEI/PC used in additively manufactured parts in aerospace are ULTEM 9085, which has been applied by United Launch Alliance (ULA) among others, and ULTEM 1010, which has been applied by such companies as Eviation Aircraft.

Made In Space already uses ABS (acrylonitrile butadine styrene) and Green PE (polyethylene) in the Additive Manufacturing Facility adopted by NASAs artificial low Earth orbit satellite. PEI/PC represents the third material incorporated into its AMF processes.

Made In Space is proud to add PEI/PC to the suite of materials it is manufacturing in space with, said Andrew Rush, President and CEO of Made In Space. Our team has been regularly printing parts in space with AMF for over a year now. This unparalleled knowledge base of in-space manufacturing operations will enable us to deliver future in-space manufacturing solutions in the most cost effective and efficient ways possible.

With nearly three times the tensile strength of ABS, PEI/PC has been used in the making of satellites and external hardware, as well as in aircraft cabins, and even in medical applications. In 2015, ULA used a PEI/PC material to print a duct for the Environmental Control System of its Atlas V rocket, and just last month, Eviation Aircraft printed a composite lay-up tool in another PEI/PC material.

As well as its use aboard the International Space Station, MIS will look to enhance its Archinaut Development Program with the adoption of the new polymer. Archinaut is Made In Spaces proprietary in-space manufacturing assembly technology, able to build space-optimised portions on spacecraft and satellites. Andrew Rush talked openly with TCT earlier this year about where the company was up to with Archinaut, where he sees it being utilised in the future. The use of PEI/PC will contribute to the technologys development, and is the next step in Made In Spaces ambitions, for Archinaut and for space manufacturing generally.

Manufacturing in PEI/PC really expands the value of in-space manufacturing for human spaceflight, added Rush. PEI/PC is a truly space-capable material. With it, extravehicular activity (EVA) tools and repairs, stronger and more capable intravehicular (IVA) tools, spares, and repairs, and even satellite structure can be created on site, on-demand. That enables safer, less mass-intensive missions and scientific experiments.

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Made In Space to use PEI/PC polymer on International Space Station 3D printing platform - TCT Magazine

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Moon Express

Posted: at 11:54 am

The Moon is Earths 8th continent; a new frontier for humanity with precious resources that can bring enormous benefits to life on Earth and our future in space. Expanding Earths economic and social sphere to the Moon is our first step in securing our future. Not long from now, a new generation will look up and see lights on the Moon, and know that they are part of a multi-world species.

Moon Express is working closely with the U.S. government to assure our freedom of enterprise in space with deference to international treaties.

The Space Resource and Utilization Act of 2015 was the first step in the process, recognizing U.S. private sector rights to seek, obtain and utilize space resources.

On July 20, 2016, Moon Express became the first company to receive U.S. government approval to send a robotic spacecraft beyond traditional Earth orbit and to the Moon. This was the first time in history that any government signatory to the Outer Space Treaty exercised its rights and obligations to formally authorize and supervise a commercial entity to fly a mission beyond Earth orbit. This historic ruling is a breakthrough U.S. policy decision supporting our commercial lunar exploration and discovery and heralding a new era of expanding space enterprise.

Our maiden Mission Approval establishes an important precedent for the private sector to engage in peaceful space exploration, bringing with it monumental implications for the advancement of technology, science, research, and development, as well as commercial ventures that expand Earths economic sphere.

On October 1, 2015, we announced a multi-mission launch contract with Rocket Lab USA for up to five launches starting in 2017. Moon Express is the first company in history to contract multiple launches for space exploration missions.

Our MX family of robotic explorers are configurable to a wide variety of available and emerging launch systems, all designed to collapse the cost of deep space access beyond Earth orbit.

MX-1E robotic explorer aboard the Rocket Lab USA Electron rocket

Moon Express occupies Launch Complexes 17 & 18 at Cape Canaveral, adjacent to the Kennedy Space Center on Floridas Space Coast, where many of the robots that explored new worlds and unlocked the secrets of our solar system began their journeys. We are now honored to be able to re-purpose these historic sites into a vibrant new commercial spaceport, ~70 acres of facilities and range, supporting Moon Express spacecraft development and test, and incubating fresh new dreams of extraordinary adventures into the space frontier.

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Moon Express

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Nothing to Sneeze At – Air & Space Magazine

Posted: at 11:54 am

Two Apollo EVA spacesuits, covered in dark gray lunar dust. The short times spent on the Moon by the Apollo astronauts meant that the long-term issues associated with dust could be ignored during those missions.

A recent study has shown that the red dust on the surface of Mars, in combination with surface conditions of intense solar ultraviolet and cosmic radiation, is probably one of the most sterilizing environments imaginable. These new results cast some very cold water on the fervent hopes of some planetary scientists for indigenous martian life. Some have extended the list of potential worries for future explorers to problems these conditions might pose for martian agriculture. But none seem to be particularly concerned about the toxic effect Mars red dust might pose for the occasional visitor, let alone settlers.

The martian dust contains significant amounts of perchloratea chemical compound made up of one chlorine and four oxygen atoms. Perchlorate is found naturally in various salts; on Mars, it is probably joined with magnesium and sodium. This substance is highly reactivealuminum perchlorate is one of the compounds in solid rocket propellant. The high reactivity of perchlorate means that interactions with other chemical substances are almost certain, which in turn means that perchlorate in martian soil is a chemical hazard to living organismsnot only for microbial life and plants, but to humans as well.

Experience gained during the Apollo program taught us that dust can be a problem for the unprepared. Lunar dust is the smallest grain size fraction of the lunar regolithparticles smaller than 40 microns, finer than talcum powder but with much greater hardness. Extremely abrasive, this dust can make most moving equipment parts immobile. During the short duration of the Apollo missions (the longest stay on the surface was three days), the crew simply put up with the inconvenience of coping with fine, abrasive dust, but longer stays will require that steps be taken to mitigate its negative effects.

Although lunar dust is physically abrasive, it is largely inert chemically. Testing done on the first lunar samples at the Lunar Receiving Laboratory exposed seeds and germinating plants to lunar regolith. As expected from the chemical composition of the regolith, the plants continued to thrive despite repeated and prolonged exposure to lunar dust. While actual growth experiments were not conducted (largely because lunar material was allocated in extremely small amounts, to maintain sample integrity), we have no reason to suppose that the fine lunar regolith cannot support vigorous plant growth, provided that some key nutrients like phosphorous and nitrogen (naturally present in extremely low quantity on the Moon) are added to the soil.

The situation on Mars, however, appears to be different. The soil of Mars is composed predominantly of clay mineralsweathering products of igneous rocks created in the presence of liquid water, resulting in dust grains that are fine and relatively soft. Thus, martian soil is probably not physically abrasive like the lunar regolith (although care will still need to be taken to keep moving parts as clean as possible). The problem lies with the highly reactive (and probably toxic) chemistry of the smallest particles in martian soil.

One aspect of the lunar experience relevant to the issue of future Mars surface exploration is the ubiquity of dust and how it coats, covers and invades all pieces of equipment, up to and including the human body. On the Moon, these phenomena did not result in any long-term ill effects. A broken fender on the lunar rover during the Apollo 17 mission sprayed lunar dust over the crew and their suits, stressing the heat rejection properties of the suits and equipment on the lunar rover. Fine dust coated the fittings of air hoses in the suit, impairing the crews ability to get good seals to prevent leaks. Although the astronauts inhaled minute amounts of lunar dust when they re-pressurized the LM cabin (they said that it smelled like gunpowder), there were no ill effects to crew breathing and health. Although silicosis (similar to black lung disease) might result from long-term exposure to the fine lunar dust, in terrestrial settings such effects (without mitigating efforts) would require years of exposure to develop.

This may not be the case on Mars. The highly reactive chemistry of perchlorates in the soil could make martian dust not simply an annoyance, but a dangerous hazard. Corrosive chemicals within dust grains suspended in air can be inhaled and could seriously and permanently damage lung and esophageal tissue. It may be possible to mitigate contamination through dust management and clever engineering. For example, weve found that most of the Moons dust grains are magnetica result of the deposition of vapor-phase metallic iron coatings, which allows for the removal of virtually all of the dust using strong magnetic cleaning. This technique will probably not be possible for the martian dust, which formed from chemical weathering on Mars and does not possess the vapor-deposited iron of the lunar dust grains.

The new results about martian soil strongly suggest that the Red Planet may not be the welcoming second Eden for humanity that is commonly portrayed. Even if we are able to somehow mitigate the toxic effects of the soil (for example, through chemical treatment), such an approach may not be easy enough to warrant the effort. Certainly, the scenario in the book and film The Martian, in which one simply plants pieces of seed potato, adds excrement and water, then harvests a locally grown food source, just isnt plausible. The toxic effects of martian soil might be dealt with for short visits by exploring crews, but long-term human habitation and colonization of Mars is an entirely different proposition.

To successfully journey beyond Low Earth Orbit, we must provision ourselves using the vast resources of spaceextracting resources beyond Earth will present many challenges as we master the skills necessary to work in new environments. This journey begins on the Moonthe staging ground, supply station and classroom for our coming voyage into the universe.

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Genetically engineered salmon is coming to America – The Week Magazine

Posted: at 11:53 am

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On a hill above the cold waters around Prince Edward Island, technicians painstakingly create fertilized Atlantic salmon eggs that include growth-enhancing DNA from two other fish species. The eggs will be shipped to tanks in the high rainforest of Panama, where they will produce fish that mature far more quickly than normal farmed salmon.

More than 20 years after first seeking approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, AquaBounty Technologies of Maynard, Massachusetts, plans to bring these "AquAdvantage" fish to the U.S. and Canadian markets next year. And in the small town of Albany, Indiana, workers will soon begin converting a land-based aquaculture facility to produce about 1,300 U.S. tons of these salmon annually, in the first U.S. facility to generate GE animals for human consumption.

The company also plans to open a second aquaculture facility at Prince Edward Island if it can rise above its latest round of legal battles and persuade grocery stores and restaurants to snap up the genetically engineered fish. Before the FDA cleared the salmon for consumption in 2015, in its first approval of GE animal protein as human food, it received 1.8 million messages opposing these fish. Perhaps more substantively, many outside researchers remain concerned about AquaBounty's plans.

Safety and nutrition

Aquaculture specialists generally aren't skeptical about whether the fish will be healthy to eat, although that's one issue hinted at in a lawsuit multiple organizations, including Friends of the Earth, have filed against the FDA. Dana Perls, senior food and technology campaigner with Friends of the Earth in Berkeley, California, says the FDA didn't fully examine questions about eating the salmon initially raised by Health Canada, that country's public health department including susceptibility to disease and potential allergic reactions.

"This is a poorly studied, risky, and unlabeled genetically engineered fish," she says, adding that more than 80 U.S. grocery chains have committed not to buy it. However, Health Canada eventually concluded that fillets derived from AquAdvantage salmon "are as safe and nutritious as fillets from current available farmed Atlantic salmon," and approved the fish for consumption in 2016.

"There's no reason to suspect these fish from a food safety perspective," says Cyr Couturier, chair of aquaculture programs at Memorial University's Marine Institute in St. John's, Newfoundland. "They have no unnatural products that humans wouldn't otherwise consume."

Similar transgenic salmon created by a decades-long Fisheries and Oceans Canada research program tested well within normal salmon variations, adds Robert Devlin, engineering research scientist at the agency in North Vancouver, British Columbia. But critics do raise two other main concerns about AquaBounty's quest: the economic sustainability of the land-based approach, and the environmental risk to ecosystems if the fish escape.

Fish on land

AquaBounty will raise its GE fish in land-based recirculating aquaculture systems, known as RAS basically huge aquaria designed to minimize water use, maximize resources and accommodate high stocking densities. "While farming salmon in sea cages is less expensive and less technologically complex than a land-based farm," the company's website points out, "sea cages are susceptible to a number of hazards such as violent storms, predators, harmful algal blooms, jellyfish attacks, fish escapes, and the transmission of pathogens and parasites from wild fish populations."

Given the potential opportunity to achieve greater production control and avoid some of the environmental concerns of sea farms, many RAS projects have launched around the world in the past decade. However, most of these projects are small, and many have failed or are struggling.

The big problem is cost. RAS facilities need much more capital than ocean farms with similar production rates, and they're expensive to operate.

"Land-based systems use a lot of freshwater, even though it's recirculated, and a lot of electricity," notes Couturier. Such systems "operate at an economic disadvantage because much of their cost goes toward creating growing conditions occurring naturally within the ocean," summed up one 2014 report that found producing Atlantic salmon in Nova Scotia would not be economically feasible.

AquaBounty, which is buying its Indiana plant from a collapsed RAS venture, expects to beat these odds mainly because its GE salmon reach market size in about half the time of normal farmed salmon in 1618 months rather than 2836 months, the company says. Ravenous as they are, with their growth hormones continually wired on, the fish still require about a quarter less feed than normal fish. (Although farmed salmon are very efficient at converting food to flesh a pound of feed converts close to a pound of flesh feed remains a major expense.)

The company also says that salmon in its RAS facilities won't need vaccines or antibiotics because it will tightly control conditions. However, "they will have some disease issues of course, as will any animal that's reared in high densities," Couturier predicts.

If AquaBounty can compete on cost, there will be some justification for promoting its product as "the world's most sustainable salmon." In addition to requiring less feed, growing fish in Indiana or Prince Edward Island can slash the high carbon costs of flying fish from Norway or Chile, two leading suppliers of farmed salmon in the U.S.

Still, says Couturier, "I wish them all the best, but I think it will be a small-scale niche for at least a decade."

Losing GE fish

Many aquaculture scientists remain uneasy about the environmental risk to wild ecosystems if transgenic fish slip out of their farms. Although other agencies will presumably be involved in assessing risk as the projects advance, "the FDA has no in-house capacity to evaluate or understand the ecological consequences of transgenics in an aquatic ecosystem," says Conner Bailey, professor emeritus of rural sociology at Auburn University in Alabama. "And once you get anything into an aquatic ecosystem, it's really hard to control."

AquaBounty's protection scheme begins with multiple levels of physical barriers in its RAS facilities. Additionally, the salmon are all female and "triploid" (their DNA is in three rather than two sets of chromosomes) so they can't reproduce. However, scientists say neither of these measures can be 100 percent effective at preventing transgenic fish from escaping, disrupting local ecosystems, and potentially breeding in the wild.

More generally, while AquaBounty is committed to land-based systems, there are concerns that it's also creating far more GE eggs than it needs for its own production. Other industry groups, such as the Atlantic Salmon Federation, worry that other producers AquaBounty sells to might not be so careful, or that other companies around the world might move ahead with similar projects but without the same precautions. And all bets on risk are off if GE fish are raised in the ocean, where fish routinely escape, sometimes in large numbers.

Devlin's group has extensively modeled the results of accidental releases, studying groups of transgenic and non-transgenic fish in "naturalized" aquatic test beds that are exposed to variations in conditions, such as food supply. Transgenic fish often behave quite differently, and the results have varied from peaceful coexistence to one experiment in which fully transgenic fish killed off all their competitors.

"In the multitude of different environments that exist in nature, the uncertainty is too great to make a reliable prediction of what the impact would be," he says.

GE or selective breeding?

Does the fast growth of AquAdvantage salmon justify taking on these unknown risks? Scientists point out that today's selective breeding research programs, built on genomics and other tools of modern biology, also have turbocharged fish development. "Some strains of rainbow trout, which have been selected for fast growth for 150 years, grow incredibly fast compared to wild-type fish," Devlin says. In fact, he says, his lab work across various species suggests that "the absolute fastest growth you can achieve either by domestication or by transgenesis seems to be very similar."

"Today's farmed salmon have had more than 10 generations of selection applied to them, and they are growing at more than double the rate compared to the 1970s," says Bjarne Gjerde, senior scientist at Nofima in Troms, Norway.

Farmed fish also must excel in many traits besides growth, such as disease resistance and food quality, he emphasizes. "Most of the traits we are breeding for are governed by many, many genes with small effects," he says. "That's a real challenge if you just want to take short cuts with genetic engineering."

When and if AquaBounty rises above all its challenges into a groundbreaking success in North America, the firm will send a signal around the world to unleash efforts for commercializing GE fish, observers say. Friends of the Earth's Perls remains hopeful that legal barriers and consumer boycotts will stop AquaBounty in its tracks. If not, "GE salmon could set a precedent to the approval of other GE animals in the pipeline, from fish to chickens, pigs, and cows," she says. "It is critical that we don't approve other GE animals without robust regulations and full environmental reviews to ensure that we're prioritizing human and environmental safety over profit."

"Fish are probably where transgenic animals will emerge, because it's much cheaper to maintain a herd of catfish or salmon than cattle or sheep or pigs," says Bailey.

This story was first published by Ensia, an environmental news magazine from the University of Minnesota.

This article originally appeared at PRI's The World.

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Genetically engineered salmon is coming to America - The Week Magazine

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Solution of DNA and gold nanorods capable of six fundamental logic operations – Phys.Org

Posted: at 11:52 am

July 12, 2017 Gold nanorods coated with dsDNA act like an OR logic gate in the presence of estrogen receptor proteins ER and ER. Credit: A*STAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering

By adding strands of DNA to a solution containing gold nanorods, A*STAR researchers have created a remarkably simple system that can 'compute' basic logic operations like OR and NOT in response to specific molecular inputs. This has potential applications in rapid and complex diagnostic systems.

Clinical diagnostics often rely on the detection of pathogens and disease biomarkers from samples of blood or other biological fluids from patients. Most such tests produce a simple 'true' or 'false' result for the presence of a single biomarker. The ability to perform logic operations such as AND and OR for two or more biomarkers could greatly increase the diagnostic power of such tests. Progress in building biomolecular logic gates is hampered by the complex and chemically demanding modifications required to produce practical logic systems.

Xiao Di Su and colleagues from the A*STAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering and University College London have devised a highly versatile and reliable diagnostic system using gold nanorods, DNA and proteins, that is both easy to create and offers the potential for sophisticated logic-based computing operations.

"We have taken human gene regulation, one of the most precise mechanisms in nature, and applied it to develop the basis of a new technology in the field of biocomputing," says Su.

Gold nanorods absorb light at specific wavelengths determined by the rods' dimensions, but the degree of absorption is controlled by the aggregation of the nanorods in solution. Su and her colleagues found that when double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) was added to the nanorod solution, the aggregation of the nanorods could be reliably controlled by the dsDNA concentration.

To demonstrate the system, the researchers created the solution using DNA segments containing the DNA sequence for estrogen receptor (ER) elements, which would allow the system to respond to the addition of ER proteins. They found that the system could be configured to give an OR result a change from a 'low' to 'high' absorbance level when one or both of the two different ER variants (ER and ER) were added to the solution as well as a NOT result in response to dsDNA addition. The team then demonstrated other logic functions (IMPLY, FALSE, TRUE and BUFFER), which when arranged in series formed the basis for more complex logic operations.

"This is a simple, yet highly versatile platform that does not rely on nanomaterial functionalization or other complicated fabrication methods, and demonstrates the huge potential of nature-inspired applications using biological binding events to manipulate the optical properties of nanomaterials," says Su.

Explore further: New technique controls dimensions of gold nanorods while manufacturing on a large scale

More information: Roger M. Pallares et al. A plasmonic multi-logic gate platform based on sequence-specific binding of estrogen receptors and gold nanorods, Nanoscale (2016). DOI: 10.1039/c6nr07569j

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Solution of DNA and gold nanorods capable of six fundamental logic operations - Phys.Org

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Amazing DNA Tool Gives Cops a New Way to Crack Cold Cases – NBCNews.com

Posted: at 11:52 am

DNA phenotyping can produce a sketch of the suspect. But is it ready for primetime?Jul.12.2017 / 10:56 AM ET DNA phenotyping analyzes DNA to produce a profile of physical characteristics. stevanovicigor / Getty Images/iStockphoto DNA phenotyping analyzes DNA to produce a profile of physical characteristics. stevanovicigor / Getty Images/iStockphoto

DNA fingerprinting brought a revolution in criminal investigations by giving law enforcement officers a reliable tool for linking crimes to known suspects or to individuals listed in criminal databases. But imagine if DNA could also be used to generate a police sketch that would guide officers to the guilty party even if he (or she) wasn't a suspect and had no criminal record.

It sounds like science fiction, but this futuristic-sounding forensic method is already becoming a reality. Called DNA phenotyping, the technique involves using DNA from a crime scene to determine a mystery persons physical characteristics, including skin pigmentation and hair and eye color.

Biotech companies and scientists are working to refine the technique, which holds big promise to solve cold cases.

One such case was a double murder committed in February of 2012. During a visit home from college, 19-year-old Whitley French woke up early in the morning to find herself facing a masked intruder in her Reidsville, North Carolina bedroom. When she screamed, Whitleys mother and father came running. The intruder shot and killed them and then fled. Whitley survived.

The killer left five drops of blood on the staircase, but an analysis of the DNA it contained failed to produce a match with any suspects or anyone in public databases. For three years, the double-murder remained unsolved.

In early 2015, law enforcement authorities contacted Parabon NanoLabs, a Reston, Virginia-based company that had just started offering a DNA phenotyping tool called Snapshot. From the DNA in those old drops of blood, the company predicted that the killer had fair skin, dark hair, and was of European and Latino ancestry.

Related: This Gene-Editing Breakthrough Could Change Life on Earth

Armed with those clues, detectives took a closer look at the family of Whitleys fianc and found that the blood at the crime scene matched that of Whitleys soon-to-be brother-in-law. He was arrested in June 2015, less than a month after serving as a groomsman in Whitleys wedding. He pled guilty and is now serving two life sentences.

Investigators have been relying on DNA to solve crimes since the 1990s but the tests have their limitations. Traditional DNA forensic analysis treats DNA like fingerprints, says Ellen Greytak, director of bioinformatics at Parabon NanoLabs. When you dont get any matches, the DNA cant tell you anything else about that personall they know is whether theyre male or female.

DNA phenotyping can fill in some physical traits. Eye color, hair color, and skin color are all doable, says Susan Walsh, leader of a DNA phenotyping lab at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. But scientists still have a great deal to learn about how our genes impact our appearance.

Our knowledge about inherited diseases is currently more advanced than on how we look, Manfred Kayser, a professor of forensic molecular biology at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, wrote in the journal FSI: Genetics in 2015. Kayser told NBC News in a recent email that not much has changed in the past two years. While scientists have identified new genes for traits like hair texture, ear shape, hair loss, and height, translating these discoveries into reliable forensic tools remains a challenge.

Take height, for example. Studies on twins tell us that height is about 80 percent determined by our genes, Kayser says. But identifying the exact genes that influence height is a complex task. One recent study found 700 genes that affect stature, but many more need to be identified.

Over the last few years, companies like Parabon NanoLabs and New York City-based Identitas have been offering DNA phenotyping platforms to police departments. Parabons DNA-based composite sketches which resemble a video game avatar are a bit controversial, though.

Parabon hasnt shared its algorithms, and Walsh and Keyser are skeptical of the companys methods. You cant just say that you can do something and ask people to trust you, Walsh says, adding that the research just isnt there yet to make a lifelike picture of a persons face. Theyre promising something they cant give.

The danger is that a sketch might not only give families false hope, but potentially lead crime fighters to focus on the wrong person.

The knowledge about the genetic basis of the human face is still in its infancy, Kayser says. While many genes are involved in face shape, we know only a handful of them (for instance, a gene that causes a slight reduction in the distance between the eyes. At this moment, and based on published evidence," he says, "it is not expected that any attempt to predict a human face from DNA can be accurate, reliable, and validated enough so that practical forensic application would make sense. Its going to take a lot more research before that happens.

Greytak acknowledges that Parabon NanoLabs cant produce exact measurements of the face but says its possible to draw a predicted face that strongly resembles the individual's face. This information is still helpful to police and to witnesses, she says, as long as it is used in conjunction with other clues.

Related: First of Its Kind DNA Video Raises Big Question About Molecule of Heredity

Another limit to DNA phenotyping: our environment plays an important role in our appearance. A DNA sample cannot account for changes in an individuals appearance resulting from smoking, drinking, injuries, etc.

Meanwhile, researchers like Walsh are collaborating with investigators who have exhausted all other leads in cases that involve an unknown suspect or unidentified remains. We need to see that information police officers extract from the DNA is useful, she says.

Walsh thinks its just a matter of time and more research before forensic scientists can produce reliable appearance predictions using DNA phenotyping. So someday soon, with just a few drops of blood or other biological evidence, investigators will be able to find new leads in some of the thousands of murder cases that remain unsolved in the U.S. and bring closure to victims families.

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Families of the missing asked to submit DNA to help BCA identify remains – TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press

Posted: at 11:52 am

State public safety officials recently dug up remains of five unidentified bodies from several east metro graveyards and tested them against national DNA databases but couldnt find a single match.

Now theyre calling on family members of missing persons to come forward to provide DNA samples for comparison.

In order to obtain those samples, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has scheduled a series of DNA collection opportunities in mid to late July.

Immediate family is by far the most powerful specimen or sample we can get, said Catherine Knutson, a deputy superintendent with the bureau who oversees its forensic science division, during a press conferenceTuesday. There are obviously more missing than we have family members.

Their remains were exhumed from Oakland and Elmhurst cemeteries in St. Paul and Prairie Oaks Memorial Eco Garden Cemetery in Inver Grove Heights.

They include:

Additional unidentified remains have been identified but DNA samples have yet to be obtained from them.

Thats still in the planning process; we still need to work through some details to get them, Knutson said.

In all, the BCA has obtained roughly 100 sets of human remains that have yet to be identified and has already completed DNA profiles for about half of that 100. With a profile, officials have hope of identifying the remains by matching the DNA with that of a relative.

The other half of the 100 have been located, but attempts to complete DNA profiles were unsuccessful for many.

Theres just nothing available for us to work with, Knutson said.

Four of the remaining fifty have yet to be exhumed, Knutson added.

But for the five on hand, the BCA hopes more families will come in, and bring in addition to their own DNA, which would be obtained with a cheek swab photos, dental records or items such as toothbrushes or hairbrushes that might contain DNA from their missing family members.

The DNA will be entered into state and national databases to compare against the profiles of thousands of missing remains both in Minnesota and beyond. BCA officials said the family member profiles will remain in their databases to compare against remains obtained in the future.

The DNA collection events will take place at the following times and places:

Family members are asked to come in person, BCA commissioner Drew Evans said, because we need to ensure theres a solid chain of custody, that we know the person we got that sample from was the person were meeting with.

Those unable to come to the events can contact the BCA to make other arrangements to meet in person, Evans said.

BCA officials said the DNA profiles provided by family members could likely be completed and uploaded to the national database by early fall.

The BCA obtained federal grant funding in 2013 to support the identification program. Five sets of remains have since been identified through the program.

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Artist to debut 3D portraits produced from Chelsea Manning’s DNA – AOL

Posted: at 11:52 am

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Around thirty three-dimensional portraits of Chelsea Manning, created using the DNA of the transgender U.S. Army soldier imprisoned for leaking classified data, will greet visitors at eye-level at an exhibition opening in New York City next month.

Artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg based the portraits on a range of possible facial variations generated by software that analyzed DNA samples sent her by the former intelligence analyst when she was behind bars.

Manning, 29, was released in May from a U.S. military prison in Kansas where she had been serving time for passing secrets to the WikiLeaks website in the biggest breach of classified data in the history of the United States.

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3D portraits produced from Chelsea Manning's DNA

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3-D printed masks created by Artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg from DNA extracted from cheek swabs and hair clippings she received from formerly imprisoned U.S. Army Private Chelsea Manning while she was in jail, are seen ahead of the August 2, 2017 opening of "A Becoming Resemblance", an exhibition at the Fridman gallery in New York City, July 7, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Segar TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

A container of DNA extracted from hair clippings and cheek swabs received from formerly imprisoned U.S. Army Private Chelsea Manning is seen inside the studio of Artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg who used the DNA to create 3-D printed masks for the August 2, 2017 opening of "A Becoming Resemblance", an exhibition at the Fridman gallery in New York City, July 7, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Segar TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg poses with 3-D printed masks created from DNA extracted from cheek swabs and hair clippings she received from formerly imprisoned U.S. Army Private Chelsea Manning while she was in jail, ahead of the August 2, 2017 opening of "A Becoming Resemblance", an exhibition at the Fridman gallery in New York City, July 7, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Segar

Artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg holds a 3-D printed mask created from DNA extracted from cheek swabs and hair clippings she received from formerly imprisoned U.S. Army Private Chelsea Manning while she was in jail, ahead of the August 2, 2017 opening of "A Becoming Resemblance", an exhibition at the Fridman gallery in New York City, July 7, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Segar

Artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg looks at 3-D printed masks she created from DNA extracted from cheek swabs and hair clippings she received from formerly imprisoned U.S. Army Private Chelsea Manning while she was in jail, ahead of the August 2, 2017 opening of "A Becoming Resemblance", an exhibition at the Fridman gallery in New York City, July 7, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Segar

Artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg holds a dish containing hair clippings she received from formerly imprisoned U.S. Army Private Chelsea Manning while she was in jail from which she extracted DNA to create 3-D printed masks ahead of the August 2, 2017 opening of "A Becoming Resemblance", an exhibition at the Fridman gallery in New York City, July 7, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Segar

Artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg poses with various 3-D printed masks created from DNA extracted from cheek swabs and hair clippings she received from formerly imprisoned U.S. Army Private Chelsea Manning while she was in jail, ahead of the August 2, 2017 opening of "A Becoming Resemblance", an exhibition at the Fridman gallery in New York City, July 7, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Segar

A hand written letter from formerly imprisoned U.S. Army Private Chelsea Manning while she was in jail sits on a table in the studio of Artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg where she created computer models for 3-D printed masks created from DNA extracted from cheek swabs and hair clippings she received from Manning, ahead of the August 2, 2017 opening of "A Becoming Resemblance", an exhibition at the Fridman gallery in New York City, July 7, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Segar

A 3-D printed mask created by Artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg from DNA extracted from cheek swabs and hair clippings she received from formerly imprisoned U.S. Army Private Chelsea Manning while she was in jail, is pictured ahead of the August 2, 2017 opening of "A Becoming Resemblance", an exhibition at the Fridman gallery in New York City, July 7, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Segar

Artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg works in her studio where she created computer models for 3-D printed masks created from DNA extracted from cheek swabs and hair clippings she received from formerly imprisoned U.S. Army Private Chelsea Manning while she was in jail, ahead of the August 2, 2017 opening of "A Becoming Resemblance", an exhibition at the Fridman gallery in New York City, July 7, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Segar

Artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg sits in her studio where she created computer models for 3-D printed masks created from DNA extracted from cheek swabs and hair clippings she received from formerly imprisoned U.S. Army Private Chelsea Manning while she was in jail, ahead of the August 2, 2017 opening of "A Becoming Resemblance", an exhibition at the Fridman gallery in New York City, July 7, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Segar

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Other than one mugshot, photos of Manning were prohibited while she was in custody.

The exhibition by Dewey-Hagborg and Manning at the Fridman Gallery in Manhattan shows portraits of her with different color eyes or skin tone. Manning seems more masculine in some of the depictions, and in others more feminine in the show titled "A Becoming Resemblance."

"I'm hoping people will walk in and see a portrait that resonates with them and feel kind of that connection with her," Dewey-Hagborg said at the gallery, where the exhibit opens on Aug. 2.

"We are all Chelsea Manning and we all stand there with her."

Dewey-Hagborg, who has previously created art pieces produced using DNA samples, worked with Manning for more than two years on the project. It began when a magazine contacted the artist to ask whether she could create an image to accompany a feature profile of Manning.

Dewey-Hagborg said she found the former soldier to be optimistic and "incredibly brave" during all of their interactions.

Manning said she trusted the artist and gave her free reign to produce the images, according to Dewey-Hagborg, asking only that the artist did not make her appear too masculine.

"Prisons try very hard to make us inhuman and unreal by denying our image, and thus our existence, to the rest of the world." Manning said in a statement on the gallery's website.

Dewey-Hagborg said the exhibition was meant to show that DNA does not necessarily tell you what gender a person is. She also hoped that showing 30 different DNA-generated versions of Manning's face drew attention to the fact DNA-based imaging is not completely accurate.

"It's growing and developing but it's not ready for that kind of use yet," Dewey-Hagborg said of the imaging technology.

(Reporting by Taylor Harris; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Andrew Hay)

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