Category Archives: Transhuman News

Smithfield Foods, the worlds largest pork producer, has established a separate bioscience unit to expand its role in supplying pig parts for medical uses, with the ultimate goal of selling pig organs for transplantation into humans.

Routine pig-human organ transplants are years away, but recent scientific advances are breaking down barriers that frustrated prior attempts to use pigs as a ready supply of replacement parts for sick or injured people, making it an attractive new market.

Our bread and butter has always been the bacon, sausage, fresh pork - very much a food-focused operation, Courtney Stanton, vice president of Smithfields new bioscience unit, told Reuters in an exclusive interview.

We want to signal to the medical device and science communities that this is an area were focused on - that were not strictly packers, she said.

Smithfield, the $14 billion subsidiary of Chinas WH Group (0288.HK), in its first move has joined a public-private tissue engineering consortium funded by an $80 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense. Smithfield is the only pork producer, joining health-care companies including Abbott Laboratories (ABT.N), Medtronic (MDT.N) and United Therapeutics Corp (UTHR.O).

Transplants are used for people diagnosed with organ failure and who have no other treatment options. Transplants from animals could help close a critical gap to help those in need. The United Network for Organ Sharing estimates that, on average, 22 people die each day while waiting for a transplant.

Smithfield already harvests materials for medical use from the 16 million hogs it slaughters each year. The company owns more than 51 percent of its farms and hopes to sell directly to researchers and health-care companies, which now typically buy from third parties.

Stanton said the U.S. market for pork byproducts used for medical, pet food and non-food purposes stands at more than $100 billion, and that excludes any potential market for animal-to-human transplants, known as xenotransplants.

Smithfield has deals in the works to supply pig organs to two entities, though Stanton would not disclose the names.

Its just a huge potential space, and to be at the leading edge and focused on building those relationships is critical, she said.

Pigs have long been a tantalizing source of transplants because their organs are so similar to humans. A hog heart at the time of slaughter, for example, is about the size of an adult human heart.

Other organs from pigs being researched for transplantation into humans include kidney, liver and lungs.

Prior efforts at pig-to-human transplants have failed because of genetic differences that caused organ rejection or viruses that posed an infection risk. Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG (NOVN.S) folded its $1 billion xenotransplantation effort in 2001 because of safety concerns about pig viruses that could be passed to humans.

George Church, a Harvard Medical School genetics professor and researcher, tackled that problem two years ago, using a new gene-editing tool known as CRISPR to trim away potentially harmful virus genes that have impeded the use of pig organs for transplants in humans.

Church has since formed a company named eGenesis Bio to develop humanized pigs that do not provoke a rejection response or transfer viruses to people. The company last month raised $38 million in venture funding.

Eventually, Church said, the process could enable researchers to harvest a dozen different organs and tissues from a single pig.

Church estimates the first transplants involving humanized pig organs could occur in a clinical trial later this year, but these would only be used on people too sick to receive human organs.

Genome pioneer Craig J. Venters Synthetic Genomics Inc has been working for two years with United Therapeutics on editing the pig genome and mixing in human cells to overcome the complex issues involved in immune rejection. Its not like changing a couple genes and youve got it solved, Venter said.

Stanton would not rule out breeding genetically modified animals, but said Smithfields first ventures will likely involve whole pig organs that go through decellularization - a process in which existing cells are washed away and replaced with human cells.

Miromatrix Medical Inc, of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, for example, is using whole pig livers to make a surgical mesh used in hernia repair and breast reconstruction, and it is working toward developing replacement livers, hearts and kidneys.

Church welcomes the involvement of a big pork producer. Even though weve got companies like eGenesis that would make the first pigs, you still need someone who will breed them and do it to scale, he said.

(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen and Michael Hirtzer; Editing by Leslie Adler)

View original post here:
Smithfield Makes Move On Market For Pig-Human Transplants - Huffington Post

It sounds like something Dr. Evil from Austin Powers might have come up with. But unlike sharks with laser beams attached to their heads, mindcontrolled turtles are now a reality. Thats right, researchers in Korea have figured out a way to control how turtles move with human thought. The new technology uses the turtles natural flight or fight response to tell it which direction to swim.

The system, created by researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), combines two technologies opposite to one another: braintocomputer interfaces (BCIs), which allow humans to control machines via thought and computertobrain interfaces (CBIs), which make it possible to transmit data from a computer to the brain.

The system works like this: a camera is attached to a turtles shell providing a live feed to a human. When the human operator thinks of a direction to move in left, right, or to stay put the thought is received by a computer the human wears, which recognizes the directions as electroencephalography (EEG) signals. The wearable computer then transmits the command over WiFi to a receiver, also mounted atop the turtles shell.

This receiver activates a small blind attached to the front of the shell. This blind can move from left to right. Whichever direction the human decides for the turtle to swim, the blind will move to the opposite side. For instance, when the human thinks left, the blind will move to the right. The turtles instinct kicks in, telling it to swim to the left to get around the perceived obstacle.

The new technology was put to the test with three obstacle courses, one indoors and two outdoors. The deckedout turtle navigated all three successfully, moving over grass and gravel while dodging trees, with his human controller sitting three miles away.

Turtles were chosen for the experiment in part due to their high cognitive ability but mostly because they display very strong instinctual escape behavior. They predictably avoid obstacles and naturally gravitate towards light, which to them represents open space.

Though the experiment was eventually successful, the team did experience some speed bumps along the way.

Because this study was a new concept experiment that conveyed human thoughts to animals, there was a lot of trial and error, study coauthor Daegun Kim told Foxnews.com.

One hurdle was making sure they didnt break any animal protection ordinances, which are very strict. The last thing they wanted was a shellacking from angry animal rights activists.

It is very important to conduct animal experiments in accordance with ethical regulations, Kim said. We designed and conducted experiments in accordance with the KAIST Animal Experimental Ethics Code.

So whats next for the technology? There are many possibilities, including applications to military recon and surveillance.

I believe that these animal avatar technologies will be developed in the future for entertainment, military, and industrial purposes, Kim said, and I think there is a possibility that it can be applied to humans.

Read the rest here:
Humans can now control turtles with their minds - New York Post

Aris Folley, AOL.com

Apr 12th 2017 6:23PM

Police arrested a man in Florida for allegedly trying to buy "human skin" on Facebook for $400.

A woman reported the troubling ad to a Martin County sheriff's investigator after coming across the post on "Jensen Beach Garage Sale" -- a public page that serves as a "community yard sale" for locals in the area.

RELATED: Most outrageous mugshots and crimes

28 PHOTOS

Most outrageous mugshots and crimes

See Gallery

Matthew Ezekiel Stager is aa convicted sex offender.

(Photo:U.S. Marshals)

Mahin Khan, 18, is shown in this Maricopa County, Arizona, U.S. Sheriff's Office booking photo from July 1, 2016. Courtesy Maricopa County Sheriff's Office/Handout via REUTERS/ File Photo ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY

Mixed martial arts fighter Jason "Mayhem" Miller is seen in an undated booking photo released by the Orange County Sheriff's Department in California. Miller was arrested in Southern California on Friday for assault with a deadly weapon on an officer after he threw a ceramic tile at police outside his house, authorities said. REUTERS/Orange County Sheriff's Department/Handout via Reuters THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS

Robert Young, 43, is seen in this booking photo released to Reuters September 16, 2011. Young is one of two men accused of driving around Denver with their friend?s corpse and using the dead man?s debit card to pay for a night on the town including a visit to a strip club, prosecutors said on Friday. REUTERS/Denver District Attorney's Office/Handout (UNITED STATES - Tags: CRIME LAW) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Stockton Police Department photo shows Jeremy Meeks, 30, arrested on June 18, 2014 in a gang crackdown in a crime-ridden area of Stockton, California. The mugshot of Meeks, a convicted felon, went viral on a police Facebook page this week, making him an instant celebrity with Web users who have called him "handsome" and clicked "like" on his picture more than 64,000 times.

(REUTERS/Stockton Police/Handout via Reuters)

Ryan Elliot Giroux is seen in an undated picture from the Arizona Department of Corrections. Giroux has been identified by police as the gunman opened fire inside a motel room in the Phoenix suburb of Mesa on Wednesday, killing a man and wounding two women before shooting three more people.

(REUTERS/Arizona Department of Corrections/Handout)

Kevin Gibson, arrested for possession of marijuana.

(Photo viaMiami-Dade County Corrections)

The booking mugshot of 92-year-old Helen Staudinger is seen in this handout released March 23, 2011. The central Florida woman fired a semi-automatic pistol four times at her 53-year-old neighbor's house after he refused to kiss her, police said on Tuesday.

(REUTERS/Courtesy of Marion County Sheriffs Office/Handout)

Cody J Plagmann, 37, is seen in an undated booking photo released by the Oregon State Police April 5, 2016. Two men accused of hunting a pair of protected bighorn sheep on private land and beheading them alongside an interstate highway in northern Oregon have been arrested on suspicion of poaching, police say.

(REUTERS/Oregon State Police/Handout)

In this handout from the Utah County Jail, Megan Huntsman is seen in a booking photo April 13, 2014. Huntsman was arrested and booked after the discovery of seven dead babies in cardboard boxes in a garage of a home in Pleasant Grove, Utah. She is charged with six counts of murder, it is reportedly unclear why therer are only six counts, for allegedly killing her own infants between 1996 and 2006.

(Photo by Utah County Jail via Getty Images)

In this image provided by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Larry Reid, brother of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, is pictured in a booking photo following his arrest on February 2, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Reid was arrested by Nevada Highway Patrol and charged with driving under the influence and assaulting a police officer.

(Photo by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department via Getty Images)

Nicole Carmon is shown in this booking photo in Thornton, Colorado, U.S., December 19, 2016. Courtesy Thornton Police Department/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY.

Linda Thompson, also known as Brian Thompson, is pictured in this undated handout booking photo obtained by Reuters October 12, 2016. Laramie County Sheriff's Department/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY

David Lopes Jackson is pictured in this undated booking photo provided by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. Jackson, 35, was charged with two counts of second-degree arson in connection with fires set at the doors of two predominantly African-American churches in St. Louis, police said. REUTERS/St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department/Handout Via Reuters ATTENTION EDITORS - FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

James Boulware is shown in this 2013 booking photo courtesy of Lamar County Sheriff's Office, released on June 13, 2015. Dallas Police Chief David Brown said the man whom police negotiators had spoken with inside the van identified himself as James Boulware, but police declined to name the suspect pending identification by a medical examiner. REUTERS/Lamar County Sheriff's Office/Handout via Reuters ATTENTION EDITORS - FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Kenneth Stancil is shown in this Volusia County Corrections Department booking photo taken on April 14, 2015. Stancil, the 20-year-old former student, sought in the fatal shooting of an employee at a North Carolina community college was arrested on Tuesday after being found sleeping on a beach in Florida, police said. REUTERS/Volusia County Corrections/Handout FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Christian Jose Gomez is pictured in this undated handout booking photo provided by the Pinellas County Sheriff?s Office. Gomez, a Florida man, confessed to decapitating his mother with an ax on New Year's Eve after becoming upset by her request to put some boxes into the attic of their home, authorities said, January 2, 2015. REUTERS/Pinellas County Sheriff?s Office/Handout (UNITED STATES - Tags: CRIME LAW) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Leonard Sullivan, 73, is seen in a booking photo released by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department in Las Vegas, Nevada October 13, 2014. One man was shot and wounded on Monday when a gunman opened fire in a state office building in Las Vegas and Leonard Sullivan was taken into custody as a suspect, police said. The booking photo of Sullivan, a resident of Las Vegas, appears to show him being restrained by officers. REUTERS/Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department/Handout (UNITED STATES - Tags: CRIME LAW) THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS

Zachary Rapheal Torrance, 18, is pictured in this booking photo provided by the Hueytown Police Department. Torrance, a suspect in an armed robbery of a Subway sandwich restaurant in Alabama, told investigators he acted out of anger because of his failed "Subway Diet," police said on October 31, 2014. REUTERS/Hueytown Police Department/Handout (UNITED STATES - Tags: CRIME LAW) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Beauty queen Kendra Gill is shown in this Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office booking photo released on August 5, 2013. Gill, Utah hometown beauty pageant winner was among four people arrested on suspicion of throwing homemade bombs at houses in a Salt Lake City suburb over the weekend, authorities said on Monday. REUTERS/Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office/Handout (UNITED STATES - Tags: CRIME LAW HEADSHOT) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Actor Jason London is shown in this booking photo provided by Scottsdale Police Department in Scottsdale, Arizona January 29, 2013. London was arrested Sunday on suspicion of assault and disorderly conduct outside a Scottsdale,Arizona bar January 27, 2013 according to news reports. REUTERS/Scottsdale Police/Handout (UNITED STATES - Tags: CRIME LAW ENTERTAINMENT SOCIETY) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Richard Allen Schoenfeld is pictured in this booking photo dated January 12, 2012, and received by Reuters June 21, 2012. Schoenfeld 57, was freed on Wednesday after serving more than 34 years in prison for his role in the 1976 abduction of 26 schoolchildren and their bus driver in the town of Chowchilla in central California. REUTERS/California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation/Handout (UNITED STATES - Tags: CRIME LAW SOCIETY) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Alleged drug kingpin Christopher "Dudus" Coke wears a wig in this handout photograph released to Reuters June 23, 2010. Coke was arrested by police on the outskirts of Kingston on Tuesday, peacefully ending a manhunt for the fugitive at the center of last month's deadly raids in the Jamaican capital. Coke, 42, is wanted for extradition to the United States on drug and gun trafficking charges. Police said they arrested him without violence at a road checkpoint in the Portmore area of St. Catherine Parish. QUALITY FROM SOURCE. REUTERS/Handout (JAMAICA - Tags: CRIME LAW IMAGES OF THE DAY) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS

HIDE CAPTION

SHOW CAPTION

According to the police report, deputies went to the man's home "in reference to someone trying to buy human skin," in a post that has since reportedly been deleted.

Deputies discovered the man's identity before the ad was redacted, however, and were able to run his address.

SEE ALSO: Teen girl survives attack from raging shark by sucker punching it in the face

The police report cites Florida Statute 873.01, which bans the purchasing and selling human tissue and organs.

If prosecutors find the man in violation, he could face a felony charge, TCPalm reported.

It remains unclear what the alleged buyer planned to do with the skin.

Originally posted here:
Police: Man tried to buy human skin on Facebook - AOL

Every two seconds someone in the United States needs blood. In the U.S. alone, 41,000 donated pints are needed every day and although an estimated 38 percent of the population is eligible to donate blood, less than 10 percent of that eligible population actually do each year.

Thats why we need synthetic blood. There have been decades of failure in making a usable blood substitute but now, scientists from the universities of Bristol, Cambridge, and Oxford have isolated and manipulated stem cells in labs to produce red blood cells.

Their goal is to make red cells for patients with complex blood types because it can be hard for them to find donors. In the future, lab-grown blood could revolutionize medical care by providing a far reaching solution to keeping people in need supplied with blood regardless of type or donor.

While they're about to go through human trials, there is still a long road ahead for a full-scale rollout of synthetic blood. However, these developments could possibly change the future of mankind itself. This could be the holy grail of science.

kasto80 via Getty Images

See more here:
Synthetic Blood Is About To Go Through Human Trials - Huffington Post