Monitor The Strategic Trends

Introduction:

The threat of germ warfare has brought to the forefront long-forgotten diseases like plague, anthrax, and smallpox. Recent television news programs have highlighted secret projects in the former Soviet Union to develop antibiotic-resistant strains of genetically engineered viruses and bacteria.

Nanotech and A Bionic Humanity March 20, 2012

Microchip Medicine March 13, 2012

Antibiotic-Pumped Pigs May Be Source of MRSA February 21, 2012

The Wild Duck About Homeopathy February 07, 2012

Getting Fuel From Bacteria January 24, 2012

The Hybrid Age by Dr. Thomas R. Horn

Transhumanism and the Enhancement of Man More Than Human by Dr. Martin Erdmann

(Un)Natural: The Ethics Of Transgenics by Steve Elwart, Senior Analyst Koinonia Institute

Nanotech Vs. Superbugs by Amy Joy Hess, Research Analyst, Koinonia Institute

Biotechnology: Escaping the Laws of Sin and Death? by Patrick Wood, Research Associate/IDB and Editor of The August Review

News Sources

NEW! Magnetic Bacteria May Build Hard Drives - Magnet-making bacteria may be building biological computers of the future, researchers have said. A team from the UK's University of Leeds and Japan's Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology have used microbes that eat iron. As they ingest the iron, the microbes create tiny magnets inside themselves, similar to those in PC hard drives. The research may lead to the creation of much faster hard drives, the team of scientists say. The study appears in the journal Small. As technology progresses and computer components get smaller and smaller, it becomes harder to produce electronics on a nano-scale. So researchers are now turning to nature - and getting microbes involved.

Nanosensor Can Read DNA Quickly and Cheaply - Researchers have devised a nano-sized sensor to read the sequence of a single DNA molecule. The technique is fast and inexpensive and could make DNA sequencing widely available, possibly leading to affordable personalized medicines. "We augmented a protein nanopore we developed for this purpose with a molecular motor that moves a DNA strand through the pore a nucleotide at a time," said Jens Gundlach, a University of Washington physics professor who leads the research team. Gundlach said the nanopore technique also can be used to identify how DNA is modified in a given individual. Such modifications, referred to as epigenetic DNA modifications, take place as chemical reactions within cells and are underlying causes of various conditions.

Kids With Three Parents To Cure Genetic Disease? - Scientists want to create designer babies with the DNA of three parents to prevent children inheriting life-threatening diseases. IVF specialists argue they could eradicate mitochondrial mutations — which can cause multi-organ failure and fatal heart, liver and muscle conditions — by removing defective genes and replacing them with healthy DNA from a donor. "We want to remove the mother's bad mitochondria and replace it with healthy mitochondria through IVF," Professor Peter Illingworth, of assisted conception services program IVF Australia, told The (Sydney) Sunday Telegraph. In Australia scientists are banned from using the DNA of more than two people in any research, but the federal government is reviewing the Research Involving Human Embryos Act after a report was tabled in parliament last year.

Sugar-Free Diets Don't Stop Cancer - A study by a team of researchers at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere shows that lymph gland cancer cells called B cells can use glutamine in the absence of glucose for cell replication and survival, particularly under low-oxygen conditions, which are common in tumors. When the investigators used a glutaminase (a glutamine enzyme) inhibitor, cancerous growth of B cells was stopped in petri dishes.

Scientists Keep New Bird Flu Strain Under Wraps - The U.S. government paid scientists to figure out how the deadly bird flu virus might mutate to become a bigger threat to people, and two labs succeeded in creating new strains that spread easier. On Tuesday, federal officials took the unprecedented step of asking those scientists not to publicize all the details of how they did it. The worry: That this research with lots of potential to help the public might also be hijacked by would-be bioterrorists. The labs found that it appears easier than scientists had thought for the so-called H5N1 bird flu to evolve in a way that lets it spread easily among at least some mammals.

BioTech: The Sorcerer's New Apprentice - Audio CD - Chuck Missler Updated April 2006! Chuck Missler surveys some of the most promising prospects and reviews the types of ventures emerging. He also reveals some of the concerns emerging among the informed, and includes some of the provocative Biblical implications. Click for more information - Audio CD with MP3

BioTech: The Sorcerer's New Apprentice - Audio CD - Chuck Missler Updated April 2006! Chuck Missler surveys some of the most promising prospects and reviews the types of ventures emerging. He also reveals some of the concerns emerging among the informed, and includes some of the provocative Biblical implications. Click for more information - Audio CD with MP3