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2016/11/12 16:35:37
Subject: Mankind continues to learn nothing from science fiction
n'oublie jamais - It appears I now have to highlight this again.
It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. By the juice of the brew my thoughts aquire speed, my mind becomes strained, the strain becomes a warning. It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion.
2016/11/20 19:59:03
Subject: Re:Mankind continues to learn nothing from science fiction
A biotech company in the U.S. has been granted ethical permission by the National Institutes of Health to use 20 brain-dead patients for what is sure to be a highly controversial study: From next year, they plan to stimulate their nervous systems in order to restart the brains. Bioquark is hoping that its part in the groundbreaking ReAnima project will reveal if people can at least partly be brought back from the dead.
It is important to note that at this point, there isn’t much evidence to suggest how genuinely realistic or even serious this endeavor is; however, the panel of experts working on the initiative does include Dr. Calixto Machado, a well-known neurological researcher and a member of the American Academy of Neurology who has written extensively on brain death, and it does appear to have proper approval from the U.S. authorities.
The team will test a combination of therapies on the participants, who have been medically certified as being brain dead and are only kept from decomposing by life support machines. Injecting the brain with stem cells, giving the spinal cord infusions of beneficial chemicals, and nerve stimulation techniques – which have been shown to bring people out of comas – will all be tried out.
Bioquark Inc. Receives IRB Approval for First-In-Human Brain Death Study - https://t.co/NrO3Fqsfn9 pic.twitter.com/sE4yojqYEc
— IraSamuel Pastor (@IraSamuelPastor) April 20, 2016
After each therapy has been administered, the team will monitor the brain activity of the participants for several months, hoping to look for signs of neurological reactivation. Their focus will be on the upper spinal cord, which is the lowermost part of the brain stream that controls a person’s cardiorespiratory functions – breathing and a beating heart, essentially.
“To undertake such a complex initiative, we are combining biologic regenerative medicine tools with other existing medical devices typically used for stimulation of the central nervous system, in patients with other severe disorders of consciousness,” said Ira Pastor, the CEO of Bioquark Inc., as reported by the Telegraph. “We hope to see results within the first two to three months.”
The central nervous system is bioelectrochemical, in that it uses biologically manufactured chemicals called neurotransmitters to transmit electrical signals through the body. Stimulating neurons with electrical currents is one thing – even in a coma, the neurons will be able to respond to electrical stimulation – but after brain death, neurons begin to wither away and degenerate, so for any “resurrection” to occur, the team will need to stimulate the regeneration of neurons in these brain-dead folk.
This is presumably where the stem cells come in, which in their most primitive state can differentiate into any cell in the human body. Although there has been plenty of remarkable progress using them to regenerate damaged heart, pancreatic, eye or even brain tissue, for example, there is a long way to go before stem cells can simply be injected into humans, allowing them to regenerate any type of lost cell.
In any case, the trials will begin at Anupam Hospital in Rudrapur, Uttarakhand in India. For this stage, the brain-dead people will be continuously given cocktails of peptides, chemicals that can act as neurotransmitters, along with biweekly injections of stem cells.
“It is a long-term vision of ours that a full recovery in such patients is a possibility, although that is not the focus of this first study,” Pastor added. “But it is a bridge to that eventuality.”
Jokes aside, good luck to'em, hope they manage some form of -- non flesh eating -- breakthrough.
And the next step: SERVITORS.
Lemme guess, Bioquark will be one of the companies that will help colonize Mars in the future. Hint, Hint......
Proud Purveyor Of The Unconventional In 40k
2017/01/12 10:10:05
Subject: Re:Mankind continues to learn nothing from science fiction
Human blood is now on the menu. Wild vampire bats that were thought to exclusively feed on bird blood have been caught feeding on people for the first time, raising health concerns.
Enrico Bernard from the Federal University of Pernambuco in Recife, Brazil, and his team analysed 70 faeces samples from a colony of hairy-legged vampire bats, D. ecaudata, living in Catimbau National Park in north-east Brazil.
They found that three samples out of the 15 they managed to get DNA from had traces of blood from humans. “We were quite surprised,” says Bernard. “This species isn’t adapted to feed on the blood of mammals.”
The bats typically target large birds at night-time, sucking a spoonful of blood from a single animal as a meal. They are adapted to process fat, the main component of bird blood, as opposed to the thicker, high-protein blood of mammals.
Previous experiments showed that when only pig and goat blood was available, many bats opted to fast, sometimes starving to death.
But human encroachment may be driving the species to try new blood. The park is now home to several human families and the bat’s usual prey, such as guans and tinamous, are disappearing due to deforestation and hunting.
Chicken dinner
Bernard and his team also found that most of the samples they tested contained the blood of chickens, commonly kept on farms in the area. “They are adapting to their environment and exploiting the new resources,” says Bernard. In a similar situation, common vampire bats were previously found to start feeding on invasive wild pigs.
The species’ new habits are a concern since it could spread disease. Vampire bats are a major transmitter of rabies, and there are often outbreaks in Brazil.
Daniel Becker from the University of Georgia in Athens, US, who is studying vampire bats in agricultural landscapes, thinks the infectious diseases carried by the species need to be investigated. “Past work has found that it carries the hantavirus,” he says. The virus can cause a respiratory disease in humans that can be fatal.
More details about how the bats bite humans will also help assess the public health risk. Bernard and his team suspect that they are entering people’s bedrooms through holes in roofs or windows, or that they target people sleeping outside in hammocks. The team is currently following up by visiting the homes of nearby residents. “We want to find out how often they are being bitten, when and how,” says Bernard.
odds on most of these researchers... disappearing -- maybe an odd or cryptic message left behind perhaps ..? -- so a small -- but crack -- team is sent to investigate what happened to them... and then .....
The poor man really has a stake in the country. The rich man hasn't; he can go away to New Guinea in a yacht. The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all
We love our superheroes because they refuse to give up on us. We can analyze them out of existence, kill them, ban them, mock them, and still they return, patiently reminding us of who we are and what we wish we could be.
"the play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king,
2017/01/12 10:28:49
Subject: Mankind continues to learn nothing from science fiction
Hmm... I notice the Dr Calixto guy trying to bring brain dead patients back to life shares his first name with the man in Windhelm who was killing women to harvest their body parts and bring his dead sister back. Maybe his research was inspired by Skyrim.
Hydra Dominatus
2017/01/12 11:40:03
Subject: Re:Mankind continues to learn nothing from science fiction
They're brain-dead people who might have functioning brains again if this is successful.
I'd be marginally happier if their heads were detached from their bodies and somehow kept alive. You really don't want to risk a zombie that can run at you.
2017/01/12 12:24:52
Subject: Re:Mankind continues to learn nothing from science fiction
They're brain-dead people who might have functioning brains again if this is successful.
I'd be marginally happier if their heads were detached from their bodies and somehow kept alive. You really don't want to risk a zombie that can run at you.
They're not zombies.
2017/01/12 12:44:04
Subject: Re:Mankind continues to learn nothing from science fiction
They're brain-dead people who might have functioning brains again if this is successful.
I'd be marginally happier if their heads were detached from their bodies and somehow kept alive. You really don't want to risk a zombie that can run at you.
They're not zombies.
I am beginning to suspect that you are a PR worker for Umbrella Corp.
2017/01/12 12:47:10
Subject: Mankind continues to learn nothing from science fiction
They're brain-dead people who might have functioning brains again if this is successful.
I'd be marginally happier if their heads were detached from their bodies and somehow kept alive. You really don't want to risk a zombie that can run at you.
They're not zombies.
I am beginning to suspect that you are a PR worker for Umbrella Corp.
The Umbrella Corporation is a fictional organization in a video game.
2017/01/12 13:12:58
Subject: Re:Mankind continues to learn nothing from science fiction
jreilly89 wrote: Ever notice how all zombie movies start with scientists mucking about? It's never crazy witch doctors or Armageddon. 28 Days Later, Reanimator, etc. It's always damned scientists trying to play God!
Hey, the scientists in 28 Days Later aren't mucking about! You can blame that one squarely on the Animal Rights idiots who think releasing test animals is the best idea even after they've been told that they are infected with a contagion.
The Laws of Thermodynamics:
1) You cannot win. 2) You cannot break even. 3) You cannot stop playing the game.
Colonel Flagg wrote:You think you're real smart. But you're not smart; you're dumb. Very dumb. But you've met your match in me.
2017/01/12 22:51:14
Subject: Re:Mankind continues to learn nothing from science fiction
jreilly89 wrote: Ever notice how all zombie movies start with scientists mucking about? It's never crazy witch doctors or Armageddon. 28 Days Later, Reanimator, etc. It's always damned scientists trying to play God!
Hey, the scientists in 28 Days Later aren't mucking about! You can blame that one squarely on the Animal Rights idiots who think releasing test animals is the best idea even after they've been told that they are infected with a contagion.
That was actually my favorite part. She goes to save him and *CHOMP*!!
jreilly89 wrote: Ever notice how all zombie movies start with scientists mucking about? It's never crazy witch doctors or Armageddon. 28 Days Later, Reanimator, etc. It's always damned scientists trying to play God!
Well of course that always how it happens - because the people writing the scripts are god-bothering numpties two missed meals away from roaming the streets screaming "burn the witch!" at local university students
"Your society's broken, so who should we blame? Should we blame the rich, powerful people who caused it? No, lets blame the people with no power and no money and those immigrants who don't even have the vote. Yea, it must be their fething fault." - Iain M Banks
-----
"The language of modern British politics is meant to sound benign. But words do not mean what they seem to mean. 'Reform' actually means 'cut' or 'end'. 'Flexibility' really means 'exploit'. 'Prudence' really means 'don't invest'. And 'efficient'? That means whatever you want it to mean, usually 'cut'. All really mean 'keep wages low for the masses, taxes low for the rich, profits high for the corporations, and accept the decline in public services and amenities this will cause'." - Robin McAlpine from Common Weal
2017/02/13 14:25:46
Subject: Re:Mankind continues to learn nothing from science fiction
"Watch two robots fence (video by CPM Special Bearings):"
.... oh great now we're training them, we'll regret that come the revolution.
The poor man really has a stake in the country. The rich man hasn't; he can go away to New Guinea in a yacht. The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all
We love our superheroes because they refuse to give up on us. We can analyze them out of existence, kill them, ban them, mock them, and still they return, patiently reminding us of who we are and what we wish we could be.
"the play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king,
2017/02/13 14:48:32
Subject: Mankind continues to learn nothing from science fiction
-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
2017/02/14 14:04:24
Subject: Re:Mankind continues to learn nothing from science fiction
University attacked by its own vending machines, smart light bulbs & 5,000 IoT devices
A university, attacked by its own malware-laced soda machines and other botnet-controlled IoT devices, was locked out of 5,000 systems.
Today’s cautionary tale comes from Verizon’s sneak peek (pdf) of the 2017 Data Breach Digest scenario. It involves an unnamed university, seafood searches, and an IoT botnet; hackers used the university’s own vending machines and other IoT devices to attack the university’s network.
Since the university’s help desk had previously blown off student complaints about slow or inaccessible network connectivity, it was a mess by the time a senior member of the IT security team was notified. The incident is given from that team member’s perspective; he or she suspected something fishy after detecting a sudden big interest in seafood-related domains.
The “incident commander” noticed “the name servers, responsible for Domain Name Service (DNS) lookups, were producing high-volume alerts and showed an abnormal number of sub-domains related to seafood. As the servers struggled to keep up, legitimate lookups were being dropped—preventing access to the majority of the internet.” That explained the “slow network” issues, but not much else.
The university then contacted the Verizon RISK (Research, Investigations, Solutions and Knowledge) Team and handed over DNS and firewall logs. The RISK team discovered the university’s hijacked vending machines and 5,000 other IoT devices were making seafood-related DNS requests every 15 minutes.
The incident commander explained:
The firewall analysis identified over 5,000 discrete systems making hundreds of DNS lookups every 15 minutes. Of these, nearly all systems were found to be living on the segment of the network dedicated to our IoT infrastructure. With a massive campus to monitor and manage, everything from light bulbs to vending machines had been connected to the network for ease of management and improved efficiencies. While these IoT systems were supposed to be isolated from the rest of the network, it was clear that they were all configured to use DNS servers in a different subnet.
After reading the RISK Team’s report, the senior IT security team member said:
Of the thousands of domains requested, only 15 distinct IP addresses were returned. Four of these IP addresses and close to 100 of the domains appeared in recent indicator lists for an emergent IoT botnet. This botnet spread from device to device by brute forcing default and weak passwords. Once the password was known, the malware had full control of the device and would check in with command infrastructure for updates and change the device’s password—locking us out of the 5,000 systems.
At first, the incident commander thought the only way out of trouble was to replace all the IoT devices, such as “every soda machine and lamp post.” Yet the RISK Team’s report explained that “the botnet spread from device to device by brute forcing default and weak passwords,” so the university used a packet sniffer to intercept a clear-text malware password for a compromised IoT device.
With the packet capture device operational, it was only a matter of hours before we had a complete listing of new passwords assigned to devices. With these passwords, one of our developers was able to write a script, which allowed us to log in, update the password, and remove the infection across all devices at once.
Verizon’s sneak peek report includes mitigation and response tips, such as change default credentials on IoT devices. It also advises, “Don’t keep all your eggs in one basket, create separate network zones for IoT systems and air-gap them from other critical networks where possible.”
Verizon’s upcoming second annual Data Breach Digest will cover 16 cybercrime case studies. If the “Panda Monium” sneak peek is any indication, the report should be a great and eye-opening read.
...we're all going to be killed by cyber sushi.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/02/14 14:07:06
The poor man really has a stake in the country. The rich man hasn't; he can go away to New Guinea in a yacht. The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all
We love our superheroes because they refuse to give up on us. We can analyze them out of existence, kill them, ban them, mock them, and still they return, patiently reminding us of who we are and what we wish we could be.
"the play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king,
2017/02/15 09:35:26
Subject: Mankind continues to learn nothing from science fiction
Daston wrote: Thankfully the UK dosnt have too many guns. Therefore I propose we Britons do what our fore fathers did and create a shield wall. I will be busy building my castle and claiming back wessex from the dead!
Silly you!
We're British. And cinema has shown us what happens then.
USA goes all Walking Dead/Day of the Dead/Dawn of the Dead/Diary of the Dead etc.
UK goes Shaun of the Dead - all blown over by tea-time and the Zombies put to work.
That's the main advantage of being an Island you know - relatively easy to clear of undesirable wild life (no wolfs, no bears. All ded. Zombies same, just slower and stinkier)
Fed up of Scalpers? But still want your Exclusives? Why not join us?
If you want to make the scariest horror movie ever, you don't need zombies, or monsters, or aliens, jump scares or fiction.
Just make a movie where you show the reality of what human civilization will be like in the 2050s in real life. Then advance it into the 2070s for the second half of the movie.
And then tell people... this is what we're in for in real life in these exact decades being depicted.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/02/16 06:56:55
2017/02/16 12:20:12
Subject: Re:Mankind continues to learn nothing from science fiction
Pete Melvin wrote: I think perhaps you are taking this thread a little too seriously and perhaps you should step away for your own peace of mind?
Well, to be honest I'm only posting this now because I assumed from the title that this was the thread I was talking about robots in. I'd completely forgotten I made my last post until I read it agan.
Bye!
2017/02/20 11:42:11
Subject: Mankind continues to learn nothing from science fiction
Verviedi wrote: Oh, melee weapons are worthless. When they learn to fire off some proper guns and missiles, then we'll be in for it.
Ignoring the fact that we have aelf guided missiles and auto defense turrets already, youre forgetting that all it takes isa bouncey jumpy robot with a sword or mace or god forbid a lawn mower for arms that can spring board on you from 20 yards away!
2017/02/20 12:44:45
Subject: Mankind continues to learn nothing from science fiction
Robots could wear flesh to help form transplants
It's not as creepy as it sounds. Really. We promise.
Right now, you have to grow human transplants in a stationary environment. That's more than a little dangerous when they could buckle under the stresses of a real body. Oxford University may have a clever (if slightly ghastly) solution to that problem: have robots wear the tissue first. If you grow muscles on humanoid robots, the movement and overall shape of those machines would lead to grafts and transplants that are ready for serious strain.
Naturally, this robotic conditioning would be most useful for higher-quality transplants. You could even personalize transplants by modifying the robot to reflect a patient's anatomy. However, the Oxford team sees other uses. It could reduce the use of animal testing in pre-clinical trials, and could even represent a step toward "biohybrid humanoids" that combine real tissue with mechanical systems. We're not so sure people are looking forward to that last part (it sounds like the background for a Terminator movie), but the discovery is great news overall for burn victims and others who need transplants. Instead of waiting weeks for replacements to grow on their own bodies, they could have doctors print transplants that get a robotic shakedown in a much shorter time.
..they even reference the bloody franchise !
..we're doomed !
The poor man really has a stake in the country. The rich man hasn't; he can go away to New Guinea in a yacht. The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all
We love our superheroes because they refuse to give up on us. We can analyze them out of existence, kill them, ban them, mock them, and still they return, patiently reminding us of who we are and what we wish we could be.
"the play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king,
2017/03/07 20:06:08
Subject: Mankind continues to learn nothing from science fiction
~1.5k
