Ever since doctors have had the ability to transfuse blood, we've needed a basically unlimited supply of the stuff. There's nothing worse for a person than running out of blood, since it kind of starves your organs of the nutrients and oxygen that they need to survive, and there's a distinct risk of this in severe injuries and intensive surgery. Even a single donor can save several lives. Discovering blood-types and how they deal with combinations was a major breakthough here. In the absense of properly available blood, a saline solution can still keep the circulatory system's volume up, making the remaining available blood more useful to the body.
But the need for blood is tempered by the risk of blood-bourne disease. Severe diseases like Hepatitus and AIDS can be transmitted through blood transfusions. The ideal donor would be an O- virgin, 12 years old or younger, who subsisted on a pure vegan diet of sunshine, water, and unicorn farts, and was proven to be free of all known diseases. Since the pool would be extremely limited if doctors actually held out for this, compromises have been made to remove the most likely carriers of disease, and to categorize blood to make the most use of the available supply. Blood donors can give up to a pint at a time, which the donor will slowly re-grow over a period of about 56 days. Blood donors typically get a snack of punch and cookies to replenish lost fluid and blood sugars, minimizing any negative effect that losing blood could have on them. Though many milions of people worldiwde heroically donate, people still die from lack of access to blood, because the need is far bigger than the supply.
Discovery news reports today that a biotech firm is now cloning blood from umbilical cords, producing massive amounts of disease-free blood from even one. Even better, the process is extremely fast. The blood is produced in far less time than the natural version, so in case of a massive emergency, a large supply of blood could be quickly made available.
A better process still would be completely artificial blood, as that could be made without limit. Blood is made of things that aren't very expensive: Carbon, Oxygen, Hydrogen, and a small amount of Iron. Though the chemistry is complex, once a process could be set up, machines could crank out gallon after gallon after gallon of the stuff and rush it to hospitals worldwide. The volume would be so great that pipe-based transport would be a worthwhile investment. Unlimited transfusable blood would have all sorts of insane implications. For one, poisoning could be cured by blood flushing, in which your blood would be replaced until no trace of the poison remained. For another, hemodialysis would become a very different, and probably much cheaper, process. Bacterial or viral diseases could also probably be flushed away. The waste blood could be used to grow flowers or something.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
Amazing Blogathon
I hear amazing news: Blag Hag is holding a massive posting-for-charity tomorrow. The author will be posting every half-hour for the entire day. 48 massive, interesting posts, without ceasing.
This is quite a feat. I struggle to keep up one post per day. So I hope she raises a lot for her charity.
I had to spend a lot of today rewriting my resume, since my only copy was on Google's document service, and they lost it. Argle-bargle-bargle-bargle.
This is quite a feat. I struggle to keep up one post per day. So I hope she raises a lot for her charity.
I had to spend a lot of today rewriting my resume, since my only copy was on Google's document service, and they lost it. Argle-bargle-bargle-bargle.
Anti-Malarial Mosquitos
Malaria used to be a big killer in tropical areas. The virus was borne on the ubiquitous mosquitos, who transferred it from person to person by biting them for some blood, to help lay their eggs. After the mosquito bit one infected person, they would spread the infection to hundreds of others. This majorly slowed European exploration of Africa, Oceania, and South America, because exploration parties almost inevitably developed severe malaria, and medical treatment was unavailable. Large amounts of exploration parties died in the jungle. Often the survivors were so sick that they had to unceremoneously leave their collegues where they fell.
But Malaria is a virus, not an inherent result of mosquito bites. Mosquito bites in North America, where I live, almost never spread malaria. And this gave a biologist a big idea. Discovery news reports that biologists are breeding mosquitos that kill the virus in their guts, thus changing from a disease-spreading vector to the remedy for that very disease. The idea began by noting that even in wild mosquitos, their immune system fights the virus. The mosquito is not a sadist. It doesn't bite you to irritate you, it bites you because a dash of your blood allows it to lay way way more eggs. (Mammals like humans are like fertility clinics to mosquitos, and the virus is like radical social darwinists who burn down fertility clinics.) So the genetically engineered mosquito has beefed up immune and digestive systems. The virus is more likely to be ground up to serve as a free protein for the mosquito, and if it survives that, a powerful immune system will likely tear it apart before it comes within a mile of a human. This will make malaria much less present, and save millions of humans from malaria misery.
As is in the tropics, it's necessary to have a cache of malaria-treating medicine on hand, and an insect-proof screen to sleep under at night, because without one, one will be bitten perpetually, and infection is inevitable. With these new mosquitos in the pool, mosquito bites will only mean itchiness, not horrible disease with a risk of death.
But Malaria is a virus, not an inherent result of mosquito bites. Mosquito bites in North America, where I live, almost never spread malaria. And this gave a biologist a big idea. Discovery news reports that biologists are breeding mosquitos that kill the virus in their guts, thus changing from a disease-spreading vector to the remedy for that very disease. The idea began by noting that even in wild mosquitos, their immune system fights the virus. The mosquito is not a sadist. It doesn't bite you to irritate you, it bites you because a dash of your blood allows it to lay way way more eggs. (Mammals like humans are like fertility clinics to mosquitos, and the virus is like radical social darwinists who burn down fertility clinics.) So the genetically engineered mosquito has beefed up immune and digestive systems. The virus is more likely to be ground up to serve as a free protein for the mosquito, and if it survives that, a powerful immune system will likely tear it apart before it comes within a mile of a human. This will make malaria much less present, and save millions of humans from malaria misery.
As is in the tropics, it's necessary to have a cache of malaria-treating medicine on hand, and an insect-proof screen to sleep under at night, because without one, one will be bitten perpetually, and infection is inevitable. With these new mosquitos in the pool, mosquito bites will only mean itchiness, not horrible disease with a risk of death.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Counterfactual belief
One morning, I successfully convinced myself that I did not exist. To be fair, it was early morning, I was tired, and I didn't want to get up. So I thought, "Oh, don't worry, you don't have to get up, because you don't really exist." In my tired state, this seemed perfectly reasonable for about five minutes. (After a short snooze, I did remember that ignoring reality doesn't make it go away, and I had to get up anyway.)
An earlier morning, I forgot that movement was possible. The alarm went off, and all I could think about it was "That noise is so annoying." It took me ten minutes to remember that I could reach over and turn it off, and another 30 seconds to remember that I had set it deliberately, because I had to get up at that time.
We, as people, like to think that we're reasonable and rational all the time, but sometimes we're clearly not. Psychologists point to a long list of cognitive biases discovered over the years. We're self-serving, seeing ourselves as better than can be warranted by the facts, we're prone to believing in consistency, ignoring all evidence that we've changed over the years, and we hate to admit it when we don't know something, preferring to just make something up and claim it to be true. A psychology student made an entertaining song describing many of the cognitive biases discovered over the years.
On top of this, we experience altered-states in which our thinking is way different than normal. Sleep and tiredness, as we began with. Drinking. Meditation. And we need to sleep, or our brain deteriorates and we die.
Often, altered states leads people to accept strange ideas, and then the various cognitive biases prevent them from ever rejecting these ideas again. Like UFO-abduction belief. There are many altered states in which other people seem distorted, most notably temporal lobe epilepsy. People experiencing temporal lobe epilepsy often experience profound religious experiences, or, if not particularly religious, perceive people around them to be aliens. Having recovered, self-consistency bias (with a slight touch of self-serving) leads them to conclude that they really were abducted by aliens and that anyone who says otherwise is a filthy liar. (Or that they really did speak with God, and what he really wants is for them to open a taco stand or whatever. And again, anyone who claims otherwise is Satan's puppet.)
I'm not sure what to do about this, but even knowing that it exists and is possible is a big defense. Just because you hear weird noises in your house at night, it doesn't make it haunted. Your vivid experience in which you teleported to Mars and learned the true nature of the universe may have just been a totally kickass dream. (Though, even if it didn't happen, that may make an entertaining novel for you to write.) I probably have some false beliefs, but I don't readily know what they are.
An earlier morning, I forgot that movement was possible. The alarm went off, and all I could think about it was "That noise is so annoying." It took me ten minutes to remember that I could reach over and turn it off, and another 30 seconds to remember that I had set it deliberately, because I had to get up at that time.
We, as people, like to think that we're reasonable and rational all the time, but sometimes we're clearly not. Psychologists point to a long list of cognitive biases discovered over the years. We're self-serving, seeing ourselves as better than can be warranted by the facts, we're prone to believing in consistency, ignoring all evidence that we've changed over the years, and we hate to admit it when we don't know something, preferring to just make something up and claim it to be true. A psychology student made an entertaining song describing many of the cognitive biases discovered over the years.
On top of this, we experience altered-states in which our thinking is way different than normal. Sleep and tiredness, as we began with. Drinking. Meditation. And we need to sleep, or our brain deteriorates and we die.
Often, altered states leads people to accept strange ideas, and then the various cognitive biases prevent them from ever rejecting these ideas again. Like UFO-abduction belief. There are many altered states in which other people seem distorted, most notably temporal lobe epilepsy. People experiencing temporal lobe epilepsy often experience profound religious experiences, or, if not particularly religious, perceive people around them to be aliens. Having recovered, self-consistency bias (with a slight touch of self-serving) leads them to conclude that they really were abducted by aliens and that anyone who says otherwise is a filthy liar. (Or that they really did speak with God, and what he really wants is for them to open a taco stand or whatever. And again, anyone who claims otherwise is Satan's puppet.)
I'm not sure what to do about this, but even knowing that it exists and is possible is a big defense. Just because you hear weird noises in your house at night, it doesn't make it haunted. Your vivid experience in which you teleported to Mars and learned the true nature of the universe may have just been a totally kickass dream. (Though, even if it didn't happen, that may make an entertaining novel for you to write.) I probably have some false beliefs, but I don't readily know what they are.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Bee-based Intelligence
I think we could all use a little more intelligence. Nootropics, drugs that improve a person's cognitive function, have been really trendy lately. And now, an all natural, easily harvested substance has been found that works excellently. Namely, bee venom. Wait, what?
Discovery News reports that a study held in Belgium and England reveals that a component of bee venom, Apamin, excites neurons, and injecting onesself with a large amount of this drastically improves neuron efficiency.
Bees probably developed this as a way of magnifying the pain of a sting, to tell the various pesky animals that strive to steal their honey that this is a bad idea for them, and they should persue a different source of food.
Of course, chemical sythesis will probably develop something more effective at this, and cheaper. Milking bee venom is a slow, expensive, and incredibly boring task, but a chemically synthesized version will be saleable by the ton.
Discovery News reports that a study held in Belgium and England reveals that a component of bee venom, Apamin, excites neurons, and injecting onesself with a large amount of this drastically improves neuron efficiency.
Bees probably developed this as a way of magnifying the pain of a sting, to tell the various pesky animals that strive to steal their honey that this is a bad idea for them, and they should persue a different source of food.
Of course, chemical sythesis will probably develop something more effective at this, and cheaper. Milking bee venom is a slow, expensive, and incredibly boring task, but a chemically synthesized version will be saleable by the ton.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Optical Computer
A computer really is a marvel of electromagnetic engineering, using electromagnetism to handle every single aspect of it. The control signals are electric. The short term storage is an electric pattern in the RAM. The long term storage is a magnetic pattern on the hard drive. (Or a floppy, or, very rarely now, a pattern blown into a Flash ROM.) Power comes from readily available electric sockets, and portable computers can operate for a few hours on battery, and can be charged reasonably quickly.
However, there are places where electrical computers work poorly, like in high magnetic or radiation areas. Strong magnetic fields can "flip" bits from one to zero or back, distorting and corrupting the information until the computer can no longer function. Similarly, ionizing radiation wrecks hell upon computers, even when they're off. (The radiation causes electric currents to flow, self powering, and often overwhelming the circuitry.)
However, it would still be possible to operate a computer there if need be, because electromagnetism is not the only force able to send a control signal, as we learned when laying undersea cables, which tended to attenuate when electricity flowed through them, reducing the signal quality. The substitute force was optic fiber. Signals would be sent by light.
Similarly, a computer could be made that had optical channels, that flipped around physical storage mediums when the light shined upon them. The computer would have fiber optic channels instead of copper wires, mirrored gates that could be moved into one of two positions, laser emitters to produce the light, and sensors to detect it. It would still take electric power, but the signals would be stored in light, and transmitted via fiber optic cables for permenant storage away from the danger zone. In a strong magnetic field....it gets free power and the signals aren't affected. In a radiation zone....it gets free power and the signals aren't affected.
This could be useful in medicine, for deep scanners that work via powerful magnets, for radiation-recovery robots, who can be effectively infinitely hardened against radiation, and for deep space, where radiation is a constant threat.
There is a downside too: the optical computer would be bigger and more expensive, and likely slower at first. It would be like downgrading to a 386, which would be painful in this six-core world.
However, there are places where electrical computers work poorly, like in high magnetic or radiation areas. Strong magnetic fields can "flip" bits from one to zero or back, distorting and corrupting the information until the computer can no longer function. Similarly, ionizing radiation wrecks hell upon computers, even when they're off. (The radiation causes electric currents to flow, self powering, and often overwhelming the circuitry.)
However, it would still be possible to operate a computer there if need be, because electromagnetism is not the only force able to send a control signal, as we learned when laying undersea cables, which tended to attenuate when electricity flowed through them, reducing the signal quality. The substitute force was optic fiber. Signals would be sent by light.
Similarly, a computer could be made that had optical channels, that flipped around physical storage mediums when the light shined upon them. The computer would have fiber optic channels instead of copper wires, mirrored gates that could be moved into one of two positions, laser emitters to produce the light, and sensors to detect it. It would still take electric power, but the signals would be stored in light, and transmitted via fiber optic cables for permenant storage away from the danger zone. In a strong magnetic field....it gets free power and the signals aren't affected. In a radiation zone....it gets free power and the signals aren't affected.
This could be useful in medicine, for deep scanners that work via powerful magnets, for radiation-recovery robots, who can be effectively infinitely hardened against radiation, and for deep space, where radiation is a constant threat.
There is a downside too: the optical computer would be bigger and more expensive, and likely slower at first. It would be like downgrading to a 386, which would be painful in this six-core world.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Green Haiti
Haiti doesn't have a lot of wealth. Or, after the recent earthquake, infrastructure. As it is, the locals survive with kerosene stoves, and candles for lighting.
But what the locals really want, according to Discovery news, is a solar panel, because they only have to buy that once. Candles wear down and have to be bought again, but a solar and battery powered light will work day after day after day.
The article reports that even before the earthquake, 70% of Haiti had no electricity. This had negative implications on all sorts of things. Darkness proved hostile to security. (Sociopathic people interpret darkness as a lack of ability for other people to identify them, and thus license to commit crimes.) A knocked over candle is a fire hazard. Manual labor ruled the day, while electricity promises automation. There's not much you can do in the dark, in a tent.
But what the locals really want, according to Discovery news, is a solar panel, because they only have to buy that once. Candles wear down and have to be bought again, but a solar and battery powered light will work day after day after day.
The article reports that even before the earthquake, 70% of Haiti had no electricity. This had negative implications on all sorts of things. Darkness proved hostile to security. (Sociopathic people interpret darkness as a lack of ability for other people to identify them, and thus license to commit crimes.) A knocked over candle is a fire hazard. Manual labor ruled the day, while electricity promises automation. There's not much you can do in the dark, in a tent.
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