The combination of early diagnosis and effective treatment could detect, then halt, Alzheimer’s before it becomes a debilitating condition. Treatments based on ApoE protein reduction could be in clinical trials by 2030.
Breakthroughs for stalled stem-cell research
So far, stem cells haven’t lived up to their promise of regenerating failed organs and correcting genetic defects. Although stem cells can become any type of cell the body needs, isolating them and directing their metamorphosis can be risky and unpredictable. Besides, there are relatively few sources — human embryos among them — from which to collect them. Special techniques...
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Stem cells are likely to be a key to curing or reversing a range of disease by 2050. New sectors of the bioscience and healthcare industry will be created around stem-cell treatments.
Your household waste can fuel your next overseas flight
British Airways and Velocys, which makes renewable fuels, are partnering to make jet fuel from household waste. The first conversion plant will produce enough fuel to power all the airline’s Dreamliner flights from London to San Jose, California, and New Orleans. The fuel is expected to be clean enough to save about 60,000 tons of carbon-dioxide emissions annually, roughly a...
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With Britain’s North Sea oil production dwindling, British Airways had little choice but to look for alternatives to petroleum power. Still, air travel is among the most polluting forms of transport. Commercial airlines are researching non-fossil alternative fuels, an effort long underway by the world’s military as a national security issue.
China says its oil and coal are peaking
China’s oil production could peak as early as next year and its coal production in 2020, according to a government-funded study by the China University of Petroleum. China’s rich natural-gas reserves won’t begin to flag until 2040, the study concludes. But gas production is water-intensive and China can’t spare enough water to get all that gas out of the ground....
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As its domestic fuel supplies begin to fall short, China will seek to import more oil and coal as an interim measure. It’s already moving to tie up available supplies. This will place greater demands on global oil and coal reserves, driving up prices and sparking new drilling and mining ventures. However, because China’s population is demanding cleaner air, the...
New developments in artificial hearts
At any moment, about 3,000 people in the United States alone are waiting for a replacement heart – one whose tissue is compatible with the recipient. Artificial hearts are the solution, but designs so far have been clunky and fraught with problems. Now medical engineers at ETH Zurich, a Swiss science and technology university, have 3D-printed a silicone heart that...
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The combination of 3D printing and stem-cell technology will make replacing failing organs routine by the middle of this century.
Dubai, the land of flying taxis?
The tiny Arab nation of Dubai has granted permission to the German company Volocopter to conduct a five-year test of its electric flying taxis in the country. The air taxi, made from carbon fibers, weighs less than 1,000 pounds and looks like a giant drone. It has nine batteries powering 18 rotors. The batteries can turn the rotors for about...