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WASHINGTON (AP) — Most Americans say it would be OK to use gene-editing technology to create babies protected against a variety of diseases — but a new poll shows they’d draw the line at changing DNA so children are born smarter, faster or taller.

A month after startling claims of the births of the world’s first gene-edited babies in China, the poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds people are torn between the medical promise of a technology powerful enough to alter human heredity and concerns over whether it will be used ethically.

Jaron Keener, a 31-year-old exhibit designer at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Museum of Natural History, said he’s opposed to “rich people being able to create designer babies.”

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Replication is nature’s greatest magic trick. Watch closely, and before your very eyes you’ll see a single cell blur into two virtually identical copies. Presto.

After more than half a century of research on molecular genetics, it would be easy to assume we’ve had this biological sleight-of-hand all figured out — but it’s not the case.

Now, by applying cutting edge technology, researchers have uncovered crucial details showing how DNA times its own replication.

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China could emerge as the world’s biggest spender on research and development, after adjusting for the purchasing power of its currency, once countries publish their 2018 spending data in late 2019. Outlays on science in China have accelerated since 2003, although the country still trails behind the United States on measures of research quality. Over in Europe, officials will try to agree on how to disburse a proposed €100 billion (US$110 billion) through the European Union’s next research-funding programme, Horizon Europe, which begins in 2021. It’s unclear how fully UK researchers will be able to participate, as uncertainty over Brexit continues to plague the country.


Gene-editing, open access and a biosafety rethink are set to shape research.

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A class of drugs used to treat certain breast cancers could help fight lung cancers that have become resistant to targeted therapies, according to a study conducted in mice.

The study, published in the journal Cell Reports, found that lung tumours in mice caused by mutations in a gene called EGFR shrunk significantly when a protein called p110a was blocked.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MdsF3P8bjw

I was in a really interesting 1-hour debate yesterday with Jean-Francois Gariépy who runs a well-known YouTube channel The Public Space, sometimes associated with the Alt-Right. We discussed #transhumanism. I think the debate caught a lot of people by surprise. While I believe in and embrace total diversity, I despise the oppression of human biology and death, and advocate for any means possible to overcome it—including genetic modification and merging with machines. The debate makes me look like the aggressor. But it only proves what I’ve always said, that issues of race and traditional cultural bigotry are minor compared to the issues of humanity battling aging and death itself. All of us are currently in a war to not die:


An important debate on whether or not humanity should play with their own genes. Guest: Zoltan Istvan, transhumanist.

Zoltan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zoltan_istvan
Zoltan on the Web: http://www.zoltanistvan.com/

The Transhumanist Wager by Zoltan Istvan: http://www.zoltanistvan.com/TranshumanistWager.html

JF’s book, The Revolutionary Phenotype, is out!

Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/Revolutionary-Phenotype-amazing-story-begins/dp/1729861563/

Personal Signed Limited Version (44 of 125 left): http://jfg.world

✔ Donate through Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ThePublicSpace
✔ Donate through Paypal: http://paypal.jfg.world
✔ Donate through BTC: 3PbjdD5fiCjYCSHqkypC83EkjhceWPC4yc.

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New program coming on-line at Bioquark Inc. (www.bioquark.com) — Ectocrine interactions (the“Ectocrinome”) represents a completely unexplored area related to human health

https://www.prweb.com/releases/bioquark_inc_and_ectocrine_technologies_llc_to_collaborate_on_mosquito_derived_health_product_development/prweb16004155.htm


Had a great time with my regenerative biology Q&A session with Ayersville (Ohio, USA) Schools 2nd graders and high school advanced anatomy class — so happy to see kids out there that are interested in these topics at such a young age — creating the future, one mind at a time — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_uu9f7nafc