Smoking risks

Brussels - A week after a leak from a nearby nuclear facility, residents of Lambusart village near the Belgian town of Fleurus were told Sunday they will be given medical tests, starting with children and pregnant women. The aim was to restore full ...

Singapore - The head of a transplant society in Singapore said he has been cleared in a scheme to illegally buy a kidney and continues to practise medicine. The authorities have investigated the case, and I have not been implicated, Dr Lye Wai Choo...

Plenty of people never get over their acceptance of death. A FutureBlogger post here offers some insight into the better half of the deathist position: someone who is happy to step aside and let progress continue, but doesn't quite understand why anyone would want to greatly extend the healthy human life span. "Since being exposed to the idea of extreme life extension, which admittedly was only several months ago, I've found myself reacting in a more skeptical and reactionary manner than I often do when confronted with other radical new futuristic ideas and technologies. When I read about possibilities of faster than light travel, I get excited. Predictions of nano-assemblers make me hopeful. I find designs for colonies on the Moon and Mars fascinating. But when I read about trends in regenerative medicine and nanotechnology that some experts believe will conquer death, I am not enthusiastic. Instead I become very skeptical, nervous and even angry. On one level, I am surprised that I could be anything other than overjoyed that ending death could be a possibility, I very much enjoy life and, as a living organism, I have a strong instinct to stay alive. Yet I find it extremely difficult to wrap my head around the idea of life without death."

View the Article Under Discussion: http://www.memebox.com/futureblogger/show/823-my-thoughts-on-the-demise-of-death
Read More Longevity Meme Commentary: http://www.longevitymeme.org/news/

Some thoughts on the decades following the biotechnology revolution from FutureBlogger: once nanotechnology is as far advanced as biotechnology is today, what sorts of capabilites start to look plausible? "By the mid-2030s, we could be replacing brain cells with damage-resistant nanomaterials that process thoughts much faster than today's biological brains. ... The new brain would include our same consciousness, memories and personality that existed before the conversion, but it would run much faster and would increase our memory a thousand-fold. ... a daily pill would supply nanomaterials and instructions for nanobots to format new neurons and position them next to existing biological brain cells to be replaced. These changes would be unnoticeable to us, but within six months, we would be enjoying our new brain. ... Should a person with the new damage-resistant brain die in an accident, their body could be a total loss, but the brain would survive. Biological brains die within minutes after the heart stops; our new brain will simply turn itself off and wait for a new power supply. All memories and consciousness would remain intact after a fatal accident. Rescue workers would remove the brain from the deceased body and reinstall it into a newly-cloned body." A lot of work remains to be accomplished before the golden future becomes a reality - first things first.

View the Article Under Discussion: http://www.memebox.com/futureblogger/show/827-our-future-brain-damage-resistant-with-unique-new-abilities
Read More Longevity Meme Commentary: http://www.longevitymeme.org/news/

Brussels - Residents of the Belgian town of Fleurus have been told not to consume locally-produced vegetables and dairy products following a leak of radioactive iodine at a nearby nuclear facility, Belgian media reported Friday. The interior ministry...