Posts Tagged ‘Health’
We’ll be immortal in 20 years, says Kurzweil
September 23rd, 2009 | 
Author: I want to live forever. I want to learn how to fly. High. I feel it coming together.
And, thankfully, so does celebrated large brain and, who knows, maybe “Kids from Fame” aficionado Ray Kurzweil.
In an article reported by the Telegraph, Kurzweil says that our technological and genetic know-how is marching at such a furious pace that in 20 years’ time we should be holding in our sweaty, excitable hands the nanotechnological secrets of our existence. This is all part and parcel of the nano-forecasting he’s been doing for years, along with his rather singular vision of the man-machine future.
These secrets should allow us to replace our kidneys, livers, hearts and, hey, what about minds, with functioning vital organs made by human hands.
Kurzweil’s contemplations, first published in The Sun, offer us these vast nuggets of hope: “I and many other scientists now believe that in around 20 years we will have the means to reprogram our bodies’ stone-age software so we can halt, then reverse, aging. Then nanotechnology will let us live for ever.”
Yes, you can be 28 again. You can drink yourself stupid and let those nano-nano folks just slip you a new liver. You can have sex, drugs, and rock and roll, and still be able to perform Whitney Houston karaoke better than Whitney herself can these days.
“If we want to go into virtual-reality mode, nanobots will shut down brain signals and take us wherever we want to go,” said Kurzweil. “Virtual sex will become commonplace. And in our daily lives, hologram-like figures will pop in our brain to explain what is happening.”
One can only hope those hologram-like figures don’t resemble the chaps from Google too closely.
And I am not entirely sure I am persuaded by the concept of virtual sex. Perhaps worse would be the concept of some Googleperson-like hologram talking one through virtual sex. And whispering to one after it.
Still, Kurzweil’s passionate certainty offers us all hope for a very different future from the one we might have imagined.
I can’t wait. No, really. I can’t.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10359501-71.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Patrick Swayze Dies After Long Battle with Cancer
Patrick Swayze (Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES — Actor Patrick Swayze has died after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.
Swayze’s publicist Annett Wolf says the 57-year-old “Dirty Dancing” actor died Monday with family at his side.
He went public about his illness last spring, but continued working as he underwent treatments.
Swayze was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer in early 2008. Doctors later determined the cancer had spread to his liver.
This January, he was admitted to a hospital for pneumonia, which was reportedly the result of his chemotherapy treatments.
He had to miss an appearance at the Television Critics Association in Los Angeles as a result. He had been scheduled to talk about his new A & E show, “The Beast.”
In March, a picture in a tabloid magazine showed a gaunt and seemingly hairless Swayze with the headline, “Patrick Swayze: THE END.”
The article stated that the actor weighed only 105 pounds.
Swayze remained remarkably upbeat during his brave battle and said he had so much to be thankful for.
He also kept busy and continued to work.
Swayze was perhaps best-known as a romantic leading man in the films Dirty Dancing (1987) and Ghost (1990) for which he received Golden Globe nominations.
Swayze is survived by his wife of nearly 34 years, Lisa Niemi.
He was 56-years-old.
Source :
Are cell phones safe? Researchers still uncertain
WASHINGTON, D.C.–The question over whether cell phones pose a health risk has been debated for years, and researchers say the final answer could still be years away.
Since the wireless industry’s early days, there have been fears that cell phones could be harmful to your health. Some 600 studies have been conducted on the health effects of cell phone use, but the results have been conflicting.
Several reputable organizations, including the World Health Organization and the National Cancer Institute, say there’s no conclusive evidence that using cell phones can harm your health. Other independent research, meanwhile, indicates a link between health problems and cell phone use.
The Interphone study, which began over a decade ago involving 13 countries and has been funded in part by the wireless industry, was supposed to settle the dispute. But the report’s publication has been delayed as researchers disagree over how to interpret the data. Some countries have ended up publishing some results on their own. Much of it indicates there is a link between brain tumors and cell phone use of 10 years or more.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-10351577-266.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Posted in cell phone, Communication, evironment, Health | 
Tags: cancer, cell phones, Health | 
Comments Closed
LA fire likely to pass across Mount Wilson
The wildfire ravaging Northern Los Angeles County is expected to pass across Mount Wilson, home to TV and radio towers and the famed Wilson Observatory.
Mount Wilson Observatory Director Hal McAlister said Monday in an ongoing blog that the U.S. Forest Service informed him that passage of the fire across Mount Wilson was imminent. The USFS also said firefighters would battle the blaze from the air rather than on the ground.
Firefighers have already been pulled from Red Box, a major staging area about five miles from the observatory.
In his blog late Monday, McAlister reported:
Monday, 31 Aug 09, 2:46 pm PDT – I just spoke with Sherry Roman, Public Affairs Officer of the Angeles National Forest. She could give no updates as to the status of the fire in the Mount Wilson vicinity except that the USFS still considers that passage of fire across Mount Wilson is imminent and will be fought aerially rather than with ground personnel. Once the fire is through the area, they can assess the damage by air after the event before they can send in ground personnel. She also confirmed that firefighters have been removed from Red Box.This roller coaster has taken a dip downward.
McAlister’s latest blog (which mistakenly lists the day as Monday rather than Tuesday):
Monday, 1 Sep 09, 7:15 am PDT – …I do not at this point have any news – only what we can all deduce from Towercam and other sources. Towercam scenes continue to show thick smoke on the mountain with a concentration on the right side of the image implying activity on the mountain’s north side. It clearly has not reached the mountain and, if advancing towards us, it is only doing so slowly.
McAlister also reported that one of the two power lines to the mountain was knocked out by the fire. But the towercam showing the latest images is still online for now, allowing the Mount Wilson staff to monitor the flames.
The latest news from CBS in Los Angeles reports that the Station fire is still only 5 percent contained, and officials don’t expect full containment for another two weeks. At this point, the fire has destroyed 121,000 acres and 53 homes.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10323008-94.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Posted in diaster, evironment, Health, weather |
Tags: diaster, environment, Health, L.A. Wildfire, Mount Wilson |
Comments Closed
Once again: Do cell phones cause brain tumors?
A collaborative of international electromagnetic radiation (EMR) watchdogs, including Powerwatch and the EMR Policy Institute, sent a paper to government leaders and media Tuesday detailing several design flaws in a major but oft-delayed telecom-funded Interphone study.
Now consumers get to wonder yet again whether the message behind the paper, “Cellphones and Brain Tumors: 15 Reasons for Concern, Science, Spin and the Truth Behind Interphone,” is legitimate or the result of overzealous conspiracy theorists.
The paper’s main conclusions are: There is a “significant” risk of brain tumors from cell phone use; EMR exposure limits that have been used by governments and supported by industry are based on the false premise that EMR has no biological effects except for heating; and design flaws of the Interphone study including selection bias, insufficient latency time to expect a tumor diagnosis, unrealistic definition of what makes a “regular” cell phone user, exclusion of children and young adults from the study, exclusion of many types of brain tumors, and exclusion of people who had died or were too ill to be interviewed as the result of brain tumors.
Read the full report here (PDF), as well as CNET’s cell phone radiation level chart (a few Motorola models top the list, with several Samsungs coming in lowest).
Source :
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27083_3-10318075-247.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Posted in cell phone, Communication, Google, Health, media, Tech |
Tags: brain tumors, cell phone, Health |
Comments Closed
