We're on the cusp of a revolution that will change the world as much as computers did

Most people do not yet understand the potential impact of our newfound ability to edit and eventually rewrite genetic code, the blueprint for life itself.
At least, so say a number a number of experts in genetics and genomics. That idea was the major common thread in a series of interviews with some of the leading researchers in the field.

Full article... 

Please read the article so you are not 'most people'. I also truly believe this will be big. This is the technology that allows a gene drive that could exterminate a mosquito species for example.

Special glasses that can fix color blindness in many cases

Company website

Here are some non-promotional videos of people reacting to them that really gave me the feels: 1 - 2 - 3

"Broccoli" patent hearing cancelled

Taking into account the ruling of the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the EPO that methods for the production of plants which comprise conventional breeding steps as well as technical ones are not patentable under the applicable European patent law, the patentee has proposed to limit its original patent by excluding the breeding methods. Thus, only the broccoli plants as such remain protected.

[...]

French company Limagrain and Swiss group Syngenta filed notices of opposition to the patent in 2003 and maintained their challenge in subsequent appeals. They allege, among other things, that the patent protects an essentially biological method of breeding plants excluded from patentability under the European Patent Convention (EPC) binding on the EPO. The technical board of appeal hearing the two appeals stayed the proceedings and referred questions to the Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) with a view to obtaining clarification of the term "essentially biological processes for the production of plants (or animals)" and the associated exception to patentability.

'Broccoli' patent found here, same issue with the 'Tomato' patent.

Real prospects for life extension

Good TED video.

She is 56 years, I wonder if she is secretly testing her findings on herself, or if it's just her genes or diet that makes her look younger.

The Dog is getting bigger

Annom previously posted about the extraordinary and biomimetic BigDog robot. They haven't been idle and Alpha Dog is the newest and much bigger version.

Especially watching it run was impressive, and of course its recovery from shoves.

The AlphaDog, as they’re calling it, was created to be basically the practical version of BigDog, which, while compelling and scary, was too loud and couldn’t carry enough stuff. AlphaDog, on the other hand, will carry 400 pounds of gear for 20 miles in a day, without needing to be refueled. -Article

Homer Simpson body

A body that look likes the face of Homer Simpson, not that sexy but still horney.

Hurcules the Liger, the largest cat in the world

Video of Hercules, also featuring some other hybrids.

As an interesting comparison; the polar bear is the largest carnivore on earth. Adult males weigh 350–680 kg and measure 2.4–3m in length. Hercules the liger weighs 450kg and is around 3.7m in length.

The sequel of the bird in the forrest

A previous post shows them filmed in the wild.

Fire Ants vs Water

Flocking Starlings

Large flocks of Starlings flock above Utrecht these days. They already have a place on our blog, but I made a video of some small flocks above our house today,

This Utrechter did a better job and had a larger flock,

Festo SmartBird

Here is the inside:

Festo was featured before on the blog with their uber sleek flying helium penguins.

Aspergillus fumigatus botrytis mucor trichoderma cladosporium

Anti Panda League

The manifesto of the APL:

• Pandas may be cute and cuddly, but they are a failure of nature and evolution.

• Panda coddling groups like the WWF may claim that pandas are endangered because of deforestation, but the truth is that pandas are endangered due to their own gross incompetence and slothfulness.

• Pandas are carnivores, yet eat bamboo, out of which they only manage to extract a small amount of nutrients.

• Pandas have almost no interest in procreating.

• Pandas don't look after their young, which are malnourished because of their retarded bamboo diet.

• Hitler was a panda.

• Fuck pandas.

There's also the rival APC (Anti-panda Council)

Dolphins have fun with a mirror

Animals teach us how to be people

Video imaging of walking myosin V by high-speed atomic force microscopy

In living systems, molecules called molecular motors convert chemical energy into mechanical motion, and are essential for many life processes including intracellular transport, cell division, and muscle contraction. Myosin V is a type of molecular motor that transports cargo through cells by "walking" along filaments.
Here's a diagram that shows a clearer picture of what's happening. It's amazing that they were able to capture video of such a tiny phenomenon, its steps are only 74nm and it 'walks' at ~380 nm/s.

And a rendered video of the process in a white blood cell (leukocyte). I linked to the relevant time, but recommend watching the entire thing.

Video of individual carbon atoms was featured previously on the blog.

Foxfire

Foxfire is the term for the bioluminescence created in the right conditions by a few species of fungi that decay wood.

More pictures...

Ant Bug

"This phenomenon is a side effect of the self-organizing structure of ant colonies. Each ant follows the ant in front of it, and this will work until something goes wrong and an ant mill forms. The ants will eventually die of exhaustion."

Rainbow Rose

"In 2004, two dutch companies, River Flowers and F.J. Zandbergen, experimented and successfully grew a rose that had its petals rainbow colored. As petals get their nourishment through stem, the idea is to split the stem into several channels and dip each one in a different colored water. This way all the colors will be drawn by the stem into petals and resultant rose will have all the colors in it."

Hints of life found on Saturn moon

Two potential signatures of life on Saturn's moon Titan have been found by the Cassini spacecraft. But scientists are quick to point out that non-biological chemical reactions could also be behind the observations.

Titan is much too cold to support liquid water on its surface, but some scientists have suggested that exotic life-forms could live in the lakes of liquid methane or ethane that dot the moon's surface.

In 2005, Chris McKay of NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field and Heather R Smith of the International Space University in Strasbourg, France, calculated that such microbes could eke out an existence by breathing in hydrogen gas and eating the organic molecule acetylene, creating methane in the process.

This would result in a lack of acetylene on Titan and a depletion of hydrogen close to the moon's surface, where the microbes would live, they said.

Now, measurements from the Cassini spacecraft have borne out these predictions, hinting that life may be present.

More @ NewScientist