植入晶片 腦損老鼠好番晒

以色列特拉維夫大學的科學家為老鼠植入電子綜合小腦，成功令小腦受損的老鼠回復正常活動。小腦主要操控身體動作及平衡，而綜合小腦是一塊類似電腦晶片的物 體。晶片從腦幹接收到神經訊息後，就會加以分析，再向其他部分發出訊息，從而指揮身體活動。研究有望將來用於人類身上，修復受損小腦或增加腦部能力。（綜 合報道）
http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20110930/00180_031.html

新型質子晶片可以讓機器控制生活的所有事......例如, 包括你...

Source: Dateline Zero
University of Washington scientists have just crossed another major threshold between humans and machines: they’ve built a transistor that uses protons instead of electrons. Their ultimate goal is to create devices that can communicate directly with certain biological functions that involve protons — eventually even control them.
Amara D. Angelica wrote at KurzweilAi.net that the ultimate goal is to create devices that can “communicate directly with certain biological functions that involve protons — eventually even control them — a ‘first step towardbionanoprotonics.’” Yes, that means creating devices that can remotely interact with, or even control, living things. Long term possibilities might include devices that can re-wire a human brain.

From an article at Washington.edu:

Devices that connect with the human body’s processes are being explored for biological sensing or for prosthetics, but they typically communicate using electrons, which are negatively charged particles, rather than protons, which are positively charged hydrogen atoms, or ions, which are atoms with positive or negative charge.

“So there’s always this issue, a challenge, at the interface – how does an electronic signal translate into an ionic signal, or vice versa?” said lead author Marco Rolandi, a UW assistant professor of materials science and engineering. “We found a biomaterial that is very good at conducting protons, and allows the potential to interface with living systems.”

While I don’t doubt that something like this would allow for much better robotic limbs, or more efficient bionic eyes, or other devices; this could also allow for some scary technology. DARPA, for example, has already been working on mind-controlling helmets — you know, just in case a member of the military has moral objections to something.

In September of last year, Dr. William J. Tyler, an assistant professor of life sciences at ASU, proudly wrote at the DoD’s ‘Armed With Science’ blog about how his lab had “engineered a novel technology which implements transcranial pulsed ultrasound to remotely and directly stimulate brain circuits without requiring surgery.”

Such technology would benefit tremendously from a chip that can “communicate directly with certain biological functions that involve protons — eventually even control them.” 

Full article at Dateline Zero.

http://beforeitsnews.com/story/1132/775/New_proton-based_chips_could_let_machines_control_living_things_like_you,_for_example.html

藥物毒不毒 美晶片一試就知

（路透華盛頓16日電）美國政府研究人員計劃設計1種晶片，能在新藥進行人體試驗前先檢查毒性，這項發明可能因此加速新療法發展。

這個晶片聚集人體肝臟、心臟、肌肉及其他器官細胞，並透過這些細胞釋放藥物，多個測讀結果接著顯現這些細胞中不同的蛋白質、基因及其他複合物對這項藥物的反應。

美國國家衛生研究院（NIH）院長柯林斯（FrancisCollins）表示，毒性是部分大有潛力藥物失敗的最普遍原因之一，然而動物試驗往往可能產生誤導。藥物進行人體試驗前，一般會先進行動物試驗。

柯林斯表示，動物試驗有用的藥品中，約半數可能對人體有毒性；而部分未通過動物試驗的藥品，卻證明對人體有效，這意味重要藥物可能因此被排除。

晶片中的細胞會群狀相連，彼此互動，類似人體細胞活動。晶片將分別針對已知有害和已知安全的藥物進行實驗，再來比較對照兩邊數據。

國防先進研究計劃署（DARPA）與國家衛生研究院將在未來5年各挹注7000萬美元，在兩項獨立的計畫中研發晶片。

根據美國藥廠公會（PhRMA），1種藥物要在美國核可上市，平均花上15年、耗資超過10億美元。中央社（翻譯）

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/%E8%97%A5%E7%89%A9%E6%AF%92%E4%B8%8D%E6%AF%92-%E7%BE%8E%E6%99%B6%E7%89%87-%E8%A9%A6%E5%B0%B1%E7%9F%A5-071600554.html