Scientists find key to ‘turbo-charging’ immune system to kill all cancers

A protein which ‘turbo-charges’ the immune system so that it can fight off any cancer or virus has been discovered by scientists.

In a breakthrough described as a ‘game-changer’ for cancer treatment, researchers at Imperial College found a previously unknown molecule which boosts the body’s ability to fight off chronic illnesses.

Scientists at Imperial College London, who led the study, are now developing a gene therapy based on the protein and hope to begin human trials in three years.

“This is exciting because we have found a completely different way to use the immune system to fight cancer,” said Professor Philip Ashton-Rickardt, from the Section of Immunobiology in the Department of Medicine at Imperial, who led the study.

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Activists protesting the murder of John Crawford

Activists protesting the murder of John Crawford. John was murdered by police in Walmart for holding a toy gun. As usual, the cops got away with killing innocent people. Remember his name.

Samsung Plans to Take Bitcoin Technology Beyond Virtual Currency

Samsung Electronics Co. is working with International Business Machines Corp. to use bitcoin technology for new applications.

While bitcoin’s price has almost halved in the past year and the prospects for the digital currency are uncertain, its underlying software is attracting companies like phone makers, carriers and banks. That’s because the technology can be tweaked to record changes in ownership of any asset in a public ledger using a distributed network of computers or mobile phones. It could help facilitate all types of online transactions.

Samsung Research America, a division based in Silicon Valley, has researchers looking at using the so-called bitcoin blockchain to design better ways to verify “that what you say is authentic is authentic,” said Steven Rahman, director of strategy at the research division.

Samsung makes electronics ranging from Galaxy smartphones to home appliances and TVs. The Suwon, South Korea-based company also runs music radio and video services, a mobile-payment service, and offers a variety of apps.

“The blockchain technology is very interesting in general, and it can be applied in a lot of areas,” Rahman said. “Currency, it’s just the first use case. You could imagine that anything, like prescriptions, could be managed with the blockchain technology.”

Samsung Research America usually develops technologies that may be used in commercial products in two to five years, he said, declining to provide further details about the bitcoin project.

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New Report Debunks 'Myth' That GMOs are Key to Feeding the World

About 70 percent of the world's poor are farmers, and to raise them out of poverty requires access to basic resources such as fertilizer, water, and the infrastructure to properly store or transport crops to market—not expensive, resource-intensive GMO seeds. (Credit: La Montañita Co-op)

The biotechnology industry "myth" that feeding billions of people necessitates genetically engineered agriculture has been debunked by a new report out Tuesday by the nonprofit health organization Environmental Working Group.

The report, Feeding the World Without GMOs (pdf), argues that investment in genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, has failed to expand global food security. It advocates more traditional methods "shown to actually increase food supplies and reduce the environmental impact of production."

Over the past 20 years, the report notes, global crop yields have only grown by 20 percent—despite the massive investment in biotechnology.

On the other hand, it continues, in recent decades "the dominant source of yield improvements has been traditional crossbreeding, and that is likely to continue for the foreseeable future."

As the report states, "seed companies' investment in improving yields in already high-yielding areas does little to improve food security; it mainly helps line the pockets of seed and chemical companies, large-scale growers and producers of corn ethanol."

After examining recent research on GMO crop production, the report also found:

• Genetically modified crops—primarily corn and soybeans—have not substantially contributed to global food security and are primarily used to feed animals and cars, not people.
• GMO crops in the US are not more productive than non-GMO crops in western Europe.
• A recent case study in Africa found that crops that were crossbred for drought tolerance using traditional techniques improved yields 30 percent more than genetically engineered varieties.

Alternately, the report recommends a number of "common sense" strategies for expanding the global food supply, including: implementing a smarter use of fertilizers, eliminating bio-fuels, eliminating food waste, and cutting global meat consumption in half. Producing meat requires huge quantities of often-genetically modified crops such as corn and soy for animal feed.

Further, the report points out, "the narrative that GE crops will help feed the world ignores the fact that hunger is mostly the result of poverty."

About 70 percent of the world's poor are farmers, report author Emily Cassidy writes, and to raise them out of poverty requires access to basic resources such as fertilizer, water, and the infrastructure to properly store or transport crops to market—not expensive, resource-intensive GMO seeds.

In a blog post on Wednesday, Cassidy writes: "Given that creating just one genetically engineered crop variety can cost upwards of $130 million, you'd think Big Ag companies would invest in strategies that have been proven to work and less on GMOs that may not even increase crop yields. But what corporations really care about is increasing their profits, not feeding a hungry world."