Category: Science

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Praise :: ACLU prevails: US Fed Judge invalidates gene patent – Boing Boing

Finally some minor victories against the corporate interest .

ACLU prevails: US Fed Judge invalidates gene patent
Cory Doctorow at 10:15 PM March 29, 2010
United States District Court Judge Robert W. Sweet has invalidated Myriad Genetics's infamous “breast cancer patent” — a patent on genetic mutations that cause breast cancer, which Myriad has exercised in the form of a high lab-fee for analysis on samples (Myriad threatens to sue any independent lab that performs the analysis).
The suit was brought by the ACLU and the Public Patent Foundation, who argued that US Patent and Trademark Office was wrong to grant patents on genes, as these are not patentable subject matter. The judge agreed, saying that gene patents are patents on a “law of nature” and called the isolation of genes and filing patents on them “a lawyer's trick that circumvents the prohibition on the direct patenting of the DNA in our bodies but which, in practice, reaches the same result.”
Which sounds to me like a precedent against all patents that rely on isolated genes. Of course, this isn't over: the pharma/biotech stalwarts interviewed in the linked NYT piece are talking appeal, and I'm sure they'll try to go all the way to the Supreme Court.
via ACLU prevails: US Fed Judge invalidates gene patent – Boing Boing.

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rePost :: Neurosurgical patients get closer to God

If the various churches don’t get their act together we are going to have a century that is defined with tension between religous groups and between theist and non-theist. I ‘ve said this before but I feel that the line is about even that religions of any kind would one day be treated as simple organizations such as corporations and non-profits, and religiosity of any kind would be viewed more as a mental disability like alcoholism , or any form of substance abuse.

Neurosurgical patients get closer to God

Category: Neuroscience • Religion
Posted on: February 27, 2010 3:58 PM, by Mo
REMOVAL of specific parts of the brain can induce increases in a personality trait which predisposes people to spirituality, according to a new clinical study by Italian researchers. The new research, published earlier this month in the journal Neuron, provides evidence that some brain structures are associated with spiritual thinking and feelings, and hints at individual differences that might make some people more prone than others to spirituality.
via ScienceBlogs.com here

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rePost::Can chocolate lower your risk of stroke?

I’ve been on a diet for a little over a week. Let’s just say the half pound of chocolate in my fridge is beginning to be looming presence every time I open the fridge door.  I sometimes hate atkin’s diet, but it’s the easiest diet I’ve been on by far. This is a trillion dollar drug. The miracle diet pill with no bad side effects really needs to be created!!!!!

Can Chocolate Lower Your Risk of Stroke?
ScienceDaily (Feb. 12, 2010) — Eating chocolate may lower your risk of having a stroke, according to an analysis of available research that was released February 11 and will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto April 10 to April 17, 2010. Another study found that eating chocolate may lower the risk of death after suffering a stroke.
via Can chocolate lower your risk of stroke?.