Tag Archives: FTI

From Genome Sequencing to Artificial Human Genome The progress in genome sequencing has been so significant that in 20 years we have moved from a billion $ endeavour to obtain the first genome sequence to a mass market offering of sequencing. There is still quite a bit of confusion on …

Molecular robotics The progress of technology that allows us to manipulate the DNA, CRISPR and others, is allowing researcher to create DNA that can serve specific purposes, outside of its usual cell environment where it is used to create copy of mRNA that are used by the cell to build …

Computational Biology As remarked in the previous posts on Synthetic Biology, this is an area where no progress would be possible without the support of computers and AI. More than that: in the last few years progress has been fostered by computational approaches to the point of creating a new …

From cells to organs to bodies In the last few years we have increased our understanding of the way the expression of the genes regulates the development and up-keeping of life. It is a complex web of interactions and as data and knowledge piles up the reliance on computers and …

CRISPR-CasX The CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) – Cas  (CRISPR Associated Protein) system was discovered, and invented, in the last century, the first reference is found in an article in 1987. The CRISPR was discovered in bacteria: they are short DNA sequences that bacteria have inherited from viruses …

The last Megatrend presented in the FTI’s report focusses on Synthetic Biology and its application in Agriculture. Synthetic Biology is the idea, now a practice, of being able to create/modify life in a bottom up way, composing the strand of life, DNA and in some cases RNA, in ways that …

Shading the Planet If we could just shut off the Sun for half an hour a day the problem of climate warming would be solved (actually, it would take less than that) but of course it is not easy. However, as it is noted in the FTI’s report, in the …

Technologies for a Green Environment The pandemic hit the economy worldwide, possibly even more, in economic terms, in developed Countries. The post-pandemic recovery will be steered by political decision to focus on addressing some crucial -long term- issues, among these the climate change. The huge amount of money (at debt) …

That the climate is changing is part of the folk tradition. I remember my grandparents telling me when I was a kid that “there is no longer the weather, the seasons, we used to have…”. As a matter of fact our perception of the weather is very much tied to …

In several Countries what has hampered the shift towards renewable energy is the distance between the source and the point of consumption. Tides can generate electrical power but transporting it across a thousand of miles results in a big waste.  Solar power can be easily harvested in deserted area, like …