In our continuing weekly trends and signals article we see the how researchers are Eliminating HIV and how Kevin Warwick see a future with robots with human-size brains. We also see Chengdu thinking of creating its own ‘artificial moon’ and stem cell transplantation helping MS sufferers lessen disability.
Read on…

Spanish doctors ‘eliminate’ HIV from patient in stem cell transplant trial

Scientists from the Institute for AIDS Research IrsiCaixa in Barcelona and the Gregorio Maranon Hospital in Madrid have managed to remove the virus from the blood and tissues of six patients using the treatment.
But the research, published on Monday in the Journal of Internal Medicine, said one patient now has no antibodies fighting the infection, suggesting it has been completely eliminated.
Read more at The Olive Press

Kevin Warwick: In 10-15 years we will have robots with human-size brains

Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, biomedical, biohacking, cyborgs and self experimentation are the fields that made Kevin Warwick the world’s leading expert in cybernetics. A field that is not in the beginning anymore, but it still has a long way to go.

“I remember a dinner with Jeff Bezos a couple decades ago. He was talking about this new business of online selling and I was like ‘OK, interesting’. Today he is one of the richest guyS in the world, but back then I didn’t see the potential of his idea. If I had invested some money in his business, I would have a lot more money today. It is same with many ideas and technologies that are developing and even if we don’t see the potential, you never know what they’re going to become in the future,” says Warwick.

Working and developing robots, professor Warwick thinks the world will be led by robots in the future, by machines that will be able to take the important decisions. “Humans have limited capabilities. We sense the world in a restricted way, vision being the best of the senses. Humans understand the world in only 3 dimensions and communicate in a very slow, serial fashion called speech,” says Warwick, showing that robots with AI will be able to take into account all the things the human mind is not up to.
Read more at Business Review

Chinese city ‘plans to launch artificial moon to replace streetlights’

In Chengdu, there is reportedly an ambitious plan afoot for replacing the city’s streetlights: boosting the glow of the real moon with that of a more powerful fake one.
The south-western Chinese city plans to launch an illumination satellite in 2020. According to an account in the People’s Daily, the artificial moon is “designed to complement the moon at night”, though it would be eight times as bright.
The “dusk-like glow” of the satellite would be able to light an area with a diameter of 10-80km, while the precise illumination range could be controlled within tens of metres – enabling it to replace streetlights.
Read more at The Guardian

Stem Cell Transplant Effectively Lessens Disability in Patients with Aggressive MS, Study Finds

Treatment with autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant (aHSCT) led to a safe and rapid lessening of disability and no clinical relapses in patients with aggressive multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a new study.
The research, “The use of autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation as a first line disease modifying therapy in patients with ‘aggressive’ multiple sclerosis,” was presented at the recent 34^thcongress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS), which concluded in Berlin, Germany last week.
Read more at Multiple Sclerosis News Today

Related Articles from Nikolas Badminton:

Future Fridays – The Future of Medicine & Health

The Dalai Lama on Compassion and Technology

Nikolas is a world-leading Futurist Speaker that drives leaders to take action in creating a better world for humanity. He promotes exponential thinking along with a critical, honest, and optimistic view that empowers you with knowledge to plan for today, tomorrow, and for the future.
Contact him to discuss how to engage and inspire your audience. You can also see more of Nikolas’ thoughts on his Futurist Speaker VLOGs as he publishes them in this Youtube playlist.
Please SUBSCRIBE to Nikolas’ Youtube channel so that you don’t miss any as they come up. You can see more of his thoughts on Linkedin, Twitter, and bookmarked research on Tumblr.