James Gilpin

Diabetics will excrete large amounts of high quality sugar when there blood glucose is running high.

From this >

to this

to this.

Three physical models accompanied by one short film?

The three key areas that I would like to talk about. I want to develop a language for each of the three areas so that I can communicate my ideas without being confusing. This will change as time goes on but stick to a strict format.

Convergence and the singularity, Can I break down the project into biomedicine and advanced information technology including cognitive neuroscience. In doing so I want to highlight the convergence of theses technologies rather rather than talk about one of the emerging technologies in the singular.

The concept of ‘converging technologies’ stems from a 2002 report sponsored by the US National Science Foundation (NSF), and edited by Mihail Roco and William Bainbridge:

In the early decades of the twenty-first century, concentrated efforts can unify science based on the unity of nature, thereby advancing the combination of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and new technologies based in cognitive science. With proper attention to ethical issues and societal needs, converging technologies could achieve a tremendous improvement in human abilities, societal outcomes, the nation’s productivity, and the quality of life.

The phrase ‘converging technologies’ refers to the synergistic combination of four major provinces of science and technology, known in short as ‘NBIC’. These are (a) nanoscience and nanotechnology; (b) biotechnology and biomedicine, including genetic engineering; (c) information technology, including advanced computing and communications; and (d) cognitive science, including cognitive neuroscience. The idea is that as these four areas develop they will

“Every waking moment you’re aware that you’re diabetic,” he says. “But you develop a new sense - what you’re going to eat, how much insulin you’ve got to take with that food that you’re taking, what sort of a stressful day you’re going to be living because that affects the blood sugar levels as well…so you’ve got to look at a lot of different things.”

He has chosen to control his blood sugar by taking insulin through a small pump. His main strategy is to take control of diabetes, and not let it interfere too much with his life. “I’m very flexible with the whole of my condition - I decided from a very early age that diabetes had to live with me, not me live with it, and that’s the way I’ve really focussed it. So my lifestyle hasn’t changed a great deal, I have to come up with regimes to make it work for me.”

Charles Palmer, a diabetic, invented this device in 1955 to make self-administered insulin injections easier

Looking at commissioning some illustrations to help me talk about Diabetes to an audience with limited or no knowledge of the disease. David Sparshott spent a couple of hours illustrating some of the equipment for me. I have now decided that using physical objects along side moving image or film is probably a better way forward.

Julian Schwinger a Noble Prize winner (1965) established a research foundation towards the end of his life to take in member of the research community rejected by main stream academia. he provided a money and a safe haven for those with theories that went against the main stream.

Kris Freeman

“Any performance enhancement you could get from this is more than negated by the diabetes itself,” Freeman said. “I have all the respect for the anti-doping agencies, and they’ve given me the exemption, but I don’t see why insulin is even on the banned list.”

When Freeman races in World Cup events, his fleece hat displays the logo of his sponsor, Eli Lilly, the pharmaceutical company whose insulin product is banned by the international skiing federation.

Diabetes takes an enormous toll both on the individual and society. However, accurate monitoring of blood glucose levels when combined with insulin therapy dramatically improves upon lifestyle and lifespan. Unfortunately, the current gold standard method for blood glucose measurement requires an invasive test. The purpose of this project is to develop an implantable, externally readable glucose sensor.

VERICHIP

The users are not fad dieters or methamphetamine addicts, but people with diabetes. And the subject of their rhapsodies is not a gray-market diet pill sold on late-night television but Byetta, a federally approved diabetes medicine, available only by prescription, whose popularity and sales have soared since its introduction last June.

The drug seems so effective for weight loss that some nondiabetics have begun using Byetta as a diet drug — causing concern among doctors who say such use has not been medically tested and could be dangerous.

Ref | New York Times

“Rare genetic mutations that confer protection against       developing type 1 diabetes have been found. Furthermore, the nature of the mutations suggests that the disease may be caused by a common virus”

Welcome Trust

Helge Fischer and I experimenting with our waterproof speakers.