On Friday, Russell Prechtl and George Whitesides respond to Steven Weinberg’s dissing of spaceflight in pursuit of science.

To sum up: Space settlement for species preservation, spinoffs, human spirit and human nature.

What are these worth? Depending on how long before the extinction event it could be anywhere from all of Earth’s discounted GDP to nearly nothing for species preservation assurance. If an extinction event is 1 in 26 million per year we can take our chances and still have an expectation of 99.99999% of our GDP next year. Spinoffs is weak. Human spirit is hard to quantify. How is ISS doing more for human spirit than Skylab or Mir? Human nature is more of a restatement of the human spirit argument that it is human nature to seek to raise the human spirit. But how? It’s not enough when someone says “ISS is worthless” to say “but if we don’t learn to live in space we’ll die!” We can learn to live in space with or without the ISS; what’s the difference?

I’m planning to take Steven Weinberg to lunch and see what he says to these arguments later this week. Let me know if there’s anything else I should ask him.

Let’s hope this works in humans: cancer-curing mouse blood.

Ron Bailey has a report on last weekend’s Singularity Summit.

Not quite, but perhaps in a few years. It’s had a pretty good run. I still think I’m going to CAT6 the house.

I suspect so, and I think that this will also create some interesting markets for affordable space transportation. It’s a lot more economically plausible scenario than restricting carbon emissions.

Some interesting thoughts from the Singularity Summit this past weekend.

Speaking of which, Phil Bowermaster was in attendance, and blogging about it. Just keep scrolling.

A useful guide.

I see that Aubrey de Grey has his new book out. Looks interesting.

Now, this is what I’ve been waiting for (well, at least until they come up with superior technology to replace it):

As reported in the London Daily Mail, Yacoub’s team harvested the stem cells and used a chemical cocktail to coax them into becoming heart cells. Placed on a “scaffold” made of biodegradable plastic, they grew and fused together to form discs of heart valve tissue just an inch wide. As the valves developed, the scaffold decayed, leaving behind solid tissue.

Yacoub, a professor of cardiac surgery at Imperial College London, noted: “Although there has been huge progress in developing mechanical replacements, they still work mechanically and not physiologically

Keith Henson survived his stint in jail in Riverside. I’m reliably informed that he’s been released. Hopefully, other than a restrictive probation period, the long nightmare is over for him.

More background here.