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SUBSTANCE
Volume 1, Issue 1 November 2008
Nanotechnology: Defeating
Cancer
An introduction
-Chris Smiley
Staff writer
The main forms of cancer treatment have involved toxic
chemicals and radiation that could be effective in destroying
cancer cells but consequently also killed surrounding healthy
cells as well. Now researchers from a number of institutions,
such as MIT, under the funding of The National Cancer
Institute are developing nanotechnology for cancer treatment.
Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter between 1 and
100 nanometers; in perspective, a sheet of paper is 100,000
nanometers thick.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
2 Hybrid Nanoparticle
2 An introspect on nuclear proliferation
4 Astronauts ‘Time Travel’ into the future
4 Making garbage worth something
The Farce of Aging and
the Real Fountain of Youth
The Science of Free Radicals and Corporal Deterioration
-Fabrice Harel-Canada
Staff Writer
Have you ever wished you could live forever, that you
could remain as much a part of this world as the mountains
and the moon? Invulnerability from the processes of aging
and their collections of related diseases is not as far away as
people may think. According to Cambridge educated
biogerontologist, Dr. Aubrey De Grey, the technology to
live indefinitely is within our grasp. It is a complete
misconception that aging is inescapable. Our bodies have
the capability to sustain itself virtually indefinitely but there
are certain biological hurdles that must be overcome.
A great deal of De Grey’s work centers on the effects and
implications of free radicals on the body. Free Radical
Theory is one of the foremost explanations for the cause of
aging, attributing age-related frailty and disease to the
accumulation of free radicals and other substances within
and between cells. Free radicals are the residue molecules
left over from metabolic processes necessary for life to
occur and continue, but these have been shown to be quite
damaging on the cells they are stored in, eventually leading
to oxidative stress and handicapping the cells’ ability to
repair itself. Every minute an organism continues to live
another set of free radicals is released that destroy our
body’s ability to heal itself and remain in youthful strength.
While the process for actually removing these harmful
accumulations is complicated and requires much more
research, De Grey and the Methuselah Foundation are
experimenting with different extraction therapies and
engineering instruments. How much they are able to
progress in this endeavor is as much contingent on their
respective abilities as it is on the amount of support and
funding they receive in the lab. Until people are even aware
that living into the hundreds of years is being investigated,
continued on page 2
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Researchers have used nanostructures to create stain-proof
clothing and have also used nanoscale tubes of carbon,
which is extremely strong, to make bicycles and baseball bats.
However, nanotechnology is currently being put to more
significant use for mankind. Nanoparticles are inventing a
new field of cancer treatment. These particles are being
engineered to do an array of tasks from being introduced
into the bloodstream to locate and map tumors to carrying a
payload of drugs to destroy them. The potential of this
treatment is high but researchers are cautious to put a
timetable out for availability.
Hybrid Nanoparticle
Recently a hybrid nanoparticle was developed that can image
and treat tumors in humans. This new lipid based particle is
made up of a magnetic nanoparticle, a fluorescent quantum
dot (aka an image contrast agent), and an anti-cancer drug
that is specially engineered so that it can flow through the
body undetected by our immune systems. Most prior drugs
have failed because they could not reach the cancerous tissue
in time or without being destroyed by the body’s immune
system, nor could these older drugs effectively distinguish
healthy tissue from diseased tissue.
However, this new hybrid particle has a protein called F3
that homes in on cancer cells and sticks to them. Then the
iron oxide component of this nanoparticle allows the particle
to be seen using an MRI. Scientists also placed a quantum
dot that can be seen by a fluorescent scanner. With this
researchers envision surgeons using an MRI before surgery
to find the specific location of the tumor and then using
fluorescent imaging during surgery to find and remove all
parts of the tumor.ı
Nanotechnology opportunities
Few universities offer degrees in nanotechnology and many
students who are interested in this incredibly significant
research are uncertain about how to prepare for work in the
field of nanotechnology and what to study. Nanotechnology
is a multidisciplinary field so there are many degrees that
would be suitable. At the University of Central Florida a
Nanoscience and Nanotechnology track is now offered in
their liberal studies major as a B.S. as more universities are
offering specialized degrees into this growing field. ı
Nuclear Proliferation and Irrationality
-Chris Smiley
The nuclear proliferation concern, when examined at its
core, conveys a great deal about humanity. Man has always
seen the need for a body, government etc., to overlook the
affairs of everyone. For thousands of years man has divided
himself into groups. A rational and responsible idea because
this earth is so vast that it would seem necessary to have the
planet sectioned off for a more efficient maintenance.
However it is this separation between humanity that has
been a constant detriment. It is human nature to be
somewhat selfish and to have survivalist instincts.
Therefore, when societies are sectioned off and viewed as
different from one another then conflict is inevitable. One
society will be looking out for itself and will do what is
necessary to make the lives of its own people as great as
possible, ultimately disregarding the rest of humanity. The
only consequences it essentially cares about are to its own
people, but even sometimes this is skewed.
Our allegiance to sovereign nations enables a
contract within a society but destroys the contract
with the world.
Mankind is a species of intelligence yet lacking sufficient
rationality. It is the most irrational and contradictory thing
to do anything to end life. Our life is what we are; it is our
existence. However many men have led others into battle
against their fellow man where countless lives were ended. It
is a farce for men to be in control of such power when they
do not realize the value of human existence. We are so
fortunate to have a mind that can attempt to understand this
existence that we have been brought into.
Yes if we are going to have government then having
sectional government is necessary. The problem is that there
exists not one homogenous network of government, but
individual nations. As much as some would like, the UN is
continued from page 1
Nanotechnology works because the surface area of medication
is multiplied hundreds of times. Previously, dissolution rates
were slow because the outside of the large molecules had to be
absorbed before the inside could even start. Nanotechnology
creates molecules so small absorption is almost instantaneous.
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IN OUR NE XT I SSUE S
v How nanotechnology can stop HIV
v New study on out of body experiences
v Oxford researches why people believe in God
v Q&A with the Methuselah Foundation
v How to time travel
not a world government and there will never be a world
government as long as man is as irrational and divided as he is.
Therefore, for one region to tell another region what it can and
cannot do is irrational if it is something that is not agreed upon
by all. The US has frequently called other leaders evil, but those
leaders are saying the same thing about America. Who’s to say
who is evil versus who is good?
If there were global agreement and understanding then there
would be no worry about nuclear weapons in the first place. It
is especially irrational for one government that has nuclear
weapons to demand that no one else have that power. The
countries with the weapons are establishing dominance at the
least.
Government should simply be to protect all people from certain
individuals, not to protect a group of people from another
people. Once mankind can realize this fundamental idea then
we can have peace. I believe that government should extend
the globe and serve the purposes of protection, economic
security, and the advancement of mankind. For centuries
mankind has had such a minimalized view of existence, but now
that we have begun to know the immense depths of existence
we must realize that this species is just a speck in this vastness.
No one country should have dominance over another because
the truth is that all act irrational and there is not one sanctity.
Thomas Hobbes believed that an authoritarian government is
necessary to keep man under control because we are naturally
inclined to be selfish and destructive towards others. However
those same people that are in power are also human and also
have the same traits. Until man can rise above its naturalistic
temperaments then one group cannot control the herd because
the control is also just as irrational as the herd. To escape this
state of war of all against all, Hobbes writes in Leviathan that
men must enter into a social contract to establish stability. Why
is it that there isn’t a social contract on a global level? Our
allegiance to sovereign nations enables a contract within a
society but destroys the contract with the world.
Many theorists concentrate on the rights of man in a society but
what of the rights in a world sense? Thomas Paine believed
government should be overthrown for internal freedom and
peace within a state but also “to promote universal peace,
civilization, and commerce, and to break the chains of political
superstition, and raise degraded man to his proper rank”. If we
can overcome the current ideality of sectional government to
realize the rationality of global peace then there wouldn’t be an
issue of nuclear proliferation. ı
Aging continued from page 1
progress is likely to remain at sub-par rates and this
technology may not be available for many decades.
An unexpectedly negative reaction to the mere idea
of living indefinitely accounts for a large part of the lack of
funds Dr. De Grey has to deal with. How in the world could
someone have a problem with this? The answer and more
coming up in out next issue. □
Nuclear Proliferation continued from page 2
Thus far, only metabolic processes have been described as causing free
radicals but other factors like those seen above contribute to the overall
aging process. Metabolism is by far the most important contributor of
aging because it never stops and is essential to life whereas air pollution,
smoking, and even exposure to large amount of sunlight are completely
controllable and thus, preventable.
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STAFF
v CHRIS SMILEY
v FABRICE HAREL-CANADA
v JOHN WILLIAMS
v ALICE BAKER
v JAMES WALLACE
Substance is an independent, non-profit publication by
undergraduate students from Florida universities.
Questions, comments, or interest in writing/contributing
please email- John@FloridaInquiry.net or call 5618663719
We will not be offended if you decide to donate. Rest
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costs and not personal needs
Turning Garbage into
Energy
-Alice Baker
Staff writer
In St. Lucie County Florida the first American plasma plant
will be up and running by 2011. A company out of Atlanta,
Geoplasma, is using plasma, a superheated substance, to turn
garbage into pressurized gas that creates electricity by turning
a turbine. Trash is dumped into a container that is heated to
10,000 degrees Fahrenheit from the blasts of plasma and the
subsequent vaporized gas is pumped through the turbine.
Only the organic compounds are vaporized but the inorganic
compounds (various metals) settle at the bottom and can
then be recycled and used in construction. This process will
reduce landfill volume and the release of methane while
providing power for over 50,000 homes. In contrast to
standard incineration of trash the plasma processes emissions
are significantly lower. There are already several plasma
plants in use around the world but we are expecting
American minds to bring plasma waste technologies to the
fore. ı
ASTRONAUT S
TIME TRAVE L
-Chris Smiley
If you have ever heard a professor or
someone on television remark that
astronauts have time traveled into the
future and were left questioning or
wanted clarification on what time
travel actually means and whether or
not people can or have actually done
it, then I hope to clear some things up.
The truth is yes, astronauts have ‘time
traveled’. However, it is not as
romantic as they infer, nowhere near
the “Back to the Future” sense that
most would assume. Only fractions of
a single second have been ‘time
traveled’. But how is that even
possible and what exactly is
happening?
A space shuttle travels about 17,500
miles per hour. Even though this is
40,000 times slower than the speed of
light, a continuum exists that as any
object moves closer to the speed of
light, ‘time’ slows down. Things that
are moving at these high rates of speed
experience time dilation where the
movements of everything slow down
while traveling. So an astronaut’s
molecules and brain processes move
slower but they do not notice this. In
effect, astronauts are not aging as fast
as time moves slower for them than
people on earth. So people have taken
from this that you have ‘time traveled’
but in essence it is better related to
cryogenic freezing or something of the
sort, for most people view traveling
into the future as instantaneously going
to the future whereas this instance
reflects time as the change and
movement of particles. In time
dilation, you still exist in the same time
and universe as everyone else but your
experience is only different. ı
TRY THIS AT HOME
-John Williams
After you’re done enjoying the rest of
this month’s Substance Newsletter, get
up and start running to Georgia to
shout how awesome this publication
is. You will age
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0000003 seconds less for doing so.
You’re welcome.
