SCI/TECH: "Nanobombs" could blow up cancer, page 1

posted on Oct, 16 2005 @ 03:33 PM

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Researchers are experimenting with molecules and atoms to cause microscopic explosions of nanotubes inside the human body. There is a possibility that these microscopic explosions could rid cancerous cells inside effected individuals. If this technology works, it will help our society advance into a more transhumanistic age.

www.betterhumans.com
Researchers have created "nanobombs" that can produce nanoscale explosions to blow up cancer.

According to a news release, the nanobombs grew out of work over the past two years with carbon nanotubes:

Originally, he said, the research team was looking at the use of the carbon nanotubes as drug delivery vehicles. Because they are smaller than the size of a single cell, the nanotubes can provide for the highly selective injection of drugs into individual cells.

As they undertook various experiments, however, the team made a startling discovery. "When you put the atoms in different shapes and forms, they take on different properties at the nanoscale," Panchapakesan said. "We were experimenting with the molecules and considering optical and thermal properties, and found we could trigger microscopic explosions of nanotubes in wide variety of conditions."

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

While this is a great advancement in the medical field, this new technology could be used for insidious purposes. While there are great potential usage for this technology, there are also great potential abuses, such as the means of terrorism in the microscopic field. With this technology we must address bioethical issues, to ensure that this technology is used in the best ethical way necessary.

[edit on 043131p://000 by LiquidationOfDiscrepancy]

[edit on 10/18/05 by FredT]

mrmonsoon

posted on Oct, 16 2005 @ 03:38 PM

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I fear this technology and I will tell u why.
In the hands of the military-it could be used to kill someone.
Just picture these explosions in the heart, brain or any major organ.

soficrow

posted on Oct, 16 2005 @ 03:55 PM

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?!!????

Amazing. The war on terrorism - war on drugs - war on cancer. Now we're gonna BLOW UP cancer cells?!? Like it works to shoot everything that gets in our way.

These guys are SUCH fools.

GradyPhilpott

posted on Oct, 16 2005 @ 04:03 PM

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It would be better if you linked to a news source for an unedited version of your article.

www.newswise.com...

The use of the term "transhumanistic age" in your introduction will leave most people scratching their heads and as it does not appear in the original article, is an insertion of bias by the submitter.

With regard to the story and the responses, few things could be more barbaric than the current treatments for cancer which take a very drastic toll on the patient. Those who worry about military abuse should consider that virtually every medical intervention can be used to kill rather than cure.

This quote from the original article provides a better assessment of the potential of this kind of therapy and the ones used today. It should also be noted that this therapy is a long way off, if it ever pans out at all.

“The nanobomb is very selective, very localized and minimally invasive,” Panchapakesan said. “It might cause what I would call nanopain, like a pin prick.”

[...]

The nanobombs are superior to a variety of current treatments because they are powerful, selective, non-invasive, nontoxic and can incorporate current technology, including microsurgery.

[...]

Current surgical techniques are not precise and cancerous cells are often left behind. In addition, cancers in some part of the body, such as arteries and veins, are sometimes considered inoperable. Nanobombs can be used to target any remaining cancerous cells and can be used in any part of the body, allowing the creation of nanobomb therapy for a wide variety of cancers.

Panchapakesan said the method is far better than modern chemotherapy, which is non-selective, kills normal cells as well as cancerous cells and leads to a decline in the quality of life for the patient. “This is valuable in patient management, pain management and overall quality of life,” he said.

[...]

Panchapakesan added, “We are just getting started in this area. There is plenty of work ahead to successfully translate this into clinical medicine.”

www.newswise.com...

[edit on 2005/10/16 by GradyPhilpott]

LiquidationOfDiscrepancy

posted on Oct, 16 2005 @ 04:31 PM

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This makes me wonder if nanobombs will be used to "blow up" tumors in people's brains.

soficrow

posted on Oct, 17 2005 @ 08:10 PM

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Bump.

Interesting topic. Great comments above from GradyP; quick off-the-cuff quip from moi that should be ignored by serious critics.

27jd

posted on Oct, 18 2005 @ 12:55 AM

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Nanoshells are set for human trials in early 2006, so this technology is not as far off as Grady indicated. They are similar to nanotubes, only they don't explode. They are made of gold and heat up when infrared light is applied to them, it only takes a elevation of 20 degrees to kill the cancer cells. Nanoshells completely cured mice of cancer, and they're hoping it will work the same on humans.

The animal trial involved 25 mice with tumors ranging in size from 3-5.5 millimeters. The mice were divided into three groups. The first group was given no treatment. The second received saline injections, followed by three minutes exposure to near-infrared laser light. The final group received nanoshell injections and laser treatments.

The blood vessels inside tumors develop poorly, allowing small particles like nanoshells to leak out and accumulate inside tumors. In the test, researchers injected nanoshells into the mice, waited six hours to give the nanoshells time to accumulate in the tumors and then applied a 5 millimeter wide laser on the skin above each tumor.

Surface temperature measurements taken on the skin above the tumors during the laser treatments showed a marked increase that averaged about 46 degrees Fahrenheit for the nanoshells group. There was no measurable temperature increase at the site of laser treatments in the saline group. Likewise, sections of laser-treated skin located apart from the tumor sites in the nanoshells group also showed no increase in temperature, indicating that the nanoshells had accumulated as expected within the tumors.

All signs of tumors disappeared in the nanoshells group within 10 days. These mice remained cancer-free after treatment.
www.sciencedaily.com...

[edit on 18-10-2005 by 27jd]

sardion2000

posted on Oct, 18 2005 @ 04:28 AM

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This is a very exciting technology allthough I do not see the applications it will have in our species Transformation, maybe I just lack imagination.

This may be THE cure we have been waiting for. First a 100 % effective Cervical Cancer vaccine and now this. Next decade will be THE decade of Biotechnology after a few aborted attempts

Far Out Man

posted on Oct, 18 2005 @ 04:58 AM

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This is a very promising development in the treatment of what is the modern age's plague.1/3 of us in the western world can expect to suffer from some form of cancer in our lives,and some of the standard treatments on offer appear to be worse than the disease.

A friend of mine died of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma a couple of years ago.This
treatment may not have helped him but I wish every success to the researchers involved in this project for future sufferers.

LiquidationOfDiscrepancy

posted on Oct, 19 2005 @ 05:27 PM

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Like others stated before me, science is a double edge sword, and it is up for us to decide how we will use this technology in the future.

soficrow

posted on Oct, 19 2005 @ 05:30 PM

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Originally posted by Far Out Man

1/3 of us in the western world can expect to suffer from some form of cancer in our lives,

The last stats I filed said 1 out of 2 men; and 1 out of 3 women would get cancer some times in their lives.

Since then, cancer has passed heart disease as the number one killer in the USA.

.

Kitsunegari

posted on Oct, 22 2005 @ 04:39 PM

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great advances in technology, at once both exciting and fear-striking.

i suppose no matter what happens we can choose to give in to our paranoia and worry about how it could be used in the wrong hands, but i think we should just focus on how these things can benefit us.

like LOD said, they can be used to combat cancer and other terminal illnesses, and thats great news!

LOD

--Kit.

E_Pluribus_Unum

posted on Nov, 27 2005 @ 01:00 PM

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This could be a step towards the fountain of youth. I feel that defeating cancer is a large landmark, and that the use of nanobombs may be the method that puts an end to irregular cell growth. However the more important issue is that such an extraordinary achievement will cause radical changes in how we live. What I mean to say is that this could create a tremendous gap in class structure, the mortal and immortal.

27jd

posted on Nov, 28 2005 @ 02:47 PM

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Medical advances are snowballing these days. I recently had a benign (non-cancerous) tumor on a lower cranial nerve (neuroma) at the base of my skull destroyed by a huge robotic arm that tracks the tumor and shoots weak pencil thin beams of radiation that all intersect at the lesion causing the lethal dose of radiation only to be applied to the neuroma, leaving surrounding tissue unharmed. It has surgical accuracy, and it is done over one to three days as opposed to many days like radiation therapy for actual cancer. It's called radiosurgery and the machine is called the CyberKnife. It was completely painless and the other alternative was open brain surgery. I felt like I was in an episode of Star Trek or something, it was pretty cool.