Blog

This weekend at Caltech we had a small but very fun conference: the “Physics of the Universe Summit,” or POTUS for short. (The acronym is just an accident, I’m assured.) The subject matter was pretty conventional — particle physics, the LHC, dark matter — but the organization was a little more free-flowing and responsive than the usual parade of dusty talks.

One of the motivating ideas that was mentioned more than once was the famous list of important problems proposed by David Hilbert in 1900. These were Hilbert’s personal idea of what math problems were important but solvable over the next 100 years, and his ideas turned out to be relatively influential within twentieth-century mathematics. Our conference, 110 years later and in physics rather than math, was encouraged to think along similarly grandiose lines.

And indeed people had done exactly that, especially ten years ago when the century turned: see representative lists here and here. I asked the organizers if anyone was taking a swing at it this time, and was answered in the negative. I was scheduled to give one of the closing summaries, and this sounded more interesting than what I actually had planned, so naturally I had to step up.

Here are the slides from my presentation, where you can find some elaboration on my choices.

And here’s the actual list:

1. What breaks electroweak symmetry?
2. What is the ultraviolet extrapolation of the Standard Model?
3. Why is there a large hierarchy between the Planck scale, the weak scale, and the vaccum energy?
4. How do strongly-interacting degrees of freedom resolve into weakly-interacting ones?
5. Is there a pattern/explanation behind the family structure and parameters of the Standard Model?
6. What is the phenomenology of the dark sector?
7. What symmetries appear in useful descriptions of nature?
8. Are there surprises at low masses/energies?
9. How does the observable universe evolve?
10. How does gravity work on macroscopic scales?
11. What is the topology and geometry of spacetime and dynamical degrees of freedom on small scales?
12. How does quantum gravity work in the real world?
13. Why was the early universe hot, dense, and very smooth but not perfectly smooth?
14. What is beyond the observable universe?
15. Why is there a low-entropy boundary condition in the past but not the future?
16. Why aren’t we fluctuations in de Sitter space?
17. How do we compare probabilities for different classes of observers?
18. What rules govern the evolution of complex structures?
19. Is quantum mechanics correct?
20. What happens when wave functions collapse?
21. How do we go from the quantum Hamiltonian to a quasiclassical configuration space?
22. Is physics deterministic?
23. How many bits are required to describe the universe?
24. Will “elementary physics” ultimately be finished?

Clearly I cheated somewhat by squeezing multiple questions into single problems. But the real challenge was thinking sufficiently big to come up with problems that people a century from now would agree are interesting. And I stuck to “elementary physics” — particle physics, gravitation, cosmology — just because I’m not competent to pick out the important problems in any other fields. Twenty-four, of course, because Hilbert had 23, and we had to go one better. There was certainly no shortage of candidates; I was coming up with more good problems and throwing out old ones right up until the last minute. Any obvious ones I missed?

After a weeks of speculation, leaks, confirmation and a sneak peek from my colleagues here at Engadget, Google finally told the story of the Nexus One. The Nexus One is the latest and greatest Android device, with a bit of a twist. The Nexus One is available without contract and unlocked directly from Google for $530, as well as subsidized from T-Mobile on a two-year contract for $179. Even with T-Mobile service, the device is only available from Google. Interesting, but hardly the groundbreaking business model that was expected as soon as the words “Google phone” began to make the rounds.

As nice as the Nexus One is — and in my opinion it’s the nicest Android device on the market — it makes me wonder what Google’s up to with Android and why it’s even in the mobile OS business, let alone selling phones directly to consumers. I’d ask the same about Chrome and Chrome OS as well. Android is particularly puzzling, however: Google licenses it for free and it’s turned up on some rather interesting devices, but none of those devices have helped build out an ecosystem. Many of them are proprietary and Android is rapidly becoming fragmented — the Archos5 Internet Tablet, for example, can’t make official use of the Android marketplace. But nothing is as strange as Google getting into the hardware business directly and selling devices, albeit unlocked and unsubsidized ones, directly to consumers.

Continue reading Entelligence: ‘Don’t be evil’ isn’t the basis for a relationship

Entelligence: ‘Don’t be evil’ isn’t the basis for a relationship originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Article

Lost in the CES maelstrom, we missed the Kingston SSDNow V 30GB, a solid state hard drive designed to run your operating system, faster faster, kill kill, pussycat. The best thing is the price: Only $80 after rebates.

• Sequential Speed**: up to 180MB/sec. read, 50MB/sec. write
• Performance: enhances productivity; makes users more efficient
• Innovative: 2.5″ form factor; uses NAND Flash memory components
• Silent: runs silent and cool with no moving parts
• Reliable: less likely to fail than a standard hard drive
• Shock Resistant: no moving parts; handles rougher conditions than a hard drive
• Supports S.M.A.R.T.: Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology
• Guaranteed: three-year Kingston warranty, 24/7 tech support
• Capacity1: 30GB
• Storage temperatures: -40° C to 85° C
• Operating temperatures: 0° C to 70° C
• Vibration operating: 20G Peak, 10-2000Hz, (20min/Axis)x3 Axis
• Vibration non-operating: 20G Peak, 10-2000Hz, (12 Cycle/Axis) x 3 Axis, x 20min.
• Power specs: Read: 1.4W (TYP), 2.5W (MAX)
• Write: 1.7W (TYP), 4.2W (MAX)
• Idle, Standby, Sleep: 55mw (TYP)
• Life expectancy: 500,000 hours MTBF

** Test system: Intel® DG945ID Desktop Motherboard; Intel® Quad Core Q9550; 4GB DDR2 800MHz system memory; on-board SATA 3Gbps with ACHI enabled in BIOS; OS: Windows® 7 Professional x64 or Windows XP Pro x86 SP3 (Intel® IMSM installed in both operating systems).
** Based on internal testing. Performance may vary based on system settings.

It’s coming in February for $110 without the promotional rebates. [Kingston]

This week, a Federal judge lifted an import band on so-called “e-cigarettes” from China, much to the Food and Drug Administration’s dismay. E-cigarettes are little tubes that look like regular cigarettes, but convert liquid nicotine into an inhalable vapor that simulates the taste of tobacco. But unlike cigarettes, these devices contain virtually no cancer-causing carcinogens, according to their distributors. Why did the judge overrule the FDA here? And more importantly, why is the FDA so against e-cigarettes?

First, here was the judges’ reasoning, via the New York Times:

“This case appears to be yet another example of F.D.A.’s aggressive efforts to regulate recreational tobacco products as drugs or devices,” Judge Leon wrote.

With the passage of landmark tobacco legislation last year, he added, the Food and Drug Administration’s new tobacco division will be able to regulate the contents and marketing claims of e-cigarettes in the same way it is about to begin regulating traditional tobacco products. But the agency’s drug division cannot ban the devices, the judge ruled.

That seems like pretty good logic. But why does the FDA say it doesn’t want to allow e-cigarettes?

The Food and Drug Administration issued a brief statement: “The public health issues surrounding electronic cigarettes are of serious concern to the F.D.A. The agency is reviewing Judge Leon’s opinion and will decide the appropriate action to take.”

So the FDA narrative says it’s a safety concern. Yet, if the claims of the distributors are true — and these devices really do stimulate smoking, but without any of the cancer — why hasn’t the FDA rushed to study the devices for the several years they’ve been available? After all, if the FDA finds that they’re safe, and they catch on, they could prevent cancer in millions of Americans. Shouldn’t that deserve their being pushed to the front of the FDA’s queue?

The problem with this logic is that it assumes that the FDA’s only goal in regulation is ensuring Americans’ safety. Yet, if that was its only concern, then why would cigarettes remain legal at all? There are no health benefits, but they cause cancer. Instead, the FDA would rather regulate. Imagine how much money the government can make by taxing a product that people literally can’t resist.

Of course, big tobacco would certainly concur with the FDA’s decision to ban e-cigarettes. After all, it could seriously damage its business. As the NY Times article notes in its last sentence:

Traditional cigarette makers have not been involved in the fledgling industry.

These two parties seeing eye-to-eye shouldn’t be surprising. Despite the popular misconception that big tobacco and federal regulators would conflict, the two generally agree. Big tobacco actually fights for greater tobacco regulation.

But wait! Doesn’t big tobacco hate regulation? That is, after all, the prevailing narrative. It’s also naïve. I don’t want to run through the whole argument here about why big business, particularly big tobacco, generally loves to be regulated. Instead, I’ll just give you a just a taste by turning to Tim Carney, lobbying editor of the Washington Examiner.

Carney has argued, at length, in two books now (which I’d highly recommend, by the way), that big business loves regulation — it almost always ensures that smaller competition has a hard time gaining a foothold in the market. Regulation protects big businesses’ market share. If you want to better understand why big tobacco, in particular, loves regulation here’s an excerpt from an article he wrote back in 2007:

All regulation adds to overhead, which disproportionately hurts the smaller companies and is more easily absorbed by bigger companies. The Waxman and Kennedy bills would likely lead to federally mandated ingredient testing at the cost of the cigarette company.

It would also give the FDA authority to regulate nicotine and other ingredients. All of these costs will make it much more expensive to manufacture cigarettes, but Philip Morris, with its economies of scale, will be less affected. If legislation adds to your costs, but adds to your competitors’ costs even more, it’s a net gain for you.

One of the ways that the government managed to pass its recent tobacco reform bill was by enlisting big tobacco’s support. So the FDA and big tobacco have a symbiotic relationship. The government gets billions of dollars from excise tax revenue on and lawsuits related to cigarettes. Big tobacco gets regulation that makes it harder for smaller companies to compete. So the FDA needs to keep up its end of the bargain here and not allow a threat like e-cigarettes to take hold in the U.S. — even if they did turn out to be good for the American people.

My caffeine needs have been growing exponentially, so we need more interns in New York City. But, this time, we’re lookin’ for a few different kinds of interns.

Four different kinds, to be precise:

Writing Intern: Your main task will be writing posts, but with a secondary focus on all the other intern duties as outlined here.

Promotion Intern: Great for people who like to talk to other people. You’ll be promoting our stories on Digg, Twitter, Facebook and other social networks. You should know how to angle stories a certain way, and be familiar with social networks as well as other major sites. When I say familiar, I mean you should read them and know what kind of stories they’re apt to post.

Research Intern: You should be good at pulling together multiple forms of information from multiple sources for our editors. This includes online and offline sources and even calling up people to arrange (and possibly conduct) interviews. Mostly, you should have a good grasp of technology and be able to locate and dissect information fast.

Copyediting Intern: English. You should know it. And you should be able to recognize when we screw up. You’ll be going through our posts as a copyeditor, fixing typos and correcting our grammar. If you’re already doing this in your spare time (for free), you’ll love this position.

All of these internship positions will still have the primary task of finding stories for us—so think of this as your secondary superpower—as outlined here. Look that over (click the link and read it first!) and see if you’re qualified.

If you think you’re suited for one of those four positions (choose one only, please), send an email to [email protected] with the subject “NY Writing Intern” or “NY Promotion Intern” or “NY Research Intern” or “NY Copyediting Intern”—whichever one fits you the best. No attachments. No. Attachments.

Remember, it’s full time, you need your own laptop, and you need to be able to get to Manhattan daily.

Good luck!

Wyclef Jean and his Yele Haitian Earthquake Fund have raised over $1 million for victims of this week’s natural disaster with a text-based campaign in which cell phone users send “Tele” to 501501 for an automatic $5 donation.

The Haitian-born former Fugee is in Port-au-Prince, helping rescue workers clear the streets of dead bodies from a scene he describes as “The Apocalypse.”

“We spent the day picking up dead bodies, all day that’s what we did,” Jean told FOX News in a telephone interview on Thursday. “The count is not 100,000 — there’s at least, has to be four to five hundred thousand people that is about to die.”

Wyclef says Haiti needs to raise a million dollars a day.

“We have to raise a million dollars a day. In four or five days, this whole country is going to be in chaos. We are calling for a state of emergency,” he said. “Many people have already reached out to see what they can do right now. We are asking those interested to please do one of two things: Either you can use your cell phone to text “Yele” to 501501, which will automatically donate $5 to the Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund (it will be charged to your cell phone bill), or you can visit www.Yele.org and click on DONATE.”

by Chris Borgen

The current issue of Foreign Affairs has an article called A Few Dollars at a Time: How to Tap Consumers for Development, which describes the “innovative financing” movement in which private companies find ways for their customers to contribute to international development. This morning, I came across an example that I guess you could call “innovative aid” as it isn’t so much development financing but rather disaster relief to Haiti.

Zynga is a software company that makes (wildly successful, as I understand) games playable via Facebook and MySpace. They have started a Haiti Relief Fund in which the Zynga gaming community can contribute to disaster relief by purchasing “virtual goods” within their games. They explain on their foundation’s website:

Three of our top games are participating in a special relief campaign to help earthquake survivors in Haiti. Zynga is donating 100 percent of the proceeds from non-withering white corn within FarmVille [one of their games], a Haitian drum on Mafia Wars, and a special chip package in Zynga Poker to support emergency aid in Haiti through the Zynga Haiti Relief Fund. Users can also support the fund by donating directly through Zynga.org…

All contributions will benefit the World Food Programme (WFP), which has set up an emergency response team to distribute food and other relief to thousands in Haiti affected by the devastating earthquake.

Elsewhere, they write:

“The devastation in Haiti is unimaginable, and anything we or our users can do is tiny compared to the utter loss for this nation,” said Mark Pincus, Zynga’s founder and CEO. “In our small way, I hope we can enable our users to help and touch Haiti in a meaningful way where every dollar raised can make a difference.”

Zynga and socially-conscious companies like it should be applauded for dreaming up new ways to respond to perennial problems. I should note that Zynga’s aid to Haiti began before the earthquake; they had already linked the sale of virtual seeds in their FarmVille game to development aid for school construction in Haiti. Sales of that one virtual item, in one game, before Haiti was making headlines, raised over a million dollars. A few dollars at a time can add up to a lot of money.

But, given the magnitude of the disaster that has befallen Haiti, the unfortunate truth is that even a million dollars is a drop in the bucket. So, I hope other companies follow Zynga’s lead and nudge more people (who might not have done so otherwise) into contributing to the relief effort.

Here’s a wheel of a deal on SanDisk’s answer to the original iPod Shuffle, the Sansa Clip. It’s tiny, yet has a screen and menu system, features 2GB of storage, drag and drop music management (you can also use Windows Media Player), and 15 hour battery life.

File support includes: MP3, WMA, Secure WMA, WAV, and Audible files. It works with subscription-based music services and there’s an FM tuner and voice recorder for good measure. Shipping adds $5 – works with Windows only.

Sandisk Clip 2GB MP3 Player [Woot.com]

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article

Do you have a Comcast DVR? I do. I also have a TiVo, which has had remote scheduling since 2005. I can almost schedule recordings remotely to my Comcast DVR. Not yet, but almost – it’s not available in Boston yet, apparently. If you have a Comcast DVR, check out www.comcast.net/mydvr/ to see if the service has been switched on in your area.

If it has been switched on, you’ll be able to schedule recordings, view upcoming recordings, modify scheduled and series recordings, and manage multiple DVR boxes. It’s called myDVR Manager. The trick, from a marketing standpoint, is to lowercase the “my” part of it and leave out the space between “my” and “DVR” so as to show that it’s an online product.

Comcast Remote DVR Scheduling is Here! (For Some) [Zatz Not Funny!]

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article

This is pretty easy. It’s a case that has a camera mounting screw hidden on one side. Wanna guess what that’s for? Self portraits! $12 from Brando.

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article

If you’re still paying a per-text message fee, we can only figure one of two things. Either you haven’t opened up your phone bill and taken a look at how much you’re being charged compared to a monthly plan, or you’re one of the remaining troglodytes that doesn’t really use text messaging. Either way, you’re about to pay more, and the government couldn’t care less.

An article in the gadget guide Electronista pointed out this morning that a recent investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice is over and the verdict is in.

Sponsor

Between 2005 to 2008, the number of major cell phone carriers dropped from six to four, and text message prices doubled, going from 10 cents to 20 cents a piece. That is, competition decreased and prices increased – a telltale sign of an industry moving closer to a monopoly.

The four major carriers involved were AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless.

Wisconsin’s Democratic Senator Herb Kohl and the Senate antitrust subcommittee decided to look into the companies’ practices and urged an investigation. The Justice Department has now declared that investigation over and announced that they will do nothing to stop these companies from charging as much as they please for a service that costs them nearly nothing to provide.

The DOJ said they found no evidence that the companies had worked together in raising text message fees, despite the fact that all increases came within months and even weeks of each other.

Randall Stross of the New York Times shows us in a recent article how the cell phone companies are even making a big profit on customers with monthly plans, comparing users to customers at an all-you-can-eat buffet, and the companies as the cafeteria owners.

Customers with unlimited plans, like diners bringing a healthy appetite to an all-you-can-eat cafeteria, might think they’re getting the best out of the arrangement. But the carriers, unlike the cafeteria owners, can provide unlimited quantities of “food” at virtually no cost to themselves – so long as it is served in bite-sized portions.

So, keep text messaging away and filling the cell phone companies’ coffers – we know we will.

Photo of cell phone by Flickr user Noel A. Tanner.

Discuss

On Tuesday, Google revealed cyberattacks against it and other U.S. companies. Within two days, security researchers had traced one of the open doors back to Internet Explorer. Microsoft has admitted that a remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability exists in IE.

“Based upon our investigations, we have determined that Internet Explorer was one of the vectors used in targeted and sophisticated attacks against Google and possibly other corporate networks,” said Mike Reavy, Microsoft Security Response Center director.

On Thursday, Microsoft issued guidance to help customers mitigate the RCE vulnerability in Internet Explorer. Microsoft has not seen widespread consumer impact from the vulnerability, but may release an out-of-band patch to address the issue. Reavy also said Microsoft is cooperating with Google and other companies, as well as authorities and other industry partners.

Major Ramifications

McAfee CTO George Kurtz explained how the attack works in a blog post: The intruders gained access by sending a tailored attack to one or a few targeted individuals. McAfee suspects these individuals were targeted because they likely had access to valuable intellectual property. These attacks will look like they come from a trusted source, he said, leading the target to fall for the trap and click a link or file. That’s when the exploitation takes place, using the vulnerability in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.

Kurtz said once the malware is downloaded and installed, it opens a back door that allows the attacker to perform reconnaissance and gain complete control over the compromised system. The attacker can now identify high-value targets and start to siphon off valuable data, he explained.

“It’s hard to imagine a cyber breach with bigger ramifications than this one unless it involved some infrastructure capacity. The scope and the targeting of this breach should grab every CEO’s attention,” said Andrew Storms, director of security operations for nCircle. “If Google got…

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article

Filed under: Accessories, Video, Found Footage, iPhone

In the world of professional film and video photography, the Steadicam stabilizing camera mount revolutionized tracking shots by allowing a camera operator to “hand hold” a camera, but keep the camera steady. This Academy Award-winning invention is now available for the rest of us in the form of the Tiffen Steadicam Smoothee for iPhone 3GS.

Designed specifically for the iPhone 3GS, the Steadicam Smoothee weighs a scant 25 ounces and features the same counterweighted construction of the professional models. While no price has been announced for the Smoothee, it’s sure to be much less expensive than the pro video and film versions that sell for $50,000 – $60,000.

The promotional video above has several examples of the type of smooth tracking shots that are the signature of Steadicam movies. The fact that Tiffen has chosen the iPhone for a Steadicam model appears to show that the company sees the potential of citizen journalism and movie-making with the platform. One of these would be great for doing TUAW TV Live from Ustream Broadcaster on the floor of Macworld Expo 2010…

[via Engadget]

TUAWFound Footage: Steadicam releasing Smoothee for iPhone 3GS originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article

Pour l’Audi A1, il s’agit de montrer un petit bout de plus, technique classique du teasing Audi. Du côté de la DS3 Citroen, on ressort les anciennes stars pour nous dire que la nostalgie ne sert à rien…

Voici donc les vidéos, en commençant par celle de l’Audi A1:

Heartland Dental Care, Inc. brought its total number of practices to 253 in 2009 with the acquisition of 27 established practices and the creation of five de novos.

Several of these practices expanded Heartland’s presence into two new states — Nevada and Kansas – increasing the Company’s footprint to 14 states.

“We are glad to welcome these practices and team members into the Heartland Dental Care family,” said Rick Workman, DMD, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Heartland Dental Care, Inc.

“These acquisitions and new practices strengthen our commitment to provide quality dental care in hometowns all across the United States.”

“At the beginning of 2009 we set out to add 25 practices, and that’s just what we’ve done,” Workman said.

“Plus these practices have brought substantial value to our company especially through the innovative ideas of their team members.”

Besides a healthy and managed growth in 2009, the Company also experienced several other major accomplishments:

• Increase in Same Store Sales over 2008
• Addition of 96 dentists and an overall reduction in team turnover
• Expansion of education and clinical training programs into regional settings
• Integration of digital x-ray technology and other cutting edge tools and techniques
• Substantial cost savings on supplies and laboratory fees
• Implementation of Patient Satisfaction Surveys

“Everything we do works toward our goal to be a world class company and the leader in dentistry,” said Patrick C. Bauer, President and Chief Operations Officer of Heartland Dental Care, Inc.

“We will continue to work toward this goal in 2010.

We will further this vision by helping our doctors and practices be the best they can be.  Whether it’s through advanced clinical education or simple communication skills – it’s all about giving our patients personal attention and professional excellence.”

About Heartland Dental Care

Heartland Dental Care, Inc. is one of the leading dental practice management groups in the United States with more than 250 dental practices located within 14 states.

Based in Effingham, Ill., Heartland provides its dentists and team members with continuing professional education and leadership training along with a variety of management services which include staffing, human relations, purchasing, administration, financial, marketing and information technology support.

For more information, visit HeartlandDentalCare.com.

Filed under: Coupe, Scion

Despite the fact that Scion is a uniquely American invention for Toyota, only one of its current models – the rapidly aging tC coupe – was actually designed here in the States. Perhaps it shouldn’t come as too big a surprise, then, that U.S. Scion sales are down by 49-percent compared to 2008 levels.

According to Automotive News, Yoshi Inaba, president of Toyota Motor North America, says that’s all set to change in the near future as the youth-oriented Japanese brand draws up two new models that will be heavily influenced by American tastes. We certainly hope that doesn’t mean bigger and unnecessarily bloated like the second-generation xB.

A redesigned tC model will reportedly come first, followed by the Scionized version of the mini-me Toyota iQ. Inaba didn’t give any sort of timetable on new model launches and even said that the automaker hasn’t yet determined what new vehicles will come after what’s currently scheduled.

Whatever comes our way, it seems that we should expect Scion to continue marketing to a young audience. To that end, the company will continue to focus on innovative new technologies that will boost “connectivity,” though that could have a number of differing meanings. We’ll see what Toyota has in mind soon enough, as the redesigned tC is scheduled to go on sale later this year.

[Source: Automotive News – sub. req’d.]

Report: Scion to get stronger Stateside focus, two new models originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Bruce V. Bigelow wrote:

San Diego-based Histogen became something of a high-wire act on the local biotech scene last year after a cross-town rival filed a patent infringement lawsuit against the startup—upending Histogen’s plans to develop a variety of regenerative medical treatments.

The patent suit, which was filed a year ago by Carlsbad, CA-based SkinMedica, hit just as Histogen was preparing to report early results of its experimental treatment to stimulate hair regrowth among 24 men with male-pattern baldness. As we reported at the time, the prospect of costly litigation prompted a group of angel investors to withdraw their planned $2.4 million investment, and Histogen was forced to lay off all 36 employees.

At that time, it seemed likely that the teetering startup was headed for a fall, and Histogen would soon be history.

That still could be the outcome. Lawyers for Histogen filed a request for a summary judgment last August that would dismiss the case. Lawyers for SkinMedica filed their response in September, arguing to keep the lawsuit on track and headed for trial. I reviewed the filings in San Diego federal court yesterday, and U.S. District Judge Thomas J. Whelan has yet to rule on the arguments over Histogen’s bid for an early dismissal.

Meanwhile, as I reported in an end-of-the-year summary, many Xconomy readers continue to root for success in Histogen’s experimental treatment for male pattern baldness.

But we haven’t heard much from Histogen since July, when the startup reported final results of its early study. In the experiment, a single injection of the company’s hair regrowth product—formerly known as ReGenica, now called Hair Stimulating Complex, or HSC—was made just beneath the scalp. Histogen says nearly 85 percent of the two dozen balding men had more hair three months after being treated, and they experienced an increase in hair thickness and density.

To get an update, I recently spoke by telephone with Histogen CEO Gail Naughton, who highlighted the company’s latest plans for …Next Page »

Comments (2) | Reprints | Share: