Lifeboat Foundation

TOKYO — Japan launched a lunar lander on Thursday, aiming to become the fifth nation to achieve a soft landing on the moon’s surface early next year following India’s success in a similar mission last month.

The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) was sent to space on an H-IIA rocket, the first launch since a high-profile launch failure of the next-generation H3 rocket in March.

A group of 12 researchers at Rice University in Houston have used 3D printing to create near-bulletproof material made out of plastic. The novel materials can withstand being shot at by bullets traveling at 5.8 kilometers per second and are highly compressible without falling apart.

Tubulanes are theoretical microscopic structures comprised of crosslinked carbon nanotubes and the researchers sought to test if they would have the same properties when scaled up enough to be 3D printed. It turns out they did.

The researchers proved this by shooting a bullet traveling at 5.8 kilometers per second through two cubes. One cube was made from a solid polymer and the other from a polymer printed with a tubulane structure.

Continue reading “Researchers 3D Print Bulletproof Plastic Layered Cubes” »

With the pace at which artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) applications are ramping up, we can expect to see industries and companies use these systems and tools in everyday processes. As these data-intensive applications continue to grow in complexity, the demand for high-speed transmission and efficient communication between computing units becomes paramount.

This need has sparked interest in optical interconnects, particularly in the context of short-reach connections between XPUs (CPUs, GPUs and memory). Silicon photonics is emerging as a promising technology that improves performance, cost-efficiency and thermal-management capabilities that ultimately improve the function of AI/ML applications compared with traditional approaches.

The key to getting the most out of artificial intelligence may lie in the use of silicon photonics, a powerful new tech.

Bobbi is SVP, Software Engineering at Loopio. She is a technology leader with over 25 years of diverse experience in the industry.

AI and emerging technologies under the AI umbrella—like generative pre-trained transformers (GPT)—are reshaping the business world. These technologies are fostering greater organizational efficiencies and innovations and are quickly becoming crucial for companies of all sizes.

The ability to automate processes and tasks opens up a plethora of new opportunities for organizations. When automation can scale with an organization, this can completely transform day-to-day operations. In this article, I’ll look at three ways that engineering organizations in particular can use AI to transform their organizational efficiencies, organizational structure and software practices and processes.

Elon Musk’s X is using its new jobs listing service to recruit engineers, and the billionaire promoted it by referencing incoming soda machines.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a prevalent global health concern, posing a significant and increasing public health challenge worldwide. Recently, biomaterials have emerged as a highly promising strategy for OA therapy due to their exceptional physicochemical properties and capacity to regulate pathological processes. However, there is an urgent need for a deeper understanding of the potential therapeutic applications of these biomaterials in the clinical management of diseases, particularly in the treatment of OA. In this comprehensive review, we present an extensive discussion of the current status and future prospects concerning biomaterials for OA… More.

Herein, in this review, we summarize the advanced strategies developed for enhancing OA therapy based on the biomaterials. We conducted a comprehensive literature search using relevant databases such as PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. The search was focused on peer-reviewed articles and research papers published within the last ten years (from 2013 to 2023). We utilized specific keywords related to biomaterials”, biomaterials” and “osteoarthritis therapy” to retrieve relevant studies. First, we provide an overview of the pathophysiology of OA and the limitations of current treatment options. Second, we explore the various types of biomaterials which have been used for OA therapy, including nanoparticles, nanofibers, and nanocomposites. Third, we highlight the advantages and challenges associated with the use of biomaterials in OA therapy, such as toxicity, biodegradation, and regulatory issues. Finally, advanced biomaterials-based OA therapies with their potential for clinical translation and emerging biomaterials directions for OA therapy are discussed.

Characteristics of Biomaterials

Nanotechnology-boosted biomaterials have attracted considerable attention in recent years as promising candidates for revolutionizing the field of therapeutics.^12,13 These materials combine the unique properties of nanotechnology with the versatility and biocompatibility of biomaterials, offering numerous advantages over existing therapeutic approaches. Nanotechnology enables the precise engineering of biomaterials at the nanoscale, allowing for the encapsulation and controlled release of therapeutic agents, such as drugs and growth factors.^14–17 This feature facilitates targeted and sustained drug delivery to specific sites within the body, reducing systemic side effects and enhancing treatment efficacy. In the context of OA, this targeted drug delivery can be utilized to deliver anti-inflammatory agents or disease-modifying drugs directly to affected joint tissues, promoting tissue repair and alleviating symptoms. Furthermore, biomaterials can be designed to mimic the native tissue environment, thereby enhancing their biocompatibility and reducing the risk of adverse reactions or immune responses.¹⁸ This characteristic is crucial for successful integration and long-term functionality of biomaterials in biomedical applications. Moreover, nanomaterials can facilitate tissue regeneration by stimulating cellular responses and promoting tissue growth.¹⁹ In the context of OA, biomaterials can assist in cartilage repair and regeneration, potentially slowing down disease progression and improving joint function.³ In addition, nanotechnology allows for the customization of biomaterials with a wide range of physical, chemical, and biological properties.¹³ This flexibility enables the development of multifunctional biomaterials that can simultaneously perform multiple tasks, such as drug delivery, imaging, and tissue regeneration. These advantages collectively contribute to their potential as innovative solutions in addressing various biomedical challenges and improving patient outcomes. In this section, we will discuss some of the key properties of biomaterials and their impact on OA treatment.

Continue reading “Nanotechnology-Boosted Biomaterials for Osteoarthritis” »

The pain is invisible, but it’s there. Here are the stories of what it’s like to live with trigeminal neuralgia.

Although the German scientist Hanns Kaiser published a number of articles in the 1970s relating inflammation to diseases in the elderly (Kaiser, 1971), the last 20 years have seen a burst in the study of the aging immune system, inflammation and the associated diseases. One of the most iconic studies in aging and immunity was the OCTO and NONA longitudinal study of healthy 80–90 year old people that took place in Jonkoping Sweden in the 1990s (Wikby AJ and Ferguson, 2003). These studies were unique for several reasons. First, they were longitudinal studies of elderly individuals. Second, the 80-and 90-year-olds were very healthy. As people age, they naturally acquire more disease and it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish the effects of disease vs. aging on the immune parameters being measured. To overcome these confounders, the OCTO and NONA immune longitudinal study was a community population-based study that continually and carefully evaluated individual health parameters. Study participants had normal cognition, were not on drugs that would influence their immune responses, and were non-institutionalized (Wikby AJ and Ferguson, 2003). Several important findings resulted from these studies; 1) the establishment of an Immune Risk Profile (IRP) based on altered CD4/CD8 T cell ratios (decreasing CD4⁺ T cell numbers and often increasing CD8⁺ T cell numbers) (Wikby et al., 1998) and 2) germane to this review, the discovery of a link between elevated plasma IL-6 levels, mortality and IRP in the very old (Wikby et al., 2006).

An optimal immune response requires the appropriate interaction between the innate and the adaptive arms of the immune system as well as a proper balance of activation and regulation. After decades of life, the aging immune system is continuously exposed to immune stressors and inflammatory assaults that lead to immune senescence (Salama et al., 2014; Aiello et al., 2019; Di Micco et al., 2021). In this review, we will discuss inflammaging in the elderly, specifically concentrating on IL-6 and IL-1β in the context of T lymphocytes, and how inflammation is related to mortality and morbidities, specifically cardiovascular disease and cancer. Although a number of studies suggests that the anti-inflammatory cytokine TGF-β is elevated in the elderly, heightened inflammation persists. Thus, the regulation of the immune response and the ability to return the immune system to homeostasis is also important. Therefore, we will discuss cellular alterations in aging, concentrating on senescent T cells and CD4⁺ CD25 ⁺ FOXP3+ regulatory T cells (T_regs) in aging.

Inflammaging is a phenomenon of inflammatory pathogenesis characterized by chronic low-grade inflammation, and is a significant risk factor for morbidity and mortality in elderly people. Claudio Franceschi first coined the term “inflammaging” in the manuscript “Inflamm-aging.

TIME’s list of the most influential people in artificial intelligence.