Lifeboat Foundation

Apple is reportedly exploring the development of ‘home robots’ as its next big venture.

According to Business Insider, tech giant Apple is shifting its focus towards a new area of development.

The pivot comes after a difficult period for Apple, with the company scrapping its plans to develop a self-driving car, which it had been working on for years.

Researchers at Tel Aviv University have developed a new treatment course for patients with metastasizing breast cancer, using medication already on the market.

Based on tissue samples from American and Israeli patients and using an animal model, the researchers from the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences showed that a combination of existing drugs can hinder the spread of cancer to the bones, thereby improving the chances of survival.

More than 75 percent of patients with metastatic breast cancer see it spread to the bone.

The first patient to receive a kidney transplanted from a genetically modified pig has fared so well that he was discharged from the hospital on Wednesday, just two weeks after the groundbreaking surgery.

The transplant and its encouraging outcome represent a remarkable moment in medicine, scientists say, possibly heralding an era of cross-species organ transplantation.

Two previous organ transplants from genetically modified pigs failed. Both patients received hearts, and both died a few weeks later. In one patient, there were signs that the immune system had rejected the organ, a constant risk.

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Study reviews the advancements in pharmacological treatments for neuropsychiatric syndromes in neurodegenerative disorders, discussing the complexities of managing symptoms such as depression, disinhibition, apathy, psychosis, and agitation to improve patient care.

Summary: Researchers unveiled a novel approach to combat Alzheimer’s disease by activating microglia, the brain’s immune cells, to devour amyloid beta plaques, a hallmark of the condition. This study highlights the potential of using immunotherapy to not only tackle Alzheimer’s but also other neurodegenerative diseases characterized by harmful protein accumulations.

The team’s method involves using an antibody to stimulate microglia into clearing these plaques, offering a promising alternative to current treatments that directly target amyloid beta and might cause side effects like ARIA. This breakthrough paves the way for new therapeutic strategies that harness the immune system to fight the devastating effects of Alzheimer’s and possibly other diseases like Parkinson’s and ALS.

This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)

Analyzing and storing large amounts of data requires a lot of energy, so the future of technology might hold a different approach to data storage. At least, that is what Professor Søren Brunak from the University of Copenhagen thinks.

Brunak states that while Denmark is one of the best in the world at health data, analyzing and storing huge amounts of health data comes at a climate cost. “We have begun to consider the carbon footprint of bioinformatics and CO₂ emissions resulting from data analysis,” he adds.

With rates rising around the world, public-health leaders must prioritize prevention, treatment, funding and data.

AI can replace management roles in scientific research.

New research from ESMT Berlin shows how AI can manage human participants in large-scale research projects, taking over functions such as task allocation, coordination, and motivation.

As the efforts towards the realization of powerful quantum computers and quantum simulators continue, there is a parallel program aimed at attaining the quantum analog to the classical internet.