Lifeboat Foundation

Elon Musk traveled to Bali this weekend to officially launch Starlink, the SpaceX satellite internet service, in Indonesia this Sunday.

At a launch event with ministers in a health clinic in Indonesia, Musk stressed the significance of providing internet access to far-reaching corners of the vast archipelago, comprised of 17,000 islands across three time zones.

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Aalborg University in Denmark have found that vitamin D encourages the growth of a type of gut bacteria in mice which improves immunity to cancer.

Reported today in Science, the researchers found that mice given a diet rich in vitamin D had better immune resistance to experimentally transplanted cancers and improved responses to immunotherapy treatment. This effect was also seen when gene editing was used to remove a protein that binds to vitamin D in the blood and keeps it away from tissues.

Surprisingly, the team found that vitamin D acts on epithelial cells in the intestine, which in turn increase the amount of a bacteria called Bacteroides fragilis. This microbe gave mice better immunity to cancer as the transplanted tumours didn’t grow as much, but the researchers are not yet sure how.

A new AI-based analytical technique reveals that specific language phrasing in Reddit misinformation posts foretold people rejecting COVID vaccinations.

By Joanna Thompson

The founders of Perelel, which sells prenatal vitamins, say charitable giving is baked into their business model. Today they’re making good on that promise.

UCLA Health researchers have identified a process that memories while reducing metabolic costs, even during sleep. This efficient memory is found in a brain region essential for learning and memory, which is also where Alzheimer’s disease originates.

The discovery is published in the journal Nature Communications.

Does this sound familiar: You go to the kitchen to fetch something, but when you get there, you forget what you wanted. This is your working memory failing. Working memory is defined as remembering some information for a short period while you go about doing other things. We use working memory virtually all the time. Alzheimer’s and dementia patients have working memory deficits and it also shows up in mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Hence, considerable effort has been devoted to understanding the mechanisms by which the vast networks of neurons in the brain create working memory.

Cells in the human body chat with each other all the time. One major way they communicate is by releasing tiny spheres called exosomes. These carry fats, proteins, and genetic material that help regulate everything from pregnancy and immune responses to heart health and kidney function.

Now, a new Columbia University study in Nature Nanotechnology demonstrated that these “nanobubbles” can deliver potent immunotherapy directly to tough-to-treat lung cancer tumors via inhalation.

“Exosomes work like text messages between cells, sending and receiving information,” said lead researcher Ke Cheng, PhD, professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia. “The significance of this study is that exosomes can bring mRNA-based treatment to lung cancer cells locally, unlike systemic chemotherapy that can have side effects throughout the body. And inhalation is totally noninvasive. You don’t need a nurse to use an IV needle to pierce your skin.”

Chinese scientists have developed a new type of lens that can be used for health care and augmented reality (AR). Based on radio frequency, the eye-tracking smart contact lenses don’t require battery or conventional silicon chips and are biocompatible and imperceptible.

Set to be used for human-machine interaction (HMI), the smart contact lenses rely on tracking eye movements. The lenses use methods like pupil center corneal reflection and electrooculography (EOG) to track eye movements.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a global health problem that the WHO declared a pandemic. COVID-19 has resulted in a worldwide lockdown and threatened to topple the global economy. The mortality of COVID-19 is comparatively low compared with previous SARS outbreaks, but the rate of spread of the disease and its morbidity is alarming. This virus can be transmitted human-to-human through droplets and close contact, and people of all ages are susceptible to this virus. With the advancements in nanotechnology, their remarkable properties, including their ability to amplify signal, can be used for the development of nanobiosensors and nanoimaging techniques that can be used for early-stage detection along with other diagnostic tools.

Scientists have analyzed locks of Ludwig van Beethoven’s hair and found evidence of lead poisoning, which may have contributed to his chronic ailments and deafness. This discovery sheds new light on the famous composer’s health and adds to the ongoing debate about the cause of his death.