Lifeboat Foundation

But what if you’re a manufacturer without the budget, bandwidth or time to invest in advanced digital transformation right now? You can still take practical steps to move forward. Start with fundamental data collection and analytic tools to lay the groundwork. Leveraging visibility solutions like barcode scanning, wearables or other basic Internet of Things (IoT) devices can help monitor machines and provide insights and improvements.

Quality is the final piece of the equation. Once you’re further down the path to transformation, implement visibility solutions and augment and upskill workers with technology to optimize quality. To drive quality even further, add advanced automation solutions. You don’t have to boil the ocean on your digital transformation journey—take it one step at a time from wherever you’re starting.

Most manufacturers (87%) in Zebra’s study agree it’s a challenge to pilot new technologies or move beyond the pilot phase, yet they plan to advance digital maturity by 2029. With the right technology tools and solutions in place to advance visibility, augment workers and optimize quality, they will get there.

Human lifespan is shaped by both genetic and environmental exposures and their interaction. To enable precision health, it is essential to understand how genetic variants contribute to earlier death or prolonged survival. In this study, we tested the association of common genetic variants and the burden of rare non-synonymous variants in a survival analysis, using age-at-death (N = 35,551, median [min, max] = 72.4 [40.9, 85.2]), and last-known-age (N = 358,282, median [min, max] = 71.9 [52.6, 88.7]), in European ancestry participants of the UK Biobank. The associations we identified seemed predominantly driven by cancer, likely due to the age range of the cohort. Common variant analysis highlighted three longevity-associated loci: APOE, ZSCAN23, and MUC5B. We identified six genes whose burden of loss-of-function variants is significantly associated with reduced lifespan: TET2, ATM, BRCA2, CKMT1B, BRCA1 and ASXL1. Additionally, in eight genes, the burden of pathogenic missense variants was associated with reduced lifespan: DNMT3A, SF3B1, CHL1, TET2, PTEN, SOX21, TP53 and SRSF2. Most of these genes have previously been linked to oncogenic-related pathways and some are linked to and are known to harbor somatic variants that predispose to clonal hematopoiesis. A direction-agnostic (SKAT-O) approach additionally identified significant associations with C1orf52, TERT, IDH2, and RLIM, highlighting a link between telomerase function and longevity as well as identifying additional oncogenic genes.

Our results emphasize the importance of understanding genetic factors driving the most prevalent causes of mortality at a population level, highlighting the potential of early genetic testing to identify germline and somatic variants increasing one’s susceptibility to cancer and/or early death.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

As an innovative concept in materials science and engineering, the inspiration for self-healing materials comes from living organisms that have the innate ability to self-heal. Along this line, the search for self-healing materials has been generally focused on “soft” materials like polymers and hydrogels. For solid-state metals, one may intuitively imagine that any form of self-healing will be much more difficult to achieve.

Molybdenum (Mo) carbides, known for their unique electronic and structural properties, are considered promising alternatives to noble metal catalysts in heterogeneous catalysis. However, traditional methods for preparing Mo carbides suffer from complex processes, stringent synthesis conditions, challenging crystal regulation, and high energy consumption. Additionally, Mo carbides are susceptible to oxidation and deactivation, which poses a significant barrier to their widespread application.

Every cell in our body contains the same DNA, yet liver cells are different from brain cells, and skin cells differ from muscle cells. What determines these differences? It all comes down to gene regulation; essentially how and when genes are turned on and off to meet the cell’s demands. But gene regulation is quite complex, especially because it is itself regulated by other parts of DNA.

The University of Texas at Austin this week announced that it has opened its undergraduate robotics program to high school applicants. The honors program is one of the first in the U.S. that allows incoming freshmen to apply for the program as part of their initial admission application. It’s a clear indication that robotics is no longer in the realm of hyper-specialized graduate and doctorate programs.

The minor is tied to a handful of other majors, including aerospace engineering, electrical and computer engineering, computational engineering, computer science and mechanical engineering. Each forms a foundational piece of an eventual robotics major. With the rise of robotics in high school STEAM teaching, the program is designed to maintain incoming freshmen’s interest in the growing space.

The plan states that Toyota will begin solid-state battery production in 2026, although the initial ramp-up will be slow with mass production coming after 2030.

Could buy patients more time to survive critical injuries and diseases, even when disaster strikes far from a hospital.

Donepezil, an FDA-approved drug to treat Alzheimer’s, has the potential to be repurposed for use in emergency situations to prevent irreversible organ injury, according to researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University.

Using donepezil (DPN), researchers report that they were able to put tadpoles of Xenopus laevis frogs into a hibernation-like torpor.

A prototype solid-state battery, named the Goliath P1 and developed by UK startup Ilika, has made waves in the electric vehicle (EV) industry due to its significant benefits and implications. The battery achieved a major breakthrough by passing an important safety test known as the nail penetration test.

This test simulates a catastrophic incident that often leads to dangerous thermal runaway—a condition in which traditional lithium-ion batteries, which use liquid electrolytes, can explode or catch fire.