Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: biotech/medical – Page 1,011

How Humans Will Become a Multi-Planetary Species

Rothschild calls this “living tech,” which starts with the power of the cell. Microscopic organisms will produce silk, wool, latex, silica, and other materials. We’ll send digital information to biofactories on Mars through DNA sequences. We’ll generate and store power using living organisms. Rothschild said one of her students incorporated silver atoms into plant DNA to make an electrical wire.

“Once you think of life as technology,” Rothschild said, “you’ve got the solution.”

Humans have many practical reasons to become multi-planetary. But the mission shouldn’t represent merely a life insurance policy for the species. We’re still explorers and visionaries, so let’s harness that ambition for an aspirational purpose.

Scientists Discover a New, Unexpected Way That Cancer Cells Spread

One of the challenges in treating cancer is stopping it from metastasizing, and a new study reveals one of the fundamental mechanisms through which this happens. Now we know about this mechanism, perhaps we can stop it.

Key to this newly discovered process is GRP78, and it’s what’s known as a chaperone protein. It’s a type of protein that lends a hand in the folding or unfolding of larger proteins, basically building them up (or tearing them down), which then affects whether they’re biologically active and functional.

A team led by the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California (USC) in the US found that cancer cells can hijack GRP78, using the protein to spread further in the body and resist treatment.

Decoding lies with AI? New machine learning model uses facial expressions and pulse rates to detect deception

Researchers from the Tokyo University of Science recently published a study in the journal Artificial Life and Robotics where they explored how machine learning can help detect deception.

Machine learning is a subset of artificial intelligence (AI) that involves the use of algorithms and statistical models to enable computers to learn and improve from experience without being explicitly programmed. In other words, it is a method of teaching computers to perform specific tasks by learning from data, patterns, and examples, rather than relying on pre-defined rules.

Detecting deception can be important in various situations, like questioning crime victims or suspects and interviewing patients with mental health issues. Sometimes, human interviewers might struggle to ask the right questions or spot deception accurately.

Oxidative Stress in Cancer Cell Metabolism

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are important in regulating normal cellular processes whereas deregulated ROS leads to the development of a diseased state in humans including cancers. Several studies have been found to be marked with increased ROS production which activates pro-tumorigenic signaling, enhances cell survival and proliferation and drives DNA damage and genetic instability. However, higher ROS levels have been found to promote anti-tumorigenic signaling by initiating oxidative stress-induced tumor cell death. Tumor cells develop a mechanism where they adjust to the high ROS by expressing elevated levels of antioxidant proteins to detoxify them while maintaining pro-tumorigenic signaling and resistance to apoptosis.

Bone Density Test Can Gauge Heart Attack Risk

A routine osteoporosis screening bone density test can also detect increased risk for a heart attack because of the presence of calcium in the aorta. But reading these images requires expertise and can be time-consuming.

Now, research from a multi-institution collaboration, including Harvard Medical School and Hebrew SeniorLife, reports that this calcification test score can be calculated quickly by using machine learning, without the need for a person to grade the scans.

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