Lifeboat Foundation

A small amount of electricity delivered at a specific frequency to a particular point in the brain will snap a monkey out of even deep anesthesia, pointing to a circuit of brain activity key to consciousness and suggesting potential treatments for debilitating brain disorders.

Macaques put under with general anesthetic drugs commonly administered to human surgical patients, propofol and isoflurane, could be revived and alert within two or three seconds of applying low current, according to a study published today in the journal Neuron by a team led by University of Wisconsin–Madison brain researchers.

“For as long as you’re stimulating their brain, their behavior — full eye opening, reaching for objects in their vicinity, vital sign changes, bodily movements and facial movements — and their brain activity is that of a waking state,” says Yuri Saalmann, UW–Madison psychology and neuroscience professor. “Then, within a few seconds of switching off the stimulation, their eyes closed again. The animal is right back into an unconscious state.”

In this data article, we provide five datasets of mantis mitochondrial genomes: PCG123: nucleotide sequences of 13 protein-coding genes including all codon positions; PCG123R: nucleotide sequences of two rRNAs and 13 protein-coding genes including all codon positions; PCG12: nucleotide sequences of 13 protein-coding genes without third codon positions; PCG12R: nucleotide sequences of two rRNAs and 13 protein-coding genes without third codon positions, and PCGAA: amino acid sequences of 13 protein-coding genes. These were used to construct phylogenetic relationships within Mantodea and the phylogenetic trees inferred from Bayesian analysis using two data sets (PCG12R, PCGAA) and Maximum Likelihood analysis using four data sets (PCG123, PCG12, PCG12R and PCGAA). We also provide initiation codon, termination codon, amino acid length and nucleotide diversity (Pi) of protein-coding genes among 27 mantises. The whole mitochondrial genomes of 27 praying mantises were submitted to GenBank with the accession numbers KY689112 – KY689138.

It is in this second phase when Darwinian evolutionary rivers will merge with the rivers of intelligent designers, represented by scientists, programmers and engineers, who will fuse organic natural biology, synthetic biology, and digital technology into a unified whole that future generations will deem their anatomy. The merger will serve to afford greater intelligence and, longer, healthier lives. In exchange, we will relinquish actual autonomy for apparent autonomy, where what was once considered “free will” will be supplanted by the deterministic logic of machinery somewhere in the mainstream of our unconscious.

Although in-the-body technology will have an explosive effect on commerce, entertainment, and employment, in the near term the concentration will be on medical devices, such as the innocuous pacemaker (essentially a working silicon-based computer, with sensors, memories, and a stimulation device with telecommunications to the outer world). In a second epoch, these devices will be gradually down-sized by advances in synthetic DNA, molecular- and nano-sized processors, each deployed alongside and within cells and organs as permanent non-organic, internal adjuncts to our anatomy for use as: nano-prosthetics, nano-stimulators/suppressors, artificial organ processors, metabolic and cognitive enhancers, and permanent diagnostic tools to ensure our physical and psychological well-being as we head toward a practically interminable lifetime.[6]

Continue reading “The Techno-Human Shell – A Jump in the Evolutionary Gap” »

A genetic tweak can make cells self-destruct in the presence of CRISPR and could be used to shut down cell therapies if they go rogue.

Its timeless appeal is evident globally, from jewelry in Asia to tools in the Middle East to containers in Europe, and beyond. Only in the last century have moldable, petroleum-based plastics overshadowed it. Our mission is to use biotechnology to grow horns larger than animals can produce, thereby unlocking the medium’s full potential…and eliminating the demand for animal ivory.

Biofabricated Horn.

Researchers at MIT reported Thursday that they have harnessed artificial intelligence to identify a completely new antibiotic compound that killed all but one of the antibacterial-resistant pathogens they tested it on. Drug-resistant bacteria are a large and growing problem, causing 2.8 million infections and 35,000 deaths in the U.S. each year and more in developing countries, STAT News reports. The computer learning model developed at MIT, described in the journal Cell, has the potential to identify many new types of antibiotics.

The researchers named the compound halicin, after HAL, the initially useful, eventually murderous sentient computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey. They also discovered eight more promising antibacterial compounds, two of which appear very powerful. They tried out halicin on mice and plan to work with a nonprofit or drugmaker to see if it’s effective and safe in humans.

The MIT team’s machine-learning model independently looked for certain properties — in this case, the ability to kill E. coli and not harm humans — among about 2,500 molecules in a drug repurposing database. Halicin was originally considered as a treatment for diabetes.

Researchers have discovered that the powerhouses of our cells, the mitochondria, also play a role in triggering cells to enter senescence, a dormant state in which cells cease to divide and begin to shut down, ready to die.

Mitochondria trigger cytoplasmic chromatin and inflammation

The new study shows that the mitochondria in each cell communicate with its nucleus, causing it to shut down and enter a senescent state [1]. Dr. Peter Adams, one of the study’s researchers, has spent over a decade investigating how chromatin clusters, a mixture of DNA and proteins typically encountered in the cell nucleus, actually leak out of the nucleus and into the cytoplasm in senescent cells. This leaking then triggers a cascade of inflammatory signals, which are linked to the onset of various age-related diseases.

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A new study suggests a better way to match patients with depression to a medication.