Lifeboat Foundation

Abrain is nothing if not communicative. Neurons are the chatterboxes of this conversational organ, and they speak with one another by exchanging pulses of electricity using chemical messengers called neurotransmitters. By repeating this process billions of times per second, a brain converts clusters of chemicals into coordinated actions, memories, and thoughts.

Researchers study how the brain works by eavesdropping on that chemical conversation. But neurons talk so loudly and often that if there are other, quieter voices, it might be hard to hear them.

Researchers from the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery at the Catholic University, Rome and the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS have developed an engineered protein that boosts memory.

Neuroscientists at the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of the Catholic University, Rome, and the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS have genetically modified a molecule, the protein LIMK1, which is normally active in the brain, with a key role in memory.

They added a “molecular switch” that is activated by administering a drug, rapamycin, known for its several anti-aging effects on the brain.

Misaligned AI is not the one you should worry most about (yet).

For the first time, scientists have used the concept of evolutionary traps on human societies at large. They find that humankind risks getting stuck in 14 evolutionary dead ends, ranging from global climate tipping points to misaligned artificial intelligence, chemical pollution, and accelerating infectious diseases.

The anthropocene era: success and challenges.

A new device that can be swallowed like a pill can track vital signs such as breathing and heart rate from inside the body.

Left: Ben Pless Right: Traverso Lab at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

“This device can help diagnose and monitor many health conditions without requiring hospital visits, which can make healthcare more accessible and supportive for patients,” says Giovanni Traverso, the lead author of the study, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at MIT and a gastroenterologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Continue reading “Swallowable device tracking vital signs inside the body in human trial” »

Now, generative AI models — similar to the large language model (LLM) that powers ChatGPT — are being developed to understand the rules and relationships of DNA, RNA and proteins, and the many functions and properties they produce.

How it works: Humans arrange the 26 letters in the modern English alphabet into roughly — and arguably — about 500,000 words.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest types of cancers in humans. It is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the western world. The early stages of the disease often progress without symptoms, so diagnosis is usually very late.

Another problem: Advanced tumors – and their metastases – can no longer be completely removed. Chemotherapies, in turn, attack not only the tumor cells but also healthy cells throughout the body. Innovative nanoparticles could be a new approach to treat cancer more precisely.

The approach was developed by a research team from the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Multidisciplinary Sciences, the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG), and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). The therapy is now to be optimized for clinical application as quickly as possible.

Melting a bacteriophage’s coat of proteins turns it into a tiny power plant, which could fire up the discovery of new bioengineered devices.

An international team of researchers has provided valuable insights into the brain’s noradrenaline (NA) system, which has been a longtime target for medications to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, depression, and anxiety.

Equally important beyond the findings is the groundbreaking methodology that the researchers developed to record real-time chemical activity from standard clinical electrodes which are routinely implanted for epilepsy monitoring.

Published online in the journal Current Biology on Monday (Oct. 23), the research not only provides new insights into the brain’s chemistry, which could have implications for a wide array of medical conditions, it also highlights a remarkable new capacity to acquire data from the living human brain.

During the company’s second quarter earnings call in July, Musk had said that combining the two could provide a cyber body that is incredibly capable.